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   akannan Teacher
   Middle School

   eNotes Editor

   The three types of volcanoes are shield, composite, and cones.  Of the three, the composite is the worst.  The distinctions are as follows:

   SHIELD VOLCANOES
   This type has a slope that is small, seems flat.
   This usually has flowing, seeping lava that does not shoot out in the air
   The lava flow is very slow and you could outrun it
   This type makes large chunks of basalt

   Hawaii and Oregon feature Shield volcanoes.

    

   CINDER CONES
   This has the steepest slope of the volcanoes
   This shoots lava in the air and has faster lava flow
   The lava hardens in the air
   The hardened lava helps reform the volcano again

   The typical vision of a volcano is a cone volcano.  Usually, this is the type that kids feature at science fairs and demonstrations in class.  Interesting enough, the potent volcanoes in Hawaii are cones.

   COMPOSITE VOLCANOES
   This is the worst of the volcanoes because it is very explosive
   It has poisonous gases, ash and lava
   The ash can blanket an area with over an inch of it
   The ash can fly faster than 200 miles an hour

   Kills more people than any type of volcano

   These would be the grandaddy of the bunch.  Most "big volcanoes" are composite.  Mount St. Helens, Mount Fuji, and Popocaptepl are examples of composite volcanoes.  Mount Vesuvius, which wiped out Pompeii, was also a composite volcano.

   Sources:

   http://library.thinkquest.org/20151/VOLCANO.html

   http://www.geol.sc.edu/cbnelson/Scienceweb/TeamWebsites/S...

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   Posted by akannan on Friday July 3, 2009 at 6:10 PM