Volcano Fun Facts Essay

Fun Facts

    * Volcanoes are openings in the Earth’s surface. When they are active they can let ash, gas and hot magma escape in sometimes violent and amazing eruptions.   * The word volcano originally comes from the name of the Roman god of fire, Vulcan.   * Volcanoes are usually located where tectonic plates meet. This is especially true for the Ring of Fire, an area around the Pacific Ocean where over 75% of the volcanoes on Earth are found.   * While most volcanoes form near tectonic boundaries, they can also form in areas that contain very hot rock inside the Earth. Known as mantle plumes, these hotspots are found at places around the globe with the most being in Hawaii.   * Molten rock under the Earth’s surface is known as magma, it is called lava after it comes out of a volcano.   * Some famous volcanic eruptions of modern times include Mt. Krakatoa in 1883, Novarupta in 1912, Mt. St. Helens in 1980 and Mt. Pinatubo in 1991.   * The biggest known volcano in this solar system is on Mars. Its name is Olympus Mons and it measures 373 miles wide and 13 miles high.   * The object with the most volcanic activity in our solar system is Io, one of Jupiter’s moons. Covered in volcanoes, its surface is constantly changing to the large amount of volcanic activity.   * Most people think of volcanoes as large cone shaped mountains but that is just one type, others feature wide plateaus, cracks were lava emerges and bulging dome shapes.   * There are also volcanoes found on the ocean floor and even under icecaps, like the ones in Iceland.   * Volcanic eruptions can send ash high into the air, over 17 miles above the Earth’s surface!   * Large volcanic eruptions can reflect radiation from the Sun and drop average temperatures on Earth by around half a degree. There have been several examples of this over the last century.   * Pumice is a unique volcanic rock that can float in water. It can also be used as an abrasive and is sometimes used in beauty salons for removing...