Volcanoes Facts for Kids
Explosive facts about volcanoes and geology
Phonolite is a rare volcanic rock that makes a ringing sound when struck β which is how it got its name, from the Greek words for 'sound' and 'stone.' Devils Tower in Wyoming is made partly of phonolite.
Over geological timescales, volcanic CO2 emissions are a key driver of Earth's long-term climate. Scientists studying ancient ice cores have found correlations between periods of intense volcanism and global warming events hundreds of millions of years ago.
Mount Erebus in Antarctica is the world's southernmost active volcano and has a rare persistent lava lake inside its crater. It also ejects unique crystals of pure metalite anorthoclase β a feldspar mineral β that can be found scattered on the ice around its summit.
Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo holds the world's largest persistent lava lake and produces some of the fastest-moving lava on Earth. When its crater wall broke in 1977, lava flooded nearby areas at over 60 miles per hour.
A major volcanic eruption can trigger a 'volcanic winter' by injecting sulfate aerosols into the stratosphere, where they scatter incoming solar radiation. The effect can last 2β3 years and has historically caused crop failures, famines, and social unrest across continents.
The January 2022 eruption of Hunga TongaβHunga Ha'apai was the largest volcanic explosion recorded in the modern era. It generated a shockwave that circled the globe multiple times and sent a tsunami across the entire Pacific Ocean.
Volcanic hydrothermal vents on the seafloor deposit rich concentrations of gold, silver, copper, and zinc sulfide minerals. These underwater volcanic deposits have been mined on land for centuries wherever ancient seafloor was pushed above sea level.
About 700 million years ago, Earth may have been completely frozen over in an event called 'Snowball Earth.' It is thought that massive volcanic eruptions gradually pumped enough CO2 into the atmosphere to warm the planet and break the deep freeze.
Deep inside the Earth, the mantle is so hot that rocks slowly flow like extremely thick syrup. Plumes of extra-hot mantle rock rise toward the surface and can cause volcanic hotspots even in the middle of tectonic plates.
The bright yellow color often seen around volcanic vents comes from sulfur deposits. Sulfur gas escaping from the volcano cools and solidifies into yellow crystals right at the vent opening.