Volcanoes Facts for Kids
Explosive facts about volcanoes and geology
Yellowstone National Park's famous hot springs get their vivid colours from different species of heat-loving microbes called thermophiles. The Grand Prismatic Spring is the largest hot spring in the USA and displays a stunning rainbow of blue, green, yellow, and orange.
Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawaii is one of the world's most continuously active volcanoes and has been erupting almost without pause since 1983. Its lava flows have added significant new land to Hawaii's coastline over the decades.
Tephra is the collective name for all the material thrown into the air during a volcanic eruption, from tiny ash particles to huge boulders called volcanic bombs. Volcanic bombs can be as big as a car and can travel hundreds of metres from the vent.
A dormant volcano is one that is not currently erupting but has the potential to erupt again. Volcanoes can remain dormant for thousands of years and then suddenly reawaken, which is why scientists carefully monitor even 'sleeping' volcanoes.
Mount Fuji is Japan's highest peak at 3,776 metres and is a dormant stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707. It is considered a sacred mountain in Shinto and Buddhist traditions and is one of the most climbed mountains in the world, with hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
Many volcanoes form at subduction zones, where one tectonic plate slides beneath another. The sinking plate melts as it goes deeper into the hot mantle, and the resulting magma rises to form explosive volcanoes at the surface.
The eruption of Laki in Iceland in 1783β84 released toxic gases that killed most of Iceland's livestock and caused widespread famine. The resulting haze spread across Europe and may have contributed to the crop failures and social unrest that helped trigger the French Revolution.
Vog is a form of air pollution created when volcanic gases, particularly sulphur dioxide, react with sunlight and moisture to form a haze. In Hawaii, vog from Kilauea's eruptions can affect air quality across the entire island chain.
When lava erupts underwater, it is instantly cooled by the surrounding water and forms rounded, pillow-shaped blobs called pillow lava. Pillow lava can be found on the ocean floor all over the world and is a telltale sign of underwater volcanic activity.
Mount Erebus in Antarctica is the southernmost active volcano on Earth and contains one of the world's few permanent lava lakes in its summit crater. Despite being in one of the coldest places on Earth, the lava lake stays molten because of continuous volcanic activity deep below.