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A branch of physics that studies atoms as isolated systems of electrons and an atomic nucleus. Compare nuclear physics. atomic structure atomic weight (A) The sum total of protons (or electrons) and neutrons within an atom. audio frequency A periodic vibration whose frequency is in the band audible to the average human, the human hearing range.
Augustine Volcano (Alaska) during its eruptive phase on January 24, 2006. A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
Volcanism, vulcanism, volcanicity, or volcanic activity is the phenomenon where solids, liquids, gases, and their mixtures erupt to the surface of a solid-surface astronomical body such as a planet or a moon. [1]
Volcanoes, he said, were formed where the rays of the sun pierced the earth. The volcanoes of southern Italy attracted naturalists ever since the Renaissance led to the rediscovery of Classical descriptions of them by wtiters like Lucretius and Strabo. Vesuvius, Stromboli and Vulcano provided an opportunity to study the nature of volcanic ...
In 1980, volcanologist George P. L. Walker proposed the Hatepe eruption as the representative of a new class called ultra-Plinian deposits, based on its exceptional dispersive power and eruptive column height. [8] A dispersal index of 50,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi) has been proposed as a cutoff for an ultra-Plinian eruption. [8]
World map of active volcanoes and plate boundaries Kīlauea's lava entering the sea Lava flows at Holuhraun, Iceland, September 2014. An active volcano is a volcano that has erupted during the Holocene (the current geologic epoch that began approximately 11,700 years ago), is currently erupting, or has the potential to erupt in the future. [1]
Volcanoes are not bound to one eruptive style, and frequently display many different types, both passive and explosive, even in the span of a single eruptive cycle. [3] Volcanoes do not always erupt vertically from a single crater near their peak, either. Some volcanoes exhibit lateral and fissure eruptions.
Volcanoes are usually mountains (sometimes islands, lakes, plateaus, calderas, seamounts or lava domes) that are formed when magma (liquid rock) wells up from inside the Earth. There are also analogous formations away from the Earth. Many volcanoes are categorized both as volcanoes and other landforms, such as mountains (if qualified).