The Iceland Volcano Thread

igCorcaigh wrote: »

Naive question, I know nothing about geology...

Are volcano activities across the globe connected in any way?
As in, is there a correlation between volcanic activity across different countries?

Look up "plate tectonics", volcanos tend to be at plate boundaries.

igCorcaigh wrote: »

Yeah, stupid question I guess.

I don't see how the plates movements in Iceland could have any effect in other regions of the world.
It's energy at the surface layer.

Just curious.

Short answer is that as the planet's surface is dynamic, a change in one plate interface will affect the other interfaces as well, as the pressures are always being relieved in one area will build up elsewhere.

It's also worth remembering that at any one point in time, there are on average 20 or so active volcanos erupting somewhere on the planet, most on isolated islands or undersea so get no publicity.

There are claims that changes in the sun's magnetic field strength can also change the strength of the Earth's core and that these changes can trigger Volcanic activity

Dillonb3 wrote: »

You also have Magma hotspots located away from plate boundaries that have volcanoes on the surface. Hawaii is prime example

Yes, Yellowstone park is another prime example of where that hotspot is located, it also explains the many "chains" of islands that are located around the planet, like these (formed the same way as Hawaii)

igCorcaigh wrote: »

Ah, thank you.

I had naively believed that the energy from a volcano comes from below the crust, but the energy may move latterly along the plates as well...

You're correct it does come from beneath the crust, but where the plates meet, there are weak spots and these points are where much of the volcanic activity comes from, most noticeably along the mid Atlantic ridge and the Pacific rim where there are spreading and overriding plates respectively.