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1 Hi, good afternoon everyone. I am so glad to be here today to talk about the volcanoes. So what is a volcano? Generally speaking, a volcano is any place on a planet where some material from the inside of the planet makes its way through to the planet's surface. What exactly is this "material from the inside"? On our planet, it's magma, fluid molten rock. This material is partially liquid, partially solid and partially gaseous. Volcanoes tend to exist along the edges between tectonic plates, massive rock slabs that make up Earth's surface. About 90 percent of all volcanoes exist within the Ring of Fire along the edges of the Pacific Ocean. Slide 2 Before talking in details on volcanoes, lets see what the earth is made up of! There are 3 main mega layers of the earth. By this, we refer to the core, mantle and outer crust. The mantle is very hot. However it does not melt due to the high planetary pressure. Slide 3 When the planetary pressure decreases, the mantle melts and form magma. The plate tectonics theory states that activities at the boundary between some of these plates in the lithosphere are the primary catalyst for magma production. Slide 4 So whats the thing about the Iceland volcanoes? Iceland volcanoes lie along the divergent tectonic plates. When the two plates move away from each other, an ocean ridge or continental ridge forms, depending on whether the plates meet under the ocean or on land. Because the pressure is not as great at this level, the mantle rock will melt, forming magma. So where is Iceland located? Iceland sits on the mid oceanic ridge. Slide 5

The Eyjafjallajokull volcano is located south of the rift-transform intersection where Eastern Volcanic Zone (EVZ) and the South Iceland Seismic zone meet. Slide 6 Volcanic eruption happens when the diverging tectonic plates result in lower pressure, causing the mantle rock to melt, thus forming magma. Magma also contains of dissolved gases that are kept dissolved so long as the confining pressure of surrounding rocks is greater that that of gas pressure. Slide 7 Overtime, the balance shifts and gas pressure becomes greater than confining pressure. This allows gases to expand to form gas bubbles, also can be know as vesicles. These vesicles will push their way out to escape because they have a lower density than the surrounding magma. Slide 8 When the air bubbles escape by pushing their way out, magma is pushed out as well. This results in a spewing eruption. Slide 9 There are several types of valconic eruptions. Example of some includes strombolian eruptions, fissure eruptions, hydrovolcanic eruptions. But given the limited time today, I will explain on the Hydrovolcanic Eruptions When volcanic eruptions occur near oceans, saturated clouds or other wet areas, the interaction of water and magma can create a unique sort of eruptive column. Basically, the hot magma heats the water so that it becomes steam. This rapid change of state causes an explosive type of expansion in the water, which breaks apart the pyroclastic material, creating a fine ash. Hydrovolcanic eruptions vary considerably. Some are characterized by short bursts, while others build sustained eruptive columns. Slide 10 Eyjafallajokull volcano eruption occurred under 200 meters of ice. This resulted in a drastic increase in the volcanos explosive power.

Ash was projected high into the atmosphere.