The Volcano

Lore & Background

The word volcano originates from the early 17th century, derived from the Italian name Vulcano, a volcanic island in the Aeolian Islands of Italy, which in turn comes from the Latin name Volcānus or Vulcānus, referring to Vulcan, the god of fire in Roman mythology. The set of processes and phenomena involved in volcanic activity is called volcanism. The study of volcanism and volcanoes is called volcanology, sometimes spelled vulcanology.

In Their Own Story

The heat hit first—a dry, sulfurous wall of air that made Conker's fur curl at the tips. He stood on a cracked basalt ledge, looking down into a slow river of orange molten rock that bubbled and groaned like something alive. Somewhere below, a chunk of cooled stone gave way and dropped into the flow with a hiss.

Conker scratched his ear, glanced at the gnarled path snaking up the mountainside, and muttered something about how he'd rather be back at the bar. Then he jumped. The first gap was easy. The second less so. By the third, he was flailing, his paws finding purchase on a crumbling shelf just long enough to haul himself over, his tail trailing a thin ribbon of smoke.

"Right," he said to no one in particular, shaking ash from his fur. "Right, then. On, then."

Reader's Guide

Volcanoes, based on their frequency of eruption or volcanism, are referred to as either active, dormant, or extinct. Active volcanoes have a history of volcanism and are likely to erupt again, while extinct ones are not capable of eruption at all as they have no magma source. Dormant volcanoes have not erupted in a long time – generally accepted as since the start of the Holocene, about 12,000 years ago – but may erupt again. However, dormant volcanoes are technically considered to be seismically 'active'. These categories are not entirely uniform; they may overlap for certain examples.

Did You Know?

• On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are diverging or converging, and because most of Earth's plate boundaries are underwater, most volcanoes are found underwater.
• Volcanoes resulting from divergent tectonic activity are usually non-explosive whereas those resulting from convergent tectonic activity cause violent eruptions.
• Large eruptions can affect atmospheric temperature as ash and droplets of sulfuric acid obscure the Sun and cool Earth's troposphere.
• Other planets besides Earth have volcanoes; for example, volcanoes are very numerous on Venus, and Mars has significant volcanoes.