In this Volcano vent, you can see some molten lava cooking underground.
Since the magma is much lighter than the surrounding rocks it will make its way up through weak spots in the rocks until it reaches the Earth's surface erupting as a volcano. When the volcano erupts the point where the molten rock, gases, lava and rocks come out is known as the volcanic vent.
Vents in the volcanoes can be at the top, or they can be openings in the Earth's crust down at the bottom of the ocean. When determining if the volcano is explosive or not geologists can tell by the shape of the vent. A fissure vent can be a few meters wide and many kilometers long. Lava will pour out of fissure vents, which in turn create lava channels, but they do not usually explode.
The tall cone shaped volcano known as the stratovolcano can have one volcanic vent at the top of the mountain, but also may have smaller volcanic vents across the flanks of the volcano where smaller eruptions occur. These larger volcanoes can erupt explosively, posing a great danger to people who live near by.
When there is a case in which the lava becomes thick (viscous), there will be a slow buildup of material into a lava dome. The lava will be so thick that it doesn't move very far from the volcanic vent. When this happens it will plug the vent which will form a bulging dome of material. This could cause the volcano to explode violently.
Vents in the volcanoes can be at the top, or they can be openings in the Earth's crust down at the bottom of the ocean. When determining if the volcano is explosive or not geologists can tell by the shape of the vent. A fissure vent can be a few meters wide and many kilometers long. Lava will pour out of fissure vents, which in turn create lava channels, but they do not usually explode.
The tall cone shaped volcano known as the stratovolcano can have one volcanic vent at the top of the mountain, but also may have smaller volcanic vents across the flanks of the volcano where smaller eruptions occur. These larger volcanoes can erupt explosively, posing a great danger to people who live near by.
When there is a case in which the lava becomes thick (viscous), there will be a slow buildup of material into a lava dome. The lava will be so thick that it doesn't move very far from the volcanic vent. When this happens it will plug the vent which will form a bulging dome of material. This could cause the volcano to explode violently.