Grade 9
Limestone Community School
A volcano is an opening, or rupture, in a planet’s surface or crust. And that allow hot magma, or ash and gases to escape from below the surface. This is extreme pressure, and heat in the mantle. The high temperature, and the push and pull forces cause some of the mantle to melt. And it causes molten rock also known as magma. The outer layer of the earth has some weak spots and cracks in it. The magma in the mantle pushes and pulls against the outer layer until it finds a place where it can poke a hole, and push out. That causes a volcano. Once the magma bursts free it becomes lava. Magma and lava are the same thing, they both are melted rock. But its really hot melted rock. The different names help scientists know where the melted rock is located.
Volcanoes are usually found in tectonic plates that are diverging or converging. Where there’s some volcanic action is in the Pacific Ring of Fire. And that is where a number of volcanoes, and earthquakes eruptions occur. The Ring of Fire has 452 volcanoes and is home to over 75% of the world’s active and dormant volcanoes. The Ring of Fire is a direct result of plate tectonics and the movement and collisions of crustal plates. Villarrica is one of Chile’s most active volcanoes. It rises above Villarrica Lake and the town of Villarrica. Most active volcanoes in Mexico occur in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, which extends 900 kilometers from west to east across central-southern Mexico. A few other active volcanoes in northern Mexico are related to extensional tectonics of the Basin and Range Province, which split the Baja California peninsula from the mainland.