Welcome to Kaiti's Volcano Page.  I will start by telling you a little about volcanoes.  At the bottom of a volcano, there is a magma chamber.  When pressure builds up in the magma chamber, it flows out through the top of the volcano.  There are different types of eruptions. Most of the eruptions take place on the ocean floor so we do not see them.  Another is a hydrovolcanic eruption.

A volcano consists of a vent , pipe, crater, and cone.  A vent is an opening in the Earth.  A pipe is where the magma rises on the way to the vent.  A crater is a bowl-shaped depression at the top of the volcano where ash, lava, and other materials are released.  Lava, ash, and cinder make up the cone by building up on the side of the volcano.

In some places, there are hot spots.  Hot spots are places within the mantle where rocks melt to generate magma.  Some examples of these are the Hawaiian hot spot and the Yellowstone hot spot.  The Hawaiian hot spot has been active for at least 70 million years.  The Yellowstone hot spot has been active for at least 15 million years.  In the hot spots, the lava can keep building up on the ground and cause flood basalts.

   One of the volcanoes in Africa is called Barrier.  It is made up of four different volcanic centers.  This volcano runs between Lake Turkana and Lake Longipi.  The volcanoes create a dam between the 2 lakes.  There are tuff cones on the north and south sides of Barrier with lake sediments on them, showing that the lakes were very high at one time.

    Barrier has erupted 9 times.  The last time was in 1921.  It is 12.5 miles long and 9 miles wide.  Geothermal energy can be found around these volcanoes.  There are also many faults around the Barrier complex.

    Mt. Cleveland is another volcano.  It is located in North America near Chuginadak Island, which is in Alaska.  Mt. Cleveland is a stratovolcano and is almost symmetrical.  It is 5 miles wide at its base.  Mt. Cleveland, along with another volcano, form the east side of Chuginadak Island.

   Cleveland is one of the most active volcanoes in the Aleutians.  It has erupted 8 times since 1893.  A soldier was killed by the volcano while stationed there in June of 1944.  There was a brief eruption in May of 1994. This cause ash to be sent 10.5 km. You may not think so, but lava flow is actually the least hazardous of all the dangers.  The distance the lava will flow depends on the temperature of it.  If the lava is cold, it will not go as far.  If it is warmer, it goes farther.  Most don't move very fast so people rarely get killed by them.  It can cause injuries though because it is so hot.  It can be between 550 degrees Celsius and 1400 degrees Celsius.  For more information on the hazards, go to Hazards Prevention.

Inside of the earth, rocks are melted.  They turn into a substance called magma.  As the magma rises, some is collected in the magma chamber.  When it gets closer to the earth, the pressure goes down and the magma gases expand.  Then it goes through the openings in the earth as causes an eruption.  To learn more go to Causes of Eruptions.

How do you know when a volcano will erupt?  Well, it's hard to predict this but there are some signs.  Magmatic eruptions are some of the easier ones to detect.  With these, as the magma flows to the surface, it will cause ground deformations, heat flow, and the temperature will change around the spring waters.  There could be rising steam and hot ground.  For more links go to Predictions
                        or Volcanoes