Advantages and Disadvantages of Living Near a Volcano

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Living Near A Volcano. A volcano is a cone- shaped mountain that is made from magma that has come from deep below the ground. A volcano is formed when the tectonic plates on the surface of the Earth move. It is on a constructive plate boundary which is the oceanic plate boundary and these both move apart and magma rises to fill the gap that is formed. There are 3 types of volcanoes. The first type of volcano is a shield volcano. These volcanoes are the largest volcanoes on the Earth. The Hawaiian shield volcanoes are the most famous. The shield volcanoes are not steep but they are exclusively basalt (which is lava that is very fluid when it erupts. Eruptions at shield volcanoes are only explosive if water somehow gets into the vent. Otherwise they have low chances of explosions. An example of a shield volcano is the Island of Hawaii (the “Big Island”) in the North Pacific Ocean. The second type of volcano is a composite volcano. The lava in composite volcanoes is cooler and more viscous (sticky) than basalt. These more viscous lavas allow gas pressures to build up to high levels; therefore these volcanoes often suffer explosive eruptions. An example of a composite volcano is Mount St.Helens in Skamania County, Washington in USA. The third type of volcano is the caldera volcano. The caldera volcanoes are the most explosive of the Earth’s volcanoes but often don’t even look like volcanoes. They are usually so explosive when they erupt that they end up collapsing in on themselves rather than building. An example of a caldera volcano is the Yellowstone Caldera that is located in the Yellowstone National Park in the USA. An active volcano is a volcano that has erupted recently and it is likely to erupt again. Around the world, there are over 700 active volcanoes. Mount Etna is one of the active volcanoes because it has erupted as recently
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