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Geology & Earth Sciences vocabulary · Volcanoes

Volcano

Meaning in geology & earth sciences, with examples

/vɑːlˈkeɪnoʊ/nounCore term

In geology & earth sciences, volcano means: An opening in the Earth's crust where magma, gas and ash come out, and the mountain or hill built around it by repeated eruptions.

In Turkish: volkan, yanardağ

How it is used

Volcanoes are described as active, dormant or extinct, and by shape: stratovolcano, shield volcano, cinder cone. Volcanologists monitor them with seismometers, gas sensors and satellites. The plural is volcanoes; volcanos is also accepted.

Example sentences

  1. Mount Ararat and Erciyes are large volcanoes in eastern and central Anatolia.

  2. The volcano has been quiet for centuries, but scientists still monitor it.

Common collocations

  • active volcano
  • dormant volcano
  • extinct volcano
  • volcano monitoring
  • shield volcano
  • magmaMolten or partly molten rock beneath the Earth's surface, often containing crystals and dissolved gases. It is called lava once it reaches the surface.
  • lavaMolten rock that has come out of a volcano onto the Earth's surface, and also the solid rock that forms when it cools.
  • eruptTo send out lava, ash and gas, either in a violent explosion or as a quieter flow of lava. Said of volcanoes, and also of geysers.
  • calderaA large, bowl-shaped hollow formed when the ground above a magma chamber collapses after a big eruption has emptied the chamber.
  • dormantDescribing a volcano that is not erupting now and has not erupted for a long time, but is expected to be able to erupt again.

More terms: Volcanoes

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