• Question: What is the weight of a volcano?

    Asked by 362evnb33 to Adam, Thad, Thomas on 18 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Thomas Clements

      Thomas Clements answered on 18 Mar 2015:

      Great question! There are lots of different types of volcano, from ones that leaks sticky slow moving lava to ones that explode very violently!

      The largest eruption ever is thought to be in Guarapuava, south America, around about 132 million years ago and ejected over 8600 km3 in of volcanic material.

      I wasn’t sure that sounded like much but look at this video of mount st. helens erupting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhU6jml6NY4

      This eruption only produced 1km3 of material so times that explosion by 8600! Mind blowing!

    • Photo: Thaddeus Aid

      Thaddeus Aid answered on 19 Mar 2015:

      Hi,

      That was a cool answer by Thomas, to answer your question it really depends on how big the volcano is and what type of rocks it is made out of. Different rocks have different weights, and of course how much rock there is will change how much the volcano weighs.

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