Effects of Volcanoes on Everyday Lives

The effects of volcanoes can be very disastrous, especially to people's health in nearby towns. The hot lava is not the only thing that can be hazardous, in fact, compared to others is one of the less likely causes of death.

Some of the effects of volcanoes are volcanic gases, ash fall, landslides, and mudflows; all of which I will be telling about today.


I got this picture from http://domeofthesky.com/domenews/1149638400. It is relevant because I am talking about volcanoes, and when they start erupting, and this is a volcano in an early stage erupting, at its smoking stage.

Volcanic gases are gases released from a volcano while it is erupting, or possibly even when it is dormant. The most common gas released is water vapour, but carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrochloric acid and fluorine are also some of the gases that are released. Carbon dioxide is released into the earth's atmosphere, and adds onto the greenhouse effect. Sulfur dioxide greatly effects the earth's short term weather patterns. Sulfur particles last for a very long time, such as a few years. This is a contributes to destroying the ozone layer. Fluorine can pollute water when it enters it, and can poison animals when they drink some of it.

Volcanic ash is pieces of rock and glass and when a volcano erupts, spews this in different directions. Volcanic ash is very small, sometimes even less then a millimeter. It also conducts electricity, so can cause thunder when wet. It is formed when gas dissolved in magma expand quickly into the air, or when water is heated by magma. This ash also makes it harder for people to breath, causing some to suffocate.

A landslide is debris from the volcano that is rushing rapidly from the volcano. The size of them vary, from small articles of rocks and pebbles to huge collapses of the side of a volcano rushing downhill. The most common landslides occur on steep volcanic mountains; mainly because they are made out of small items of rock and sand and other lose items. Most landslides happen during an eruption, or when there is a lot of rainfall. Mount St. Helen's is an example of a volcano that has large landslides, like on May 18, 1990.

Mudflows are one of the most dangerous parts of volcanoes, because they are very dangerous. They are flows of mostly mud, water, and rocks which rush down at about 30 miles per hour, and can travel for over 50 miles at a time. They cause the most damage to a city, with their ability to rip up trees and destroy houses, and cover everything in mud. These can even occur when a volcano is dormant, not only during an eruption. Many mudflows occur in Hawaii due to its many volcanoes and huge amounts of rain.

So that's all for today about volcanoes and their effects, come back next week to find out some more on volcanoes.

Steph