Astonishing Facts about Volcano

The longest Volcano:

Mauna Loa on Hawai'i Big Island is the longest volcano on the earth measuring piles of lava more than 17,000 m (56,000 ft)!  When measured from the sea floor, Mauna Loa's height is still more than 9,000 m, thus it is also the highest mountain on earth. Mauna Loa in fact is so heavy, that its weight has bent the oceanic crust under the volcano several kilometers downwards into the mantle. Mauna Loa is one of the Earth's most active volcanoes, with 33 well-documented eruptions in historic times since 1843. Its last eruption was in 1984 and since 2004, Mauna Loa is showing increasing signs of a possible awakening in a not-too-distant future.

Mauno Lao Erupting

The highest volcano:

The highest volcano is Ojas del Salado located in Chile, South America with an elevation of 6887 m.

Ojas del Salado

The Youngest Volcano:

The world’s youngest volcano is Paricutin volcano located in Michoacan state, Mexico, where it began to form in 1943. Over just nine years it grew to the height of 3170 meters and farmers who lived and worked in the nearby area at the start of its growth said that they could see the difference in its formation from going to bed at night and waking up in the morning. 

Paricutin erupting

Largest Submarine Volcano:

Kolumbo is the largest submarine volcano in the Aegean Sea, about 8 km northeast of Cape Kolumbo, Santorini Island. It consists of a line of about twenty submarine volcanic cones extending to the northeast from Santorini, it is about 3 km in diameter with a crater 1.5 km across. Submarine volcanoes are very different from the volcanoes that are above sea level. Water has a higher pressure than air. It can be more devastating than normal ones. 

Submarine volcano erupting

 

The Oldest Volcano:

The oldest volcano is Etna and that is about 350,000 years old locates in east coast of Sicily. Most of the active volcanoes that we know about seem to be less than 100,000 years old. Volcanoes grow because lava or ash accumulates on the volcano, adding layers and height.

Etna erupting

The list of highly destructive volcanoes:

Volcanoes are highly destructive. Their eruptions may wipe out cities and claim thousands of life. Some of the most dangerous volcanoes on the earth are as listed.

·         Sakura jima, Japan

·         Etna, Italy

·         Kilauea, Hawaii, USA

·         Cotopaxi, Equador

·         Vesuvius, Italy

·         Mearpi, Idonesia

·         Nyiragongo, Congo

·         Popocatepetl, Mexico

·         Mount Teide, Spain

·         Mount Raine, USA

To read more about dangerous volcanoes please view references.

The Beautiful Volcano:

Mount Mayon in the province of Albay, on the island of Luzon in the Philippines is renowned for its “perfect cone” because of its symmetrical cone shape. Local folklore refers to the volcano as Bulkang Magayon (Bikol: 'Beautiful Volcano'), after the legendary heroine Daragang Magayon. It rises 2462 m from the shores of gulf of Albay and has erupted 48 times in the past 400 years.

Mount Mayon

Volcano and Tsunami:

Volcanoes produce tsunamis through nine different mechanisms volcanic earthquakes, undersea eruptions, pyroclastic flows, caldera collapse, landslides, lahars, phreatomagmatic eruptions, lava bench collapse, and airwaves from large explosions.  Waves produced by volcanic tsunamis can be as high as those produced by the largest earthquakes. The most devastating volcanic tsunami recorded was that produced by the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883. The waves had run up heights of 40 m and killed 36,000 people. Also, in 1638 BC waves of 50 m in Santorini, Greece destroyed population in Crete.

Volcano eruptions leading to tsunami

Killer Volcanic Eruptions:

In 4650 BC Mount Majama erupted ejecta for more than 100+ km³ forming Crater lake. Later in 1815, Tambora in Indonesia erupted the highest ejecta of more than 150 km³. It is one of the greatest killer volcanic eruptions leading to death of 92,000 and climatic changes like ash falls, tsunami, disease and starvation.

Largest Holocene Explosive Eruptions:

Arenal in Coasta Rica and Pelee in West Indies has the largest number of Holocene explosive eruptions till now. They both have a record of 19 eruptions till now.

References:

·         Moano Lao: http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/faq/largest_volcano.html

·         Paricutin: http://7ww.org/natural-world/paricutin-volcano/

·         Kolumbo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolumbo_%28volcano%29

·   More about volcanoes: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/general-facts-about-volcanoes 
     Dangerous volcanoes list:http://opentravel.com/blogs/ten-most-dangerous-volcanoes-on-the-globe/

·         Volcano and tsunami: http://www.volcanolive.com/tsunami10.html

·         Volcanic eruptions record: http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/platetec/topten.htm