Large Volcanoes: List

Что такое вулканы?Hot streams of molten lava, spilling from the depths of the Earth, and at the same time clouds of ash, hot steam. The spectacle, of course, exciting, but where does it come from? What large volcanoes exist on our planet? Where are they located?

Origin and varieties of volcanoes

Под толстым слоем земной коры находится магма – molten matter of great temperature and under great pressure. The composition of magma contains minerals, vaporous water and gases. When the pressure becomes too high, the gases push the magma upward through the weak points of the earth's crust. The surface layer of the Earth rises in the form of a mountain, and in the end magma breaks out.

The erupting magma is called lava, and the mountainelevation with a hole - a volcano. The eruption is accompanied by emissions of ash and steam. Lava moves at a speed of more than 40 km / h, with a temperature of about 1000 degrees Celsius. Depending on the nature of the eruption and the accompanying phenomena, volcanoes are divided into numerous types. For example, Hawaiian, Plinian, Peli and others.

As it flows out, the lava freezes and overlaps.layers, creating the shape of a volcano. So, there are conical volcanoes, flat, dome, strato or layered, as well as complex forms. In addition, they are divided into active, dormant and extinct, depending on the degree of activity of the eruptions.

The largest volcanoes of the world

Worldwide, there are approximately 540active volcanoes, the number of extinct even more. All of them are located mainly in the Pacific, East African, Mediterranean fold zones. The greatest activity is manifested in the regions of South and Central America, Kamchatka, the Japanese, Aleutian Islands, in Iceland.

330 in the Pacific Belt onlyactive volcanoes. Large volcanoes are located in the Andes, on the Asian islands. In Africa, Kilimanjaro, located in Tanzania, is considered the highest. It is a potentially active volcano that can wake up at any time. Its height is 5895 meters.

Two world volcanic giants are located onthe territories of Chile and Argentina. They are considered the highest on Earth. Ojos del Salado is extinct, its eruption occurred in 700 AD, although sometimes it throws water vapor and sulfur. Argentine Lulagliaco is considered to be active, the last time he erupted only in 1877.

The largest world volcanoes are presented in the table.

Pacific Ring of Fire

The waters of the Pacific Ocean hide three lithospheric plates.Their outer edges go under the lithospheric plates of the continents. Around the perimeter of these junctions is located the Pacific Ring of Fire - small and large volcanoes, most of which are active.

The ring of fire starts from Antarctica,passes through New Zealand, the Philippine Islands, Japan, the Kuril Islands, Kamchatka, stretches along the Pacific coast of North and South America. In some places the ring is broken, for example, near Vancouver Island and the state of California.

Large volcanoes of the Pacific Belt are locatedin the Andes (Orizabo, San Pedro, Misty, Cotopaxi), on Sumatra (Kerinci), Ross Island (Erebus), on Java (Semeru). One of the most famous - Fujiyama - is located on the island of Honshu. In Sunda Strait is Krakatau volcano.

Volcanic origin has an archipelagoHawaiian Islands. The largest volcano is Mauna Loa with an absolute height of 4169 meters. By relative height, the mountain bypasses Everest and is considered the highest peak of the world, this value is 10,168 meters.

Mediterranean belt

Mountainous areas of North-West Africa, southernEurope, the Mediterranean, the Caucasus, Asia Minor, Indochina, Tibet, Indonesia and the Himalayas make up the Mediterranean fold belt. Active geological processes take place here, one of the manifestations of which is volcanism.

The largest volcanoes of the Mediterranean belt- These are Vesuvius, Santorini (Aegean Sea) and Etna in Italy, Elbrus and Kazbek in the Caucasus, Ararat in Turkey. Italian Vesuvius consists of three peaks. The city of Herculaneum, Pompeii, Stabia, Oplontia suffered from its powerful eruption in the first century AD. In memory of this event, Karl Brullov painted the famous painting The Last Day of Pompeii.

Stratovolcano Ararat is the highest pointTurkey and the Armenian Highlands. Its last eruption occurred in the 1840s. It was accompanied by an earthquake that completely destroyed the neighboring village and monastery. Ararat, like the Caucasian Kazbek, consists of two peaks, which are shared by the saddle.

Large volcanoes of Russia (list)

Volcanoes in the Russian Federationlocated in the Kuriles, Kamchatka, the Caucasus and Transbaikalia. They make up about 8.5% of all volcanoes in the world. Many of them are considered extinct, although the sudden eruptions of Nameless in 1956 and the Academy of Sciences in 1997 proved the relativity of this term.

The largest volcanoes are located in Kamchatka andKuril Islands. The highest in all of Eurasia (among active ones) is Klyuchevskaya Sopka (4835 meters). Its last eruption was recorded in 2013. Very small volcanoes are located in the Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories. For example, the height of Baranovsky is 160 meters. Over the past decade, Berg (2005), Ebeko (2010), Chikurachki (2008), Kizimen (2013) and others have been active.

The largest volcanoes in Russia are presented in the table.

Conclusion

Volcanoes are the consequences of activeprocesses that occur inside our planet. They are formed in hot spots of the crust, where the crust does not withstand the onslaught of pressure and high temperatures. The consequences of a volcanic eruption can be quite serious, as they are accompanied by emissions of ash, gases, sulfur.

The accompanying phenomena of eruption are often earthquakes and faults. Escaping lava has such a high temperature that it instantly acts on biological organisms.

However, in addition to the destructive action of volcanoeshave the opposite effect. Lava, which has not come to the surface, can raise sedimentary rocks, forming mountains. A consequence of the eruption of an underwater volcano in Iceland was the island Surtsey.