Mount Merapi
Green vegetation surrounds villages on the slopes of Mount Merapi, a highly active volcano in Central Java, Indonesia. Thousands of people, lured by fertile volcanic soils, live on or near Merapi. Many lives have been lost to the volcano’s frequent eruptions, which are accompanied by high-speed pyroclastic flows and mudflows called lahars
Pavlof Volcano
Pavlof Volcano blasts clouds of ash and steam to a height of about 18,000 feet (5,490 meters) over the Alaska Peninsula during an August 2007 eruption. Pavlof is the most dangerous type of volcano—a stratovolcano—with the potential for highly explosive eruptions. Stratovolcanoes tend to form where one of the Earth’s tectonic plates descends below another
Pahoehoe Lava
Pahoehoe lava flows on Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Unlike aa (pronounced “ah ah”) lava, pahoehoe flows relatively slowly, allowing an insulating skin to form that keeps the temperature close to 2,190 degrees Fahrenheit (about 1,200 degrees Celsius). Aa lava, on the other hand, moves faster and doesn’t have time to develop a skin, resulting in a cooler flow with a more angular texture
Navbiotum Volcano
Navbiotum Volcano lies dormant on the southern shore of Lake Turkana in Kenya. Once known as Lake Rudolf, Lake Turkana is the northernmost lake in the Great Rift Valley, a highly volcanic region that runs 3,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) from Mozambique to Syria
Lava Flowing Into the Pacific
With a hiss of steam, lava flows into the Pacific Ocean in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii. The Hawaiian island chain has been built up by similar flows of molten rock over millions of years
Lights of Catania and Piano del Lago
Perched above the lighted city of Catania, Italy, Mount Etna hurls a fountain of fire skyward as rivers of lava spill down its flanks. In spite of its dazzling displays, Mount Etna is a relatively safe volcano with rare, compact eruptions and slow-flowing lava that gives people a chance to escape
