Volcanoes [History of Volcanoes]

Portals into the guts of the world they burned bottomless cauldrons fueled by an ancient wrath bubbling and boiling thousands of miles beneath the surface and just waiting to burst through volcanoes are scattered across the planet about 1,500 active volcanoes can be found across the planet though countless others are on the ocean bottom most volcanoes whether ashore or underwater are located where tectonic plates meet actually the Ring of fireside a path that traces the boundaries between several tectonic plates round the Pacific Ocean contains about 75% of the planets volcanoes there are several types of volcanoes primarily classified by shape and size major types include stratovolcanoes which frequently appear as tall steep mountains shield volcanoes which are flatter and dome shaped calderas which are large depressions in the ground and mid-ocean ridges which are underwater chains of volcanic mountains regardless of their shape or size all volcanoes emit gas and molten rock the journey of those emissions begins deep underground within the Earth's core the core which may burn as hot because the surface of the Sun transfers its heat to the surrounding rocky mantle in doing so the heat melts a number of the rock this molten rock or magma is lighter than the surrounding solid rock layer so it rises through the mantle the magma then escapes through vents in the crust causing volcanic eruptions now above-ground this magma is referred to as lava and it can reach temperatures of over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit in addition to lava volcanoes may erupt with searing hot gas formed within the mantle during a phenomenon called pyroclastic flow this gas combined with hot ash can race down the edges of a volcano as fast as 100 miles per hour burning everything in its path to measure and classify eruptions scientists developed the volcanic explosivity index or bei it considers various factors like the quantity of lava gas and other emissions from the volcano alongside the peak of the eruption cloud above the volcano's summit the vei scale begins at zero each successive measurement increases logarithmically meaning that every magnitude is 10 times more powerful than the one before it the vei scale doesn't have an upper limit but the foremost catastrophic eruptions measured so far are categorized as vei 8 these eruptions occurred thousands and many years ago the foremost destructive volcanic eruption ever witnessed occurred in Indonesia in 1815 Mount Tambura an outsized stratovolcano erupted with a vei measurement of seven the blast caused earthquakes tsunamis and pyroclastic flows that decimated the land and took tens of thousands of Indonesian lives the eruption even destroyed the highest of Mount Tambura itself turning the 13,000 foot tall mountain into a 3 thousand six hundred and forty foot deep caldera while volcanoes are a number of the foremost destructive forces of nature they need also helped make life on Earth possible volcanic ash provides nutrients to nearby soil making the land fertile and lava when it cools hardens into rock and creates new landforms with heat from the guts of the world volcanoes have helped para form the planet making it the rich dynamic landscape we see today.