Volcanoes Facts for Kids
Explosive facts about volcanoes and geology
Mauna Loa in Hawaii is the largest volcano on Earth by volume. Measured from its base on the ocean floor, it stands about 56,000 feet tall β taller than Mount Everest!
Iceland is the only place on Earth where the Mid-Atlantic Ridge rises above sea level. This means the island is literally being pulled apart by two tectonic plates moving in opposite directions.
In 1943, a Mexican farmer named Dionisio Pulido watched a volcano grow out of his cornfield! The volcano ParΓcutin sprouted from flat ground and grew 5 stories tall in just one week.
As lava flows downhill, the outer surface cools and hardens while hot lava continues flowing inside. When the eruption stops, the lava drains out and leaves a hollow tunnel called a lava tube.
Yellowstone is a supervolcano sitting on top of a magma chamber roughly the size of Rhode Island. Its last super-eruption, about 640,000 years ago, spread ash across half of North America.
The island of Surtsey off the coast of Iceland did not exist until November 1963, when an underwater volcanic eruption broke the ocean surface and kept growing for four years.
Volcanoes can generate their own lightning! Electrically charged ash particles collide inside an eruption cloud and create spectacular bolts of lightning right above the volcano.
Mount Etna on the island of Sicily, Italy, is Europe's most active volcano. It has been erupting regularly for over 500,000 years and is documented erupting as far back as 1500 BC.
Obsidian is a natural glass formed when lava cools so rapidly that crystals don't have time to form. Its edges are sharper than steel surgical scalpels, and some surgeons still use obsidian blades for delicate operations.
The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia was so massive it caused the 'Year Without a Summer' in 1816. Temperatures dropped worldwide, crops failed, and widespread famine killed tens of thousands of people.