Feature | Shield Volcanoes | Cinder Cone Volcanoes |
Shape | Broad, flat, and shield-like. | Small, steep, and cone-shaped. |
Size | Can be hundreds of kilometers wide. | Smaller in size, usually tens to hundreds of meters tall. |
Eruption Type | Erupts fluid basalt lava, generally non-violent. | Erupts tephra, ash, and magma, leading to more explosive eruptions. |
Lava Type | Basalt lava with low viscosity, flows easily over large distances. | Lava that is broken into smaller fragments, creating steep sides. |
Formation | Forms from low-viscosity lava that spreads out evenly. | Forms from the ejection of solid lava fragments, ash, and tephra. |
Examples of Famous Volcanoes | Mauna Loa (largest active volcano), Kilauea (Hawaii) | Paricutin (Mexico), Cerro Negro (Nicaragua) |
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Volcanic mountains
- When this molten rock material (Magma )is ejected to the earth’s surface during volcanic eruption, it accumulates around the vent and may take the form of a cone. The height of the cone increases with each eruption and it takes the form of a mountain.
- As these mountains are formed by the accumulation of volcanic material, they are known as volcanic mountains or mountains of accumulation .
- Mount Mauna Loa in Hawaii Islands, Mount Popa in Myanmar, Vesuvius in Italy, Cotopaxi in Equador and Fuji Yama in Japan are examples of volcanic mountains
The classification on the basis of frequency of eruption is given
below.
- Active Volcano : In these types of volcanoes, eruptions occur frequently. Etna and Strombolian of Italy are examples of active volcanoes.
- Dormant Volcano : In these types of volcanoes. The volcanic eruptions occur after dormant periods.
Vesuvius volcano of Italy is dormant type volcano in which the volcanic eruption occurred in 1631, 1812, 1906 & 1943.
Mount Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), is a dormant stratovolcano in Tanzania.
- Extinct Volcano : The volcanoes in which there have been no eruption for a very long period of time and its vent is filled with water, it’s called an extinct volcano. Mt. Popa of Myanmar, Koh-i-Sultan of Iran are examples of Extinct volcanoes.
