Indonesia’s Marapi volcano eruption

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in news?
• What is Mount Marapi?
• What is a volcano?

Why in news?

• The death toll from a volcanic eruption in Indonesia has gone up to 22, after rescuers found nine more bodies.
  • This eruption of Mt. Marapi was the deadliest since 1979, when an eruption killed 60 people.
• Frequent volcanic eruptions in Marapi have hampered rescue efforts for days.

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Mount Marapi

• Mount Merapi is a volcanic mountain peak located near the centre of the island of Java, Indonesia.
  • It is located on Sumatra, the westernmost and third largest of Indonesia’s 18,000 islands. It stands 2,891m high.
• Mount Marapi, which means “Mountain of Fire”, is among the most active of Indonesia’s 127 volcanoes and is also popular among hikers.
  • The Indonesian archipelago sits on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.
• 

What is a volcano?

• About
  • Volcanoes are openings, or vents where lava, tephra (small rocks), and steam erupt onto the Earth’s surface.
  • Volcanoes can be on land and in the ocean.
  • They are, in part, a result of their own eruptions but also the general formation of our planet, as tectonic plates move.
  • Mountain ranges like the Andes in South America and the Rockies in North America, as well as volcanoes, formed through the movement and collision of tectonic plates.
• Types
  • There are four main types of volcanoes: cinder cones, composite or stratovolcanoes, shield volcanoes and lava domes.
  • Their type is determined by how the lava from an eruption flow and how that flow affects the volcano, and, as a result, how it affects its surrounding environment.
  • 
  • Volcanoes can also be classified as:
    • Active: Have a recent history of eruptions
    • Dormant: Have not erupted for a long time but may erupt in the future
    • Extinct: Are not expected to erupt in the future
• Eruption
  • Essentially, it is a case of magma, or molten rock, below the surface of the Earth, bubbling up, rising and overflowing, like boiling milk out of a pot on a stove.
  • The magma finds its way to vents in the volcano and gets spewed across the land and into the atmosphere.
  • When magma erupts from a volcano, it is called lava.

Q1) What is Pacific Ring of Fire?

The Pacific Ring of Fire, also known as the Circum-Pacific Belt, is a tectonic belt that surrounds the Pacific Ocean. It’s a horseshoe-shaped region that’s about 40,000 kilometers long and up to 500 kilometers wide.

Q2) What is dormant volcano?

A dormant volcano is a volcano that has not erupted recently but is expected to erupt again.

Source: Indonesia’s Marapi volcano eruption leaves 22 dead; one still missing | British Geological Survey | BBC