Definition
Volcanoes are structures (constructional volcano edifices) created by the accumulation of erupted molten lava or solid, fragmental pyroclastic rocks (or pyroclasts). Volcanoes range in size from small cones a few tens of meters high to enormous shields hundreds of km in diameter. Most volcanoes on Earth and other planets are cone shaped. The morphology of the volcano edifice depends basically on the type of volcanic material which erupted. When the lava is relatively fluid, such as basalt, volcanic edifice has slow-angle slopes creating a so-called shield volcano. When the lava consists of very viscous rhyolite, the extrusion of pasty lava tends to form a dome, or the explosive eruption of the highly viscous material and fragmental material will form a steep-sided structure called stratovolcano. Volcanoes are commonly present on Earth as a result of plate tectonicsprocesses and on other telluric planets of our Solar system, namely Mars and Venus, and on Jupiter moon Io....
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References and Further Reading
Geissler P (2015) Chapter 44 – Cryovolcanism in the outer solar system. In: Sigurdsson H (ed) The encyclopedia of volcanoes, 2nd edn. Academic, Amsterdam, pp 763–776
Gonnermann HM (2015) Magma fragmentation. Annu Rev Earth Planet Sci 43:431–458
Hargitai H, Kereszturi Á, Choukroun M (2014) Cryovolcanic features. In: Hargitai H, Kereszturi Á (eds) Encyclopedia of planetary landforms. Springer, New York, pp 1–10
Hauber E, Brož P, Jagert F, Jodłowski P, Platz T (2011) Very recent and wide-spread basaltic volcanism on Mars. Geophys Res Lett 38. https://doi.org/10.1029/2011GL047310
Mazzini A, Etiope G (2017) Mud volcanism: an updated review. Earth-Sci Rev 168:81–112
Skinner JA Jr, Mazzini A (2009) Martian mud volcanism: terrestrial analogs and implications for formational scenarios. Mar Petrol Geol 26:1866–1878
Smrekar SE, Stofan ER, Mueller N, Treiman A, Elkins-Tanton L, Helbert J, Piccioni G, Drossart P (2010) Recent hotspot volcanism on Venus from VIRTIS emissivity data. Science 328:605–608
Watters TR, Robinson MS, Banks ME, Tran T, Denevi BW (2012) Recent extensional tectonics on the moon revealed by the lunar reconnaissance orbiter camera. Nat Geosci 5:181–185
Wright J, Rothery DA, Balme MR, Conway SJ (2018) Constructional volcanic edifices on mercury: candidates and hypotheses of formation. JGR: Planets 123:952–971
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature
About this entry
Cite this entry
Pinti, D.L. (2022). Volcano, Planetary. In: Gargaud, M., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_1671-5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_1671-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-27833-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27833-4
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics
Publish with us
Chapter history
-
Latest
Volcano, Planetary- Published:
- 27 December 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_1671-5
-
Original
Volcano- Published:
- 05 May 2015
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_1671-4