Talk:Volcano

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Good article Volcano was one of the good articles, but it has been removed from the list. There are suggestions below for improving the article to meet the good article criteria. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
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To-do: edit · history · watch · refresh
  • Improve structure of article; elaborate on formation (4 types already)
  • There is an error in one of the sentences. In the fourth paragraph of "effects of volcanoes" it inaccurately states that the magma "dries" on the water. it should be replaced with either "hardens" or "cools" or both.
  • Seriously, the above mentioned error really annoys people.
  • Improve referencing --Zamphuor 16:09, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] talk

Can this page not be protected, poor thing it must feel very insecure with all these vandalising attacks over the last few weeks.

Tonyhawk 15:42, 20 april 2008 (UTC)

Please atualize this page

Image:Volcano.jpeg | Mt St Hell volcano eruption Image Number: AC80-0513-29 Date: 1980 - NASA photograph http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Volcano

[edit] Erupted material

Anyone could add about lahar and volcanic ash in erupted material section?Aditthegrat 15:59, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

Y'all will notice a rather drastic edit to this section; my logic is, it was getting messy. I've tried to do more re-organising than re-writing; I've also added a reference (this whole article needs more citing). Any thoughts? Archaen sax 01:25, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cryovulcanism

There does not yet seem to be a Wikipedia article on cryovulcanism or 'ice volcanoes'. This process has been observed on Neptune's moon Triton and may also be important on Saturn's moon Titan and the asteroid Quaoar. It would be great to have some information on cryovulcanism, but I'm not qualified - maybe someone who has worked on this page would be interested to write something? The Singing Badger 00:56, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)

It's volcano, not vulcan-o, so see article at cryovolcano. Enjoy! -- Epastore 13:58, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Relationship between volcanic eruptions and the lunar cycle

National Geographic have shown a progam called Are Volcanic Eruptions Tied to Lunar Cycle?, where scientist Steve O'Meara claims there's a relationship between volcanic eruptions and the lunar cycle, just as there is for tidal water. Could someone please elaborate on this theory, and maybe extend the artice to cover wether this theory is true or false. Thanks in advance. --Fredrik Orderud 21:15, 26 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Melting

rock of the earth's interior made molten or liquid by high pressure and temperature

This isn't true. Higher pressure increases rock's melting temperature. Rock melts if pressure is decreasing. Main factors that lower rock's melting temperature are decreasing pressure and water content inside melt. Siim 11:40, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

See an error - fix it, done :-) Vsmith 02:54, 16 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Blast effects...

Remove anon. section addition here for consideration and possible cleanup. It was in the wrong place in the article and facts need verification.

Blast effects from a volcanic eruption
Blast effect from a volcano eruption are the most violent events on planet earth. A volcano may release as much as 10 EXP+20 acoustic watts of power, or around 270 to 320 decibels. When a volcano erupts all at once as in a bomb explosion it may disintegrate and eject cubic miles of earth and generate massive shock waves which can be measured anywhere around the earth. During the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980 (a medium volcano eruption) the shock wave blew down all the trees around it, even those that were 16 and 17 miles away! Some of these trees were 7 feet in diameter and over 500 yaers old. The shock wave completely flattened 86,600 acres of forest. It also blew out windows in Seattle over 200 miles away, and could be heard over 690 miles away in Maple creek Saskatchewan Canada. The recent eruptions of mexico's Popocatépetl threw house size magma chunks about 2 miles high and had hang times of about 1 minute! The eruption of Krakatoa Indonesia 1889 could be heard 3000 miles away and generated tidal waves over a mile high. Barometers would fluctuate wildly at 100 miles. For a more in depth look at the loudness of a volcano and it effects check out:

Vsmith 17:00, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

hello my name is mike...lol  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.201.48.201 (talk) 22:34, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Eruption Tracking?

I'm very impressed with the coverage of the Atlantic Hurricane Seasons, but I can't find a similar set of pages for Volcanic Eruptions. (Sudden interest in natural disasters.) Is there one? --The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.167.139.120 (talk * contribs) 11:36, 28 August 2005 (UTC)

  • There are several problems with such coverage. Due to lack of forecasting ability, eruptions are only known after they happen. They also generally affect a small area and are of specialized interest. Category:Active volcanoes was created recently, but that includes volcanoes over a rather wide time period due to the long time scale involved in magmatic actions (the category was initially created from a search of existing articles and there probably are omissions). Perhaps a List of eruptions of active volcanoes could be made, with an entry for each year, decade, or century as appropriate. Details of individual eruptions are placed in the articles for each volcano. Volcanic eruptions also appear in WikiNews. (SEWilco 17:59, 29 August 2005 (UTC))
  • Active volcano is rather small. (SEWilco 18:01, 29 August 2005 (UTC))

[edit] Hot mafic flows in Hawaii?

Check a fact? under 'Shield volcanoes', "Their lava flows are generally very hot and very fluid...". I believe they are fluid entirely due to composition, and not due to particularly high temperature... but I'm not sure enough to remove/edit that. --Leperflesh 20:13, 28 December 2005 (UTC)

Viscosity is dependent on at least 6 things: pressure, temperature, volatile content (i.e. gases that are trying to escape), chemical composition, crystal content and bubble content (see Volcanic Successions, R.A.F. Cas and J.V. Wright, 1988, Unwin Hyman ISBN 0-04-552022-4 )... So not entirely due to composition, but it's true that shield volcanoes have mafic flows; fixed it. Archaen sax 01:36, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Friction causes melting of subduction plates?

Twice in the article, it is asserted that friction between the subducting oceanic plate causes the melting of materials, leading to upwelling and eruption of volcanic arcs. However, I was taught that the melting occurs due to the higher temperature of the mantle region below the subducting plate. I am hesitant to remove the reference, but I'd like to see either citation of this theory's conclusivity, or inclusion of other theorized mechanisms for partial melting. --Leperflesh 20:48, 28 December 2005 (UTC)

Go ahead and remove the reference. Magma in subduction zones is formed from partial melting, but usually not of the downgoing slab. Instead, partial melts are formed when the water is released from the "soggy" oceanic slab into the country rock. Adding water to the country rock lowers the melting temperature of that rock, which allows it to melt and rise to the surface, where it is erupted. (There's a decent description of this on the Volcano World Website, and the Wikipedia page on Subduction contains a diagram that discusses it. I'm not sure what mechanisms are for melting of the subducting slab, although it does happen. Farristry (talk) 15:37, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Where There's Smoke There's .. Smoke

The article includes the text:

The truth is that a volcano seldom emits either smoke .. What is mistaken for smoke consists of vast volumes of fine dust .. mingled with steam and other vapors..

This description sounds a lot like smoke to me..

Can anyone please clarify? --Philopedia 19:55, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

It's called aerosol Cuzandor 03:26, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Typos and Grammar

Could someone check for typos and grammar errors? Thanks. Josen 16:43, 7 June 2006 (UTC)


I noticed a typo. The volcano is called "Aetna" in this article, and "Etna" in all the others. Please let me know if I am wrong, but I think that this is a typo. Under this message I have quoted the section of the article that I refer to. Superfoopy 06:56, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

One early idea counter to this, however, was Jesuit Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680), who witnessed eruptions of Aetna and Stromboli, then visited the crater of Vesuvius and published his view of an Earth with a central fire connected to numerous others caused by the burning of sulfur, bitumen and coal.

[edit] Splitting

I think this article is way to long. The whole section on Volcanology could be turned into a whole separate article. I am willing to split the article and write new introductions etc. where appropriate, but as the article is being considered to be included in the CD, I thought I should check with people first. I will have to check, but some of the stuff in the Volcanology section is probably covered in Volcanology. Heavy Metal Cellist talkcontribs

It sounds like a good idea to me to split the article, but I think the article itself needs to be better organized. It also seems a bit patchy in places, which is probably a result of different people contributing different sections at different times. I don't think there is much overlap between the section on volcanology and the content of the volcanology article, since the latter is mostly about the history of the field and lacks a description of what volcanologists actually do. Jim_Lockhart 05:54, 9 June 2006 (UTC)
I have restructured many of the articles on Volcanoes. I moved information around, restructuring as I thought appropriate. Here are the pages I changed or created: Volcano, Volcanology, History of Volcanology, and Volcano Prediction. I DID NOT DELETE ANYTHING. I simply moved things around to reduce page size. All content is still there, just some sections are in different pages. Heavy Metal Cellist talkcontribs
Sounds good. I'm about to leave on a trip, so I won't have a chance to take a look until Tuesday US east-coast time at the earliest, but other contributors will probably have thoughts and ideas. Best regards, Jim_Lockhart 05:10, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Notable Volcanoes on Earth

This list is very long, and doesn't seem to be ordered alphabetically or by country, or anything. What do people think about scrapping it, but linking to Decade Volcanoes?

Otherwise I'd link to both Ol_Doinyo_Lengai, Tanzania, because it's the only Carbonatite-lava volcano on Earth (very exciting for geologists), and Nevado_del_Ruiz, Colombia, because in 1994 it wiped out an entire town of 23,000 people. Archaen sax 13:48, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

Replaced the random list with the 16 Decade volcanoes. Vsmith 15:53, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Volcano or Mountain?

Bold text Is mount Apo a volcano but known as a mountain? What is the condition of Mt. Apo this 2006?

As I know, volcanoes are under the category of the mountains. Volcanoes are also called volcanic mountains.----WikiPoTechizen 03:26, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pictures Montserrat

Hi. I am a newbie. Pro Photographer providing images to support Wikipedia articles, where I have them. Images are provided Free of Use for Wikipedia only; this is because other publications buy my pictures; I need to protect my copyright and ensure proper accreditation. There has been some controversy around this, making my intial experience of Wikipeida fraught. An initial mediators opinion is that my work is good for Wikipedia and appears to be within the rules. User talk:Desk1

A few years ago I undertook a helicopter fly-over shoot of Montserrat and got some nice general and semi technial pictures of the lava flows, landscape and township damage. Also got some reasonable close-ups of hot rock. Would article contributors be interested in me uploading a few of these for you to insert in your article if relevant? Best wishes, DP Kilfeather (Des) Desk1 10:46, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] this is for my world geography class

I was just wondering how a volcanic eruption occurs...please email me and tell me as soon as possiable...thanks...Melissa..

ezekiel-sweetie@hotmail.com

[edit] Definition

The page does not attempt to define or even explain what a volcano is! You are supposed to already know! A brief defining paragraph at the top would be a good idea, no?

good observation! I have added a basic definition that I think covers all the possibilities without being too vague. --Leperflesh 22:16, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Volcanic Soil

Would somebody please send me an e-mail telling me what plants grow on volcanin soil

[edit] Hawaii listed as volcano formed by divergent plate boundary.

Quote,

Divergent plate boundaries create new seafloor and volcanic islands, such as Cjertce and Hawaii. Sometimes it can form in the ocean.

According to my Geology textbook, Hawaii is an example of intraplate igneous activity or hotspot. Can this be fact checked?

"Essentials of Geology" ninth edition. Author's Fredrick K. Lutgens and Edward J. Tarbuck. Pages 109-110

Thank you,

TomDolan 05:54, 23 November 2006 (UTC)Tom Dolan

Removed that erroneous bit. Thanks for pointing it out. Vsmith 15:52, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

No problem, glad to contribute something (small) to Wikipedia.

TomDolan 23:06, 24 November 2006 (UTC)Tom Dolan


[edit] Past Beliefs

I think that the statement in this section, that "Before it was understood that most of the Earth's interior is molten", is misleading. I'm not a geology expert, but surely most of the mantle, at least, is solid, albeit close to melting point? Do any experts want to clarify this or am I completely wrong? Gsalter 12:25, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

OK, I'm reasonably satisfied that this is incorrect. I'm going to remove it if no-one else has any objections? Gsalter 16:47, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

I agree. The mantle is largely semisolid or solid, and part of the core may also be solid. --Leperflesh 21:56, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

I've made a small change that removes the "molten" reference. I'm not 100% happy with the wording, but think it's still an improvement. I might do a rewrite of the whole paragraph at some later stage and sandbox it. Gsalter 15:58, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Article needs cleanup

Hi there!

I think this article needs a great deal of cleanup. I am planning on giving it a boost in the near future, as well as nominating it on WP:AID. Some points I think need cleaned up are:

  • The article could have a picture of a real volcano, say Mount St. Helens, at the top instead of the diagram (which could go under a section called "Shape", "Design", or "Formation").
  • We need to get rid of some of the lists, at least having a paragraph with the 10 most famous volcanoes etc.
  • Some parts of the article are very Earth-eccentric.

Would anyone (a) make suggestions on how this article could be improved, and (b) help me improve it?

Cheers, Yuser31415 (Review me!) 20:45, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Good comes from bad

I was looking in this article and saw that no one mentioned how there are good things other than the creation of islands, ect. The truth is many people around volcanoes benifit from the fertile soil from the eruptions, some people take advantage of the heat and use it to heat their homes, and many other good things

John1208 23:13, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

The fertile soil might be worth mentioning. Nobody uses volcanoes to heat their homes - they use geothermal energy, but that is not the same thing. --Leperflesh 21:58, 21 February 2007 (UTC)
"The fertile soil" implies that all volcanoes produce fertile soil. Is that true, or is fertile soil only mentioned when it happens to exist and be noticed? (SEWilco 00:48, 22 February 2007 (UTC))
It's not always true. The pumice soils of New Zealand's volcanic plateau were low in cobalt and other trace nutrients, and were regarded as infertile until the 1940s when aerial topdressing made widespread fertiliser use practical. -- Avenue 07:52, 22 February 2007 (UTC)
Yes, but if the orignal soil was poor to begin with, wouldn't the volcano add some nutrents to it, or at least disturb soil lower down in the crust which would be more nutrient rich? Think outside the box 12:42, 27 February 2007 (UTC)
Yes, it might. But maybe not. The issue is whether "fertile soil" is a common benefit and whether someone has a source for that. I've read of volcanic islands with fertile soil, but it being noticed in a few cases doesn't mean that it is likely or common. Is there an agricultural survey of the world's volcanoes? (SEWilco 19:10, 28 February 2007 (UTC))
Can't find an agricultural survey of the world's volcanoes online, but there are numerous aricles and pages about fertile soil being attributed to volcanic eruptions: "the ash layer, which contains many useful minerals, will be converted to a very fertile soil"[1] and "Volcanic materials ultimately break down and weather to form some of the most fertile soils on Earth" [2] Would these count as potential sources? Think outside the box 11:31, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
I agree that fertile soils often result from the weathering of volcanic material; see here for a few good quotes on the subject. But infertile volcanic soils also occur - often under vineyards, Google suggests :-) - so we need to be careful how we word it. -- Avenue 12:57, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
It seems that it is not just the nature of the volcanic material that determines soil fertility, but also its interaction with the climate. For instance, fertile volcanic soil in the Ecuadorian Andes contrasts with infertile, lightly weathered volcanic soil in their rain shadow.[3] -- Avenue 01:34, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
Of course the weathered volcanic material may be fertile. Consider the origin of the minerals in the soil of Iowa, Death Valley, and the Amazon. All of volcanic origin at some point. The variables need to be narrowed down somewhat. (SEWilco 05:29, 2 March 2007 (UTC))

[edit] petitspots

I removed the following section from the article; its links are incomplete and the viewpoints seem to be NPOV. Sparky 14:16, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Petitspots

| title=Volcanism in Response to Plate Flexure | journal=Science | date=2006-04-03 | url=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1128235v1 | accessdate=2006-09-04 }}</ref> A new theory suggests that submergence of tectonic plates causes stress , which causes the plate to crack in some places. However, other scientists believe the mantle plume theory to be incorrect, and consider this discovery a confirmation of their ideas.[1]

[edit] help me find simple information about the volcano of monserrat

please help my daugter has 6 years old and she is in first grade in a school in puerto rico i need information in english for her that she can explain to the judge and teachers she will be in a contest in english class —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 206.61.226.138 (talk) 19:00, 13 March 2007 (UTC).

Typically the talk pages of wikipedia are for discussing the article at hand but you might want to check with This siteJohnCub 19:19, 13 March 2007 (UTC)
Our article Soufrière Hills might also be helpful. (Monserrat volcano will now take you there too.) -- Avenue 19:34, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Any one know another webbie you see its 4 my homework —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.154.73.253 (talk) 2007-03-19T21:41:16

Here another good starting point: Soufriere Hills on GVP --Carboxen 03:03, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mt. St. Helens

A cool fact about mt st helens which IS a volcano is that the people could see the flank where the magma was building up starting to bulge and then it EXPLODED —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Hacker312 (talk • contribs) 2007-04-17T21:07:49.

[edit] Proposed split to Volcanic mountains

Posted at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Geology. The way, the truth, and the light 07:35, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Article Un-editable

The article page appears to be un-editable (no "edit this page" option or any paragraph edits either) but yet there is no message saying so or giving a reason. Should the page be editable and if not why not? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.195.173.31 (talk • contribs) 2007-08-06

[edit] Good Article Review

See the discussion here Wikipedia:Good article review#Volcano. T Rex | talk 21:57, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

GA delisted at WP:GA/R. Giggy Talk 07:18, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Divergent plate boundaries

Hi there!!! I was researching volcanoes for a project when I saw something which I think is a spelling mistake. I'm not sure though and I need your help....

Divergent plate boundaries

".....Most divergent plate boundaries are at the bottom of the oceans, therefore most volcanic activity is submarine, forming new sealoor. Black smokers are an example of this kind of volcanic activity. Where the mid-oceanic ridge is above sea-level, volcanic islands are formed, for example, Iceland."

I believe it's supposed to be "forming new seafloor" But I'm not sure. Please reply soon! (Wikirocks2 06:25, 8 September 2007 (UTC))

[edit] Vulcanism

I am a college student studying the history of science, especially the physical, and particularly earth sciences. I was under the impression this site: vulcanism; dealt with the theory, obsolete or not. It is anti-intellectual, in a grotesque way, to simply re-direct an article about a theory of geology ( discredited though it may be) to something "kinda" parallel to Vulcanism. I noticed similar issues with the "Dark Star" articles. It does not matter if we have shown these obsolete theories to be wrong ( for the time being, always remember the nature of the scientific method"), what matters is the average uneducated man or woman (who outnumbers or at least is as prevalent as the educated)having access to the CORRECT information about a subject. Come on, people!!!! It is about the truth, so that every person has the opportunity to know what the truth really is. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Thedoggedtruth (talk • contribs) 03:46, 17 September 2007 (UTC)



I have to agree that old theories are vital to current understanding of the Earth. However, the alternative theory of the time, Neptunism, has an article here which does go into the Vulcanism/Neptunism debate. At least that is something to start from. Might I suggest that if you feel so strongly about it, then create an article dedicated to Desmarest and all the rest, as a student of the history of Earth Sciences you probably know more about it than the people who probably innocently redirected you here. Anon —Preceding unsigned comment added by Fossiliferous (talk • contribs) 18:53, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Volcanoes

Volcanoes are an extremly dangerous natural disaster. The volcano is formed by the earts crust which somehow makes a mountain. They can cause a lot of damage by nocking down buildings, crushing house and burning down trees.

did you know

  • Hawaii was made by about 4 volcanoes!!!
  • there are no active volcanoes in Australia
  • but there are lots of active volcanoes in the world —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.191.17.169 (talk) 07:47, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] grammer mistake

Cinder cones
Main article: Volcanic cone
Volcanic cones or cinder cones result from eruptions that throw out mostly small pieces of scoria and pyroclastics (both resemble cinders, hence the name of this volcano type) that build up around the vent. These can be relatively short-lived eruptions that produce a cone-shaped hill perhaps 30 to 400 meters high. Most cinder cones erupt only once. Cinder cones may form as flank vents on larger volcanoes, or occur on their own. This volcano may also throw out ash and dust (and and sometimes lava, but not very usually) Parícutin in Mexico and Sunset Crater in Arizona are examples of cinder cones.

Could someone please correct this?

[edit] Basaltic Lava flows

{{expert|geosciences|date=November 2007}} {{expert|climate|date=November 2007}} ... or some such name in Iceland were cited this afternoon [Science Channel] as being the cause of the year without a summer, which apparently makes more sense than the remoter-in-time Krackatoa (sp?) eruption two years earlier. The occasion was actually a program on the Massive Extinction at the end of the Permian era (c. 460-430 mya) and the Icelandic reference was in comparison to the much more massive lava flow underlying the soils of Siberia. I had to take a work call in that (my lunch too), so I missed most of the second half program from the next room, but I gather the Siberia event was believed to be a really massive meteor that punched through into the upper mantle causing said massive Basaltic flow, and causing a sudden volcanic winter (There's an ice age in there in the right era). Someone should run these leads down and correlate this article and the year without a summer if there is something out there in print or the web (? JSTOR???).

Regards, // FrankB 20:46, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

The Siberian event was probably the Siberian Traps. -- SEWilco (talk) 20:26, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Citations

Hi, just a wandering visitor, I note that this page requires significant in-line citations and references. Hope someone has the resources and time to help the community out. Btw, it's Krakatoa, erupted 1883. SpellingGuru 14:54, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

Actually, it should be Krakatau, not Krakatoa. Krakatoa is likely a misspelling by a British source reporting on the 1883 eruption, and most geologists today (including me) consider the proper usage to be Krakatau. Farristry (talk) 15:46, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Eruptions in general?

I've scanned at this page but I've noticed that there is very little detail on how the eruptions of volcanoes actually work. Perhaps I missed it, but if I didn't I would appreciate the addition to this page.

RegaL_the_Proofreader 5 December 2007

You're right, the effects are described but not the mechanisms. Editors, notice some mechanisms are mentioned in Types of volcanic eruptions. -- SEWilco (talk) 20:21, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

volcanoes are cool —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.224.188.96 (talk) 00:23, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Protection

MAybe this article should be protected, judging as it is the #1 vandalised article for the month (according to Wikirage) F*L*RAP 23:37, 12 February 2008 (UTC) Hi Mates —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.168.108.59 (talk) 03:46, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] More Vandalism

SAM IS SO HOT LOL

Requesting a restore. 24.223.133.156 (talk) 22:24, 12 May 2008 (UTC)