Book 12, Question 142
Why Do Sibling Volcanoes in a Chain Erupt Differently?
Neighboring volcanoes in a chain can erupt very differently because each has its own magma and plumbing. Neighbors are not copies. Magma recipe and plumbing shape a volcano's personality.
More fun facts
- Kilauea sits on the side of Mauna Loa, only 33 kilometers (20 miles) away.
- Even so, the two volcanoes have very different magmas and eruptions.
- There is no solid evidence that one volcano can trigger another one hundreds of kilometers away.
- A few volcanoes within about 10 kilometers of each other have erupted at the same time.
- Alaska's 1912 Novarupta eruption, the largest of the 20th century, used magma from beneath nearby Mount Katmai.
Sources: U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Geological Survey
Questions kids ask
Can one volcano set off another?
Not ones far apart. Only a few very close volcanoes have erupted together.