National Parks: Hawaii Volcanoes

Source: Youtube

Tibesti Mountains

For the current region of Chad, see Tibesti Region. The Tibesti Mountains are a volcanic group of inactive volcanoes with one potentially active volcano in the central Sahara desert in the Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Region of northern Chad. The northern slopes extend a short distance into southern Libya. Geography and Climate The mountains are the largest and highest range in the Sahara.

Source: Youtube

Documentary film about volcanoes

Source: Youtube

Mount Vesuvius - in the Gulf of Naples

Mount Vesuvius (Italian: Monte Vesuvio, Latin: Mons Vesuvius) is a stratovolcano in the Gulf of Naples, Italy, about 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of several volcanoes which form the Campanian volcanic arc. Vesuvius consists of a large cone partially encircled by the steep rim of a summit caldera caused by the collapse of an earlier and originally much higher structure.

Mount Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in AD 79 that led to the burying and destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. That eruption ejected a cloud of stones, ash and fumes to a height of 20.5 miles, spewing molten rock and pulverized pumice at the rate of 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing a hundred thousand times the thermal energy released by the Hiroshima bombing. An estimated 16,000 people died due to hydrothermal pyroclastic flows. The only surviving eyewitness account of the event consists of two letters by Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus.

Vesuvius has erupted many times since and is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years. Today, it is regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because of the population of 3,000,000 people living nearby and its tendency towards explosive (Plinian) eruptions. It is the most densely populated volcanic region in the world.

Vesuvius has a long historic and literary tradition. It was considered a divinity of the Genius type at the time of the eruption of 79 AD: it appears under the inscribed name Vesuvius as a serpent in the decorative frescos of many lararia, or household shrines, surviving from Pompeii. An inscription from Capua to IOVI VESVVIO indicates that he was worshipped as a power of Jupiter; that is, Jupiter Vesuvius.

The historian Diodorus Siculus relates a tradition that Hercules, in the performance of his labors, passed through the country of nearby Cumae on his way to Sicily and found there a place called "the Phlegraean Plain" (phlegraion pedion, "plain of fire"), "from a hill which anciently vomited out fire ... now called Vesuvius."It was inhabited by bandits, "the sons of the Earth," who were giants. With the assistance of the gods he pacified the region and went on. The facts behind the tradition, if any, remain unknown, as does whether Herculaneum was named after it. An epigram by the poet Martial in 88 AD suggests that both Venus, patroness of Pompeii, and Hercules were worshipped in the region devastated by the eruption of 79. Whether Hercules was ever considered some sort of patron of the volcano itself is debatable.

Source: Youtube

New VOLCANOES in LOUISIANA, Gulf of Mexico

New VOLCANOES discovered in the Gulf of Mexico - BP videos of Activity.
The area of The Gulf of Mexico, which is rich in undersea oil deposits and Salt Domes, is also the area of a New Type of Volcano - the Asphaly Volcano. These Asphalt Volcanoes are active, seizmic and spew out ASPHALT instead of LAVA.

Source: Youtube

U.S. Volcanoes and Current Activity Alerts

Source: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/

What's erupting? List & map of currently active volcanoes

Source: Erupting volcanoes

Why are volcanoes dangerous?

Volcanoes produce a number of hazards depending on the type of volcano. Even a volcano that is not erupting can release toxic gasses and cause earthquakes, though major earthquakes are rare. Volcanoes with low-viscosity magma often produce lava flows that move downhill, burning what they come in contact with. Volcanoes with high-viscosity magma tend to erupt explosively. These eruptions produce volcanic ash, which consists of tiny shards of glass that can damage and clog the lungs, which can lead to a very painful death. The ash, which can fall like snow, is about as dense as concrete, which can cause roofs to collapse. The ash can also mix with water from rain or melting ice, forming dense mudflows called lahars. Finally, the greatest danger from these eruptions are pyroclastic flows. These are mixtures of hot ash, rock, and gas that race down the sides of a volcano at great speeds, destroying everything in their path.

Source article: Wiki.answers.com