Volcanic ash is made of tiny crystal and rock fragments that during an eruption can reach as high as the cruising altitude of commercial aircraft, and that’s a concern for airlines.
The 2018 eruption of Kilauea volcano was preceded by damage of the magma plumbing system at the summit.
Courtesy of Grace Tobin, 60 Minutes
Compared to Earth, more “oomph” is required to bring magma to the surface of Mars, and this is probably why we haven’t seen any recent eruptions on the red planet.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
An ash plume rises from the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island.
AAP Image/CrowdSpark/Jillian Marohnic Volcano Hideaways
It feels as if volcanoes in our region are going off at a high rate right now - but it’s reasonably normal activity for the “Ring of Fire” belt running around the Asia Pacific.
‘Volcano forensics’ involves a mixture of modern day monitoring and analysis of past eruptions. Geologists use volcanic rocks as a kind of time capsule to assess what happened previously.
Where there’s smoke, there will be lava?
U.S. Geological Survey via AP