Lava flows from a fissure in the aftermath of eruptions from the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island, May 22, 2018.
Andrew Richard Hara/Ena Media Hawaii via Getty Images
Volcanoes might seem like nature’s incinerators, but using them to burn up trash would be dangerous and disrespectful to indigenous people who view them as sacred.
A key goal of the Chang'e-5 mission was to find evidence of some of the youngest volcanic eruptions on the Moon.
Men cross the front of the still smoking lava rocks from an eruption of the Mount Nyiragongo on May 23, 2021 in Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
GUERCHOM NDEBO/AFP via Getty Images
Nyiragongo is one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because of its fast-moving lava. It can flow at a speed of about 100km per hour.
Still standing: a structure surrounded by lava following a volcanic eruption on 23 May 2021 in Goma, a city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Moses Sawasawa via GettyImages
Earth’s magnetic field locks information into lava as it cools into rock. Millions of years later, scientists can decipher this magnetic data to build geologic timelines and maps.
Rocks contain a layer-by-layer record of the history of our planet.
Fred Moore/flickr
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.
Lifeguards and volunteers run across an ash covered slope after the June 3 eruption of the Fuego volcano in Guatemala.
Esteban Biba/AAP
Important points about volcanoes: location matters, explosiveness can be predicted to an extent, and fast-moving flows of volcanic materials (known as pyroclastic flows) are deadly.
Pyroclastic flows are biggest danger in these eruptions.
A massive fast moving lava flow from Kilauea consumes everything in its path, as the flames from the remnants of one home burns on the left, while it approaches another on the right.
EPA/Bruce Omori/Paradise Helicopters
The current eruption of Kilauea on Hawai'is big island can tell us a lot about what is going on beneath the volcano and may provide lessons for future eruptions.
At Kīlauea in Hawai'i, a recent volcanic eruption has created some of the most spectacular sights in nature. But also danger for those around it.
In the field studying the rock association in the Doolena Gap greenstone belt, 30 km north of Marble bar in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
David Murphy
The remote Pilbara region of Western Australian formed many billions of years ago when the Earth was much hotter and the crust softer than it is today.
Seismic shockwaves after a meteorite’s collision could affect systems all over the planet.
solarseven/Shutterstock.com
Research suggests a new threat to life on Earth from the meteorite’s crash: Via seismic waves, the impact triggered massive undersea eruptions, as big as any ever seen in our planet’s history.
Volcanologists often visit active volcanoes in order to observe eruptions and collect samples of lava and ash.
Flickr/MONUSCO Photos
Volcanologists study the formation and eruptions of volcanoes - surely one of the most interesting jobs around. However, it can also be very dangerous.
Around 60 volcanoes erupt in the average year. On any particular day, there are usually about 20 volcanoes erupting somewhere in the world. Naturally, they can’t all make headlines. But when there are…
The Bárðarbunga (or Bardarbunga) volcano has erupted, evoking memories of the 2010 Icelandic ash cloud that caused chaos across European and North American air routes. Dave McGarvie, a volcanologist at…