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Volcanoes are like sleeping giants. After years, even centuries, of rest, they wake up—and they erupt.
Some powerful eruptions blow off the tops of mountains, flatten out forests, and dam up rivers. Other eruptions have killed tens of thousands of people. A few have buried cities, others have buried mountains, and some big eruptions have even changed the world’s weather for years.
Volcanoes also shape the Earth by building islands, mountains, plains, lakes, and the ocean floor.
Despite the dangers of active volcanoes, people often have their homes and businesses near them. Farmers like the soil volcanoes create. Some of our favorite foods—like chocolate—come from plants that grow best in volcanic soil.
Come discover volcanoes from the inside out—on land, under the seas, and in outer space.
The word volcano comes from Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. Volcano means the hole in the ground through which lava erupts and also the mountain that the lava builds. ▶
▲ An active volcano is erupting, or has erupted since written records were kept. A dormant volcano is active but sleeping, meaning it is expected to erupt in the future. An extinct volcano is not expected to erupt ever again.
▲ Mauna Kea is the Earth’s tallest mountain. It rises more than 33,000 feet from the floor of the ocean, but only 13,796 feet of it is visible above sea level. Mount Everest is 29,035 feet high, but all of it is visible.
The volcanically most active place in our solar system is not on Earth but on Jupiter’s moon Io. Volcanoes have made Io’s surface so blotchy that it looks a bit like a pizza. ▼
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Who is the Man in the Moon?
Contrasts between light and dark areas on the Moon’s surface create the “Man in the Moon.” The darker areas are lava flows, most of which fill craters left by the impact of meteorites. The lighter areas are highlands, which contain few dark-colored volcanic rocks.
