How Do Volcanoes Affect People And Environment

One of the biggest tectonic events that has an effect on the earth climate is volcanic activity.

Assess the extent to which primary rather than secondary impacts are the more serious effects arising from volcanic eruptions. (30 marks)

A hazard is a situation that poses a level of threat tolife, health, property or environment. The level of hazard posed by different volcanoes can very greatly, from a weak eruption with minimal impact that causes little damage, to a voilent and life threatening explosion. Most of the sixty-plus volcanoes that erupt each year are low risk, however a combination of factors can cause a volcano to be a serious hazard. The factors causing these variations will be explained in this essay.

The volcanoes are located where there is a divergence or convergence in the tectonic plates and bring their lava from the deepest of the terrestrial mantle. The materials and explosions of these ginates represent a constant risk in the places inhabited by the human being, nevertheless the people ususually live in these areas no matter the risk. On the other hand the volcanos can change the geology of an impressive form, or to cool the temperature of the earth, or to darken the sky. The scientific community increases its efforts to try to understand better what happens in volcanoes, however it is impossible to predict these conditions.

Volcanoes are one of the most destructive, yet, most beautiful things on Earth. They can make a famous city choke in its own ashes in one day, like Pompeii. Or they can turn a once damaging mountain into a graceful and peaceful home for new life, like Mount St. Helen’s. All volcanoes are unique, and no two are the same. Some erupt differently than others, some look different than others, and all are located in different spots all over the world. I learned this while completing the project and the five volcanoes I researched are examples of my discoveries. The five volcanoes I researched were Mount Hood, Mount Mageik, Long Island, Mount Muria, and Las Pilas.

Volcanos are beautiful yet discursive. They may have different effects on towns but some are similar, and some are different. Some may have an effect on both people and cities and the people's mindsets may change on their beloved homes.

Another physical factor is snow; if a volcano is snow capped, like Eyjafjallajokull, then the lahars and flash floods become a greater hazard. The flooding in Iceland in 2010 caused 700 people to be evacuated. Without the snow then lahars and floods may not be a problem at all.

There are other factors predicting and preparing wont help for. One is the type of volcanic hazard such as a sudden pyroclastic flow is much more violent then a slow lava flow. With pyroclastics you can only reduce the hazard by vacation but lava flows can be diverted and slowed down with dam wall trenches and spraying water As they did in ice land on the 1973 Heimaey eruption which started on 23 January.

A human factor that would cause differences in the hazards posed by volcanoes is settlement, which includes where people chose to live in relation to a volcano. For example, in Indonesia many people settle near Mount Merapi because of the rich and fertile soil favoured for farming. As Indonesia is a poor country many people rely on subsistence farming, therefore are willing to risk everything by settling beside a volcano. Furthermore, in the last eruption in 2010 360,000 people were displaced from their homes, meaning not only did they lose their home but also their livelihood; hundreds also lost their lives. Therefore, the hazards posed could have been minimalised if people chose to settle elsewhere.

How did the described volcanoes in Iceland and the Philippines change the environment to lesser or greater extents?

Volcanoes are in fact important because without volcanoes the atmosphere wouldn’t have its oxygen rich properties. Many of years ago, Earth’s atmosphere was swarm with rock-forming minerals of the earth 's crust. During earlier volcanic eruptions many gasses enters into the earth atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, water vapor and many other gases

Most people would seriously question on why so many people throughout the world live in the immediate vicinity of a volcano, and although we can only see the downside of that, there are benefits from living so close to a volcano. One of the biggest reasons are the soils close to a volcano is full of nutrients and minerals which keep the soil very fertile. This happens because of all of the lava and rock that a volcano releases. This helps soil stay rich with nutrients and gives opportunities to grow fruit, rice or other

Monitoring volcanoes have a lot of pros and cons, One pro of monitoring volcanoes is being able to predict whether or not it will erupt, or if so when it will erupt. One way they can tell when it will erupt is when the magma chamber fills with magma. Also the magma begins to release toxic gases, such as sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfate, hydrochloric acid, and carbon monoxide. The magma also starts to release water vapor into the air. That is how scientists can monitor and predict if the volcano will erupt.

There are many variables within the climate change equation that must be taken into account to determine what is truly causing the climate change. Yet, recently, it has been observed that in years following a volcanic eruption the global temperature has been a couple of degrees cooler, and there has been increased precipitation. "The amount and global extent of cooling depend on the force of the eruption, the amount of particular gases emitted, and, perhaps, on the location of the volcano with respect to the world's global atmospheric circulation patterns." (NASA Homepage) The argument that volcanic eruptions cause the climate change is as follows: volcanic eruptions eject sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, and the resulting stratospheric aerosols change the short and long wave radiation budget of the atmosphere. This causes a chain reaction in which the stratosphere cools off. (Welcome to MTU Geology Department) The diagrams below illustrate the many variables involved in a volcanic eruption.

Volcanoes and Earthquakes are two of the most intriguing natural disasters that can occur on earth. Unlike hurricanes and tornadoes, they can awaken at almost any point in time throughout the year. These two natural disasters are also different from others because they occur on the layers of the earth itself. Volcanoes, while large to us, are actually small, conical patches of earth that spurt and ooze hot molten lava from the core, and can destroy areas of land triple their size. Earthquakes, on the other hand, are severe jolts felt on land due to the movement of earths tectonic plates. Some may describe earthquakes as being similar to riding a bike down a flight of stairs. The impact of an earthquakes can take down even the largest buildings and strongest structures. All natural disasters can have damaging effects on land, some more than others, and all can be measured or predicted in different ways. Although earthquakes and volcanoes are similar to each other, the two are still very comparable. A few of these similarities and differences include the cause of their occurrence, and how their occurrence impacts the environment.