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55-610: Tromen is a stratovolcano in western Argentina . It rises above the older caldera of the Volcán Negro del Tromen. This article about a place in Neuquén Province , Argentina is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Stratovolcano A stratovolcano , also known as a composite volcano , is a conical volcano built up by many alternating layers ( strata ) of hardened lava and tephra . Unlike shield volcanoes , stratovolcanoes are characterized by

110-480: A convective material circulation in the mantle. Hot material rises (in a mantle plume ) while cooler (and heavier) material sinks downward. Downward motion of material occurs at convergent plate boundaries called subduction zones. Locations on the surface that lie over plumes are predicted to have high elevation (because of the buoyancy of the hotter, less-dense plume beneath) and to exhibit hot spot volcanism . The volcanism often attributed to deep mantle plumes

165-747: A 4-inch thick ash layer can weigh 120–200 pounds and can get twice as heavy when wet. Wet ash also poses a risk to electronics due to its conductive nature. Dense clouds of hot volcanic ash can be expelled due to the collapse of an eruptive column , or laterally due to the partial collapse of a volcanic edifice or lava dome during explosive eruptions . These clouds are known as pyroclastic surges and in addition to ash , they contain hot lava , pumice , rock , and volcanic gas . Pyroclastic surges flow at speeds over 50 mph and are at temperatures between 200 °C – 700 °C. These surges can cause major damage to property and people in their path. Lava flows from stratovolcanoes are generally not

220-474: A fast moving mudflow . Lahars are typically about 60% sediment and 40% water. Depending on the abundance of volcanic debris the lahar can be fluid or thick like concrete. Lahars have the strength and speed to flatten structures and cause great bodily harm, gaining speeds up to dozens of kilometers per hour. In the 1985 eruption of Nevado del Ruiz in Colombia , Pyroclastic surges melted snow and ice atop

275-430: A few decades beneath both oceanic and continental lithosphere . Exploration can also be aided through computer simulations of the evolution of the mantle. In 2009, a supercomputer application provided new insight into the distribution of mineral deposits, especially isotopes of iron , from when the mantle developed 4.5 billion years ago. In 2023, JOIDES Resolution recovered cores of what appeared to be rock from

330-515: A final intermediate composition . When the magma nears the top surface, it pools in a magma chamber within the crust below the stratovolcano. The processes that trigger the final eruption remain a question for further research. Possible mechanisms include: These internal triggers may be modified by external triggers such as sector collapse , earthquakes , or interactions with groundwater . Some of these triggers operate only under limited conditions. For example, sector collapse (where part of

385-448: A fluid on long timescales, with permanent plastic deformation accommodated by the movement of point, line, and/or planar defects through the solid crystals composing the mantle. Estimates for the viscosity of the upper mantle range between 10 and 10 Pa·s , depending on depth, temperature, composition, state of stress, and numerous other factors. Thus, the upper mantle can only flow very slowly. However, when large forces are applied to

440-458: A nomenclature introduced over 50 years ago by the geophysicist Keith Bullen . D″ may consist of material from subducted slabs that descended and came to rest at the core–mantle boundary or from a new mineral polymorph discovered in perovskite called post-perovskite. Earthquakes at shallow depths are a result of faulting; however, below about 50 km (30 mi) the hot, high pressure conditions ought to inhibit further seismicity. The mantle

495-738: A result of intraplate volcanism on oceanic islands far from plate boundaries. Examples are Teide in the Canary Islands , and Pico do Fogo in Cape Verde . Stratovolcanoes in the East African Rift include Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania, and Longonot in Kenya. Subduction zone volcanoes form when hydrous minerals are pulled down into the mantle on the slab. These hydrous minerals, such as chlorite and serpentine , release their water into

550-461: A significant threat to humans or animals because the highly viscous lava moves slowly enough for everyone to evacuate. Most deaths attributed to lava are due to related causes such as explosions and asphyxiation from toxic gas . Lava flows can bury homes and farms in thick volcanic rock which greatly reduces property value. However, not all stratovolcanoes erupt viscous and sticky lava . Nyiragongo , near Lake Kivu in central Africa ,

605-552: A steep profile with a summit crater and explosive eruptions. Some have collapsed summit craters called calderas . The lava flowing from stratovolcanoes typically cools and solidifies before spreading far, due to high viscosity . The magma forming this lava is often felsic , having high to intermediate levels of silica (as in rhyolite , dacite , or andesite ), with lesser amounts of less viscous mafic magma . Extensive felsic lava flows are uncommon, but can travel as far as 8 km (5 mi). The term composite volcano

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660-527: Is a passive release of gas during periods of dormancy. As per the above examples, while eruptions like Mount Unzen have caused deaths and local damage, the impact of the June 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo was seen globally. The eruptive columns reached heights of 40 km and dumped 17 megatons of SO 2 into the lower stratosphere . The aerosols that formed from the sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), and other gases dispersed around

715-467: Is alternatively explained by passive extension of the crust, permitting magma to leak to the surface: the plate hypothesis . The convection of the Earth's mantle is a chaotic process (in the sense of fluid dynamics ), which is thought to be an integral part of the motion of plates. Plate motion should not be confused with continental drift which applies purely to the movement of the crustal components of

770-399: Is considered to be viscous and incapable of brittle faulting. However, in subduction zones, earthquakes are observed down to 670 km (420 mi). A number of mechanisms have been proposed to explain this phenomenon, including dehydration, thermal runaway, and phase change. The geothermal gradient can be lowered where cool material from the surface sinks downward, increasing the strength of

825-409: Is far from linear and shows layers with dramatically decreased viscosity, in particular in the upper mantle and at the boundary with the core. The mantle within about 200 km (120 mi) above the core–mantle boundary appears to have distinctly different seismic properties than the mantle at slightly shallower depths; this unusual mantle region just above the core is called D″ ("D double-prime"),

880-451: Is the most famous example of a hazardous stratovolcano eruption. It completely smothered the nearby ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum with thick deposits of pyroclastic surges and pumice ranging from 6–7 meters deep. Pompeii had 10,000–20,000 inhabitants at the time of eruption. Mount Vesuvius is recognized as one of the most dangerous of the world's volcanoes, due to its capacity for powerful explosive eruptions coupled with

935-450: Is typically between 700 and 1,200 °C (1,300–2,200 °F). Volcanic bombs are masses of unconsolidated rock and lava that are ejected during an eruption. Volcanic bombs are classified as larger than 64mm (2.5 inches). Anything below 64mm is classified as a volcanic block . When erupted Bombs are still molten and partially cool and solidify on their descent. They can form ribbon or oval shapes that can also flatten on impact with

990-990: Is used because the strata are usually mixed and uneven instead of neat layers. They are among the most common types of volcanoes; more than 700 stratovolcanoes have erupted lava during the Holocene Epoch (the last 11,700 years), and many older, now extinct, stratovolcanoes erupted lava as far back as Archean times. Stratovolcanoes are typically found in subduction zones but they also occur in other geological settings. Two examples of stratovolcanoes famous for catastrophic eruptions are Krakatoa in Indonesia (which erupted in 1883 claiming 36,000 lives) and Mount Vesuvius in Italy (which erupted in 79 A.D killing an estimated 2,000 people). In modern times, Mount St. Helens (1980) in Washington State , US, and Mount Pinatubo (1991) in

1045-403: Is very dangerous because its magma has an unusually low silica content , making it much less viscous than other stratovolcanoes. Low viscosity lava can generate massive lava fountains , while lava of thicker viscosity can solidify within the vent, creating a volcanic plug . Volcanic plugs can trap gas and create pressure in the magma chamber, resulting in violent eruptions. Lava

1100-576: The Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling (JOIDES), whose advisory group consisted of 250 distinguished scientists from academic institutions, government agencies, and private industry from all over the world. The Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) continued exploration from 1985 to 2003 when it was replaced by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP). On 5 March 2007, a team of scientists on board

1155-572: The Philippines have erupted catastrophically, but with fewer deaths. Stratovolcanoes are common at subduction zones, forming chains and clusters along plate tectonic boundaries where an oceanic crust plate is drawn under a continental crust plate (continental arc volcanism, e.g. Cascade Range , Andes , Campania ) or another oceanic crust plate ( island arc volcanism, e.g. Japan , Philippines , Aleutian Islands ). Stratovolcanoes also occur in some other geological settings, for example as

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1210-626: The RRS James Cook embarked on a voyage to an area of the Atlantic seafloor where the mantle lies exposed without any crust covering, midway between the Cape Verde Islands and the Caribbean Sea . The exposed site lies approximately three kilometres beneath the ocean surface and covers thousands of square kilometres. A relatively difficult attempt to retrieve samples from the Earth's mantle

1265-455: The University of California, San Diego , DSDP provided crucial data to support the seafloor spreading hypothesis and helped to prove the theory of plate tectonics . Glomar Challenger conducted the drilling operations. DSDP was the first of three international scientific ocean drilling programs that have operated over more than 40 years. Scientific planning was conducted under the auspices of

1320-891: The magma is too viscous to allow easy escape of volcanic gases . As a consequence, the tremendous internal pressures of the trapped volcanic gases remain and intermingle in the pasty magma . Following the breaching of the vent and the opening of the crater, the magma degasses explosively. The magma and gases blast out with high speed and full force. Since 1600 CE , nearly 300,000 people have been killed by volcanic eruptions . Most deaths were caused by pyroclastic flows and lahars , deadly hazards that often accompany explosive eruptions of subduction-zone stratovolcanoes. Pyroclastic flows are swift, avalanche-like, ground-sweeping, incandescent mixtures of hot volcanic debris, fine ash , fragmented lava , and superheated gases that can travel at speeds over 150 km/h (90 mph). Around 30,000 people were killed by pyroclastic flows during

1375-443: The mantle which decreases its melting point by 60 to 100 °C. The release of water from hydrated minerals is termed " dewatering ", and occurs at specific pressures and temperatures for each mineral, as the plate descends to greater depths. This allows the mantle to partially melt and generate magma . This is called flux melting . The magma then rises through the crust , incorporating silica-rich crustal rock, leading to

1430-607: The 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée on the island of Martinique in the Caribbean . During March and April 1982, El Chichón in the State of Chiapas in southeastern Mexico , erupted 3 times, causing the worst volcanic disaster in that country's history and killied more than 2,000 people in pyroclastic flows . Two Decade Volcanoes that erupted in 1991 provide examples of stratovolcano hazards. On 15 June, Mount Pinatubo erupted and caused an ash cloud to shoot 40 km (25 mi) into

1485-481: The 1982 eruption of Galunggung in Java , British Airways Flight 9 flew into the ash cloud, causing it to sustain temporary engine failure and structural damage. Although no crashes have happened due to ash, more than 60, mostly commercial aircraft , have been damaged. Some of these incidents resulted in emergency landings. Ashfalls are a threat to health when inhaled and are also a threat to property. A square yard of

1540-585: The 5,321 m (17,457 ft) high Andean volcano. The ensuing lahar killed 25,000 people and flooded the city of Armero and nearby settlements. As a volcano forms, several different gases mix with magma in the volcanic chamber. During an eruption the gases are then released into the atmosphere which can lead to toxic human exposure. The most abundant of these gases is H 2 O ( water ) followed by CO 2 ( carbon dioxide ), SO 2 ( sulfur dioxide ), H 2 S ( hydrogen sulfide ), and HF ( hydrogen fluoride ). If at concentrations of more than 3% in

1595-455: The Moon-forming giant impact . The chemical composition of the mantle is difficult to determine with a high degree of certainty because it is largely inaccessible. Rare exposures of mantle rocks occur in ophiolites , where sections of oceanic lithosphere have been obducted onto a continent. Mantle rocks are also sampled as xenoliths within basalts or kimberlites . Most estimates of

1650-816: The air, when breathed in CO 2 can cause dizziness and difficulty breathing. At more than 15% concentration CO 2 causes death. CO 2 can settle into depressions in the land, leading to deadly, odorless pockets of gas. SO 2 classified as a respiratory, skin, and eye irritant if come into contact with. It is known for its pungent egg smell and role in ozone depletion and has the potential to cause acid rain downwind of an eruption. H 2 S has an even stronger odor than SO 2 as well as being even more toxic. Exposure for less than an hour at concentrations of over 500 ppm causes death. HF and similar species can coat ash particles and once deposited can poison soil and water. Gases are also emitted during volcanic degassing, which

1705-741: The air. It produced large pyroclastic surges and lahar floods that caused a lot of damage to the surrounding area. Pinatubo , located in Central Luzon just 90 km (56 mi) west-northwest of Manila , had been dormant for six centuries before the 1991 eruption. This eruption was one of the 2nd largest in the 20th century. It produced a large volcanic ash cloud that affected global temperatures, lowering them in areas as much as .5 °C. The volcanic ash cloud consisted of 22 million tons of SO 2 which combined with water droplets to create sulfuric acid . In 1991 Japan's Unzen Volcano also erupted, after 200 years of inactivity. It's located on

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1760-429: The asthenosphere. Below the asthenosphere, the mantle is again relatively rigid. The Earth's mantle is divided into three major layers defined by sudden changes in seismic velocity: The lower ~200 km of the lower mantle constitutes the D" ( D-double-prime ) layer, a region with anomalous seismic properties. This region also contains large low-shear-velocity provinces and ultra low velocity zones . The top of

1815-410: The continents. The movements of the lithosphere and the underlying mantle are coupled since descending lithosphere is an essential component of convection in the mantle. The observed continental drift is a complicated relationship between the forces causing oceanic lithosphere to sink and the movements within Earth's mantle. Although there is a tendency to larger viscosity at greater depth, this relation

1870-409: The crust and mantle while its position and progress are tracked by acoustic signals generated in the rocks. The probe consists of an outer sphere of tungsten about one metre in diameter with a cobalt-60 interior acting as a radioactive heat source. It was calculated that such a probe will reach the oceanic Moho in less than 6 months and attain minimum depths of well over 100 km (62 mi) in

1925-540: The flank of a volcano collapses in a massive landslide) can only trigger the eruption of a very shallow magma chamber . Magma differentiation and thermal expansion also are ineffective as triggers for eruptions from deep magma chambers . In recorded history , explosive eruptions at subduction zone ( convergent-boundary ) volcanoes have posed the greatest hazard to civilizations. Subduction-zone stratovolcanoes, such as Mount St. Helens , Mount Etna and Mount Pinatubo , typically erupt with explosive force because

1980-478: The ground. Volcanic Bombs are associated with Strombolian and Vulcanian eruptions and basaltic lava . Ejection velocities ranging from 200 to 400 m/s have been recorded causing volcanic bombs to be destructive. Lahars (from a Javanese term for volcanic mudflows) are a mixture of volcanic debris and water. Lahars can result from heavy rainfall during or before the eruption or interaction with ice and snow. Meltwater mixes with volcanic debris causing

2035-458: The high population density of the surrounding Metropolitan Naples area (totaling about 3.6 million inhabitants). In addition to potentially affecting the climate, volcanic ash clouds from explosive eruptions pose a serious hazard to aviation . Volcanic ash clouds consist of ash which is made of silt or sand sized pieces of rock, mineral, volcanic glass . Ash grains are jagged, abrasive, and don't dissolve in water. For example, during

2090-484: The hypothesis that the transition zone may host a large quantity of water. At the base of the transition zone, ringwoodite decomposes into bridgmanite (formerly called magnesium silicate perovskite), and ferropericlase. Garnet also becomes unstable at or slightly below the base of the transition zone. The lower mantle is composed primarily of bridgmanite and ferropericlase , with minor amounts of calcium perovskite , calcium-ferrite structured oxide, and stishovite . In

2145-500: The island of Kyushu about 40 km (25 mi) east of Nagasaki . Beginning in June, a newly formed lava dome repeatedly collapsed. This generated a pyroclastic flow that flowed down the mountain's slopes at speeds as high as 200 km/h (120 mph). The 1991 eruption of Mount Unzen was one of the worst volcanic disasters in Japan's history, once killing more than 15,000 people in 1792. The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD

2200-427: The lowermost ~200 km (120 mi) of the mantle, bridgmanite isochemically transforms into post-perovskite. Seismic images of Earth’s interior have revealed in the lowermost mantle two continent-sized anomalies with low seismic velocities . These zones are denser and likely compositionally different from the surrounding mantle. These anomalies may represent buried relics of Theia mantle material remaining after

2255-483: The mantle composition are based on rocks that sample only the uppermost mantle. There is debate as to whether the rest of the mantle, especially the lower mantle, has the same bulk composition. The mantle's composition has changed through the Earth's history due to the extraction of magma that solidified to form oceanic crust and continental crust. It has also been proposed in a 2018 study that an exotic form of water known as ice VII can form from supercritical water in

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2310-446: The mantle increases from a few hundred megapascals at the Moho to 139  GPa (20,200,000  psi ; 1,370,000  atm ) at the core-mantle boundary. Because of the temperature difference between the Earth's surface and outer core and the ability of the crystalline rocks at high pressure and temperature to undergo slow, creeping, viscous-like deformation over millions of years, there is

2365-467: The mantle is defined by a sudden increase in seismic velocity, which was first noted by Andrija Mohorovičić in 1909; this boundary is now referred to as the Mohorovičić discontinuity or "Moho". The upper mantle is dominantly peridotite , composed primarily of variable proportions of the minerals olivine , clinopyroxene , orthopyroxene , and an aluminous phase. The aluminous phase is plagioclase in

2420-416: The mantle when diamonds containing pressurized water bubbles move upward, cooling the water to the conditions needed for ice VII to form. In the mantle, temperatures range from approximately 500 K (230 °C; 440 °F) at the upper boundary with the crust to approximately 4,200 K (3,900 °C; 7,100 °F) at the core-mantle boundary . The temperature of the mantle increases rapidly in the thermal boundary layers at

2475-456: The rigid lithosphere comprising the uppermost mantle (the lithospheric mantle), and the more ductile asthenosphere , separated by the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary . Lithosphere underlying ocean crust has a thickness of around 100 km (62 mi), whereas lithosphere underlying continental crust generally has a thickness of 150–200 km (93–124 mi). The lithosphere and overlying crust make up tectonic plates , which move over

2530-460: The size of Mount Pinatubo affected the weather for a few years; with warmer winters and cooler summers observed. A similar phenomenon occurred in the April 1815, the eruption of Mount Tambora on Sumbawa island in Indonesia . The Mount Tambora eruption is recognized as the most powerful eruption in recorded history. Its eruption cloud lowered global temperatures as much as 0.4 to 0.7 °C. In

2585-422: The surrounding mantle, and allowing earthquakes to occur down to a depth of between 400 km (250 mi) and 670 km (420 mi). The pressure at the bottom of the mantle is ~136 GPa (19,700,000 psi; 1,340,000 atm). Pressure increases as depth increases, since the material beneath has to support the weight of all the material above it. The entire mantle, however, is thought to deform like

2640-486: The top and bottom of the mantle, and increases gradually through the interior of the mantle. Although the higher temperatures far exceed the melting points of the mantle rocks at the surface (about 1,500 K (1,200 °C; 2,200 °F) for representative peridotite), the mantle is almost exclusively solid. The enormous lithostatic pressure exerted on the mantle prevents melting, because the temperature at which melting begins (the solidus ) increases with pressure. The pressure in

2695-467: The upper mantle after drilling only a few hundred meters into the Atlantis Massif . The borehole reached a maximum depth of 1,268 meters and recovered 886 meters of rock samples consisting of primarily peridotite . There is debate over the extent to which the samples represent the upper mantle with some arguing the effects of seawater on the samples situates them as examples of deep lower crust. However,

2750-411: The uppermost mantle it can become weaker, and this effect is thought to be important in allowing the formation of tectonic plate boundaries. Exploration of the mantle is generally conducted at the seabed rather than on land because of the relative thinness of the oceanic crust as compared to the significantly thicker continental crust. The first attempt at mantle exploration, known as Project Mohole ,

2805-471: The uppermost mantle, then spinel , and then garnet below ~100 km (62 mi). Gradually through the upper mantle, pyroxenes become less stable and transform into majoritic garnet . At the top of the transition zone, olivine undergoes isochemical phase transitions to wadsleyite and ringwoodite . Unlike nominally anhydrous olivine, these high-pressure olivine polymorphs have a large capacity to store water in their crystal structure. This has led to

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2860-412: The world. The SO 2 in this cloud combined with water (both of volcanic and atmospheric origin) and formed sulfuric acid , blocking a portion of the sunlight from reaching the troposphere . This caused the global temperature to decrease by about 0.4 °C (0.72 °F) from 1992 to 1993. These aerosols caused the ozone layer to reach the lowest concentrations recorded at that time. An eruption

2915-496: The year following the eruption, most of the Northern Hemisphere experienced cooler temperatures during the summer. In the northern hemisphere , 1816 was known as the " Year Without a Summer ". The eruption caused crop failures, food shortages, and floods that killed over 100,000 people across Europe , Asia , and North America . Earth%27s mantle Earth's upper mantle is divided into two major rheological layers:

2970-489: Was abandoned in 1966 after repeated failures and cost over-runs. The deepest penetration was approximately 180 m (590 ft). In 2005 an oceanic borehole reached 1,416 metres (4,646 ft) below the sea floor from the ocean drilling vessel JOIDES Resolution . More successful was the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) that operated from 1968 to 1983. Coordinated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at

3025-477: Was scheduled for later in 2007. The Chikyu Hakken mission attempted to use the Japanese vessel Chikyū to drill up to 7,000 m (23,000 ft) below the seabed. This is nearly three times as deep as preceding oceanic drillings . A novel method of exploring the uppermost few hundred kilometres of the Earth was proposed in 2005, consisting of a small, dense, heat-generating probe which melts its way down through

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