How are Volcanoes Formed?

A volcano is an opening or geological crack in the Earth’s crust caused by temperature, pressure, and other natural factors in the planet’s core. These forces propel gases and boiling liquid called magma out of a volcano’s aperture, called a “vent.” As these erupting elements cool outside the vent, they solidify, or condense. After cooling and solidifying, it produces the cone-shaped rock, which we call a volcano formation. The majority of the world’s volcanoes are situated on land and within waters along the borders of tectonic plates. Read on to have an in-depth idea of the formation of a volcano. 

What do the Volcanoes do?

When natural factors like temperature, pressure, and others drive magma out of the chamber, it explodes as lava on the Earth’s surface or as a boiling rush beneath the sea. When a molten rock hits the planet’s surface, either on land or at the ocean’s bottom, it cools and hardens. The numerous layers of cooled magma which have exploded from the volcano can build a steep-sided conical around the vent throughout decades or millions of years. Most of the world’s most notable volcanoes have this cone shape after a volcano formation. The formation of volcanoes has led to the advancement of several of the planet’s diverse landscapes.

Mechanisms that Lead to the Formation of Volcanoes

Volcanoes are an active expression of plate tectonic phenomena. They are prevalent near plate borders, both divergent and convergent. Beyond plate borders, volcanoes can also be located inside lithospheric plates. In simpler terms, volcanoes are formed when molten material and gaseous element enter the earth’s surface through outlet.  The molten rocks and ashes solidify on cooling which gives a shape to the volcano. As the volcano starts erupting, it will spill the molten material and gaseous element onto the surface. It is called lava which will flow through the landscape while materials like hot ashes and gases will be absorbed by air.      

Benefits of Volcanic Eruptions

Volcanic eruptions may kill people and wreak massive harm. However, they can also give advantages and services such as:

• Mineral reserves of high value, such as aluminium, gold, and nickel.
• Volcanic ash produces soils that are nutrient-rich and fertile.
• The lava flows encourage land formation. In 2018, lava from the Kilauea volcanic eruptions formed a new island off the Hawaii coast.

Hotspot Volcano

A hotspot is an outlet area within the earth’s mantle. The hot air from earth’s mantle rises as thermal plumes which originally sit at depth of earth’s interior. This results in the hotspot volcano formation on the overlying crust.  The rock melts due to high and low heat pressure which exists at the tectonic plate (lithosphere) base. Magma, or molten rock, rises through fractures and bursts to produce volcanoes. The volcanoes are surfed away as the tectonic plate shifts over the stagnant hot point, and other ones emerge in their place. As a result, chains of volcanoes, including the Hawaiian Islands, formed. Magma rises and erupts as lava on the ocean floor due to the Hawaiian hotspot. The Pacific Plate has drifted across the hot region for thousands of years, forming a series of volcanic islands.

Composite Volcano

Some of the most majestic mountains on the planet is a composite volcano, often known as stratovolcanoes. They are often enormous, symmetrical cones, steep-sided, made of thick layers of volcanic ash, lava flows, cinders, stones, and bombs. Some composite volcanoes include a summit crater with a primary vent or a clustered collection of vents. The composite volcano formation happens by the build-up of material emitted via the conduit. It grows in size as cinders, lava, ash, and other materials are deposited on its slopes.

Cinder Cone Volcano

The most basic form of a volcano is a cinder cone volcano. The congealed lava particles and lumps discharged from one vent led to the cinder cone volcano formation. When the gas-charged lava is rapidly thrown into the air, it fractures into minute particles that harden and descend as cinders all around the vent, forming an oval or a round cone. Many cinder cone volcanoes have a bowl-shaped hole at the peak and rarely exceed over a thousand feet above the landscape nearby. These volcanoes are common in western North America and other volcanic land masses worldwide.

Conclusion

To summarise, volcanoes are cone-shaped mountains or hills that form around a hole in the Earth’s surface. Volcano formation takes place when magma climbs to the Earth’s surface, causing gas bubbles to accumulate within it. This gas leads to build-up of the pressure inside the mountain, causing it to erupt. Lava is formed when magma erupts from the Earth.