Since Earth's early days, volcanoes have shaped our planet. And we know they've shaped other planets as well. Volcanoes are one of the most visible signs that the interior of the Earth is not a cold, quiet place.
Photograph by ...., U.S. Geological Survey.
Use the QuickTime controller to watch the eruption.
Along with earthquakes, volcanic eruptions regularly alter the shape of the Earth's surface and change the lives of thousands of people. But volcanoes come in many sizes, shapes and temperments. The goal of this module is to help you understand how volcanoes behave, where they are found and why some appear to be safe to live near.
News Update: 2011 was not a spectacular news year for volcanic eruptions. For 2010, the biggest volcano news came from a relatively small eruption that happened on Iceland. When the Eyjafjallajökull volcano (try your own Google search for video and news) began erupting in April 2010 under the snow and ice it created an ash cloud that happened to be directly up-wind from Europe and disrupted air traffic for weeks, inconveniencing tens of thousands of travelers and businesses proving that (Warning - gratuitous link) from small things, big things may come. The eruption itself was an innocuous but beautiful basaltic fire fountain - the problem was the snow and icecap that caused the lava to explode into the disruptive ash cloud.
Click here for a short one page (de)tour to the January 2002 eruption in the Congo in East Africa.
Here is a site with some beautiful volcano (and penguin) photos.
Let's start our exploration with some recent eruptions.
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