Ask Me EverythingF

The long, narrow island of Java is a string of volcanic islands that have become joined together. It has at least 20 active volcanoes— one for every 31 miles (50 km) of its length.

WEIRD

WHAT?

_whenvolcanoes erupt

beneath the ocea ,    _ts

^th tumbled heaps of cushron-shaped rocks known as pillow lava

05,

Ignore anyone who says that the volcano is extinct—any volcano that has erupted in the last 10,000 years could do so again!

04,

Sniff the air. If you smell anything sulfurous, it could be volcanic gases escaping from molten rock rising within the volcano and

about to erupt from its crater.

UU. Watch for any steam or smoke coming from the crater or any change in the shape of the volcano. Internal pressure can make the whole mountain bulge outward!

76

The number of active volcanoes in Indonesia

260

The number of coral atolls in the tropical oceans, each crowning an extinct volcano

800

The number of volcanic hot springs in Iceland

33,480 ft

(10,205 m) The total height of the highest volcano on Hawaii, from its base on the Pacific Ocean floor— this makes it the highest mountain on Earth

90,000

The number of people killed by the 1815 explosion of Mount Tambora on Sumbawa, Indonesia

Hot spot chains

01: Some volcanic islands have no connection with piąte boundaries but are formed by isolated heat plumes below Earth’s crust.

02: Even though the plates are constantly moving, these hot spots stay in the same place. So the islands eventually move off the hot spots that created them.

03: When this happens, the island’s volcano becomes extinct. Meanwhile, a new volcano erupts from the part of the ocean floor now over the hot spot.

Over millions of years, this process builds a Chain of islands such as those that make up Hawaii (above), but only the most recent one, closest to the hot spot, has an active volcano.

04:

olcamc islands from space

Santorim

This Greek island exploded around 1630 bce, causing devastating tsunamis A new volcano is growing in the middle of the vast crater left by the explosion.

Mount Cleveland

This is one of many active volcanoes in the Aleutian island arc. Its eruption in 2006 was photographed by an astronaut on the International Space Station.

Java

The Indonesian island of Java has many volcanoes. A few are seen here, including Merapi (lower left), lndonesia's most active volcano.

Anak Krakatau

The “Child of Krakatau” is a volcano that, in 1927, emerged from the explosion crater of Krakatau. Solid black lava is spilling into the sea and new plants are growing in the east.

Volcanic islands