Volcanic landforms

Extrusive landforms are formed due to magma that comes from deep within Earth to the earth’s surface, which allows it to cool like lava. This process can happen slowly or explosively based on the chemical composition of the lava and the path to the surface. The path also determines the nature of the explosion. If there is no path for the lava, the pressure builds up and magma explodes outward forcibly. 

The processes of the volcano are constantly changing around the Earth, and it changes the Earth as well. One eruption can create mountains, new islands and destroy the landscapes or islands. The dormant, active, or ancient remnants of the eruptions are all preserved or contained in the earth’s surface. 

Types of volcanoes

The types of volcanoes are listed as follows: 

Shield Volcanoes

Shield volcanoes vary in size. They can be small or massive, created by a non-violent and steady outpour of lava. The two prominent shield volcanoes are Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa in Hawaii. They are nearly 9 km or 5.6 mi from the seafloor. Shield volcanoes are also the largest among all the volcanoes on the earth. The shield volcanoes are usually made up of basalt. 

If in any way, water flows into the vent, it becomes explosive. Otherwise, they can be categorized as low-explosivity volcanoes. The lava in the vent flows upward in a fountain form and the cone emanates at the top of the vent and develops a cinder cone. 

Composite Volcanoes 

Composite volcanoes are steep volcanoes and are made up of various layers of volcanic rocks such as rock debris, high-viscosity lava, and ash. The composite volcano is tall, and lava flows in the downwards direction. The strata, ejecta, and alternate layers of the volcano give rise to the name. 

The volcano is made up of lava, cinders, and ash. Ash and cinder both pile up on each other and lava flows through the ash. Once it cools and hardens, the whole process repeats again. 

Cinder Cones 

These are made up of tiny particles of lava blown up by the single vent. Cinder cones are the result of eruptions of the small pieces of pyroclastic and scoria that accumulate around the vents. Most of the cinder cones only erupt once. They may build as flank vents on other larger volcanoes or can occur on their own. 

In other words, cinder cones are steep and short volcanoes linked with the limited events of eruption. Some of the examples of cinder cones include Capulin Volcano and Sunset Crater Volcano. 

Flood Basalt Provinces 

The volcanoes are highly saturated with fluid lava which tends to flow long-distance. The majority of the parts of the world are covered with flood’s basalt lava. It is a series of eruptions that covers a large part of the land. Deccan Traps is one of the flood basalt provinces in India. It is often called a trap, meaning staircase in Swedish. 

Some of the flood basalt provinces include the North Atlantic Igneous Province, Deccan Traps, Chilcotin Group, Columbia River Basalt Group, etc. 

Mid-Ocean Ridge Volcanoes 

Mid-Ocean Ridge Volcanoes are volcanoes that are found in the oceanic areas. The system is built up in a way that it can stretch for over 70000 km across the basin. The frequent eruptions of the volcano ridge from the central region where lava gets collected and erupts when it gets built up. 

Caldera

Caldera is known as one of the most explosive volcanoes on the Earth. They are highly explosive. They don’t construct any structure when erupting. They are sometimes inclined to collapse in layers on themselves rather than forming a structure. The collapsed depression of the volcano is known as a caldera. 

Lava Domes 

Lava domes are very thick. They form when Magma (thick) erupts from the surface to form a steep-shaped landform. It forms in a dome shape but is steep. They also form in a large composite volcano of a crater. The lava domes are built by very slow eruptions. It piles up in a thin volcanic vent and erupts explosively when it gets filled entirely. 

Like composite volcanoes, they have the tendency to produce explosive and violent eruptions. However, the lava does not flow far away from the vent of origin.  

Conclusion 

To conclude, we can say that Volcanic landforms of extrusive igneous rocks are one of the most prominent landforms of the earth. Extrusive Igneous landforms are formed due to magma that comes from deep within the earth, called lava on the surface. This process can happen slowly or explosively based on the lava’s chemical composition and the path of the surface. It also contains various types that are mentioned in the article above.