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Eruptions produce clouds of gas, made mainly of water vapour, carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide

Lava, cinders, and

volcanic ash build up a

rocky but fragile ridge

around the crater

KILAUEAThe Hawaiian islands are a chain of volcanoes that have erupted from the Pacific Ocean floor as it slips over a hotspot in Earth’s mantle. The oldest volcanoes in the north are now extinct, but Kilauea in the south is the most active volcano on Earth.

Some of the molten rock hurled into the air cools and hits the ground as streamlined “lava bombs”

The erupting lava has a temperature of about 1,000°C (1,830°F), making it glow bright orange

Volcanoes are the most spectacular and destructive of Earth’s geological features. Most volcanoes lie along

VOLCANOESplate boundaries, where the slabs of rock (plates) that form Earth’s crust meet. Opening rifts and the friction of plates grinding against each other make the hot rock beneath the crust melt and burst up through fissures (cracks). Volcanoes also occur over “hotspots” away from plate boundaries, caused by rising plumes of heat in the mantle beneath Earth’s crust.

A small cinder cone surrounds Kilauea’s

most active crater

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