Volcanoes Facts for Kids
Explosive facts about volcanoes and geology
Iceland harnesses the heat from its volcanic activity to generate clean energy. About 85% of all homes in Iceland are heated by geothermal energy piped directly from volcanic hot springs underground.
Not all volcanoes spew red-hot lava. Mud volcanoes erupt cool mud and gas from underground. There are over 1,000 of them on Earth, and they account for a surprisingly large amount of natural methane gas emissions.
Mount Vesuvius near Naples, Italy, is considered one of the world's most dangerous volcanoes because nearly 3 million people live on and around it. Scientists and Italian authorities maintain a detailed evacuation plan for the region.
Early in Earth's history, intense volcanic activity pumped enormous amounts of water vapor, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen into the atmosphere. This process, called outgassing, is believed to have helped form both Earth's oceans and early atmosphere.
Volcanologists use infrasound β sound waves below the range of human hearing β to monitor volcanic activity. Changes in infrasound patterns can signal an impending eruption hours or days before it happens.
Mount Fuji, Japan's iconic peak and a UNESCO World Heritage site, is an active stratovolcano. Its last eruption was in 1707 β and scientists have detected magma movement in recent years, placing it on a watch list.
The Laki fissure eruption in Iceland in 1783 released so much fluorine and sulfur dioxide that it poisoned grass across Europe, killed most of Iceland's livestock, and caused a famine that killed about 25% of Iceland's entire population.
The Deccan Traps in India are the remains of one of the largest volcanic events in Earth's history. About 66 million years ago, continuous eruptions spewed lava over an area the size of Alaska and may have contributed to the mass extinction that killed the non-avian dinosaurs.
Some volcanic craters emit sulfur-rich gases so dense they pool in low spots and displace oxygen, silently suffocating animals. The Dieng Plateau in Indonesia is notorious for deadly CO2 gas releases from its volcanic vents.
The mid-ocean ridge system is the longest volcanic mountain chain on Earth, stretching over 40,000 miles through all the world's ocean basins. At spreading centers, lava oozes out continuously, forming new oceanic crust at a rate of a few inches per year.