subject: Do You Know About the Volcanoes? [print this page] Volcano is an earth opening or rupturing of the planets surface or crust. It occurs after the underground rocks heat to melting points and rupture on the earth's surface to allow hot magma, ash and other gases to escape. They occur where tectonic plates diverge or converge. One best example is the East African Rift that formed after volcanic activities took place many years ago. The result was emergence of salty lakes, hot springs, geysers volcanoes and escarpments. Volcanoes can be classified into various categories. They include shield, Lava domes, Crypt domes, super volcanoes, strato-volcanoes, sub glacial, sub marine and mud volcanoes. All these are situated at different location all over the world. East Africa has two major volcanic mountains though of late they have become dormant. One is Mt. Kilimanjaro and also the highest mountain in Africa followed by Mt. Kenya. Both mountains are great for those who love mountain hiking and camping activities. In Kenya there is also the Menengai and Longonot Craters that are usually open to the public. Volcanoes mostly occur in conical shaped mountains. It's through the open conical surfaces that hot lava is spewed out. Some mountains have rugged peaks formed from years of spewing hot magma. The lava is usually so hot and can melt anything it comes into contact with. It boils at a high temperature of more than a 1000C. The most notable world volcanoes include: Mount Nyiragongo in Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauna Loa in Hawaii, USA, Mount Merapi in Central Java, Indonesia, Mount Unzen in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan and many more.
