A volcano is a
landform (usually a mountain) where molten rock erupts through the surface of
the planet. In other words, a volcano is a mountain that opens downward to a
pool of molten rock (magma) below the surface of the Earth. It is a hole in the
Earth from which rock and gas erupt.
Now,
we talk about the terms often comprises the topic volcano. We now learn about
the difference between lava and magma. Magma is a liquid rock inside a volcano
while lava is the magma that flows out of a volcano.
So
how do volcanoes erupt? The earth’s crust is made up of huge slabs called
plates, which fit together like jigsaw puzzle. These plates sometimes move.
Between the earth’s crust and mantle is the magma which we defined earlier. When
two plates collide, one section slides on top of the other, the one beneath is
pushed down. Magma then is squeezed up between two plates.
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Quick
fact:
The
name "volcano" has its origin from the name of Vulcan,
a god of fire in Roman mythology.
As
pressure in the molten rock builds up it needs to escape somewhere. So it
forces its way up “fissures” which are narrow cracks in the earth’s
crust. Once the magma erupts through the earth’s surface it’s called lava.
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