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98-469: The Alakai swamp is located at the center of a plateau formed by the activity of the shield volcano . Large flows of basalts and pyroclastics accumulated over time in horizontal beds within the caldera. The resulting rock formations beneath the Alakaʻi and Waiʻaleʻale area are poorly permeable to water. Among the 48 endangered species endemic to Kaua’i, 21 are only found in the montane wet ecosystem that includes

196-842: A mid-ocean ridge , such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge , has volcanoes caused by divergent tectonic plates whereas the Pacific Ring of Fire has volcanoes caused by convergent tectonic plates. Volcanoes can also form where there is stretching and thinning of the crust's plates, such as in the East African Rift , the Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field , and the Rio Grande rift in North America. Volcanism away from plate boundaries has been postulated to arise from upwelling diapirs from

294-442: A consequence of their particular magmatic composition. Of these four forms, shield volcanoes erupt the least viscous lavas. Whereas stratovolcanoes and lava domes are the product of highly viscous flows, and cinder cones are constructed of explosively eruptive tephra , shield volcanoes are the product of gentle effusive eruptions of highly fluid lavas that produce, over time, a broad, gently sloped eponymous "shield". Although

392-545: A far greater distance than those of other eruptive types before solidifying, forming extremely wide but relatively thin magmatic sheets often less than 1 m (3 ft) thick. Low volumes of such lavas layered over long periods of time are what slowly constructs the characteristically low, broad profile of a mature shield volcano. Also unlike other eruptive types, Hawaiian eruptions often occur at decentralized fissure vents , beginning with large "curtains of fire" that quickly die down and concentrate at specific locations on

490-457: A further 13 km (8 mi) below the waterline and into the crust, approximately 80,000 km (19,000 cu mi) of rock. Kīlauea , another Hawaiian shield volcano, is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth, with its most recent eruption occurring in 2021. The Galápagos Islands are an isolated set of volcanoes, consisting of shield volcanoes and lava plateaus, about 1,100 km (680 mi) west of Ecuador. They are driven by

588-437: A graduated spectrum, with much overlap between categories, and does not always fit neatly into only one of these three separate categories. The USGS defines a volcano as "erupting" whenever the ejection of magma from any point on the volcano is visible, including visible magma still contained within the walls of the summit crater. While there is no international consensus among volcanologists on how to define an active volcano,

686-443: A paper was published suggesting a new definition for the word 'volcano' that includes processes such as cryovolcanism . It suggested that a volcano be defined as 'an opening on a planet or moon's surface from which magma , as defined for that body, and/or magmatic gas is erupted.' This article mainly covers volcanoes on Earth. See § Volcanoes on other celestial bodies and cryovolcano for more information. The word volcano

784-572: A prominent feature on these volcanoes and account for their seemingly random volcanic structure. They are fueled by the movement of the Pacific Plate over the Hawaii hotspot and form a long chain of volcanoes, atolls , and seamounts 2,600 km (1,616 mi) long with a total volume of over 750,000 km (179,935 cu mi). The chain includes Mauna Loa, a shield volcano which stands 4,170 m (13,680 ft) above sea level and reaches

882-440: A single point. The main shield then forms, burying the smaller ones formed by the early eruptions with its lava. Icelandic shields are mostly small (~15 km (4 cu mi)), symmetrical (although this can be affected by surface topography), and characterized by eruptions from summit calderas. They are composed of either tholeiitic olivine or picritic basalt . The tholeiitic shields tend to be wider and shallower than

980-632: A volcano is largely determined by the composition of the lava it erupts. The viscosity (how fluid the lava is) and the amount of dissolved gas are the most important characteristics of magma, and both are largely determined by the amount of silica in the magma. Magma rich in silica is much more viscous than silica-poor magma, and silica-rich magma also tends to contain more dissolved gases. Lava can be broadly classified into four different compositions: Mafic lava flows show two varieties of surface texture: ʻAʻa (pronounced [ˈʔaʔa] ) and pāhoehoe ( [paːˈho.eˈho.e] ), both Hawaiian words. ʻAʻa

1078-555: A volcano is of a conical mountain, spewing lava and poisonous gases from a crater at its summit; however, this describes just one of the many types of volcano. The features of volcanoes are varied. The structure and behaviour of volcanoes depend on several factors. Some volcanoes have rugged peaks formed by lava domes rather than a summit crater while others have landscape features such as massive plateaus . Vents that issue volcanic material (including lava and ash ) and gases (mainly steam and magmatic gases) can develop anywhere on

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1176-465: A volcano that has experienced one or more eruptions that produced over 1,000 cubic kilometres (240 cu mi) of volcanic deposits in a single explosive event. Such eruptions occur when a very large magma chamber full of gas-rich, silicic magma is emptied in a catastrophic caldera -forming eruption. Ash flow tuffs emplaced by such eruptions are the only volcanic product with volumes rivalling those of flood basalts . Supervolcano eruptions, while

1274-456: Is Nyamuragira . Eruptions at the shield volcano are generally centered within the large summit caldera or on the numerous fissures and cinder cones on the volcano's flanks. Lava flows from the most recent century extend down the flanks more than 30 km (19 mi) from the summit, reaching as far as Lake Kivu . Erta Ale in Ethiopia is another active shield volcano and one of the few places in

1372-727: Is a volcanic field of over 60 cinder cones. Based on satellite images, it has been suggested that cinder cones might occur on other terrestrial bodies in the Solar system too; on the surface of Mars and the Moon. Stratovolcanoes (composite volcanoes) are tall conical mountains composed of lava flows and tephra in alternate layers, the strata that gives rise to the name. They are also known as composite volcanoes because they are created from multiple structures during different kinds of eruptions. Classic examples include Mount Fuji in Japan, Mayon Volcano in

1470-638: Is a shield volcano on the southwestern part of Isabela Island and is one of the most active in the Galapagos, with the last eruption between May and June 2008. The Geophysics Institute at the National Polytechnic School in Quito houses an international team of seismologists and volcanologists whose responsibility is to monitor Ecuador's numerous active volcanoes in the Andean Volcanic Belt and

1568-412: Is characterized by a rough, clinkery surface and is the typical texture of cooler basalt lava flows. Pāhoehoe is characterized by its smooth and often ropey or wrinkly surface and is generally formed from more fluid lava flows. Pāhoehoe flows are sometimes observed to transition to ʻaʻa flows as they move away from the vent, but never the reverse. More silicic lava flows take the form of block lava, where

1666-531: Is common in Hawaiʻi; most Hawaiian eruptions begin with a so-called "wall of fire" along a major fissure line before centralizing to a small number of points. This accounts for their asymmetrical shape, whereas Icelandic volcanoes follow a pattern of central eruptions dominated by summit calderas , causing the lava to be more evenly distributed or symmetrical. Most of what is currently known about shield volcanic eruptive character has been gleaned from studies done on

1764-554: Is derived from the name of Vulcano , a volcanic island in the Aeolian Islands of Italy whose name in turn comes from Vulcan , the god of fire in Roman mythology . The study of volcanoes is called volcanology , sometimes spelled vulcanology . According to the theory of plate tectonics, Earth's lithosphere , its rigid outer shell, is broken into sixteen larger and several smaller plates. These are in slow motion, due to convection in

1862-567: Is expressed using the volcanic explosivity index (VEI), which ranges from 0 for Hawaiian-type eruptions to 8 for supervolcanic eruptions. As of December 2022 , the Smithsonian Institution 's Global Volcanism Program database of volcanic eruptions in the Holocene Epoch (the last 11,700 years) lists 9,901 confirmed eruptions from 859 volcanoes. The database also lists 1,113 uncertain eruptions and 168 discredited eruptions for

1960-544: Is not a shield volcano. Shield volcanoes feature a gentle (usually 2° to 3°) slope that gradually steepens with elevation (reaching approximately 10°) before flattening near the summit, forming an overall upwardly convex shape. These slope characteristics have a correlation with age of the forming lava, with in the case of the Hawaiian chain, steepness increasing with age, as later lavas tend to be more alkali so are more viscous, with thicker flows, that travel less distance from

2058-524: Is one of the several tuyas in the area of the Tuya River and Tuya Range in northern British Columbia. Tuya Butte was the first such landform analysed and so its name has entered the geological literature for this kind of volcanic formation. The Tuya Mountains Provincial Park was recently established to protect this unusual landscape, which lies north of Tuya Lake and south of the Jennings River near

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2156-399: Is relatively smooth and flows with a ropey texture, and ʻaʻā flows which are denser, more viscous (and thus slower moving) and blockier. These lava flows can be anywhere between 2 and 20 m (10 and 70 ft) thick. ʻAʻā lava flows move through pressure— the partially solidified front of the flow steepens because of the mass of flowing lava behind it until it breaks off, after which

2254-466: Is typically low in silica, shield volcanoes are more common in oceanic than continental settings. The Hawaiian volcanic chain is a series of shield cones, and they are common in Iceland , as well. Lava domes are built by slow eruptions of highly viscous lava. They are sometimes formed within the crater of a previous volcanic eruption, as in the case of Mount St. Helens , but can also form independently, as in

2352-600: The Cascade Volcanoes or the Japanese Archipelago , or the eastern islands of Indonesia . Hotspots are volcanic areas thought to be formed by mantle plumes , which are hypothesized to be columns of hot material rising from the core-mantle boundary. As with mid-ocean ridges, the rising mantle rock experiences decompression melting which generates large volumes of magma. Because tectonic plates move across mantle plumes, each volcano becomes inactive as it drifts off

2450-474: The Galápagos hotspot , and are between approximately 4.2 million and 700,000 years of age. The largest island, Isabela , consists of six coalesced shield volcanoes, each delineated by a large summit caldera. Española , the oldest island, and Fernandina , the youngest, are also shield volcanoes, as are most of the other islands in the chain. The Galápagos Islands are perched on a large lava plateau known as

2548-606: The Mid-Atlantic Ridge , a divergent tectonic plate boundary in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, Iceland is the site of about 130 volcanoes of various types. Icelandic shield volcanoes are generally of Holocene age, between 5,000 and 10,000 years old. The volcanoes are also very narrow in distribution, occurring in two bands in the West and North Volcanic Zones. Like Hawaiian volcanoes, their formation initially begins with several eruptive centers before centralizing and concentrating at

2646-744: The Purico complex in Chile ; an example of a felsic shield is the Ilgachuz Range in British Columbia , Canada. Shield volcanoes are similar in origin to vast lava plateaus and flood basalts present in various parts of the world. These are eruptive features which occur along linear fissure vents and are distinguished from shield volcanoes by the lack of an identifiable primary eruptive center. Active shield volcanoes experience near-continuous eruptive activity over extremely long periods of time, resulting in

2744-591: The Solar System , including Olympus Mons on Mars and Sapas Mons on Venus . The term 'shield volcano' is taken from the German term Schildvulkan , coined by the Austrian geologist Eduard Suess in 1888 and which had been calqued into English by 1910. Shield volcanoes are distinguished from the three other major volcanic types— stratovolcanoes , lava domes , and cinder cones —by their structural form,

2842-491: The University of Houston 's William Sager announced the discovery of Tamu Massif , an enormous extinct submarine volcano, approximately 450 by 650 km (280 by 400 mi) in area, which dwarfs all previously known volcanoes on Earth. However, the extents of the volcano have not been confirmed. Although Tamu Massif was initially believed to be a shield volcano, Sanger and his colleagues acknowledged in 2019 that Tamu Massif

2940-792: The core–mantle boundary , 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi) deep within Earth. This results in hotspot volcanism , of which the Hawaiian hotspot is an example. Volcanoes are usually not created where two tectonic plates slide past one another. Large eruptions can affect atmospheric temperature as ash and droplets of sulfuric acid obscure the Sun and cool Earth's troposphere . Historically, large volcanic eruptions have been followed by volcanic winters which have caused catastrophic famines. Other planets besides Earth have volcanoes. For example, volcanoes are very numerous on Venus. Mars has significant volcanoes. In 2009,

3038-429: The crust of a planetary-mass object , such as Earth , that allows hot lava , volcanic ash , and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. The process that forms volcanoes is called volcanism . On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are diverging or converging , and because most of Earth's plate boundaries are underwater, most volcanoes are found underwater. For example,

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3136-824: The landform and may give rise to smaller cones such as Puʻu ʻŌʻō on a flank of Kīlauea in Hawaii. Volcanic craters are not always at the top of a mountain or hill and may be filled with lakes such as with Lake Taupō in New Zealand. Some volcanoes can be low-relief landform features, with the potential to be hard to recognize as such and be obscured by geological processes. Other types of volcano include cryovolcanoes (or ice volcanoes), particularly on some moons of Jupiter , Saturn , and Neptune ; and mud volcanoes , which are structures often not associated with known magmatic activity. Active mud volcanoes tend to involve temperatures much lower than those of igneous volcanoes except when

3234-421: The 1976–1979 Viking mission . The principal difference between the volcanoes of Mars and those on Earth is in terms of size; Martian volcanoes range in size up to 14 mi (23 km) high and 370 mi (595 km) in diameter, far larger than the 6 mi (10 km) high, 74 mi (119 km) wide Hawaiian shields. The highest of these, Olympus Mons , is the tallest known mountain on any planet in

3332-719: The Alakaʻi Swamp "offers the least hope for maintaining endemic honeycreepers in the face of malaria and climate change ". Among invertebrates, Drosophila sharpi , an endangered species of Hawaiian picture-wing flies, is known only from two populations in areas adjacent to the Alakaʻi Swamp. Approximately 88% of the Alakaʻi Wilderness Preserve is covered by a Metrosideros polymorpha (ʻōhiʻa) forest. The wet forest largely consists of native plants that are also found on other Hawaiian Islands. Notable species of endemic plants that are federally endangered and are found in

3430-559: The Alakaʻi Swamp and the summit of Mount Waiʻaleʻale. The Alakaʻi Wilderness is home to all of the six extant species of Kauai's endemic birds : Two other forest bird species that are found in the preserve, ‘Apapane and ‘I’iwi , also occur on other islands of Hawaii. At least five native forest bird species have gone extinct on the island and the remaining species have retreated to higher elevation in this protected area. Habitat loss and diseases carried by introduced mosquitoes (in particular avian malaria and avipoxvirus ) have decimated

3528-721: The Alakaʻi Wilderness in the 1980s. A 2002 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences compared the resilience of three ecosystems critical for the conservation of the remaining endemic bird species in Hawaii—the Hakalau National Wildlife Refuge on Big Island, the Hanawi Forest on Maui, and the Alakaʻi Swamp on Kaua’i. The study concluded that, of these three ecosystems,

3626-555: The Galapagos Islands. La Cumbre is an active shield volcano on Fernandina Island that has been erupting since April 11, 2009. The Galápagos islands are geologically young for such a big chain, and the pattern of their rift zones follows one of two trends, one north-northwest, and one east–west. The composition of the lavas of the Galápagos shields are strikingly similar to those of the Hawaiian volcanoes. Curiously, they do not form

3724-527: The Galápagos Platform. This platform creates a shallow water depth of 360 to 900 m (1,181 to 2,953 ft) at the base of the islands, which stretch over a 174 mi (280 km) diameter. Since Charles Darwin 's visit to the islands in 1835 during the second voyage of HMS Beagle , there have been over 60 recorded eruptions in the islands, from six different shield volcanoes. Of the 21 emergent volcanoes, 13 are considered active. Cerro Azul

3822-612: The Philippines, and Mount Vesuvius and Stromboli in Italy. Ash produced by the explosive eruption of stratovolcanoes has historically posed the greatest volcanic hazard to civilizations. The lavas of stratovolcanoes are higher in silica, and therefore much more viscous, than lavas from shield volcanoes. High-silica lavas also tend to contain more dissolved gas. The combination is deadly, promoting explosive eruptions that produce great quantities of ash, as well as pyroclastic surges like

3920-609: The USGS defines a volcano as active whenever subterranean indicators, such as earthquake swarms , ground inflation, or unusually high levels of carbon dioxide or sulfur dioxide are present. The USGS defines a dormant volcano as any volcano that is not showing any signs of unrest such as earthquake swarms, ground swelling, or excessive noxious gas emissions, but which shows signs that it could yet become active again. Many dormant volcanoes have not erupted for thousands of years, but have still shown signs that they may be likely to erupt again in

4018-726: The area include: Introduced species found in the area include: gold fern ( Pityrogramma calomelanos ), a type of sedge ( Mariscus meyenianus ), broadleaf rush ( Juncus planifolius ), narrow-leaved carpetgrass ( Axonopus fissifoilius ), vasey grass ( Paspalum urvillei ), Glenwood grass, ( Sacciolepis indica ), broomsedge ( Andropogon virginicus ), Kahili ginger ( Hedychium gardnerianum ), montbretia ( Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora ), firetree ( Myrica faya ), prickly Florida blackberry ( Rubus argutus ), thimbleberry ( Rubus rosifolius ), fireweed ( Erechtites valerianifolia ), and hairy cat's ear ( Hypochoeris radicata ). The 3.5-mile (5.6 km) Alakaʻi Swamp trail allows visitors to access

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4116-503: The boundary with the Yukon Territory . Mud volcanoes (mud domes) are formations created by geo-excreted liquids and gases, although several processes may cause such activity. The largest structures are 10 kilometres in diameter and reach 700 meters high. The material that is expelled in a volcanic eruption can be classified into three types: The concentrations of different volcanic gases can vary considerably from one volcano to

4214-402: The case of Lassen Peak . Like stratovolcanoes, they can produce violent, explosive eruptions, but the lava generally does not flow far from the originating vent. Cryptodomes are formed when viscous lava is forced upward causing the surface to bulge. The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens was an example; lava beneath the surface of the mountain created an upward bulge, which later collapsed down

4312-508: The central Mexican Michoacán–Guanajuato volcanic field average 340 m (1,100 ft) in height and 4,100 m (13,500 ft) in width, with an average slope angle of 9.4° and an average volume of 1.7 km (0.4 cu mi). Rift zones are a prevalent feature on shield volcanoes that is rare on other volcanic types. The large, decentralized shape of Hawaiian volcanoes as compared to their smaller, symmetrical Icelandic cousins can be attributed to rift eruptions. Fissure venting

4410-559: The endemic bird population and further restricted their range. While the honeycreeper population has continued to decline in the area, the Kaua’i ‘Elepaio has shown resistance to avian malaria. Two of the forest bird species that were declared extinct in 2021—the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō ( Moho braccatus ) and the Kāmaʻo ( Myadestes myadestinus , once the most common bird on Kauaʻi)—were sighted for the last time in

4508-772: The enormous area they cover, and subsequent concealment under vegetation and glacial deposits, supervolcanoes can be difficult to identify in the geologic record without careful geologic mapping . Known examples include Yellowstone Caldera in Yellowstone National Park and Valles Caldera in New Mexico (both western United States); Lake Taupō in New Zealand; Lake Toba in Sumatra , Indonesia; and Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania. Volcanoes that, though large, are not large enough to be called supervolcanoes, may also form calderas in

4606-431: The flow is covered with angular, vesicle-poor blocks. Rhyolitic flows typically consist largely of obsidian . Tephra is made when magma inside the volcano is blown apart by the rapid expansion of hot volcanic gases. Magma commonly explodes as the gas dissolved in it comes out of solution as the pressure decreases when it flows to the surface . These violent explosions produce particles of material that can then fly from

4704-534: The formation of a submarine volcano off the coast of Mayotte . Subglacial volcanoes develop underneath ice caps . They are made up of lava plateaus capping extensive pillow lavas and palagonite . These volcanoes are also called table mountains, tuyas , or (in Iceland) mobergs. Very good examples of this type of volcano can be seen in Iceland and in British Columbia . The origin of the term comes from Tuya Butte , which

4802-568: The future. In an article justifying the re-classification of Alaska's Mount Edgecumbe volcano from "dormant" to "active", volcanologists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory pointed out that the term "dormant" in reference to volcanoes has been deprecated over the past few decades and that "[t]he term "dormant volcano" is so little used and undefined in modern volcanology that the Encyclopedia of Volcanoes (2000) does not contain it in

4900-410: The general mass behind it moves forward. Though the top of the flow quickly cools down, the molten underbelly of the flow is buffered by the solidifying rock above it, and by this mechanism, ʻaʻā flows can sustain movement for long periods of time. Pāhoehoe flows, in contrast, move in more conventional sheets, or by the advancement of lava "toes" in snaking lava columns. Increasing viscosity on the part of

4998-461: The glossaries or index", however the USGS still widely employs the term. Previously a volcano was often considered to be extinct if there were no written records of its activity. Such a generalization is inconsistent with observation and deeper study, as has occurred recently with the unexpected eruption of the Chaitén volcano in 2008. Modern volcanic activity monitoring techniques, and improvements in

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5096-461: The gradual build-up of edifices that can reach extremely large dimensions. With the exclusion of flood basalts, mature shields are the largest volcanic features on Earth. The summit of the largest subaerial volcano in the world, Mauna Loa , lies 4,169 m (13,678 ft) above sea level , and the volcano, over 60 mi (100 km) wide at its base, is estimated to contain about 80,000 km (19,000 cu mi) of basalt. The mass of

5194-492: The interior of a continent and lead to rifting. Early stages of rifting are characterized by flood basalts and may progress to the point where a tectonic plate is completely split. A divergent plate boundary then develops between the two halves of the split plate. However, rifting often fails to completely split the continental lithosphere (such as in an aulacogen ), and failed rifts are characterized by volcanoes that erupt unusual alkali lava or carbonatites . Examples include

5292-633: The lava or shear stress on the part of local topography can morph a pāhoehoe flow into an ʻaʻā one, but the reverse never occurs. Although most shield volcanoes are by volume almost entirely Hawaiian and basaltic in origin, they are rarely exclusively so. Some volcanoes, such as Mount Wrangell in Alaska and Cofre de Perote in Mexico, exhibit large enough swings in their historical magmatic eruptive characteristics to cast strict categorical assignment in doubt; one geological study of de Perote went so far as to suggest

5390-419: The mid-oceanic ridge is above sea level, volcanic islands are formed, such as Iceland . Subduction zones are places where two plates, usually an oceanic plate and a continental plate, collide. The oceanic plate subducts (dives beneath the continental plate), forming a deep ocean trench just offshore. In a process called flux melting , water released from the subducting plate lowers the melting temperature of

5488-545: The modelling of the factors that produce eruptions, have helped the understanding of why volcanoes may remain dormant for a long time, and then become unexpectedly active again. The potential for eruptions, and their style, depend mainly upon the state of the magma storage system under the volcano, the eruption trigger mechanism and its timescale. For example, the Yellowstone volcano has a repose/recharge period of around 700,000 years, and Toba of around 380,000 years. Vesuvius

5586-415: The most dangerous type, are very rare; four are known from the last million years , and about 60 historical VEI 8 eruptions have been identified in the geologic record over millions of years. A supervolcano can produce devastation on a continental scale, and severely cool global temperatures for many years after the eruption due to the huge volumes of sulfur and ash released into the atmosphere. Because of

5684-755: The most prominent ones are situated along the Snake River in Idaho and the Columbia River in Washington and Oregon, where they have been measured to be over 1 mi (2 km) in thickness. Calderas are a common feature on shield volcanoes. They are formed and reformed over the volcano's lifespan. Long eruptive periods form cinder cones, which then collapse over time to form calderas. The calderas are often filled up by progressive eruptions, or formed elsewhere, and this cycle of collapse and regeneration takes place throughout

5782-438: The mud volcano is actually a vent of an igneous volcano. Volcanic fissure vents are flat, linear fractures through which lava emerges. Shield volcanoes, so named for their broad, shield-like profiles, are formed by the eruption of low-viscosity lava that can flow a great distance from a vent. They generally do not explode catastrophically but are characterized by relatively gentle effusive eruptions . Since low-viscosity magma

5880-612: The nature preserve. The State of Hawaii Parks Division built an extensive boardwalk along most of the trail and elevated above the swamp as a measure to protect this highly sensitive habitat. The trail can be reached via the Pihea Vista trail, which is connected to the Puʻu o Kila lookout on Waimea Canyon road. This road is located behind a gate that is directly next to the Kalalau Valley lookout. Due to frequent rainfall, potholes are formed and

5978-452: The next. Water vapour is typically the most abundant volcanic gas, followed by carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide . Other principal volcanic gases include hydrogen sulfide , hydrogen chloride , and hydrogen fluoride . A large number of minor and trace gases are also found in volcanic emissions, for example hydrogen , carbon monoxide , halocarbons , organic compounds, and volatile metal chlorides. The form and style of an eruption of

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6076-818: The north side of the mountain. Cinder cones result from eruptions of mostly small pieces of scoria and pyroclastics (both resemble cinders, hence the name of this volcano type) that build up around the vent. These can be relatively short-lived eruptions that produce a cone-shaped hill perhaps 30 to 400 metres (100 to 1,300 ft) high. Most cinder cones erupt only once and some may be found in monogenetic volcanic fields that may include other features that form when magma comes into contact with water such as maar explosion craters and tuff rings . Cinder cones may form as flank vents on larger volcanoes, or occur on their own. Parícutin in Mexico and Sunset Crater in Arizona are examples of cinder cones. In New Mexico , Caja del Rio

6174-541: The ocean surface as new islands or floating pumice rafts . In May and June 2018, a multitude of seismic signals were detected by earthquake monitoring agencies all over the world. They took the form of unusual humming sounds, and some of the signals detected in November of that year had a duration of up to 20 minutes. An oceanographic research campaign in May 2019 showed that the previously mysterious humming noises were caused by

6272-420: The ocean surface, due to the rapid cooling effect and increased buoyancy in water (as compared to air), which often causes volcanic vents to form steep pillars on the ocean floor. Hydrothermal vents are common near these volcanoes, and some support peculiar ecosystems based on chemotrophs feeding on dissolved minerals. Over time, the formations created by submarine volcanoes may become so large that they break

6370-471: The ocean's surface. In the deep ocean basins, the tremendous weight of the water prevents the explosive release of steam and gases; however, submarine eruptions can be detected by hydrophones and by the discoloration of water because of volcanic gases . Pillow lava is a common eruptive product of submarine volcanoes and is characterized by thick sequences of discontinuous pillow-shaped masses which form underwater. Even large submarine eruptions may not disturb

6468-462: The one that destroyed the city of Saint-Pierre in Martinique in 1902. They are also steeper than shield volcanoes, with slopes of 30–35° compared to slopes of generally 5–10°, and their loose tephra are material for dangerous lahars . Large pieces of tephra are called volcanic bombs . Big bombs can measure more than 1.2 metres (4 ft) across and weigh several tons. A supervolcano is defined as

6566-425: The overlying mantle wedge, thus creating magma . This magma tends to be extremely viscous because of its high silica content, so it often does not reach the surface but cools and solidifies at depth . When it does reach the surface, however, a volcano is formed. Thus subduction zones are bordered by chains of volcanoes called volcanic arcs . Typical examples are the volcanoes in the Pacific Ring of Fire , such as

6664-478: The picritic shields. They do not follow the pattern of caldera growth and destruction that other shield volcanoes do; caldera may form, but they generally do not disappear. Bingöl Mountains are one of the shield volcanoes in Turkey . In East Africa, volcanic activity is generated by the development of the East African Rift and from nearby hotspots. Some volcanoes interact with both. Shield volcanoes are found near

6762-595: The plume, and new volcanoes are created where the plate advances over the plume. The Hawaiian Islands are thought to have been formed in such a manner, as has the Snake River Plain , with the Yellowstone Caldera being part of the North American plate currently above the Yellowstone hotspot . However, the mantle plume hypothesis has been questioned. Sustained upwelling of hot mantle rock can develop under

6860-502: The rift and off the coast of Africa, although stratovolcanoes are more common. Although sparsely studied, the fact that all of its volcanoes are of Holocene age reflects how young the volcanic center is. One interesting characteristic of East African volcanism is a penchant for the formation of lava lakes ; these semi-permanent lava bodies, extremely rare elsewhere, form in about 9% of African eruptions. The most active shield volcano in Africa

6958-432: The road is often closed. The end of this trail overlooks Hanalei Bay in the distance. Shield volcano A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a shield lying on the ground. It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity ) lava , which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more viscous lava erupted from a stratovolcano . Repeated eruptions result in

7056-435: The same time interval. Volcanoes vary greatly in their level of activity, with individual volcanic systems having an eruption recurrence ranging from several times a year to once in tens of thousands of years. Volcanoes are informally described as erupting , active , dormant , or extinct , but the definitions of these terms are not entirely uniform among volcanologists. The level of activity of most volcanoes falls upon

7154-563: The same volcanic "line" associated with most hotspots. They are not alone in this regard; the Cobb–Eickelberg Seamount chain in the North Pacific is another example of such a delineated chain. In addition, there is no clear pattern of age between the volcanoes, suggesting a complicated, irregular pattern of creation. How the islands were formed remains a geological mystery, although several theories have been proposed. Located over

7252-485: The same way; they are often described as "caldera volcanoes". Submarine volcanoes are common features of the ocean floor. Volcanic activity during the Holocene Epoch has been documented at only 119 submarine volcanoes, but there may be more than one million geologically young submarine volcanoes on the ocean floor. In shallow water, active volcanoes disclose their presence by blasting steam and rocky debris high above

7350-424: The seafloor. The Hawaiian and Galápagos shields, and other hotspot shields like them, are constructed of oceanic island basalt. Their lavas are characterized by high levels of sodium , potassium , and aluminium . Features common in shield volcanism include lava tubes . Lava tubes are cave-like volcanic straights formed by the hardening of overlaying lava. These structures help further the propagation of lava, as

7448-402: The site of one of the longest-lasting rift eruptions in known history. The Hawaiian shield volcanoes are not located near any plate boundaries ; the volcanic activity of this island chain is distributed by the movement of the oceanic plate over an upwelling of magma known as a hotspot . Over millions of years, the tectonic movement that moves continents also creates long volcanic trails across

7546-460: The solar system. Venus has over 150 shield volcanoes which are much flatter, with a larger surface area than those found on Earth, some having a diameter of more than 700 km (430 mi). Although the majority of these are long extinct it has been suggested, from observations by the Venus Express spacecraft , that many may still be active. Volcano A volcano is a rupture in

7644-622: The solidified erupted material that makes up the mantle of a volcano may be stripped away that its inner anatomy becomes apparent. Using the metaphor of biological anatomy , such a process is called "dissection". Cinder Hill , a feature of Mount Bird on Ross Island , Antarctica , is a prominent example of a dissected volcano. Volcanoes that were, on a geological timescale, recently active, such as for example Mount Kaimon in southern Kyūshū , Japan , tend to be undissected. Eruption styles are broadly divided into magmatic, phreatomagmatic, and phreatic eruptions. The intensity of explosive volcanism

7742-460: The steady accumulation of broad sheets of lava, building up the shield volcano's distinctive form. Shield volcanoes are found wherever fluid, low- silica lava reaches the surface of a rocky planet. However, they are most characteristic of ocean island volcanism associated with hot spots or with continental rift volcanism. They include the largest active volcanoes on Earth, such as Mauna Loa . Giant shield volcanoes are found on other planets of

7840-489: The summit vents. In height they are typically about one twentieth their width. Although the general form of a "typical" shield volcano varies little worldwide, there are regional differences in their size and morphological characteristics. Typical shield volcanoes found in California and Oregon measure 3 to 4 mi (5 to 6 km) in diameter and 1,500 to 2,000 ft (500 to 600 m) in height, while shield volcanoes in

7938-1000: The surface wells up), such as the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain and the Galápagos Islands , or over more conventional rift zones, such as the Icelandic shields and the shield volcanoes of East Africa. Although shield volcanoes are not usually associated with subduction , they can occur over subduction zones. Many examples are found in California and Oregon, including Prospect Peak in Lassen Volcanic National Park , as well as Pelican Butte and Belknap Crater in Oregon. Many shield volcanoes are found in ocean basins , such as Kīlauea in Hawaii, although they can be found inland as well—East Africa being one example of this. The largest and most prominent shield volcano chain in

8036-406: The surrounding areas, and initially not seismically monitored before its unanticipated and catastrophic eruption of 1991. Two other examples of volcanoes that were once thought to be extinct, before springing back into eruptive activity were the long-dormant Soufrière Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat , thought to be extinct until activity resumed in 1995 (turning its capital Plymouth into

8134-440: The surrounding heat, and hit the ground still hot, accumulating into spatter cones . If eruptive rates are high enough, they may even form splatter-fed lava flows. Hawaiian eruptions are often extremely long-lived; Puʻu ʻŌʻō , a cinder cone of Kīlauea , erupted continuously from January 3, 1983, until April 2018. Flows from Hawaiian eruptions can be divided into two types by their structural characteristics: pāhoehoe lava which

8232-420: The term "compound shield-like volcano" instead. Most mature shield volcanoes have multiple cinder cones on their flanks, the results of tephra ejections common during incessant activity and markers of currently and formerly active sites on the volcano. An example of these parasitic cones is at Puʻu ʻŌʻō on Kīlauea —continuous activity ongoing since 1983 has built up a 2,290 ft (698 m) tall cone at

8330-513: The term is generally applied to basaltic shields, it has also at times been applied to rarer scutiform volcanoes of differing magmatic composition—principally pyroclastic shields , formed by the accumulation of fragmentary material from particularly powerful explosive eruptions, and rarer felsic lava shields formed by unusually fluid felsic magmas. Examples of pyroclastic shields include Billy Mitchell volcano in Papua New Guinea and

8428-434: The theory of plate tectonics. For example, some volcanoes are polygenetic with more than one period of activity during their history; other volcanoes that become extinct after erupting exactly once are monogenetic (meaning "one life") and such volcanoes are often grouped together in a geographical region. At the mid-ocean ridges , two tectonic plates diverge from one another as hot mantle rock creeps upwards beneath

8526-444: The thinned oceanic crust . The decrease of pressure in the rising mantle rock leads to adiabatic expansion and the partial melting of the rock, causing volcanism and creating new oceanic crust. Most divergent plate boundaries are at the bottom of the oceans, and so most volcanic activity on Earth is submarine, forming new seafloor . Black smokers (also known as deep sea vents) are evidence of this kind of volcanic activity. Where

8624-431: The underlying ductile mantle , and most volcanic activity on Earth takes place along plate boundaries, where plates are converging (and lithosphere is being destroyed) or are diverging (and new lithosphere is being created). During the development of geological theory, certain concepts that allowed the grouping of volcanoes in time, place, structure and composition have developed that ultimately have had to be explained in

8722-400: The volcano is so great that it has slumped the crust beneath it a further 8 km (5 mi). Accounting for this subsidence and for the height of the volcano above the sea floor , the "true" height of Mauna Loa from the start of its eruptive history is about 17,170 m (56,000 ft). Mount Everest , by comparison, is 8,848 m (29,029 ft) in height. In 2013, a team led by

8820-465: The volcano's lifespan. Interactions between water and lava at shield volcanoes can cause some eruptions to become hydrovolcanic . These explosive eruptions are drastically different from the usual shield volcanic activity and are especially prevalent at the waterbound volcanoes of the Hawaiian Isles . Shield volcanoes are found worldwide. They can form over hotspots (points where magma from below

8918-442: The volcano's rift zones. Central-vent eruptions, meanwhile, often take the form of large lava fountains (both continuous and sporadic), which can reach heights of hundreds of meters or more. The particles from lava fountains usually cool in the air before hitting the ground, resulting in the accumulation of cindery scoria fragments; however, when the air is especially thick with pyroclasts , they cannot cool off fast enough because of

9016-492: The volcano. Solid particles smaller than 2 mm in diameter ( sand-sized or smaller) are called volcanic ash. Tephra and other volcaniclastics (shattered volcanic material) make up more of the volume of many volcanoes than do lava flows. Volcaniclastics may have contributed as much as a third of all sedimentation in the geologic record. The production of large volumes of tephra is characteristic of explosive volcanism. Through natural processes, mainly erosion , so much of

9114-433: The volcanoes of Hawaiʻi Island , by far the most intensively studied of all shields because of their scientific accessibility; the island lends its name to the slow-moving, effusive eruptions typical of shield volcanism, known as Hawaiian eruptions . These eruptions, the least explosive of volcanic events, are characterized by the effusive emission of highly fluid basaltic lavas with low gaseous content . These lavas travel

9212-424: The volcanoes of the East African Rift . A volcano needs a reservoir of molten magma (e.g. a magma chamber), a conduit to allow magma to rise through the crust, and a vent to allow the magma to escape above the surface as lava. The erupted volcanic material (lava and tephra) that is deposited around the vent is known as a volcanic edifice , typically a volcanic cone or mountain. The most common perception of

9310-479: The walls of the tube insulate the lava within. Lava tubes can account for a large portion of shield volcano activity; for example, an estimated 58% of the lava forming Kīlauea comes from lava tubes. In some shield volcano eruptions, basaltic lava pours out of a long fissure instead of a central vent, and shrouds the countryside with a long band of volcanic material in the form of a broad plateau . Plateaus of this type exist in Iceland, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho;

9408-717: The world is the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain, a chain of hotspot volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean. The volcanoes follow a distinct evolutionary pattern of growth and death. The chain contains at least 43 major volcanoes, and Meiji Seamount at its terminus near the Kuril–Kamchatka Trench is 85 million years old. The youngest part of the chain is Hawaii, where the volcanoes are characterized by frequent rift eruptions, their large size (thousands of km in volume), and their rough, decentralized shape. Rift zones are

9506-682: The world with a permanent lava lake, which has been active since at least 1967, and possibly since 1906. Other volcanic centers include Menengai , a massive shield caldera, and Mount Marsabit in Kenya. Shield volcanoes are not limited to Earth; they have been found on Mars , Venus , and Jupiter's moon, Io . The shield volcanoes of Mars are very similar to the shield volcanoes on Earth. On both planets, they have gently sloping flanks, collapse craters along their central structure, and are built of highly fluid lavas. Volcanic features on Mars were observed long before they were first studied in detail during

9604-421: Was described by Roman writers as having been covered with gardens and vineyards before its unexpected eruption of 79 CE , which destroyed the towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii . Accordingly, it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish between an extinct volcano and a dormant (inactive) one. Long volcano dormancy is known to decrease awareness. Pinatubo was an inconspicuous volcano, unknown to most people in

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