The word dormant actually means ‘sleeping’. So when people talk about a volcano being dormant, it really means it is temporarily sleeping and might erupt at any time in the future. An extinct volcano, on the other hand, is one that will not become active again. Like earthquakes, volcanoes mainly occur along fault lines. Earth’s crust to release the pressure that has built up. When there is very little pressure the volcano can remain in a dormant state for many, many years. On the island of Maui there is a volcano called Haleakala which rises to a height of about 10,025 feet. It is the world’s largest inactive volcano. Its crater is about 20 miles around and some 2,720 feet deep.
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Fact File: A major volcanic eruption can hurl boulders high into the air. These boulders, called volcanic bombs, can be very large indeed. |
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