Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Don't say YES, say VolcaNO!


-------------Don't say YES, say VolcaNO! --------

The islands of Hawaii weren’t actually magically just there like you would have thought right.
 
 The islands were created along tectonic plates where the oceanic plates dive under continental plates.  The intense heat and pressure melts the rock. Molten rock material, magma, can then ooze its way toward the surface where it accumulates at the surface to create a volcano.  Hotspots are another important aspect of the Hawaii’s creation.  They are places where a chamber of magma has accumulated at depth beneath the surface.

 

Honolulu is a beautiful place. But it is inhabited by a volcano that is very well known in Hawaii. This volcano is called the Diamond Head, and received its name from the British sailors in the 1800s. But enough about history let’s explore the geology of this volcano.  The Diamondhead volcano is a Cinder Cone volcano. These types of volcanoes are pretty common volcanoes; they are composed of layers of pyroclastic material built from rock fragments once lodged in the central vent of the volcano. It is a volcanic crater which was formed from a volcano crater is a circular depression around a volcanic vent.
 
 This is where the lava, ash and rock erupt out of a volcano. In most situations, the volcano crater is located at the top of the volcano. This is a situation where magma rises through water-saturated rocks and causes steam to build up under the surface. The pressure from all the steam causes the rock to explode outward and create a volcanic crater.