Category Science

The moving tectonic plates, in which the uppermost layer of the Earth is divided, not only collide at many places but also often slide past each other. This causes friction and leads to problems once in a while. Stress builds up, which then gets discharged very quickly. There is a jerk—the Earth trembles. This gives rise to shock waves that can cause a lot of damage at places, depending on the intensity of the earthquake and where they occur. Luckily, to some extent we can protect ourselves from these waves. A tsunami occurs if the centre of the earthquake lies below the sea. 

Volcanoes are found primarily at the borders of the plates, where the oceanic Earth’s crust submerges below another plate, melts in the depth, and magma rises. This is generally the case all around the Pacific Ocean. Here, the Cocos and the Nazca plates submerge below the middle and South America, and the Pacific plate submerges below the small plates in Southeast Asia. 

Volcanoes are found in areas ranging from Italy to Turkey and Iran upto the Indonesian islands. Very rarely will we find volcanoes in the middle of a plate. These occur only in ‘hot spots’ which are areas with high volcanic activity, such as the Hawaiian Islands. 

Farmers prefer to settle near volcanoes because the soil is very fertile due to the lava and volcanic ash deposits. When the volcano erupts, people leave the place for some time, and return to the risk zone after the eruption because the safer places are already inhabited. Moreover, for many people the area around the volcano is home, which they do not want to leave.

Because volcanoes are highly erratic, it becomes very difficult to predict volcanic eruptions. But there are ways of saving lives. Early tremors and earthquakes are often signs of a volcanic eruption—gases are emitted and the volcano expands by a few centimetres to a metre. The volcanologists carefully observe these signs. In 1991, before the eruption of the Pinatubo in Philippines, these signs were interpreted correctly and over 10,000 people were moved to safer places. 

Continue reading “How can we predict volcanic eruptions?”

We can call a volcano dangerous only when it causes damage to human life. For instance, if a volcano erupts on the almost uninhabited East-Asian peninsula of Kamchatka, it is hardly reported in the news. But, if a volcano starts spewing hot gases and ash in a densely populated area, many lives are at risk. Explosive volcanic eruptions discharge huge quantities of dust and ash, often burying neighbouring areas. Thin, dark magma can flow at a fast speed of up to 1oo km/h making it impossible to escape. Volcanic eruptions can also have far-reaching consequences. When the Indonesian volcano Krakatau erupted in 1883, the volcanic ash reached up to a height of 8o km, which for some time darkened the sky worldwide.

Since the material coming out of the Earth’s core is different in different areas, the resultant changes are also different. If the magma is very hot, more than 1000°C, it is dark, thin and mostly flows quietly. The sides of such volcanoes have gradual slopes. Colder, and hence more viscous, magma often erupts in explosions. The volcanic cone is steeper. Because of the heat in the Earth’s core, geysers (water fountains), solfataras (discharge of hot sulfuric gases), and hot water sources are found near the volcano. These are often used for heating in places such as Iceland.