A volcano is a rupture on the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as the Earth, which allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. Volcanic eruptions are the result of the sliding of tectonic plates. Volcanoes are primarily classified as Dormant, Extinct and Active. Dormant volcanoes are the volcanoes which remained inactive for more than 10,000 years. Extinct volcanoes are the volcanoes which ran out of magma and that cannot produce volcanic eruptions anymore. Active volcanoes are the ones which produced magma within the past 10,000 years. It is reported that there are nearly 1500 most active volcanoes in the world. 75% of them were located near the Pacific Ring of Fire. So let’s peek into the top 10 most active volcanoes in the world!.
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Most Active Volcanoes In The World
Here’s, a list of the top 10 most active volcanoes on earth:
10. Mauna Loa
The islands in the pacific region are basically volcanic islands due to the tectonic belt structure over the ring. The 10th active volcano takes us to the Hawaii islands where Mauna Loa is one of the five volcanoes that makes this island. This is the largest active volcano in the world in terms of volume as it holds 18,000 cubic miles of magma and it is at a height of 120 feet above the sea level. The last eruption occurred in March 1984 which lasted for 24 days causing severe damages to life and property around. Although the magma wasn’t much explosive yet the viscosity of the flowing lava was less making it faster while traversing!
9. Taal Volcano
Let’s visit an island again! This time the island is part of the Philippines territory and the volcano named the Taal volcano is located on this island called the island of Luzon. It is also known as “Volcano inside Volcano”, because the lake which surrounds the volcano was once the mouth of a volcano. Initially, this volcano was standing at a height of 18,000 feet and its earlier eruptions were responsible for restructure. The last eruption occurred in 1977 and recently signs were detected of a possible eruption in near future.
8. Mount Merapi
Mt.Merapi which means the Mountain of Fire is located in the city of Yogyakarta, Indonesia and rightfully deserves the 8th spot on our list with its destructive eruptions over the past 10,000 years. Located at the Fire of Pacific Ring, it is believed that this volcano was responsible for the demise of Hindu Kingdom of Mataram. The last volcanic eruption occurred in the year of 2006 and it claimed 130 lives and rendered more than 300,000 people homeless.
7. Santa Maria
This is the next active volcano that has claimed the title of the most active volcano since the 20th century with numeric volcanic eruptions. It is located in the Pacific Ring of fire, 130 kilometers from the city of Guatemala. There has been a heavy dome complex named as Sanitaguito which was formed from the deposits of magma. Here the volcanic eruption occurs due to the clash between Cocos Plate and Caribbean Plate. The Santa Maria crater was formed due to the heavy explosion in 1902 with its last eruption dating March, 2011.
6. Ulawun
The Ulawun is the one of those active volcanoes that started erupting in the recent future with its first eruption in the 18th century and clocking 22 eruptions till date. The last eruption was so deadly that it ejected volcanic ash up to 18 km into the air and destroyed nearly an area of 20 square km. It is assumed that it has reached its maximum limit and soon it would restructure itself by the eruption of magma. The last volcanic eruption occurred in the year of 2010, emitting ashes up to 3.7 kilometers.
5. Galeras
The next one on the list is the most dangerous volcano of the world due to its unexpected eruptions in the past. Volcano Galeras is located in the Columbia region on the borders of Ecuador and it first erupted in the year 1580. The eastern slope of Galeras has the populous city of Pathos which loses life and property every year due to its eruptions starting from 1993. The last eruption occurred in 2010.
4. Sakurajima
This Sakurajima volcano is the most deadliest volcano of the eastern region and therefore rightly called as the ‘Vesuvius of the East’. It was located in a separate island named Kyushu till 1914 when its erupted magma linked itself to the Osumi peninsula of Japan. From the year of 1955, it has been erupting each year and there are nearly 7300 eruptions since the last century. The last volcanic eruption happened in the year of 2009 claiming thousands of lives.
3. Mt. Nyiragongo
The next volcano on the list makes us reach the African continent! Mt. Nyiragongo located in the Democratic Republic of Congo is famous for its large crater which acts as the magma storehouse. The volcano that first erupted in 1882, ruptured its magma crater in a major eruption in 1977. All the magma was drained into the nearby villages with magma flow rate reaching 60 km/h. the last activity occurred in 2002 and the seismologists expect an eruption in the near future.
2. Mt. Vesuvius
The moment we hear Mt. Vesuvius, we remember the infamous destruction that the city of Pompeii and Herculaneum faced in 79 AD that led to the major damage to the Roman empire. Mt. Vesuvius is not only one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world but also the most densely populated volcano in the world. This volcano is located at Campagnia which is 5 miles away from the Naples. The recent eruption occurred in 1944.
1. Yellow Stone Caldera
So the top active volcano on this list is the Yellow Stone Caldera which is located beneath the Yellowstone National park in the United States. It is undoubtedly the supervolcano of all time since it is linked with several other volcanoes and volcanic lakes around the world. Surprisingly it last erupted some 640,000 years ago and follows an eruption cycle of 600,000 years. So I don’t have to say anymore because I believe you can do the Maths! If this volcano erupts, it could possibly be the End of the World since it could result in the eruption of other volcanic mountains.