Volcanoes are one of the most unique geological formations, and if we ignore the danger that they sometimes bring to Humanity, they amaze with their grandeur and beauty.
Dangerous, but so attractive, volcanoes formed over cracks in the earth's crust millions of years ago. In active volcanoes, magma comes to the surface, forming a volcanic lava, sweeping away everything in its path.
Though not facts attested in history, but the danger posed by volcanoes to humans, the most ancient ancestors of people encountered in the late Paleolithic era, the era of the formation of the earth's surface. The ancient Greeks gave the smoking and breathing heat to the mountains the name of the god Volcano.
From ancient history, we have come to evidence of the first tragedies associated with volcanic eruptions. Under the lava and volcanic ash, the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum perished.
Volcanic science divides them into active volcanoes, dormant and extinct. Consider the largest representatives of this geological wonder of nature.
Sangai
The unique volcano, located on the slopes of the Andes, in Ecuador has three craters on its top, with a diameter of 50 to 100 meters. The height of the volcano above sea level is 5230 meters.
Sangay belongs to young and restless volcanoes. Geological deposits volcanologists suggest that the volcano formed about 14,000 years ago. They began to observe this volcano in 1628, and it is to this year that the first eruption of the Sangai volcano recorded in history belongs.
The last two eruptions occurred in 2007 and 2016.
During periods of calm of the volcano, tourists visiting the eponymous National Park of Ecuador can climb to the top and take a closer look at the craters.
Popocatepetl
"Smoky Hill" is the name of the volcano translated from the Aztec language naunatl. The volcano is located on the Mexican Highlands and Popocatepetl is 5455 meters.
Popocatepetl fully confirms its name. Even in a calm state around its top is shrouded in a cloud of ash and gas. Near the volcano is the extinct Istaxiuatl volcano. Popocatepetl and Istaxiuatl became heroes of the Aztec heroic epic.
Despite the danger, densely populated villages and cities sprawled around the volcano. Some villages are located directly on the slopes of the volcano, and the inhabitants are constantly in danger.
A one-day eruption occurred on March 27, 2016. The volcano threw a kilometer column of smoke and ash into the sky and calmed down.
The Spanish conquistador Diego de Ordaz, who climbed Popocatepetl, ordered the image of the volcano to be placed on his tribal coat of arms.
Elbrus
Elbrus is the highest mountain peak not only in Russia, but also in the European continent. The height of this stratovolcano is 5642 meters. By altitude, Elbrus is one of the 7 highest peaks of the planet.
The description of the peak is found among ancient geographers and historians of Asia and Europe. Most likely, from the Persian language the name of the volcano - Al-Borji, which means "Rising", came to us.
Scientists attribute Elbrus to extinct volcanoes, but earthquakes and emissions of sulfur dioxide sometimes occur on its slopes. This circumstance gives grounds for some volcanic scientists to classify the volcano as decaying.
Around Elbrus, tourism infrastructure is widely developed. For the convenience of tourists, there are many tourist centers, shelters for climbers and viewing platforms. The first ascent to the summit took place in the distant 1829. Today, every climber in the world dreams of conquering Elbrus.
Orisaba
The highest peak of Mexico is the volcano of Orizaba. Locals also call the Sittalaltepetl volcano, which means "Star Mountain". Indeed, the height of the volcano 6636 meters can classify it as stellar.
The most active Orisaba recorded in the Middle Ages. From 1569 to 1630, 7 strong eruptions were recorded. The latter happened in 1687.
Orizaba belongs to sleeping volcanoes and is a place of pilgrimage for tourists from all over the world. In order to preserve the unique volcano and nature around the mountain, a reserve was created by the Mexican authorities.
Misty
The height of the Peruvian volcano Misti is 5822 meters. Because of this height, the top of the volcano is covered in snow.
Misty belongs to active volcanoes, the last major eruption occurred in 1985. The uniqueness of the volcano in its structure. Misty has three concentric craters. Scientists have noted little activity in the inner crater.
Historical sources have shown that a powerful volcanic eruption in the 16th century forced residents of Arequipa to flee. But the mountain helps people. Many buildings of Arequipa ("White City") are built from volcanic deposits of the volcano, which are white in color.
On the slopes of the volcano are archaeological research. In 1997, 6 Inca mummies were discovered and investigated. Perhaps these are sacrifices made by fellow tribesmen to the fire-breathing Misty.
Kilimanjaro
The highest peak of the African continent is Kilimanjaro volcano. The height of this cone-shaped volcano is 5895 meters.
Until 1918, the mountain was called "The Top of Kaiser Wilhelm", but with the fall of the German Empire, it was renamed. Scientists classify the volcano as potentially active, but, interestingly, no eruption has been recorded in history. Ethnographers and historians. By studying local legends and legends, they helped volcanists to explore the volcano. From the legends it became clear. That the volcanic activity of Kilimanjaro occurred somewhere 150,000-200,000 years ago.
It is interesting that the Masai Plateau, on which the volcano is located, is located at an altitude of 900 meters above sea level. What makes the peak even more magnificent.
The first to mention the snow-capped peaks of Kilimanjaro was Ptolemy, who brought the volcano to his maps in the 2nd century BC. In modern times, the German Johannes Rebman on May 11, 1848 rediscovered the volcano to the world.
Like Elbrus, Kilimanjaro is popular with climbers around the world. Interestingly, when climbing to the top, the climber crosses seven climatic zones. Despite the fact that the volcano is located on the hottest continent of the Earth, glaciers formed on the slopes of Kilimanjaro.
Cotopaxi
Among the Andes, there is another volcano - Cotopaxi, in the language of local nationalities it is translated as "Shining Mountain." The height of this volcano is 5911 meters. This is the second highest peak in Ecuador.
This is a fairly active volcano. Since the end of the 18th century, more than 50 volcanic eruptions of various intensities have been recorded. According to sources, the most destructive volcanic eruption in the history of its existence was the release of ash, sulfur and magma in 1768. The eruption products spread within a radius of 100 kilometers from the volcano.
Since 1940, the volcano has not been active, but in 2015 there was a strong eruption of the volcano. Cotopaxi is one of the highest active mounds on planet Earth. We encourage you to take a look at the beautiful photos of the Cotopaxi eruption in this article.
San pedro
Another active volcano in South America, 6145 meters high, is located on the border of Chile and Bolivia.
San Pedro volcano has been observed relatively recently, at the beginning of the last century. In 1903, the French-Chilean expedition for the first time documented the eruption of a volcano that occurred on July 16. In 1960, the volcano showed its last activity.
The volcano forms a peculiar complex, connecting with a high saddle to its elder twin volcano San Pablo, 6092 meters high.
Mauna Loa
Compared to others, Mauna Loa is relatively low; the top of the volcano is located at an altitude of 4169 meters above sea level. But it is this volcano that is the largest volcano in the world in its height. The thing is that its foot is deep under water. From the foot of the volcano to the top more than 10 km, which significantly exceeds the height of the highest mountain of the Earth - Everest.
In addition, Mauna Loa is one of the largest volcanoes in terms of area and volume of its sole. Megavulcan, located on the island of Hawaii, has a volume, including its marine part, of 75,000 km³. This is one of those monsters that today threatens the existence of a whole city. Read more about this at thebiggest.ru in this article.
This volcano was formed about 700 thousand years ago and to this day remains active. Since 1832, 39 eruptions have been recorded. One of the last eruptions in 1984 lasted a whole month.
To study and monitor the activities of Mauna Loa, the Volcanic Station was created in 1912. Her workers concluded that the world is not in danger of a volcano explosion.
Interesting legends associated with Mauna Loa and located next to the volcano Mauna Kea. Aborigines believe that Mauna Loa is one of the two sisters of Pele volcanoes. The second sister, Mauna Kea, constantly competes with her sister, so strong winds constantly blow between volcanoes.
Lulhaillaco
In the driest place on Earth, on the border of Chile and Argentina, there is a huge volcano Ljulyayljako. Its height with a sole is 6739 meters. Geographic statistics tell us that Ljulyayljako is the highest of the active volcanoes and the second highest of all volcanoes in the world.
Now Ljulyaylyako is relatively calm, only occasionally releasing clouds of steam and sulfur dioxide from their bowels. The last major eruption was recorded in 1877.
In 1952, climbers made their first attempt to climb Ljulyayljako. During the climb, climbers discovered the ancient Inca sanctuary. Archaeologists gathered on the volcano. In the course of archaeological work in 1999, 3 graves of children's mummies were discovered, aged 3 to 14 years. As in most cases of such discoveries, the children were put to death below and transferred to the volcano as a sacrifice to the gods. The age of the find is approximately 500 years.
One cannot ignore the most famous volcanoes in the history of Mankind. From school, we heard about volcanoes such as Vesuvius, Fuji and Etna.
Vesuvius
Vesuvius is an active volcano located in southern Italy. Its height is 1281 meters. We already wrote about it in our article about the most powerful volcanoes.
Nothing remarkable if not for the eruption of Vesuvius on August 24, 79, when magma and ashes completely covered and destroyed the ancient Roman cities of Herculaneum, Pompeii, Oplontis and Villa Stabius. The ashes of the volcano mothballed time. Now, during excavations, scientists receive unique information about the life and life of a person of Roman time.
Since 79, there have been 68 eruptions of various nature: from explosive to just the release of steam from the crater and crevices on the slopes of Vesuvius.
Fuji
One of the most beautiful mountains on Earth. The snowy peak and the regular, cone-shaped, gently sloping outlines of the volcano made it the most recognizable in the world.
Fujiyama is also an active stratovolcano 3776 meters high. The last eruption was recorded in 1707 - 1708.
The mountain is an object of worship and veneration not only among the Japanese, but also from Buddhists around the world. Tourists from all over the world travel thousands of kilometers to enjoy this natural wonder. In July and August, snow descends from the slopes of Fuji, and then pilgrims attempt to climb the volcano.
Fujiyama is sung in poetry, prose. She became a natural hero of many films.
Etna
Etna Volcano is known for being the highest active volcano in Europe, excluding the Caucasus peaks. The height of Etna is 3329 meters.
More than 300 craters are located on the slopes of Etna, of which steam comes out of the volcano every three months and lava erupts. If you look at the history and geological deposits at the base of the volcano, it is proved that the first eruptions of Etna began about 500,000 years ago.
The last eruption occurred in 2016. Due to the eruption of Mount Etna, the authorities evacuate the population and close airports in southern Italy for security reasons.
Eyyafyadlayekyudl
Recently, Eyyafyadlayekyudl volcano, located on the island of Iceland, has gained great popularity. Iceland's sixth largest volcano.
Despite the unpronounceable name and small size, this volcano is known to all the inhabitants of the world. The last volcanic eruption of 2010, which was accompanied by a large release of steam and ash, paralyzed the air traffic of all of Europe and the North of Africa.
By the way, the 2010 eruption melted the glaciers in the crater of the volcano, which formed in it in ancient times.
Ojos del Salado
The highest volcano in Ojos del Salado is located in the Andes. Its height is 6893 meters. Translated from Spanish, the name of the volcano is Salt Eyes.
For the entire period of observation of the volcano, not a single eruption has been recorded, so the volcano is considered extinct. But in the early to mid-twentieth century, small steam emissions were observed.
In 1937, Polish climbers conquered the top of the volcano. And on April 21, 2007, the Chilean racer Gonzalo Bravo in a Suzuki Samurai car climbed the slope of the volcano to a height of 6688 meters, which became an absolute world record.
Yellowstone Caldera
Unlike other volcanoes, the Yellowstone Caldera is a supervolcano. This definition has been fixed to the volcano since 2000. This is not a volcano in our usual understanding, but a volcanic hollow, where the shortest distance of magma exit is observed in relation to the surface of the earth. Simply put, this volcano is underground and it has a canned magma bubble with a depth of more than 8 thousand meters.
Yellowstone Volcano is located in the northwestern United States in the park of the same name. The dimensions of the basin are 55 by 72 km.
In recent years, the Yellowstone Super Volcano has been the subject of intense discussion in the scientific world. The reason is that the volcano has not been active for 620 thousand years, and now there are signs of awakening of Yellowstone. Previous eruptions radically changed the face of the Earth and significantly changed the climate and living conditions of flora and fauna.
Scientists do not give an exact answer when the volcano wakes up. But if this happens, its eruption can put on the brink of existence all life on our planet. But TheBiggest hopes this will not happen. Moreover, many scientists are inclined to think that now Yellowstone is “dumping” all the excess energy with the help of geysers.
Tamu massif
The place, which used to be considered just a hill at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, in 2013 made a lot of noise in the scientific community. This "hill" was the largest underwater volcano on Earth. This is a special type of volcano called thyroid. The slopes of such volcanoes are quite gentle, do not exceed 6-8 °. And the slopes of Tamu generally have a slope of about 1 °.
It is located 1.6 thousand km east of the coast of Japan and hides under a two-kilometer water column. The height of this extinct supervolcano is 4.5 km. from the foot to the top, but it has a very impressive area and volume.
Its area is about 260,000 km², which is comparable to the area of countries such as New Zealand and the UK, and significantly exceeds the area of Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Syria and Tunisia.
In terms of area and volume, the Tamu volcano can be compared with the Martian record holder Olympus, which today is the highest known volcano in the Solar System.
Scientists believe that Tamu died out more than 140 million years ago, showing a relatively short duration of activity. But the scientific community does not exclude the possibility that other similar volcanoes can be found on our planet in the future.
Conclusion
There are hundreds of active and extinct volcanoes on Earth. Some of their eruption are dangerous for the population living at its foot, others have long gone out and have become objects of tourist pilgrimage.Be that as it may, volcanoes are the most unique and unusual natural formation on the earth's surface.
It seems that Mankind has unraveled all the secrets that volcanoes keep in themselves, but each time, being active, they appear before us in a new light, not ceasing to amaze us with their capabilities and power, which can destroy all life on earth.
Authors of the article: Valery Skiba, Alexey Shcherbakov