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In volcanology, an explosive eruption is a volcanic eruption of the most violent type. A notable example is the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Such eruptions result when sufficient gas has dissolved under pressure within a viscous magma such that expelled lava violently froths into volcanic ash when pressure is suddenly lowered at the vent.
Magma (sometimes colloquially but incorrectly referred to as lava) is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also been discovered on other terrestrial planets and some natural satellites. [3] Besides molten rock, magma may also contain suspended crystals and gas bubbles.
Types of volcanic eruptions. Some of the eruptive structures formed during volcanic activity (counterclockwise): a Plinian eruption column, Hawaiian pahoehoe flows, and a lava arc from a Strombolian eruption. Several types of volcanic eruptions —during which material is expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure —have been distinguished by ...
Its high silica content makes rhyolitic magma extremely viscous. This favors explosive eruptions over effusive eruptions, so this type of magma is more often erupted as pyroclastic rock than as lava flows. Rhyolitic ash-flow tuffs are among the most voluminous of continental igneous rock formations.
Caldera. A caldera (/ kɔːlˈdɛrə, kæl -/ [1] kawl-DERR-ə, kal-) is a large cauldron -like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the structural integrity of such a chamber, greatly ...
Phreatomagmatic eruptions are volcanic eruptions resulting from interaction between magma and water. They differ from exclusively magmatic eruptions and phreatic eruptions. Unlike phreatic eruptions, the products of phreatomagmatic eruptions contain juvenile (magmatic) clasts. [1] It is common for a large explosive eruption to have magmatic and ...
A volcanic eruption is effusive when the erupting magma is volatile poor (water, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, and hydrogen fluoride), which suppresses fragmentation, creating an oozing magma which spills out of the volcanic vent and out into the surrounding area. [1] The shape of effusive lava flows is governed by the type ...
Phreatic eruption at the summit of Mount St. Helens, Washington, in the spring of 1980. A phreatic eruption, also called a phreatic explosion, ultravulcanian eruption or steam-blast eruption, [1] occurs when magma heats ground water or surface water. The extreme temperature of the magma (anywhere from 500 to 1,170 °C (930 to 2,100 °F)) causes ...