A volcano is a geological landform usually generated by the eruption through a vent in a planet's surface of magma, molten rock welling up from the planet's interior. Volcanoes of various types are found on other planets and their moons as well as on earth. Roughly defined, a volcano consists of a magma chamber, pipes and vents. The magma chamber is where magma from deep within the planet pools, while pipes are channels that lead to surface vents, openings in the volcano's surface through which lava is ejected during an eruption.

Though the common perception of a volcano as a mountain spewing lava and poisonous gases from a crater in its top is not wrong per se, the features of volcanoes are much more complicated and vary from volcano to volcano depending on a number of factors. Some volcanoes even have rugged peaks formed by lava domes rather than a summit crater, whereas yet others present landscape features such as massive plateaus. Vents that issue volcanic material (lava, which is what magma is called once it has broken the surface, and ash) and gases (mainly steam and magmatic gases) can be located anywhere on the landform. Many of these vents give rise to smaller cones such as Puu Ōō on a flank of Hawaii's Kīlauea.

Other types of volcanoes include ice volcanoes (particularly on some moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune) and mud volcanoes. Mud volcanoes are formations often not associated with known magmatic activity. Active mud volcanoes tend to involve temperatures much lower than those of igneous volcanoes, except when a mud volcano is actually a vent of an igneous volcano. On Earth, volcanoes tend to occur near the boundaries of crustal plates. Important exceptions exist in hotspot volcanoes, which occur at locations far from plate boundaries; hotspot volcanoes are also found elsewhere in the solar system, especially on its rocky planets and moons.

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@BieberEnergiex3 <--- Follow her now or I'll throw u in Lava and then make u sun tan on the volcano and laugh at u histerically <33
BiebersDreamer (Cassie Bieber) Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:55:17 -0000
@BieberEnergiex3 <--- Follow her now or I'll throw u in Lava and then make u sun tan on the volcano and laugh at u histerically <33
@aaronbieber Ooohh did I miss it exploding into a firey super volcano-sized eruption?
PhoenixonFire (PhoenixonFire) Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:44:06 -0000
@aaronbieber Ooohh did I miss it exploding into a firey super volcano-sized eruption?
Underwater volcano watch: http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/science-first-video-of-submarine-lava-eruption-17192019
krushvelvetRR (Velvet Jones) Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:42:02 -0000
Underwater volcano watch: http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/science-first-video-of-submarine-lava-eruption-17192019
PRELIM: M2.7 20:29 12/19 19.4N 155.4W 16 km W of Volcano, HI ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII Z=11km HV 00036128 33f06
usgs_eq_25 (USGS Earthquake) Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:33:09 -0000
PRELIM: M2.7 20:29 12/19 19.4N 155.4W 16 km W of Volcano, HI ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII Z=11km HV 00036128 33f06
Marine Scientists Discover Deepest Undersea Erupting Volcano http://j.mp/4uhWsF (via @therightblue)
SaveTheBluefin (john logioco) Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:29:45 -0000
Marine Scientists Discover Deepest Undersea Erupting Volcano http://j.mp/4uhWsF (via @therightblue)
The Monkey appreciated my joke: What did the volcano say to The Monkey? I LAVA YOU!
nakitae (Nakita Espinoza) Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:29:41 -0000
The Monkey appreciated my joke: What did the volcano say to The Monkey? I LAVA YOU!

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