Stratovolcano Facts
Stratovolcano Facts
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| Interesting Stratovolcano Facts: |
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| Stratovolcanoes have gentle slopes at the base but become steep at their upper end. The summit of a stratovolcano tends to be small when compared to the summit of shield volcanoes. |
| Stratovolcanoes are the most dangerous volcanoes to humans and animals because they are very explosive, producing toxic gas and flying volcanic fragments. |
| Explosive volcanic eruptions, which are common to stratovolcanoes, pose serious threats to aviation travel. The ash clouds can damage engines and cause structural damage. The ash is also very damaging to lungs. |
| The lava from a stratovolcano eruption tends to move slowly enough that people can get out of the way. This makes lava more dangerous to property than to people. |
| An exception to the slow moving lava is the stratovolcano Mount Nyiragongo which has fast moving lava. The steep slopes of the volcano and the fluid lava make it possible for the lava to flow as fast as 62 miles per hour down the mountainside. |
| When stratovolcanoes erupt they often send out volcanic bombs that can be as large as a car and can travel as far as 15 miles. |
| When volcanic debris and water mix they can create mudflows. This mud can be soupy to wet concrete-like in consistency. In 1985 a mudflow from Columbia's Nevado del Ruiz volcano buried 25,000 people in the town Armero. |
| When Mount Saint Helens erupted in 1980 in Washington State, 57 people were killed. The ash fell onto 11 states. The violent eruption destroyed about 230 square miles of forest. It blew a total of 1300 feet off the top of the volcano. |
| When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD it wiped out Pompeii and Herculaneum. It erupted again in 1631 and killed an estimated 4000 people. Vesuvius has erupted roughly 50 times in 2000 years. |
| Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines killed approximately 750 people in 1991. It sent a 6 foot blanket of ash for two miles. It had been a dormant volcano for 600 years. The sulphuric acid cloud sent into the stratosphere managed to cool the earth almost a degree Fahrenheit. |
| When Mount Tambora erupted in 1815 it cooled the earth enough to cause a famine in North America and Europe because of lost crops. |
| In the past 10,000 years it is believed that there have been 1511 volcanic eruptions. 699 of these eruptions were from stratovolcanoes. |
| Although dangerous and potentially very deadly, stratovolcanoes can be beautiful. Mount Fuji in Japan and Mount Rainer in Washington are both stratovolcanoes. |
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