DESCRIPTION:
Composite Volcanoes and Stratovolcanoes,
Subduction-Zone Volcanoes

Rainier75_mount_rainier_from_paradise_1975.jpg
Mount Rainier, Washington, as seen from Paradise, Mount Rainier National Park.
USGS Photograph taken in 1975 by Lyn Topinka.
[medium size] ... [large size]

Some of the Earth's grandest mountains are composite volcanoes -- sometimes called stratovolcanoes. They are typically steep-sided, symmetrical cones of large dimension built of alternating layers of lava flows, volcanic ash, cinders, blocks, and bombs and may rise as much as 8,000 feet above their bases. Some of the most conspicuous and beautiful mountains in the world are composite volcanoes, including Mount Fuji in Japan, Mount Cotopaxi in Ecuador, Mount Shasta in California, Mount Hood in Oregon, Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier in Washington.

Most composite volcanoes have a crater at the summit which contains a central vent or a clustered group of vents. Lavas either flow through breaks in the crater wall or issue from fissures on the flanks of the cone. Lava, solidified within the fissures, forms dikes that act as ribs which greatly strengthen the cone.

The essential feature of a composite volcano is a conduit system through which magma from a reservoir deep in the Earth's crust rises to the surface. The volcano is built up by the accumulation of material erupted through the conduit and increases in size as lava, cinders, ash, etc., are added to its slopes.

When a composite volcano becomes dormant, erosion begins to destroy the cone. As the cone is stripped away, the hardened magma filling the conduit (the volcanic plug) and fissures (the dikes) becomes exposed, and it too is slowly reduced by erosion. Finally, all that remains is the plug and dike complex projecting above the land surface -- a telltale remnant of the vanished volcano.

An interesting variation of a composite volcano can be seen at Crater Lake in Oregon. From what geologists can interpret of its past, a high volcano -- called Mount Mazama -- probably similar in appearance to present-day Mount Rainier was once located at this spot. Following a series of tremendous explosions about 6,600 years ago, the volcano lost its top. Enormous volumes of volcanic ash and dust were expelled and swept down the slopes as ash flows and avalanches. These large-volume explosions rapidly drained the lava beneath the mountain and weakened the upper part. The top then collapsed to form a large depression, which later filled with water and is now completely occupied by beautiful Crater Lake. A last gasp of eruptions produced a small cinder cone which rises above the water surface as Wizard Island in, and near the rim, of the lake. Depressions such as Crater Lake, formed by collapse of volcanoes, are known as calderas. They are usually large, steep-walled, basin-shaped depressions formed by the collapse of a large area over, and around, a volcanic vent or vents. Calderas range in form and size from roughly circular depressions 1 to 15 miles in diameter to huge elongated depressions as much as 60 miles long.

Geologists call Mount St. Helens a composite volcano (or stratovolcano), a term for steep-sided, often symmetrical cones constructed of alternating layers of lava flows, ash, and other volcanic debris. Composite volcanoes tend to erupt explosively and pose considerable danger to nearby life and property.

In contrast, the gently sloping shield volcanoes, such as those in Hawaii, typically erupt nonexplosively, producing fluid lavas that can flow great distances from the active vents. Although Hawaiian-type eruptions may destroy property, they rarely cause death or injury.

Two types of volcanoes are found in the Mount Jefferson region: composite and monogenetic. Composite volcanoes erupt episodically over tens to hundreds of thousand of years and can display a wide range of eruption styles. Mount Jefferson is a composite volcano that has been active episodically for about 300,000 years.

Monogenetic volcanoes typically erupt for only brief time intervals -- weeks to perhaps centuries -- and generally display a narrower range in eruptive behavior. Most monogenetic volcanoes are basaltic in composition, but just north of Mount Jefferson a few are of andesite and dacite composition -- that is, with a relatively higher silica content. Over a time span of hundreds of thousands of years, these monogenetic volcanoes have built a broad upland areas (hundreds to thousands of square kilometers (miles)) of mostly basaltic lava flows and small volcanoes. Prominent basaltic volcanoes in the Mount Jefferson region include Olallie Butte, Potato Butte, Sisi Butte, and North and South Cinder Peaks. Fresh-looking basalt lava flows can be seen along the Cabot Creek, Jefferson Creek, and upper Puzzle Creek drainages. Hundreds more basaltic volcanoes form the High Cascades of central Oregon to the south of Mount Jefferson, as far as Crater Lake, 180 kilometers (110 miles) away.

As with earthquakes, volcanic activity is linked to plate-tectonic processes. Most of the world's active above-sea volcanoes are located near convergent plate boundaries where subduction is occurring, particularly around the Pacific basin. However, much more volcanism -- producing about three quarters of all lava erupted on Earth -- takes place unseen beneath the ocean, mostly along the oceanic spreading centers, such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the East Pacific Rise.

Subduction-zone volcanoes like Mount St. Helens (in Washington State) and Mount Pinatubo (Luzon, Philippines), are called composite cones and typically erupt with explosive force, because the magma is too stiff to allow easy escape of volcanic gases. As a consequence, tremendous internal pressures mount as the trapped gases expand during ascent, before the pent-up pressure is suddenly released in a violent eruption. Such an explosive process can be compared to putting your thumb over an opened bottle of a carbonated drink, shaking it vigorously, and then quickly removing the thumb. The shaking action separates the gases from the liquid to form bubbles, increasing the internal pressure. Quick release of the thumb allows the gases and liquid to gush out with explosive speed and force.

In 1991, two volcanoes on the western edge of the Philippine Plate produced major eruptions. On June 15, Mount Pinatubo spewed ash 40 kilometers into the air and produced huge ash flows (also called pyroclastic flows) and mudflows that devastated a large area around the volcano. Pinatubo, located 90 kilometers from Manila, had been dormant for 600 years before the 1991 eruption, which ranks as one of the largest eruptions in this century. Also in 1991, Japan's Unzen Volcano, located on the Island of Kyushu about 40 kilometers east of Nagasaki, awakened from its 200-year slumber to produce a new lava dome at its summit. Beginning in June, repeated collapses of this active dome generated destructive ash flows that swept down its slopes at speeds as high as 200 kilometers per hour. Unzen is one of more than 75 active volcanoes in Japan; its eruption in 1792 killed more than 15,000 people -- the worst volcanic disaster in the country's history.

While the Unzen eruptions have caused deaths and considerable local damage, the impact of the June 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo was global. Slightly cooler than usual temperatures recorded worldwide and the brilliant sunsets and sunrises have been attributed to this eruption that sent fine ash and gases high into the stratosphere, forming a large volcanic cloud that drifted around the world. The sulfur dioxide (SO2) in this cloud -- about 22 million tons -- combined with water to form droplets of sulfuric acid, blocking some of the sunlight from reaching the Earth and thereby cooling temperatures in some regions by as much as 0.5 °C. An eruption the size of Mount Pinatubo could affect the weather for a few years. A similar phenomenon occurred in April of 1815 with the cataclysmic eruption of Tambora Volcano in Indonesia, the most powerful eruption in recorded history. Tambora's volcanic cloud lowered global temperatures by as much as 3 °C. Even a year after the eruption, most of the northern hemisphere experienced sharply cooler temperatures during the summer months. In part of Europe and in North America, 1816 was known as "the year without a summer."

Apart from possibly affecting climate, volcanic clouds from explosive eruptions also pose a hazard to aviation safety. During the past two decades, more than 60 airplanes, mostly commercial jetliners, have been damaged by in-flight encounters with volcanic ash. Some of these encounters have resulted in the power loss of all engines, necessitating emergency landings. Luckily, to date no crashes have happened because of jet aircraft flying into volcanic ash.

Since the year A.D. 1600, nearly 300,000 people have been killed by volcanic eruptions. Most deaths were caused by pyroclastic flows and mudflows, deadly hazards which often accompany explosive eruptions of subduction-zone volcanoes. Pyroclastic flows, also called nuées ardentes ("glowing clouds" in French), are fast-moving, avalanche-like, ground-hugging incandescent mixtures of hot volcanic debris, ash, and gases that can travel at speeds in excess of 150 kilometers per hour. Approximately 30,000 people were killed by pyroclastic flows during the 1902 eruption of Mont Pelée on the Island of Martinique in the Caribbean. In March-April 1982, three explosive eruptions of El Chichon Volcano in the State of Chiapas, southeastern Mexico, caused the worst volcanic disaster in that country's history. Villages within 8 kilometers of the volcano were destroyed by pyroclastic flows, killing more than 2,000 people.

Mudflows (also called debris flows or lahars, an Indonesian term for volcanic mudflows) are mixtures of volcanic debris and water. The water usually comes from two sources: rainfall or the melting of snow and ice by hot volcanic debris. Depending on the proportion of water to volcanic material, mudflows can range from soupy floods to thick flows that have the consistency of wet cement. As mudflows sweep down the steep sides of composite volcanoes, they have the strength and speed to flatten or bury everything in their paths. Hot ash and pyroclastic flows from the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz Volcano in Colombia, South America, melted snow and ice atop the 5,390-meter-high Andean peak; the ensuing mudflows buried the city of Armero, killing 25,000 people.

Return to:
[Stratovolcano Menu] ...
[Volcano Types Menu] ...