Saturday, March 7, 2015

Volcanoes



Before we begin, let us provide a quick background. There are 3 major types of volcanoes: shield, composite, and cinder cone, though more complex volcanoes exist as well. These types cover the composition of inner material. Cinder cones contain mostly ash, and tend to smoke, but not cause major damage. Shield volcanoes contain mostly low viscosity magma, slipping out, and tend not to have violent eruptions. Composite or stratovolcanoes contain a mixture of high viscosity (thick) magma and ash. These volcanoes are the most damaging, with huge explosions.

types_of_volcanoes_II.JPG
http://perri-n-natural-hazards.wikispaces.com/1.+What+is+a+Volcano+-+History+and+Types+of+Volcanoes
Thankfully, Thailand has no stratovolcanoes, and no active volcanoes. Thailand used to be a hotbed, with lots of active shield volcanoes, but now these volcanoes are extinct because their magma source has been cut off. Shield volcanoes today just look like mountains, and have for hundreds or even thousands of years. Phanom Rung is a temple that the Khmer people built on top of one sometime in the 10-13th century. This temple is dedicated to Shiva, goddess of destruction, and represents her home. Fitting then that it is a volcano.

http://thailandkhmertemple.blogspot.com/2013/11/phanom-rung-temple.html
The oldest volcano in Thailand is in Loei, and is approximately 400 million years old.

A beautiful scene of Loei



http://www.ourweb.info/01/photos/thailand/013/  
Sources:
http://www.chiangraitimes.com/what-natural-disasters-could-you-experience-in-thailand.html
http://n-poypoy.blogspot.com/2010/12/volcanoes-in-thailand.html
http://thailandkhmertemple.blogspot.com/2013/11/phanom-rung-temple.html
Pictures sourced from the link below.
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3 comments:

  1. AnaGGMarch 8, 2015 at 7:59 AM

    very interesting post. As you said, placing Shiva's temple on top of a volcanic feature is quite perfect! I am curious about how many extinct volcanoes your classmates will find this week...

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  2. corbinmeikleMarch 9, 2015 at 7:06 PM

    I really enjoyed your post, It was interesting and related to my country of Ireland. I like how you gave a little background information as well. Ireland has extinct volcanoes as well from millions of years ago. I thought the whole temple idea was interesting as well. Good post.

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  3. UnknownMarch 9, 2015 at 10:18 PM

    I found your post to be extremely interesting because my country of the Netherlands also has extinct volcanoes. I found the story of how the Khmer people built the Phanom Rung temple for Shiva on top of an old volcano really cool. I also enjoyed how you found the oldest volcano to be from almost 400 million years ago! That is so cool.

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