How many dormant volcanoes are there on earth? Extinct volcanoes of the world - are they safe for tourism? The area with the most active volcanoes
Volcanoes are geological formations on the surface of the crust of the Earth or another planet, where magma comes to the surface, forming lava, volcanic gases, stones (volcanic bombs and pyroclastic flows).
The word "volcano" comes from the name of the ancient Roman god of fire, Vulcan.
The science that studies volcanoes is volcanology and geomorphology.
Volcanoes are classified by shape (shield, stratovolcanoes, cinder cones, domes), activity (active, dormant, extinct), location (terrestrial, underwater), etc.
Volcanoes are divided depending on the degree of volcanic activity into active, dormant and extinct. An active volcano is considered to be a volcano that erupted during a historical period of time or in the Holocene. The concept of “active” is quite inaccurate, since a volcano with active fumaroles is classified by some scientists as active, and by others as extinct. Dormant volcanoes are considered to be inactive volcanoes where eruptions are possible, and extinct volcanoes are considered to be those where they are unlikely.
However, there is no consensus among volcanologists on how to define an active volcano. The period of volcanic activity can last from several months to several million years. Many volcanoes exhibited volcanic activity tens of thousands of years ago, but are not considered active today.
Astrophysicists, from a historical perspective, believe that volcanic activity, caused, in turn, by the tidal influence of other celestial bodies, may contribute to the emergence of life. In particular, it was volcanoes that contributed to the formation of the earth’s atmosphere and hydrosphere, throwing out a significant amount carbon dioxide and water vapor. Scientists also note that too active volcanism, such as on Jupiter's moon Io, can make the planet's surface uninhabitable. At the same time, weak tectonic activity leads to the disappearance of carbon dioxide and sterilization of the planet. “These two cases represent potential boundaries for planetary habitability and exist alongside the traditional parameters of habitable zones for systems of low-mass main sequence stars,” the scientists write.
Volcanoes, for all their danger, are one of the most beautiful and majestic wonders of nature. Active volcanoes look especially beautiful at night. But this beauty brings death to everything around. Lava, volcanic bombs, pyroclastic flows consisting of hot volcanic gases, ash and stones can wipe out even big cities. Humanity has seen the incredible power of volcanoes during the infamous eruption of Vesuvius, which destroyed the ancient Roman cities of Herculaneum, Pompeii and Stabiae. And there are many such examples in history. The largest volcanoes in the world - today we’ll talk about these dangerous but beautiful giants. Our list includes volcanoes of varying degrees of activity - from relatively dormant to active. The main selection criterion was their size.
10 Sangay Height 5,230 meters
The active stratovolcano Sangay, located in Ecuador, opens the ranking of the largest volcanoes on Earth. Its height is 5230 meters. The summit of the volcano consists of three craters with a diameter of 50 to 100 meters. Sangay is one of the youngest and most restless volcanoes South America. Its first eruption occurred in 1628. The last one took place in 2007. Now the volcanic activity of the giant from the Equator is assessed as moderate. Tourists who visited National Park Sangay, on whose territory the volcano is located, can climb to its peak.
9 Popocatepetl Height 5,455 meters
In 9th place among the largest volcanoes in the world is Popocatepetl. It is located in the Mexican Highlands. The height of the volcano is 5455 meters. Even in a calm state, the volcano is constantly shrouded in a cloud of gases and ash. Its danger lies in the fact that there are densely populated areas around the volcano, and Mexico City is located 60 kilometers from it. The last eruption of the giant occurred quite recently - on March 27, 2016, it threw out a kilometer-long column of ash. The next day Popocatepetl calmed down. If the Mexican giant erupts strongly, it will threaten the safety of several million people.
8 Elbrus Height 5,642 meters
There are large volcanoes in Europe. In the North Caucasus there is the Elbrus stratovolcano, whose height is 5642 meters. This is the highest peak in Russia. Elbrus is one of the seven highest mountain peaks on the planet. Scientists have different opinions about the activity of the giant. Some consider it an extinct volcano, while others consider it a dying one. Sometimes Elbrus becomes the center of small earthquakes. In some places on its surface, sulfur dioxide gases emerge from cracks. Scientists who believe that Elbrus may wake up in the future express the opinion that the nature of its eruption will be explosive.
7 Orizaba Height 5,675 meters
The seventh place on the list of the largest volcanoes on Earth is Orizaba, the highest peak in Mexico. The height of the volcano is 5675 meters. It last erupted in 1687. Now Orizaba is considered a dormant volcano. From its top, stunning panoramic views open up. In order to protect the volcano, a reserve was created.
6 Misti Height 5,822 meters
In 6th place on the list of the largest volcanoes is Misti, located in the south of Peru. Its height is 5822 meters. Misti is an active volcano. It last erupted in 1985. In January 2016, an increase in fumarole activity was observed on the volcano - steam and gas vents appeared. This is one of the signs of an impending eruption. In 1998, six Inca mummies were found near the inner crater of the volcano. Interesting fact– Many buildings in the city of Arequipa, located 17 kilometers from the volcano, are built from white deposits of the Misti pyroclastic flows. That's why Arequipa is called the "White City".
5 Kilimanjaro Height 5,895 meters
The fifth largest volcano on the planet is highest point African continent - Kilimanjaro. Scientists have concluded that this giant stratovolcano, 5895 meters high, is potentially active. Now it periodically releases gases and there is a possibility of the crater of the volcano collapsing, which could trigger an eruption. There is no documentary evidence of Kilimanjaro's activity, but there are local legends that speak of an eruption that occurred about 200 years ago.
4 Cotopaxi Height 5,897 meters
In fourth place on the list of the largest volcanoes on Earth is Cotopaxi, the second largest peak in Ecuador. This is an active volcano with a height of 5897 meters. The first time its activity was recorded was in 1534. Since then, the volcano has erupted more than 50 times. Kotpahi's last major eruption occurred in August 2015.
3 San Pedro Height 6,145 meters
The active stratovolcano San Pedro, located in Chile, ranks 3rd among the largest volcanoes in the world. Its height is 6145 meters. The last volcanic eruption occurred in 1960.
2 Mauna Loa Height 4,205 meters
The second largest volcano in the world is Mauna Loa, located in the Hawaiian Islands. In terms of volume, it is the largest volcano on Earth, containing more than 32 cubic kilometers of magma. The giant was formed more than 700 thousand years ago. Mauna Loa is an active volcano. In 1984, its eruption lasted almost a month and caused enormous damage to local residents and the area surrounding the volcano.
1 Llullaillaco Height 6,739 meters
In first place among the largest volcanoes in the world is the active starting volcano of Llullaillaco. It is located on the border of Argentina and Chile. Its height is 6739 meters. The giant's last eruption took place in 1877. Now it is in the solfata stage - from time to time the volcano emits sulfur dioxide gases and water vapor. In 1952, during the first ascent of Llullaillaco, an ancient Inca sanctuary was found. Later, archaeologists discovered three child mummies on the slopes of the volcano. Most likely they were sacrificed. This is interesting. The Yellowstone caldera, which measures approximately 55 km by 72 km, is called a supervolcano. It is located in Yellowstone National Park USA. The volcano has not been active for 640 thousand years. Under its crater there is a bubble of magma more than 8 thousand meters deep. During its existence, the supervolcano erupted three times. Each time this caused major cataclysms that changed the appearance of the Earth at the site of the eruption. It is impossible to predict when the supervolcano will wake up again. Only one thing can be said with certainty: a cataclysm of this magnitude can bring the existence of our civilization to the brink.
For common man, who knows little about volcanology, the difference between a dormant and an extinct volcano is small. You might think that the mountain has stopped its volcanic activity forever, but in fact it is just sleeping and can wake up at any moment. What do volcanologists think about this? What differences do they see between an active, extinct and dormant volcano?
Active volcanoes
In fact, these concepts are quite subjective. The easiest way to deal with an active volcano is any giant that is this moment pours out lava, throws out ash and smoke. Some volcanoes may not show outward signs of eruption, but are still considered active because they regularly tremble, produce earthquakes, and emit colorless gases. At the moment, we can call them active in Indonesia.
Lava on Kilauea
According to the US Geological Survey, any volcano that has erupted over a historical period of time is considered active. Although many of them are rather “potentially active” (which is closer to the concept of “dormant”), since they do not show any signs of activity. These could be considered, for example, before its eruption in 2014.
Dormant volcanoes
When it comes to dormant (inactive) volcanoes, their definition becomes more difficult. The USGS says a dormant volcano is one that shows no signs of disturbance but may become active again. A striking example such a giant stands out. He is currently considered dormant, but only until increasing levels of anxiety make him active again.
It is quite difficult to determine the line between inactive and extinct volcanoes. This is due, first of all, to their resting time. Some peaks can sleep for tens or even hundreds of thousands of years, but if they have sufficient potential for eruption and can erupt again, then it would be reckless to call them extinct.
Extinct volcanoes
The body of magma in any volcano is large, and its temperature reaches 700 °C. It takes quite a long time for this entire mass to cool down - sometimes from 1 to 1.5 million years. As a rule, a volcano can be considered extinct if it last time erupted at least 1 million years ago. For example, the peaks of Sutter Butte and Clear Lake in California have been silent for 1.4 million years. With a high probability they will no longer erupt, but this does not mean that over time new volcanoes will not arise in their place.
If you look at the history of the Baker or Lassen Peak volcanoes in the Cascade Mountains, you can see that they appeared on the remains of ancient volcanoes that had not erupted for many millions of years. It is believed that if once a volcano grew in a specific place, then in the future new cones will appear here, since in this area there is the most preferable path for the movement of magma.
Thus, we can conclude that if a volcano makes noise, it means it is active. If it erupted in the not so distant past, but is now silent, then it is sleeping, and if its last volcanic activity occurred more than a million years ago, then it is extinct. Of course, the differences are approximate, but this is approximately how volcanologists look at the life of volcanoes.
Volcanoes are fire-breathing mountains, a place where you can look into the bowels of the Earth. Among them there are active and extinct ones. If active volcanoes show activity from time to time, then information about extinct eruptions has not been preserved in the memory of mankind. And only the structure and rocks that compose them allow us to judge their turbulent past.
Volcanoes occupy an intermediate position. They are characterized by inactivity for many years.
Dormant volcanoes
The division of volcanoes into dormant and active is very arbitrary. People may simply not be aware of their activity in the not-so-distant past.
For example, the famous volcanoes of Africa are dormant: Kilimanjaro, Ngorongoro, Rungwe, Menengai and others. There have been no eruptions for a long time, but light streams of gas rise above some. But knowing that they are located in the zone of the Great East African graben system, we can assume that at any moment they can wake up in all their power and danger.
Dangerous Calm
Dormant volcanoes can be very dangerous. The saying about a still pool and the devils in it fits well with them. The history of mankind remembers many cases when a volcano, long considered dormant or even extinct, woke up and brought a lot of trouble to people living in its vicinity.
Most famous example- the famous eruption of Vesuvius, which destroyed, in addition to Pompeii, several more cities and many villages. The life of Pliny the Elder, a famous ancient military leader and natural scientist, was cut short precisely because of him.
The interrupted sleep of volcanoes
The Ruiz volcano in the Colombian Andes has been considered dormant since 1595. But on November 13, 1985, he refuted this by erupting in a series of explosions, each stronger than the other. The snow and ice located in the crater and on the slopes of the volcano began to rapidly melt, forming powerful mud-stone flows. They poured into the valley of the La Gunilla River and reached the city of Armero, located 40 km from the volcano. A stream of mud and stones fell on the city and surrounding villages in a raging mess 5-6 m thick. About 20 thousand people died, Armero became huge. Only those residents who climbed the nearest hills at the beginning of the eruption were able to escape.
The release of gas from the crater of the Nyos volcano caused the death of more than 1,700 people and a large number of livestock. But it was considered extinct long ago. A lake even formed in its crater.
Volcanoes of Kamchatka
The Kamchatka Peninsula is home to a large number of active and dormant volcanoes. It would be wrong to consider them extinct, because here is the collision boundary, which means that any activity in tectonic movements can awaken the dormant formidable forces of nature.
The Bezymyanny volcano, located south of Klyuchevskaya Sopka, was considered extinct for a long time. However, in September 1955, he woke up from sleep, an eruption began, clouds of gas and ash rose to a height of 6-8 km. However, this was just the beginning. The prolonged eruption peaked on March 30, 1956, when powerful explosion, which demolished the top of the volcano, forming a deep crater with a diameter of up to 2 km. The explosion destroyed all the trees at a distance of up to 25-30 km in the area. And a giant cloud, consisting of hot gases and ash, rose to a height of 40 km! Small particles they fell at great distances from the volcano itself. And even at a distance of 15 km from Bezymyanny, the thickness of the ash layer was half a meter.
As with the eruption of the Ruiz volcano, a stream of mud, water and stones was formed, which rolled up to almost 100 km.
Those who have fallen asleep are very dangerous, because they look like the notorious Vesuvius, Mont Pele (Martinique), Katmai (Alaska). They sometimes cause explosions, which would be a real disaster in more densely populated areas.
An example is the eruption of Shiveluch in 1964. The power of the explosion can be judged by the size of the crater. Its depth was 800 m and its diameter was 3 km. Volcanic bombs weighing up to 3 tons scattered over a distance of up to 12 km!
Such powerful eruptions have happened more than once in the history of Shiveluch. Near the small village of Klyuchi, archaeologists managed to unearth a settlement covered with ashes and stones several centuries ago, even before the Russians arrived in Kamchatka.
Threat to humanity
Some scientists believe that it is dormant volcanoes that can cause global catastrophe which will destroy humanity. At the same time, they talk about long-extinct giants, such as Yellowstone in the Supervolcano, which after its last eruption left a caldera 55 km by 72 km, is located in the “hot spot” of the planet, where magma is close to the earth’s surface.
And there are quite a lot of such giants, sleeping or close to awakening, on Earth.
Dormant volcanoes (list)
Dormant volcanoes | ||
| 1281 m | ||
North America | 752 m | |
Yellowstone | North America | 1610-3462 m (different parts of the caldera) |
O. Iceland | ||
Uturunku | South America | 6008 m |
O. Sumatra | 2157 m | |
New Zealand | 760 m | |
Canary Islands | 3718 m | |
O. Sumatra | 2850 m | |
South America | 5636 m |
Walking on the body of a sleeping volcano, capable of destroying vast territories in an explosion - Crimea, the entire Black Sea, half of Ukraine and part of Russia...
And therefore to find out that he is the most ancient of the sleeping ones in the world and 150 million years ago already significantly changed everything in these places...
But many of you have been here once. And they walked.
Karadag, southeast Crimea. One of the most beautiful and legendary places on the peninsula.
And a giant sleeping natural bomb. If she gets tired of a person, she won't spare anyone
2. A view familiar to many vacationers in Crimea - the Karadag massif protruding far into the sea on the horizon. Looking at it from this point, you cannot immediately say that a volcano once erupted here, completely changing the landscape of the vast surrounding areas...
Kiev volcanologist Stepan Romchishin says that the Karadag volcano did not die 150 million years ago, but could potentially wake up now - “If Karadag explodes, Crimea will not exist by the end of the day. A cloud of volcanic ash will destroy all living things as far as Dnepropetrovsk. A column of ash will rise 50 kilometers, and the magma will flow out for several days. During the eruption, a cavity is formed under the volcano, so it falls into the abyss, and then explodes. The force of such a volcano can be equated to one hundred atomic bombs.”
The scientist assumes that from the explosion, ash heated to 200°C will scatter over a huge area - up to the Russian city of Smolensk in the north and part of the territory of Turkey and other Black Sea countries in the south, west and east. The speed of the sea wave will reach 400 km/h.
For example, the last one powerful eruption The volcano, according to scientists, was 74 thousand years ago in New Zealand. It almost became fatal for humanity. Millions of tons of ash and sulfur were released into the air. Temperatures around the world dropped by 15 degrees. The ash hung in the atmosphere and did not let through Sun rays. Sulfur rains destroyed almost all the forests in Asia. Then it took more than 300 years to restore nature. 
3. Karadag is very different from all other mountain ranges in Crimea. A chaotic pile of ominous black rocks directed in different directions, inaccessible gorge and failures, stone walls plunging into the sea and forming bays inaccessible from the shore, harsh stone figures of the Metro City.
All this is a consequence of the volcano that was active here 150 million years ago. 
4. Various and unusual forms of relief of the volcanic massif with very complex geological structure arose in later periods during weathering and erosion. The gentle and flat continental slope of the Coast Range is protected, like armor, from destruction by a powerful, extensive lava flow... 
5. And the opposite slope, facing the sea, is completely different. It is strongly dissected and difficult to pass, cut by gorges and surrounded by inclined ridges of lava flows, stretched out in a string along the slope. 
6. The modern bowl of Karadag (and if you look at the heights of Karadag, today it is precisely a bowl, the walls of which consist of ridges and peaks) is very diverse in both relief and landscape. Standing at one point, looking in one direction, you will see quite familiar mountain peaks overgrown with grasses and shrubs, forming a fairly familiar Crimean landscape, and looking in the other direction.... 
6. ... you will see rocks Dead City, on which for many thousands of years at least some vegetation could barely cling. And that’s not true everywhere. 
7. That’s why it’s dead, because many rocks rise up like black dead idols, as if in the famous fantasy Mordor 
8. Varied in appearance and mineral composition, the volcanic rocks of Karadag were formed during the solidification of lava. Pillow lava flows are very common. This is a chaotic accumulation of lava segregations of pillow-shaped, ellipsoidal and balloon-shaped shapes with smooth contours, and each of them has a continuous cooling surface with a hardening crust. Pillow flows are especially spectacular on the southern slope of the Magnetic Ridge, along which they stretch obliquely in the form of powerful inclined stone walls. There are seven streams with a capacity of 15 - 25 m each. 
9. The most diverse lava compositions are on the slopes of the Karagach ridge. There are five types of rocks here, connected by gradual transitions. The change of rocks from bottom to top occurs in the following order: keratophyre - partially albitized porphyrite - porphyrite - bipyrooxene andesite - glassy andesite. It is from these that the famous King Rocks are made. 
10. But starting from the name and types of rocks, so as not to make a hole in my and your brain, I will just say that there are some incredible numbers of them here.
Each rock has its own way of shaping rocks and stones into a variety of shapes. 
12. Separately, it is worth mentioning various craters and places where lava comes to the surface. There are several remains of craters on Karadag. The most famous of them is the Devil's Fireplace. 
13. Perfectly preserved, spectacular, with a beautiful classical concentric shape - a wonderful example of a subvolcanic body. 
14. The second prominent representative of the crater is the Ivan the Robber rock, which I will talk about separately. Remember the plug that plugged the volcano's mouth? 
15. Close-up of the mouth itself 
17. Here is another part of the giant circle - the Parus rock 
21. Separately, it is worth mentioning the numerous dikes. A dike is a frozen plate-shaped magma intrusion, prepared by weathering from the surrounding less resistant rocks. The most famous Karadag dike is the Lion's Dike. Located under the Devil's Kamin crater, it is surrounded by several other small and one large dike. In addition, the structure of the Coast Range in relation to the Khoba-Tepe ridge allows scientists to assume that it was here that the main vent of the volcano was located. 
22. Sometimes there is a whole “stone forest” of giant teeth, peaks and stone teeth, which are formed in thick layers of volcanic tuffs, dissected by vertical cracks. These are all the dikes surrounding the Lion's Dyke 
23. Starting at an altitude of several hundred meters, giant ridges descend all the way to the sea 
24. Some of them literally cut through mountain ranges. And weathering over many thousands of years on both sides of the ridge formed gorges. 
25. Caves, including underwater ones, were formed under some ridges that “descended” from the mountains. One of them is the Thundering Grotto. It was the sounds from this grotto that formed famous legend about the Karadag snake, which someone seemed to have once seen, and many often heard its roar in the fog. This legend even formed the basis of the story “Fatal Eggs” by Mikhail Bulgakov. 
26. The famous Golden Gate is a rock-remnant rising above a gap in the sea and also created by a volcano 
27. Remnant figures at the entrance to the Dead City 
28. Outcrops of various rocks are found almost at every step 
29. Like frozen foam 
30. In addition to geological compositions and diversity various forms, rocks amaze with their color schemes 
31. Columnar units are found everywhere. I can imagine how much lava poured out here 150 million years ago 
32. Lava flows 
33. Autumn unusual structure of the Levinson-Lessing rock. 
34. But as for the possibility of an explosion of the Karadag volcano in our time, according to scientists, its probability is only 0.00000 or whatever percent. It will sleep for a long time, because it is not located at the junctions of tectonic plates, but it is from their collision that the earth splits... So you can sleep peacefully) 
My previous photo reports and photo stories:
The most popular way of classifying volcanoes comes down to...
The frequency of their eruptions. Those that erupt regularly are called active. And those that exploded a long time ago, but have now calmed down, are called dormant. In the end, it all comes down to timing.
Active
Currently, there is no consensus among volcanologists about what is the main criterion for activity. Volcanoes, like all geological things, have a long lifespan (up to millions of years). And over the past few thousand years, many volcanoes have erupted many times, but currently show no signs of magmatic life.
Thus, the term “active” can only mean activity from the point of view of preserving human lives. Therefore, geologists often consider a volcano to be active only if it is misbehaving in some way. That is, it creates earthquakes or emissions of gases, which mean that it is about to explode.
The Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program defines a volcano as active only if it has erupted in the last 10,000 years.
Another criterion for the activity of a volcano is its eruption during human history. That's how it goes International Association volcanology.
Thus, the definition of an “active volcano” best fits those that are currently in a state of regular eruptions.
Sleeping
These are capable of erupting in the future, but they will have to wait a very long time. Or not.
There is a difficulty in identifying such volcanoes because it is difficult to distinguish between a volcano that is simply inactive and one that will remain inactive forever.
Such volcanoes are often considered extinct unless there are written records of its activity. However, they may simply remain dormant for a long period of time. For example, the volcanoes Yellowstone, Toba and Vesuvius were considered extinct before their new destructive eruptions.
Therefore, a dormant volcano is, in fact, active. It's just not erupting right now.
Extinct
These volcanoes were cut off from magma reserves. There are many extinct volcanoes throughout the world, many of which occur in the Hawaiian-Imperial Ridge Pacific Ocean. And sometimes they stand separately.
For example, Shiprock Volcano, which rises on the territory of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. This is a classic single extinct volcano. And Edinburgh Castle, located near the capital of Edinburgh in Scotland, is located on top of an extinct volcano.
But determining whether a volcano is truly extinct is often difficult. After all, some volcanoes have existed for millions of years. Thus, some volcanologists call extinct volcanoes inactive. And vice versa.
PS
When it comes to geological features, time mercilessly pushes back our attempts to understand and measure the scale of earthly events. After all, we are mere mortals. People and generations have limited life cycle and even an entire civilization can become dust while one volcano slowly rubs its eyes after a long sleep to explode.
But it’s time for you to wake up before we go on vacation. Otherwise, you will be left without any good ones.