Hot! Fire! Destruction! These are words that most people associate with volcanoes. But some good effects can come out of volcanoes. Volcanoes also have their own special mythology associated with them. A lot of volcanoes have some general characteristics in common. There are many volcanoes around the world, and some have special characteristics. So come along and take a trip with me into the wonderful and exciting world of volcanoes.
Over 550 volcanoes have erupted on the surface of the Earth since humankind has been able to record history. Their destructiveness has claimed the lives of over 200,000 people during the last 500 years, with 26,000 deaths between 1980 and 1990 alone. They have also caused an innumerable amount of property damage. The biggest eruption of the twentieth century was the eruption of Novarupta on the peninsula of Alaska. The amount of lava that erupted measured roughly 15 cubic kilometers! All of the lava erupted equaled to 30 times the amount of lava that came from Mount Saint.
Helens and is also the equivalent of 230 years of
eruptions at Mount Kilauea. The eruption lasted for 60
The biggest eruption, despite its size, was not the
most destructive, for the most destructive was the eruption
of Mount Saint Helens in Oregon during the week of May 18th,
1980. This eruption mainly caused just loss of property,
because many people didn't expect the volcano to erupt.
Although some people did die, this volcano was kind of weak
compared to the size of the eruption and amount of lives
lost in other eruptions like Tambora, Indonesia, in 1815
Despite all of these bad effects, some life still
shines through these tragedies. For example, the ash that a
volcano spews out covers many square miles of plants and
trees. This holds in water and water plants. The ash also
contains many nutrients that plants use. A little more than
80 percent of the Earth's surface is volcanic in or
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