Hawaiian Volcano Observatory

Volcanos have been shaping and changing the way we live and how we feel for thousands of years. When you think of a volcano, you think of a destructive natural force of obsolete menace. You are right, but these volcanos can change environments and people in so many good ways. From creating rich soil for farming and beautiful environments, it almost seems that these powerful and seemingly indestructible parts of nature can make good out of bad. Okay, so lets’ look at the elephant in the room;…

Mt. Fuji is a Basaltic Stratovolcano. This volcano was “Born” from the base of Mt. Komitake about 100,000 years ago. The volcano that is today was formed over 2 generations of volcanic activity turning the “old” Mt. Fuji into the “new” Mt. Fuji. In 1707 was has been the latest eruption, or at least until now. In the 1707 there was an Edo Period, is caused an explosive eruption that created the Hoei crater and volcanic ash formed a vast volcanic plane to the eastern side of the mountain. Since…

“CRASH!”, “BANG!” went Pompeii and everyone living in it. August 24th, 79 C.E. Pompeiiś volcano erupted and sent million lives, to death. Pompeii was a Roman city were tons of people lived and called home, But then, a volcano near the Bay of Naples in Italy erupted, leaving the beautiful city buried under a thick blanket of volcanic ash. In the story “the dog of Pompeii” by Louis Untermeyer, it tells you about a blind boy, bimbo, and his dog, tito, and how it explains that tito was bimbo's…

The word volcano typically brings to mind a mountain with fire spewing forth from the summit. Therefore, a “supervolcano” would be a massive fire breathing mountain but, this is not the case. Most of Yellowstone National Park and some of the surrounding area is a “supervolcano”.While some of the largest volcanic eruptions have come from Yellowstone, it is not the only place these “mega-eruptions” have occurred There have been “mega-eruptions” in Indonesia, Chile, New Zealand, Argentina, Japan…

destroy property. One example of a volcano is Mount Saint Helens. “A volcano is an opening in Earth’s crust through which ash, gases, and molten rock from below ground erupt onto Earth’s surface or into the atmosphere” (Kobasa). Volcanic eruptions result from magma (molten rock below the ground). Magma usually forms 30-120 miles beneath Earth’s surface. It rises because it is less dense than the surrounding rock. Rising magma can collect below or inside a volcano in a region called a…

These amazing beautiful towers of volcanoes on the ocean floor vary in every way which only makes them more mysterious and fascinating. The first discovery of a hydrothermal vent was aboard a 3-person submersible named Alvin in 1977 at the Galapagos Rift (WHOI, 2004). This vent was a discovery of warm fluids mixing with cold ocean water rising from the ocean floor crust (WHOI, 2004). “In 1979, a second hydrothermal system was discovered along the East Pacific Rise” (WHOI,2004). This discovery…

study of Volcanic Activity Near Rome,” Shannon Hall states, “Even without new magma entering the system, the old magma continues to heat the ground above. This leads to carbon dioxide release and ground deformation”(1). This concludes that although a volcano that has no previous evidence of eruption, it still obtains potential to alter the Earth’s surface. Shannon Hall continues by saying, “New satellite information and other evidence reveals that the hills have swelled by 50 meters over the…

One of the most infamous natural disasters that has ever taken place would have to be the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the destruction and devastation it caused those who lived in Pompeii and other neighboring towns. Before this fateful day Pompeii was a prosperous city that rested on the southeastern base of Mt. Vesuvius. In 90 BCE, Pompeii and its Italian allies rebelled against Rome in what is called the Italic War. Pompeii eventually became Romanized adopting many of the characteristics…

On August 26, 1883, a catastrophic natural disaster happened that affected the lives of people near and far. The volcano, Krakatoa, erupted leaving a great deal of devastation in its wake. Krakatoa is a volcanic island located in the Sunda Strait along the Indonesian Island Arc. The island along with two others were remains of an earlier eruption from two hundred years before. Krakatoa Island had three large hill-like or mountain shaped volcanic cones named Rakata, Danan, and Perboewatan. Before…

was located in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius. Rich landowners built elegant houses there. Vesuvius had been asleep for 800 years so nobody thought it would erupt. Vesuvius had solid lava on the top of it so all the lava inside built up and made the volcano erupt. The fumes and ashes suffocated many people. People were burned and died and the town was devastated. A vivid description of the eruption was given by Pliny the Younger who was 18 at the time. He watched this disaster from 20 miles away.…