Of the various types of volcanoes found on the Earth, the least destructive of them are the Shield Volcanoes such as the ones found in Hawaii. These volcanoes are primarily made of basalt, which in its fluid state is less viscous or sticky and as an analogy it flows more like water than like honey. Because of this property of the lava it can run long distances before it cools and hence makes more of a dome shape similar to the shape a pile of sand would form if it were dumped from an excavator onto flat ground. Other types of volcanoes like composite volcanoes are made of different materials and are less fluid and thus tend to cool in place and form tall and fairly steep sided mountains. They also have a more explosive nature.
View Comments
User Comments are a new feature: Be the first to submit a Comment!