Saturday 26 April 2014

Top 10 Most Active Volcanoes in the World

“We, the humans, are at Mother Nature’s mercy” again proved by Volcanoes. In the initial years, they were thought to be the punishment of God for indulging in wrong doings. With today’s technology, we are able to understand that Volcanic eruption was the result of movement of tectonic plates present inside the Earth’s core. As a result of this movement, large amount of magma is released. Volcanoes were primarily classified as Dormant, Extinct and Active. Dormant volcanoes are the volcanoes which remained inactive for more than 10,000 years. Extinct volcanoes are the volcanoes which ran out of magma and that cannot produce volcanic eruptions any more.
Active volcanoes are the ones which produced magma within the past 10,000 years. It is reported that there are nearly 1500 most active volcanoes in the world. 75% of them were located near the Pacific Ring of Fire. People within the area of vicinity will always be in the grip of fear because at any time volcanic eruption may occur. They will produce heavy impact on property and life that are felt for centuries. Volcanic eruption was measured based on the scale of VEI (Volcanic Explosivity Index). The eruptions with 0.1 cubic kilometer of magma or more were classified as the Large Eruption.
The most recent eruption occurred at Eyjafjallajokkul in April 2010. What makes it so strange among other volcanoes? This is an Icelandic volcano and once again it proves the Mother Nature’s capability and power.
Here I am going to present you the most active volcanoes in the world.

10. Mauna Loa Volcano:

Mauna-Loa
Located in the Hawaii islands, this is one of the five volcanoes that make up the Island of Hawaii in United States. This is the largest volcano in the world in terms of volume. It holds 18,000 cubic miles of magma and it is at a height of 120 feet above the sea level (which is usually lower compared to its peers). It was erupting for more than 700,000 years. The last volcanic eruption occurred in March 1984 and it lasted for more than 24 days causing heavy damage to the people and surrounding areas. Though they were not much explosive, the viscosity of their magma fluid will be very low. As the result, the movement of hot magma would be much faster compared to other volcanoes causing great destruction to the neighborhood areas.

9. Taal Volcano:

taal volcano
Being a part of the Phillipines island, Taal volcano is located on the island of Luzon. This volcano is located at the center position of Lake Taal which was formed as a result of heavy volcanic eruption. It is also known as “Volcano inside Volcano”, because the lake which surrounds the volcano was once the mouth of volcano. Initially this volcano was standing at a height of 18,000 feet and its earlier eruptions were responsible for restructure.  Nearly 5000-6000 lives were lost because of this volcanic eruption till date. The last volcanic eruption occurred in 1977. Recently it has started to show the signs of another heavy eruption. Therefore Phillipines institute of Seismology has instructed the tourists and people not to visit this volcano closer.

8. Mt. Merapi:

Mt. Merapi
Literally Mt. Merappi refers to the Mountain of Fire. The name confirms with its activities it has done for the past 10,000 years. It is located in city of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. This city is the residence for thousands of inhabitants. It was the most active volcano among 130 volcanoes of Indonesia. Located at the Fire of Pacific Ring, it has claimed more than thousands of lives. It was believed that this volcano was responsible for the demise of Hindu Kingdom of Mataram. The range of velocity of flow of magma is 70-100 miles per hour. Last volcanic eruption occurred in the year of 2006, it claimed 130 lives and rendered more than 300,000 people homeless.

7. Santa Maria:

santa-maria
It has been the most active volcano since the 20th century with numerous volcanic eruptions happened with these 10 decades. Located 130 kilometers away from the city of Guatemala, it is in the Pacific Ring of Fire. Crater in Santa Maria was formed after the heavy explosion in 1902. There has been a heavy dome complex named as Sanitaguito which was formed from the deposits of magma. Here the volcanic eruption occurs due to the clash between Cocos Plate and Carribean Plate. The latest eruption occurred in March of 2011.

6. Ulawun:

Ulawun
Ulawun located in Papau New Guinea region has started to erupt from the beginning of 18th century. From then on, it has erupted nearly 22 times. Of all these eruptions, the one which occurred in the year of 1980, ejected ash up to 18 kilometers and devastated an area of nearly 20 square kilometer. Now this volcano is the highest peak among those in that region. It is assumed that it has reached its maximum limit and soon it would restructure itself by the eruption of magma. The last volcanic eruption occurred in the year of 2010, emitting ashes up to 3.7 kilometers.

5. Galeras:

galeras
Galleras has been located near the border of Ecuador. One of the most active volcanoes in the Columbia region, this has been continuously erupting for more than 1,000 centuries. The first volcanic eruption occurred in the year of 1580, as per official records. This is said to be the Most Dangerous Volcano because of its unexpected volcanic eruptions in the past. Along the eastern slope of Galleras, the city of Pathos is located. Pathos is the residence for nearly 450,000 people. It claimed the life of six seismologists and three tourists who came to attend a Decade Volcano Conference held in the city of Pathos in 1993. From then on volcanic eruption happened every year claiming thousands of lives and making millions of people homeless. The recent volcanic eruption happened in January of 2010.

4. Sakurajima:

Sakurajima
Till 1914, this volcanic mountain was located in its separate island (Kyushu). After this volcanic eruption, the lava flow connected the mountain with the Osumi Peninsula of Japan. It has been called as Vesuvius of East. It serves as the threat to 700,000 people of the city Kagoshima. From the year of 1955, it has been erupting each year and there are nearly 7300 eruptions since the last century. The government has even built the refugee camp for the people offKagoshima so that they can take shelter during volcanic eruption. The last volcanic eruption happened in the year of 2009  claiming thousands of lives.

3. Mt. Nyiragongo:

Mt. Nyiragongo
This is one of the most active volcanoes in the African region. Located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it has erupting since 1882. The crater inside the mountain serves as the holder of magma fluid. When this crater got ruptured in the year of 1977, the whole magma fluid was drained within an hour and it paved its way to the nearby villages. The average velocity of the flowing lava would be 60 kilometer per hour. Recent eruption happened in the year of 2002, making nearly 120,000 people homeless. The seismologists of Congo expect soon there would be an eruption.

2. Mt. Vesuvius:

mount-vesuvius
Mt. Vesuviius is not only one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world but also the most densely populated volcano in the world. This volcano is located at Campagnia which is 5 miles away from the Naples. The city of Naples has a population of nearly 3 million people. This is the only most active volcano of the European region. It isresponsible for the destruction of Roman empire in 79 A.D. and during that period demolished the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The recent eruption occurred in 1944.

1.Yellow Stone Caldera:

yellowstone caldera
This super volcano is located beneath the Yellow National Park, United States. To your surprise this volcano has not erupted for the past 640,000 years. A question arises: How this can be active volcano then? It was said that before 640,000 years, this super volcano has erupted. This eruption blasted away mountains and drained the lava of the crate and covered half of the U.S. with deadly ashes. It follows an eruption cycle of 600,000 years. Since now already 40,000 years had passed, the scientists expect the eruption of this volcano at any time. If this volcano erupts, it could possibly be the End of the World since it could result in the eruption of other volcanic mountains.

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