SUMMARY

-Eruption!
-The live of a volcano
-Volcanic landforms
-Underwater volcanoes
-Living with volcanoes
-Volcano words
 VOLCANO

• A volcano is like a chimney in the Earth’s crust (surface)

where magma flows out.

• The inside of the Earth is very hot, and some of the solid
rocks melts to form hot liquid rock called magma.
Eventually magma and ash break through a hole in the
Earth’s surface. The hole is called a vent.

• When magma leaves the vent, it becomes lava.

Parts of the volcano
 Plate tectonics
• Plate tectonics theory, explains how volcanoes
form.

• Some volcanoes form above a hot spot, which is a

very hot place in the mantle.

Plate movements

Plates bumping
Plates moving apart
Earth’s plates
 Types of vocano
Are in many places in the world , in many different shapes
and sizes.
Types of volcanoes:
-Fissure volcano
-Shield volcano
-Dome volcano
-Ash-cinder volcano
-Composite volcano
-Caldera volcano
 Rocks and lava
Volcanoes produce lava and rocks we find on the Earth’s
surface. Magma forms igneous rocks. Fragments of igneous
rocks sometimes erupt from a vent. These fragments are
called tephra.

TYPES OF TEPHRA

-Bomb
-Lapilli
-ash
-dust
Liquid lava flows fast and forms smooth folds that look like
rope. This is called pahoehoe. When slow sticky lava gets
hard, it forms rock with sharp edges, it’s called aa.
Sometimes lava forms long, thin strings like human hair.
These are called Pele’s Hair.

Unusual lava shapes

Lava has created unusual shapes in many places.
 Underwater volcanoes
The floor of the ocean is similar to dry land. There are more
volcanoes under the ocean than on land.

Living with volcanoes

The minerals and chemicals of the lava and ash make the
soil fertile so it is good for farming.
Volcanoes also help to produce electricity. They heat rocks
that are near the Earth’s crust. When these rocks heat
underground water it turns to steam. People use this steam
to make electricity. This is called geothermal energy.
 A volcanic eruption
Volcanoes erupt because pressure force magma to the
surface.

• Contents: gas, dust, water vapour, lava and ash.

Scientists put volcanoes into three groups:
An active volcano is one that is erupting or will soon erupt.
A dormant volcano is one that has not erupted for a long
time.
An extinct volcano is one that has not erupted for more
than 10.000 years.
 Volcanologists
Special scientists are called volcanologists. Volcanologists
study volcanoes in different ways. They study rocks and ash
from long ago.
Scientists must collect rocks, gases and lava to take back to
the laboratory. When they visit volcanoes, they wear gas
masks because the gases are poisonous.
The volcanologits
wear gas masks
because the gases are
poisonous.
 Andrea Pla i
Maria Samper
6è primaria