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A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a shield lying on the ground. It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity) lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more viscous lava erupted from a stratovolcano.
This list of shield volcanoes includes active, dormant and extinct shield volcanoes.Shield volcanoes are one of the three types [specify] of volcanoes. They have a short cone shape, and have basaltic lava which means the lava has low viscosity (viscosity is a measure of the ability for a liquid to flow)
An example is the massive Level Mountain shield volcano in northern British Columbia, Canada, which covers an area of 1,800 km 2 (690 sq mi) and a volume of 860 km 3 (210 cu mi). [ 1 ] Perhaps the most extensive of all the subaerial basaltic plateaus existed during the Paleogene [ 2 ] and possibly extended over 1,800,000 km 2 (690,000 sq mi) of ...
The word lava comes from Italian and is probably derived from the Latin word labes, which means a fall or slide. [2] [3] An early use of the word in connection with extrusion of magma from below the surface is found in a short account of the 1737 eruption of Vesuvius, written by Francesco Serao, who described "a flow of fiery lava" as an analogy to the flow of water and mud down the flanks of ...
Some of the eruptive structures formed during volcanic activity (counterclockwise): a Plinian eruption column, Hawaiian pahoehoe flows, and a lava arc from a Strombolian eruption. Several types of volcanic eruptions —during which material is expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure —have been distinguished by volcanologists.
This causes enormous lava flows, accounting for 80% of Venus' surface area. Many of the mountains are large shield volcanoes that range in size from 150–400 km (95–250 mi) in diameter and 2–4 km (1.2–2.5 mi) high. More than 80 of these large shield volcanoes have summit calderas averaging 60 km (37 mi) across. [39]
Basalt lavas tend to produce low-profile shield volcanoes or flood basalts, because the fluidal lava flows for long distances from the vent. The thickness of a basalt lava, particularly on a low slope, may be much greater than the thickness of the moving lava flow at any one time, because basalt lavas may "inflate" by supply of lava beneath a ...
The Canadian Shield is a broad region of Precambrian rock (pictured in shades of red) that encircles Hudson Bay. It spans eastern, northeastern, and east-central Canada and the upper midwestern United States. The Canadian Shield (French: Bouclier canadien [buklje kanadjɛ̃]), also called the Laurentian Shield or the Laurentian Plateau, is a ...