What damage can shield volcanoes cause?

What damage can shield volcanoes cause?

Therefore, shield volcano eruptions generally do not pose a threat to human lives, as the lava flow is easy to predict and avoid. However, in prolonged eruptions, shield volcanoes can produce enough lava flow to reach outlying areas, destroying agriculture, homes and other structures.

What causes a shield volcano to explode?

Eruptions at shield volcanoes are only explosive if water somehow gets into the vent, otherwise they are characterized by low-explosivity fountaining that forms cinder cones and spatter cones at the vent, however, 90% of the volcano is lava rather than pyroclastic material.

Which is the most serious hazard during the eruption of a shield volcano?

Differences in climate, especially precipitation, on large volcanic massifs can produce enhanced erosion on their windward, relative to leeward, sides. Hazards posed by shield volcanoes include lava flows, near-vent ballistics and pyroclasts, phreatomagmatic explosions, and degassing.

What happens when shield volcanoes erupt?

Shield volcanoes, on the other hand, have gentle slopes that are less than 10° and erupt more fluid lavas called basalt. When a shield volcano erupts, the basalt can flow great distances away from the vent to produce broad, gentle slopes.

What are the contributing factors that affect the formation of shield cone?

It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity) lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more viscous lava erupted from a stratovolcano. Repeated eruptions result in the steady accumulation of broad sheets of lava, building up the shield volcano’s distinctive form.

What damages are caused by volcanoes?

Volcanoes spew hot, dangerous gases, ash, lava, and rock that are powerfully destructive. People have died from volcanic blasts. Volcanic eruptions can result in additional threats to health, such as floods, mudslides, power outages, drinking water contamination, and wildfires.

What are the steps that take place when a shield volcano erupts?

Volcano eruptions go through several stages typically beginning with earthquake swarms and gas emissions, then moving to initial steam and ash venting, lava dome buildup, dome collapse, magmatic explosions, more dome growth interspersed with dome failures and finally, ash, lava and pyroclastic eruptions.

What are the main volcanic hazards which of these have the greatest potential to cause damage at large distances from the volcano?

Lava-flows, together with gas exhalations, mud pools, hot springs and rock avalanches, have an intermediate range, being most lethal in the surrounding of the volcano. Tephra fall can be dangerous, especially for persons with respiratory problems, over a distance of 270 miles (170km).

What volcanic hazard poses the greatest threat to humans?

pyroclastic flows and lahars are most dangerous to human life. Ash fall and lava flows affect property.

How are shield volcanoes formed?

A shield volcano is a broad volcano with shallow inclining sides. Shield volcanoes are formed from many magma flows of low viscosity. The magma flows out of the vent and slides down the slopes of the volcano and builds up the size. A shield volcano is named so due to their similarity to a warrior’s shield lying on the ground.

Why are shield volcanoes more gentle than composite volcanoes?

As the erupted lava is runny, they flow long distances before they solidify, this results in the gentle sides of shield volcanoes. There are shorter periods between eruptions, and the explosions are less violent. Shield volcanoes are found on divergent plate boundaries. Difference Between Shield Volcanoes and Composite Volcanoes

What is the largest shield volcano in the world?

Hawaiian Islands. The largest and most prominent shield volcano chain in the world is the Hawaiian Islands, a chain of hotspot volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean. The Hawaiian volcanoes are characterized by frequent rift eruptions, their large size (thousands of km 3 in volume), and their rough, decentralized shape.

Why are the Hawaiian shield volcanoes not near any plate boundaries?

The Hawaiian shield volcanoes are not located near any plate boundaries; the volcanic activity of this island chain is distributed by the movement of the oceanic plate over an upwelling of magma known as a hotspot. Over millions of years, the tectonic movement that moves continents also creates long volcanic trails across the seafloor.