crazy These are 3 volcanoes that we, Erika McMahon and Candice Zwicker, feel are crazy (even LOCO!) enough to be noted!

Introduction Of the many volcanic eruptions from our past, present and future there will always be the eruptions that we remember, not for their beauty but for the destruction that they caused to civilization. Since the year 1500 AD over 300,000 people’s lives have been taken due to volcanic activity. The majority of these people died from only a few eruptions.

The most deadly volcanic eruption since 1500 AD was Tambora, Indonesia in Thus taking the lives of around 92,000. The primary cause of these deaths was crop failure resulting in starvation. The eruption released 50 cubic km of ask fabricating a column 43 km high.

The tiny ash fragments were taken around the globe by winds covering a lot of the earth’s surface from sunlight, which lowered global temperatures. This is known as “The Year Without a Summer”. Before the 1815 eruption ~13,000 feet high –A difference of 3,646 feet Now ~9354 feet high

Before the 1980 eruption Mount St. Helens had been dormant since On May , Mount St. Helens erupted so violently that the top of the mountain was blown off and a cloud of gases and ash was sent to an altitude of 19 km. The eruption was triggered by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter Scale about 2.5 km beneath the volcano, causing the north face of the mountain to collapse in an enormous rock debris avalanche. Almost 390 square km of woodland was left dead and standing or blown over. At the same time a mushroom shaped cloud of ash lifted thousands of feet towards the sky then drifting downwind, turning the day into night. The eruption triggered the largest landslide in American history that lasted 9 hours. The eruption damaged 27 bridges, almost 200 homes, around 39 km of railways and more than 480 km of roads.

Before 1980 eruption ~9,677 feet high A difference of 1,314 feet Now ~8,363 feet high

Click Here to see Mt. St. Helens

Mount Vesuvius is a very large and dangerous volcano. It is located around 12 km southeast of Naples in Italy. This monster gave its first mighty roar in August, 79 AD, and Pompeii and Herculaneum were the cities which lied in the path of it’s wrath. In Pompeii, 3360 people lost their lives as a direct cause of this volcano. Almost everything we know about this disaster comes from written observation made by Pliny the Younger. These accounts were being written to the roman historian Tactitus. He wrote this account to record the events concerning the events surrounding the death of his father, Pliny the Elder.

Pliny the Younger wrote that the eruption came in 2 phases. The first phase, which is now referred to as the Plinian phase, material was ejected into the air in a large tall column. (Previous to this he described the earthquakes before the eruption). He continued to describe air fall, the effects of the eruption on people, tsunamis, and pyroclastic flows. During the second phase of the eruption (now the Plenean phase), materials flowed down the sides of the volcano, bringing an avalanche of dust and gas. What makes the eruption of Vesuvius so notable is that by covering the town of Pompeii with ash, it preserved the town to an amazing degree.

Mount Vesuvius Photos

Keep going for some basic volcano knowledge!!

Volcano Basics ~Webster’s New World Dictionary Volcano (val ka no) - a vent in the earth’s crust through which molten rock (lava), rock fragments, gases, ashes, etc. are ejected into the earth’s interior. Shield Volcanoes- are formed when a large amount of free- flowing lava spills from a vent and spreads widely. The lava gradually builds up to a low, broad, dome- shaped mountain. Cinder Cones- build up when mostly tephra erupts from a vent ad falls back to the earth, surrounding the vent. This accumulating tephra forms a cone shaped mountain. Composite Volcanoes- formed when both lava and tephra erupt from a central vent. The materials pile up in alternating layers around the vent and for towering cone shaped mountains.

Distribution of Volcanoes Spreading Center Volcanism-Spreading Center Volcanism- volcanoes which are produced along the oceanic ridge system where sea floor spreading is active. Subduction Zone Volcanism-Subduction Zone Volcanism- volcanoes that are or lie along oceanic margins Intraplate Volcanism-Intraplate Volcanism- volcanoes that lie within (middle) of tectonic plates.

Did You Know... That 1 in 10 people in the world have “homes” within the ‘danger zone’ of an active volcano? That there are approximately 1510 volcanoes in the world that have erupted within the last 10,000 years which makes them considered an active volcano to some volcanologists? That the largest volcano in the world is Mauna Loa, Hawaii? It’s total volume is around 80,000 cubic km. That occasionally lightning can be seen in the clouds, which is possibly because of all the hot particles smashing together causing static charge?

Did You Know... That about different volcanoes erupt every year? That the Crater Lake eruption 6,600 years ago had 43,000x the force of an atomic bomb? That Mt. Mayon, Phillipines is considered the most perfectly shaped volcano?

Bibliography � � ml � � � � � � � � �

Bibliography (Cont’d) � � � Francis, P., 1994, Volcanoes a planetary perspective: Oxford University Press, New York, 443p. � Self, S., Rampino, M.R., Newton, M.S., and wolff, J.A.,1989, Volcanological Study of the Great Tambora Eruption of 1815: Geology, v. 12, p � Sigurdsson, H., and Carey, S., 1989, Plinian and Co-Igmibrite Tephra Fall from the 1815 Eruption of Tambora volcano: Bulletin of volcanology, v. 51, p � Stothers, R.B.,1984, The Great Tambora Eruption of 1815 and Its Aftermath: Science,v. 224,

Bibliography (Cont’d) � “Saint Helens, Mount,” Microsoft (R) Encarta (R) 96 Encyclopedia. (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.