Mauna Loa Volcano

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Mauna Loa Volcano

News Highlight

Mauna Loa, the largest active volcano in the world, may erupt in the near future.

Key Takeaways

  • Mauna Loa, which last erupted in 1984, is one of five volcanoes that together make up the Big Island of Hawaii, the southernmost island in the Hawaiian archipelago.

Where is Mauna Loa?

  • Mauna Loa is one of five volcanoes that together make up the Big Island of Hawaii, which is the southernmost island in the Hawaiian archipelago. 
  • It’s not the tallest (that title goes to Mauna Kea) but it’s the largest and makes up about half of the island’s land mass. 
  • It sits immediately north of Kilauea volcano, which is currently erupting from its summit crater. 
    • Kilauea is well-known for a 2018 eruption that destroyed 700 homes and sent rivers of lava spreading across farms and into the ocean. 
  • Mauna Loa last erupted 38 years ago.

Volcanoes Distributed around the World

  • There is close relationship between volcanic activity, earthquakes and plate tectonics, with many volcanoes located above subduction zones and in axial rifts. 
  • Around 80% of volcanic activity is found along subduction boundaries. 
  • Mid-ocean spreading centres and continental rifts account for around 15% of volcanic activity. Rest is intra-plate volcanism.
  • Circum-Pacific ring of fire: 
    • Most of the high volcanic cones and volcanis mountains are found in this belt, where there is active subduction of the Pacific, Nazca, Cocos, and juan de fuca plates. 
    • One good example is the volcanic of Sumatra and Java, which lies over the subduction zone between the Australian plate and the Eurasian plate.
  • Mid-Atlantic belt: 
    • A few basaltic volcanoes of fissure eruption type also occur along the mid-oceanic ridge, where seafloor spreading is in progress.
  • Mid-Continental belt: 
    • It includes volcanoes of the alpine mountain chains and the Mediterranean Sea and those in the fault zone of Eastern Africa. 
    • Here volcanoes are caused due to collision of African, Eurasian and Indian plates.
  • Intra-plate volcanoes:
    • Intra-plate volcanoes are scattered in the inner parts of plates away from the margins. 
    • There are also called Hot spot volcanoes as they occur in the middle of plate boundaries where magma exits from weaknesses in the earth’s surface. 
    • The Hawaiian Islands are an example of hot spot volcanoes.

Content Source: Indian Express

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