Where Mauna Loa, Hawaii’s biggest volcano, will erupt from

Subject: Geography

Context:

The ground is shaking and swelling at Mauna Loa, the largest active volcano in the world, indicating that it could erupt. Scientists say they don’t expect that to happen right away but officials on the Big Island of Hawaii are telling residents to be prepared in case it does erupt soon.

About Mauna Loa-

It is an active shield volcano with relatively gentle slopes, with a volume estimated at 18,000 cubic miles (75,000 km3),[5] although its peak is about 125 feet (38 m) lower than that of its neighbor, Mauna Kea.
Lava eruptions from Mauna Loa are silica-poor and very fluid, and they tend to be non-explosive.

What are shield volcano?

A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a warrior’s shield lying on the ground.
It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity) lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more viscous lava erupted from a stratovolcano.
Repeated eruptions result in the steady accumulation of broad sheets of lava, building up the shield volcano’s distinctive form.
Shield volcanoes are found wherever fluid low-silica lava reaches the surface of a rocky planet.
However, they are most characteristic of ocean island volcanism associated with hot spots or with continental rift volcanism.
They include the largest volcanoes on earth, such asTamu Massif and Mauna Loa.
Giant shield volcanoes are found on other planets of the Solar System, including Olympus Mons on Mars and Sapas Mons on Venus.

What are the other types of volcanoes?

Cinder Cones

Cinder cones are circular or oval cones made up of small fragments of lava from a single vent that have been blown up.
Cinder cones result from eruptions of mostly small pieces of scoria and pyroclastics that build up around the vent.
Most cinder cones erupt only once. Cinder cones may form as flank vents on larger volcanoes, or occur on their own.
Mauna Kea, a volcano on the American island of Hawaii, and Mount Etna, a volcano on the Italian island of Sicily, are both covered with hundreds of cinder cones.

Composite Volcano

Composite volcanoes, also known as stratovolcano, are steep-sided volcanoes composed of many layers of volcanic rocks, usually made from high-viscosity lava, ash and rock debris.
These types of volcanoes are tall conical mountains composed of lava flows and other ejecta in alternate layers, the strata that give rise to the name.
Composite volcanoes are made of cinders, ash, and lava.
Cinders and ash pile on top of each other, lava flows on top of the ash, where it cools and hardens, and then the process repeats.
Mount Rainier in Washington is one of several active composite volcanoes in this range that also includes Mount St. Helens.

Lava Domes

Lava domes are formed when erupting lava is too thick to flow and makes a steep-sided mound as the lava piles up near the volcanic vent.
They are built by slow eruptions of highly viscous lava.
They are sometimes formed within the crater of a previous volcanic eruption.
Like a composite volcano, they can produce violent, explosive eruptions, but their lava generally does not flow far from the originating vent.
A classic example of a lava dome is Obsidian Dome near Mono Lake in southern California.

Types of Volcanic Eruptions-

Types of volcanic eruptions depend on various factors such as chemistry of magma, temperature, viscosity, volume, presence of groundwater, and water and gas content.
Following are the different types of volcanic eruptions:
- Hydrothermal eruption: These eruptions include ash and not magma. They are driven by the heat caused in hydrothermal systems.
- Phreatic eruption: This is driven when the heat of the magma interacts with the water. These eruptions to do not include magma and only ash.
- Phreatomagmatic eruption: This eruption takes place when there is the interaction between the newly formed magma and water.
- Strombolian and Hawaiian eruption: Hawaiian eruption has fire fountains while the Strombolian eruption has explosions due to lava fragments.
- Vulcanian eruption: These eruptions last for a short period of time and can reach up to a height of 20 km.
- Subplinian and Phinian eruptions:Subplinian eruptions reach up to 20 km height, while Plinian eruptions reach up to 20-35 km.