Lava erupts from a fissure in Iceland on Dec. 19, 2023.
AP Photo/Marco Di Marco
Iceland is known as ‘the land of fire and ice’ for a reason.
The same region of Iceland saw an eruption in July 2023.
Kristinn Magnusson/AFP via Getty Images
Iceland’s volcanic activity is generally tame compared with explosive eruptions along the Pacific’s Ring of Fire. This time, it’s shaking up a town.
Wikimedia Commons
Science has made a strong case for the year 536 as being one of the worst in human history, a year punctuated by volcanic eruptions, drought, famine and plague - and a year long winter.
Some explosive volcanoes can send ash high up into the sky and it can travel around the world over different countries.
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When magma rises towards the surface gas bubbles start to form. Whether or not they can escape as the magma is rising affects how explosive the eruption will be.
MESSENGER enhanced colour image showing the southern half of Mercury’s Caloris basin, hosting several red spots.
NASA/JHUAPL/CIW
Red spots suggest Mercury may have formed far away from the sun.
Although it is very hot, when lava flows over the ground, it generally does not melt the soil or rock.
Marcella Cheng/The Conversation
The short answer is that while lava is hot, it’s not hot enough to melt the rocks that make up the side of the volcano.
Olympus Mons, biggest volcano in the Solar System.
Justin Cowart
They erupted for billions of years and make Earth’s volcanoes look like molehills. Here’s what we know and what we don’t know about them.