Types of Volcanoes The three most common volcanoes on Earth's surface- shield volcanoes, cinder volcanoes, and composite volcanoes.
Shield volcanoes are huge sloping volcanoes that are composed of basaltic lava. Basaltic lava moves freely. Shield volcanoes were named that because they look like the bent shape of a warrior's shield. Examples of shield volcanoes are the ones in the Hawaiian Islands. A cinder cone volcano is mostly composed of solid fragments, the solid fragments are known as tephra. Tephra can either be as big as boulders or as small as ash particles.Cinder cone volcanoes are formed by explosive eruptions. During those eruptions lava is thrown up high into the air and it then breaks apart and hardens into tephra. Then the tephra falls into the vent and forms a step landform in the shape of a cone. A composite volcano is made of layers of both lava and tephra. The layers of a composite volcano build up from quiet and explosive volcanic eruptions. Composite volcanoes often form tall mountains, the top is very steep with a slope at the bottom. |