What's the youngest volcano? What's the newest volcano? Which volcano
has the hottest lava?
Maria, Mitchell, and Stephanie
Hi Maria, Mitchell, and Stephanie
You three have asked some questions that are hard to answer. The youngest
volcano (and I guess the newest volcano also) is usually considered to be
Paricutin
in Mexico. It is the famous one that grew out of a corn field in 1943
and erupted for 8 or 9 years. It is in an area that is considered to be a
"monogenetic field", meaning that there are lots of volcanoes like Paricutin
that only have one eruption and then never erupt again. It is almost like one
big volcano that has been spread all over the countryside and instead of always
erupting from the same mountain erupts all over the place. Each eruption really
does form a "new" volcano, although a small one.
Some folks might consider Surtsey one of the youngest. Surtsey broke the
surface of the Atlantic Ocean south of Iceland in 1963. However, it almost
certainly was an undersea volcano for many years before that so it wasn't really
"new", that was just the first time it made it above sea level.
The other confusing thing is that sometimes on big volcanoes that do erupt many
times (called "poly-genetic" rather than "mono-genetid"), a new vent on the
flank will be named by the local folks as a new volcano, even though it is
really only a vent on a big volcano. Since these vents form all the time, the
chance is that one will be called the "newest" volcano on Earth.
Here in Hawai'i our youngest volcano is Lo'ihi, about 30 km southeast of the big
island. The summit of Lo'ihi is still about 970 meters below sea level so it
has a way to go before it breaks sea level. It is sitting on the flanks of
Mauna Loa and Kilauea so it had sort of a head start but it is still quite a big
volcano already, even though it is young. Nobody knows when (or if) it will
break the surface.
As for the hottest lava, my guess would be either Hawai'i or Piton de la
Fournaise on
Reunion
. These are both hotspot volcanoes, famous for having hot
lava, and they are the most active hotspot volcanoes. Hawaiian lavas are
usually about 1170 degrees centigrade (about 2140 farenheit) when they erupt.
I hope this answers some of your questions. They were good ones.
Sincerely,
Scott Rowland, University of Hawaii
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