Top 10 largest volcanoes in the world

The planet we live on is a mysterious place and full of potential dangers. One of the biggest dangers we can face is from volcanoes. When one of the volcanoes erupts, it will affect the lives and activities of people in the region or the whole world. Come explore one of those mountains with me.

1. Mauna Loa

The Mauna Loa volcano is located in the state in the US state of Hawaii. This volcano has erupted 33 times since 1843 and last erupted in 1984. The volcano's lava and ash have covered a large portion of the population. A volcano formed on the island of Hawaii, Mauna Loa is ranked as the largest mountain in the world by area and number of eruptions.


The mountain called Long Mountain occupies half of the area in Hawaii and is a favorite place for adventure sports lovers. Mauna Loa means long mountain in Hawaiian. Mauna Loa volcano has a shield shape with a height of 4,169 m above sea level and a volume of approximately 75,000 km3. The submerged part of the mountain stretches about 5 km.


Although it has been dormant for 35 years, monitoring data shows that the Mauna Loa volcano is preparing to awaken. Seismic activity increased in the area and continued for months and years but did not lead to an eruption. This is a clear sign of a comeback. However, the amount of information is not enough for scientists to determine exactly when the volcano is about to erupt.
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2. Vesuvius

Mount Vesuvius is a stratovolcano located in the Gulf of Naples, Italy, 9 kilometers east of Naples and near the coast. It is the only volcano in Europe located on land to have erupted within the past hundred years, although it is no longer erupting. Two other major volcanoes in Italy are Mount Etna and Stromboli, located on the island.


Vesuvius is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because there are still about 3,000,000 people living nearby and it always has a tendency to explode (Plinia). It is also the most densely populated volcanic area in the world. Mount Vesuvius is famous for its eruption in 79 AD that buried and destroyed the ancient Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.


The eruption also changed the course of the Sarno River and raised the bottom of the coast, so that Pompeii was now neither next to the river nor near the coast. Vesuvius has undergone major changes, its slopes cleared of vegetation and its summit significantly altered by the impact of the eruption. Vesuvius is considered a highly active volcano. Although there has been no major eruption since 1944, this volcano is still carefully monitored because it can suddenly erupt and create a major hazard.

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3. ST. Helen

St. Volcano Helen is 2,250 meters high, located in the arc of fire surrounding the Pacific Ocean, 88 km northeast of Portland, the US city. This volcano belongs to the Cascade mountain range and is part of the Cascade volcanic arc of the Pacific Ring of Fire, which includes more than 160 active volcanoes.


The famous eruption that took place on May 18, 1980, was the most damaging volcanic eruption in US history, killing 57 people; 250 houses, 47 bridges, 24 km of railway and 198 km of highway were destroyed. The eruption created rock floods, leveling the mountain's northern forests, covering an area of ​​nearly 600 km². St. Volcano Helen reopened in 2004 and released more than 100 million cubic meters of lava and tons of rock and ash.


Mount St. Helens is an important resource for researchers of earthquakes, volcanoes, and geological phenomena. Research and monitoring here provide important information to improve the understanding and prediction of volcanic activity.

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4. Krakatoa

Krakatoa volcano is a volcanic island in the Pacific Ring of Fire. It has formed an archipelago system of four main islands in Indonesia's Sunda Strait, between Sumatra and Java islands. Krakatoa is known for its famous eruption on August 27, 1883, which was humanity's largest eruption in the 20th century.


The eruption claimed the lives of more than 36,000 people, destroyed all 165 nearby villages and cities, and severely damaged 132 villages. The aftershock after the eruption was a tsunami more than 30 meters high. After the eruption, Krakatoa Island was also buried deep under the seabed. This eruption also formed a new island with a radius of nearly 2 square kilometers and 200 meters high above sea level. From destroying the island of Krakatoa and neighboring islands, causing a huge tsunami, to creating a phenomenon of environmental color changing globally. Ash and ash spread throughout the atmosphere, darkening the sky and creating characteristic red sunrises and sunsets.


Krakatoa volcano has become an important subject in the study of earthquakes, volcanoes, and geological systems. A deeper understanding of the Krakatoa volcano could help predict and respond to similar volcanic events in the future.
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5. Pinatubo

Pinatubo volcano is located on the Philippine island of Luzon, 100km from the capital Manila and is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire. Mount Pinatubo is a complex volcano located on the island of Luzon, Philippines. This volcano became famous for its massive eruption in 1991, which caused one of the most important and influential volcanic events of the 20th century.


On June 12, 1991, this was also the second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century. The eruption killed about 7,000 people. The plume of smoke created by the eruption was 35km high, creating one of the most memorable scenes anyone has ever witnessed. The eruption caused serious damage to the economy, life and health of the Filipino people. More than 800 people were killed and thousands were injured. Villages and infrastructure were destroyed, and thousands of people were evacuated.


Currently, Pinatubo volcano has become peaceful and has become a place to visit that attracts many tourists. Although it is a bit far from Clark and difficult to get to, the eruption in the past has turned the scenery here into an impressive one and worthy for tourists to see once in their lives.
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6. Changbai

Changbai Volcano is located on the remote border between China and North Korea. Currently, Changbai crater is a natural lake with an area of ​​up to 9.82km² and an average depth of 213m. The last eruption of Changbai volcano was in 1903. The most memorable eruption of Changbai volcano was in 946. The explosion was estimated to be equal to 100 atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima city.


The mountain plays an important mythological and cultural role in the societies and civil religions of both contemporary North Korea and South Korea; for example, it is mentioned in both of their national anthems. two countries and is depicted on the national emblem of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The famous product of Changbai Mountain is ginseng.


This volcano was once alive with eruptions and collapses in the past, creating a rich historical and geological beauty. Currently, although Changbai volcano seems peaceful, its beauty and hidden power are still an endless source of inspiration for those who seek sacredness and magic.

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7. Tambora

Tambora is a stratovolcano on the island of Sumbawa, Indonesia. Tambora's most memorable active eruption was on April 10, 1815, with a column of dust up to 43km dispersed into the air. The eruption's dust cloud caused global temperatures to drop by 0.4-0.7 degrees Celsius for many years afterward. This is also the largest eruption in modern history.


The eruption killed 10,000 people directly and 70,000 people died as a result of the weather. Before this eruption, Mount Tambora had an altitude of 4,300 m but after that it was only 2,850 m high. The dust cloud from the Tambora volcano caused global temperatures to drop by 0.4 to 0.7 degrees Celsius. A year later, many areas in Europe and North America had no summer.


This dust covered the sun and made 1816 the second coldest year in history. Poor harvests and famine occurred throughout Europe and North America. The Pennsylvania River even freezes in the middle of August in the summer. Therefore, people called that fateful year 1816 "the year without a summer".
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8. Tamu Massif

Tamu Massif is considered the largest volcano in the world, surprisingly it is located deep under the Pacific Ocean. "The newly discovered volcano is called Tamu Massif. It surpasses the volcano holding the world's largest record, Mauna Loa in Hawaii, USA. Tamu Massif is only 25% smaller than Olympus Mons on Mars , the largest volcano in the solar system," said William Sager, a geographer from the University of Houston, leader of the research team.


Tamu volcano is 650km wide but only about 4km high, with a volume of about 2.5 million square kilometers. Tamu was active about 144 million years ago, at the beginning of the Cretaceous period. This volcano has an area larger than England. Like other volcanoes, Tamu Massif operates in a central cone structure, from which lava erupts onto wide slopes. Seismic surveys and lava samples collected from research vessels several years ago have proven this.


Lying quietly beneath the immense ocean waves, the Tamu Massif volcano is like a giant secret of the ocean, sleeping peacefully for millions of years. Making everything around it seem small, this is one of the largest and most spectacular volcanic clusters the world has ever known.

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9. Pelée

Volcano Pelée, also known as La Montagne Pelée (meaning bare mountain), is a complex volcano located in the French archipelago of Martinique and the Caribbean Gulf. This volcano became one of the most terrible and important volcanic phenomena in history, especially in the 20th century.


Located on the island of Martinique in the Caribbean Sea and at an altitude of 1,463 m, Pelée erupted violently in May 1902, killing nearly 30,000 people in the port city of St. Pierre on the island. The disaster was so terrible that the word pelean - used to describe the dust, gas and dust clouds of the Pelée volcano - became a specialized term for volcanoes.


Before Pelée erupted, many people saw steam, dust and lightning at its mouth, but those warning signs were ignored. After most of the city of St. Pierre was destroyed, Pelée slept peacefully for several months. But soon geologists discovered an underground lava lake rising 300 meters high from the bottom of the crater. Lava poured out of its mouth in March 1903.
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10. Yellowstone

Yellowstone is the largest mountain in the Americas, visible from low earth orbit. But the important thing is that inside that mountain contains tens of thousands of cubic kilometers of lava, a truly huge number. According to estimates, it will take hundreds of years for the world's most majestic Niagara Falls to fill the shallowest lava chamber of this mountain, not to mention the deeper chambers.


The super volcano can erupt waves of lava thousands of times greater than the terrible eruption in Indonesia's Krakatoa in 1883 with the power of 13,000 atomic bombs. 2 million years ago, the super volcano located under Yellowstone National Park was the culprit causing the 4th largest eruption in earth's history as recorded by scientists.


Its most recent activity was about 640,000 years ago, creating an oval crater with an area of ​​64 x 40km. Experts have evidence that Yellowstone could explode one day, potentially covering half of the US territory under a layer of ash 1 meter thick.
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