10 interesting facts about volcanoes

Volcano is an extremely dangerous message from nature, it signals destruction from deep within the earth.

The facts about volcanoes that you know little about

10. Maleo Bird

Not all living creatures default to volcanoes associated with destruction. There is a special bird that depends on volcanoes to survive.

It is the Maleo bird - an endangered bird, which is characterized by using geothermal energy from volcanoes to hatch eggs.

During the breeding season, the bird will search for volcanic eruptions and use its heat for incubation.

Maleo bird's "giant" egg.(Photo: Arkive.org).

The reason they did so was simply because Maleo bird eggs were extremely large, it was five times bigger than normal chicken eggs. However, a maleo bird is only about the size of a normal duck, so they are unable to perform their own incubation.

9. Black lava

Ol Doinyo Lengai is the most special volcano in the world reigning in Tanzania. This volcano is 2200m high and grows in a vast meadow. However, its true strength lies in the lava inside the mountain.

Volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai is the only mountain in the world that can spew 'black lava' - a black mud substance and also volcanic Carbonnatie .

Geologists think that this type of lava is so rare that it can only be found on another planet. Its temperature is only about 510 ° C. This feature is unlike any other volcano in the world.

So when they are sprayed out, the air is cooled and falls like glass fragments.

8. Spirit of the volcano

Volcanic eruptions have been likened to an event created by the gods. Many cultures used to live in volcanic eruptions that used to worship volcanic gods.

And the most famous of them is probably one of the 12 gods atop Olympia - God Vulcan . The god of fire and metallurgy, his Latin name - Vulcan is the root of Volcano meaning volcano.

Hawaiian people live in volcanic areas still active and they worship Pele - the volcanic goddess and also one of the original gods of the Hawaiian people.

According to the Hawaiian legend, the war between Pele and his sister Namakaokahai created volcanoes and Pele could control volcanoes according to his will.

7. VEI volcanic eruption index

The volcanic eruption index (VEI) was released in 1982 to measure and provide relative measurements of volcanic eruptions.

Based on the indicator level, all events erupt, the measurement standard index is from 0 to 9. The eruption reaches the index from 0 to 2 usually takes place daily or weekly.

The eruption of the strong VEI 3 index and the eruption can produce a column of gas and ash above 15 kilometers into the air, this event occurs every year.

The eruption of VEI 4 and 5 ratings occurred decades or centuries apart. Their destructive power can affect a height of 25km over the air or more.

VEI 6 and 7 levels are named "giants" and "super giants" respectively , and such volcanoes do not exist much.

But they are like a terrible bomb that causes tsunami or high-temperature rocks to fly away for hundreds of miles, creating a large amount of ash covering an entire sky.

A good example of Krakatoa's volcanic eruption in Sunda Strait caused a series of explosions and intense tsunamis that killed about 36,000 people, the eruption was ranked 6.

Level 8 - superpower eruption, is calculated to be 100 times stronger than the Krakatoa eruption and can create a broad mouth of a small country.

Fortunately, the VEI 8 eruptions did not occur in human history, but instead took place in other parts of the globe like Yellowstone (6,400,000 years before the sun), Toba (74,000 years). before CN) and in Lake Taupo 25,000 years ago CN.

6. Classification of volcanoes

Most people think that they are just spooky mountains. However, there are actually 3 separate types of volcanoes (active volcanoes, volcanoes that are recovering from lava and volcanoes that have been inactive).

And there is another special type that is often seen as the fourth type. First : Conical mound, they are hollow mountains with peaks open and there is a lake of lava inside.

The second type : Mixed volcanoes are high conical volcanoes, consisting of many layers of lava, ash and dust, during the eruption, they can create a giant explosion through the air.

3rd type : Shielded volcano, most found in Hawaii, they have flat slopes and low slopes, inside the shield volcano is a mixture of various lava flows with low viscosity.

Type 4 : Not always considered a volcano, it is a special phenomenon called lava stone arch.

These stone arches are home to numerous lava flows, during the eruption, they are trapped in valleys or craters and cannot flow further.

They gather and cool down. Even though it seems harmless, the formation of lava rock arches sometimes comes with terrible eruptions.

5. Mount Kawah Ijen

Kawah Ijen is a mixed volcano still active in the east of Java island. Thanks to volcanic activities that occur in a very high position, this is a place where an extremely large amount of sulfur is concentrated.

Thanks to that, people in this area have a stable source of income thanks to the exploitation of sulfur. However, it also formed one of the most terrible lakes in the world.

The crater is filled by a water called Kawah Ljen , and it is the largest acid lake in the world. Make the lake contaminated with heavy sulfur, turn it into a death lake filled with sulfuric acid.

The pH in the tank is only 0.5. This lake can 'eat' anything including metal. Smoke rising from the lake is extremely toxic, even if you wear a mask, breathing is still a difficult task.

Because of the characteristics of the lake, if there is an eruption from Ljen volcano, it will be extremely dangerous.

Not only because they will create massive acidic rain, but this acid lake can also create Lahars , an extremely dangerous volcanic / mudslide species for the lives of people in Java.

4. Paricutin volcano

In 1943, a farmer suddenly heard strange noises and found a long crack on his farm.

Soon after, the noise grew louder, the crack continued to expand, within a few hours, the ground began to rise and this volcano actually formed overnight.

Initially it was only 1.8m tall but then the Paricutin volcano was growing rapidly. Within the next 24 hours, it was 50m high and after 6 days the mountain was doubled.

During that process, lava flows. Although the mountain was initially relatively small, the areas around it, including the town of San Juan, gradually burned down by lava flow and forced people to evacuate.
9 years later, Paricutin continued eruptions. Before it ceased operation since 1952 to date, Paricutin has expanded 25.9km ² and reached a height of 424m.

3. Mauka Kea Volcano and Mauna Loa

Mauna Kea mountain is 4205m high above sea level. However, if measured from the seabed, Mauna Kea reaches a height of 9000m, which makes it easy to become the world's highest volcano surpassing Mount Everest (8848m). Although Mauna Kea has not been active for 4,000 to 6,000 years, it is still very magnificent and loved by its majestic natural beauty and the extremely famous resort.

Mauna Loa, reigning on another island and still active. Although it is only 4170m high, its true height measured from the seabed is approximately the same as Mauna Kea.

However, its volume is much larger and occupies half of Hawaii's area, reaching a length of 96.5km and a width of 48km. Mauna Loa erupted 39 times, the last time occurred in 1984 and today, the mountain is showing signs of waking up again.

2. Gwadar mud volcano

On September 24, 2013, a strong earthquake of 7.7 Richter occurred on the seabed near Pakistan. A few days later, there was a new island formed on the sea.

An 91m-wide oval island suddenly appeared but that's not all, the island also emitted flammable gas, creating an extremely dangerous explosion.

The cause of this event was the sudden appearance of a mud volcano, a volcanic eruption of high temperature mud instead of lava as usual.

When this mountain works at the ocean floor, the amount of mud will quickly be cooled by seawater and form an island.

1. The impact of volcanoes on the climate

The short effects of volcanoes such as fire storms, glaze rivers . In fact, there are many ideas that natural processes such as volcanic eruptions can lead to work. action of climate change.
There are three main types of climate change: Ozone layer changes, greenhouse effect and global blurring (the increase in small particles in the air such as ash and dust obscures light, reduces temperature. Global).

Volcanic activity is likely to contribute to the above changes: An acid-burning eruption destroys the ozone layer, along with a large amount of Carbon Dioxide - the gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect, and dust.

Because a large amount of ash is emitted during eruptions, this contributes significantly to global blurring. Strangely, this means that giant volcanic eruptions will actually lower the earth's temperature instead of rising.