Shield Volcanoes!!!


A Shield Volcano
Description: A Shield Volcano
Image copyright: http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/interior/shield_volcanos.html
The shield volcano is very big. They aren’t that tall, they’re what you would call a very big hill. They can be so big, it can make an island. In fact, the big part of Hawaii is a shield volcano. This volcano was formed from a hot spot. The hot spot always stays in the same place while the tectonic plates move. That’s why there are a lot of very small islands behind it. Those are too small to become a volcano.
Shield volcanoes do erupt, but it doesn’t explode. They ooze out low viscosity (lava is fast). The form lava coming out of the ground and making a small hill, because it comes out fast. It keeps doing that and soon crates a larger hill, overlapping the other.
Bibliography
United States Geological Survey. Windows to the Universe Shield Volcanoes. April 14, 1986. January 10, 2008 .
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