Mount Ruang

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About Mount Ruang

It is a stratovolcano located in Indonesia’s North Sulawesi province.
It is a 725-meter (2,400-foot) volcano.
The summit of Ruang stands 10,932 feet above sea level, with a caldera that is about two miles wide.

What is a Stratovolcano?

It is a tall, steep, and cone-shaped type of volcano.
Unlike flat shield volcanoes, they have higher peaks.
They are typically found above subduction zones, and they are often part of large volcanically active regions, such as the Ring of Fire that frames much of the Pacific Ocean.
Strato Volcanoes comprise the largest percentage (~60%) of the Earth’s individual volcanoes, and most are characterized by eruptions of andesite and dacite, lavas that are cooler and more viscous than basalt.
These more viscous lavas allow gas pressures to build up to high levels. Therefore, these volcanoes often suffer explosive eruptions.
They are usually about half-half lava and pyroclastic material, and the layering of these products gives them their other common name of composite volcanoes.

At the peak, stratovolcanoes usually have a small crater. The crater may be filled with water or ice, or it may contain a volcanic dome during a period of relative inactivity.

Q1: What are Pyroclasts?

Pyroclasts (or “tephra’) are any volcanic fragments that were hurled through the air by volcanic activity. A pyroclastic eruption is one in which the great majority of activity involves fountaining or explosions. A pyroclastic deposit is the resulting layer or pile of material that has fallen to the ground by one or many pyroclastic eruptions. A pyroclastic rock is the hardened, solidified, or compressed version of an originally loose pyroclastic deposit.

Source: Indonesia’s Ruang mountain spews fiery lava thousands of feet into the night sky; tsunami alert raised