Bullard Volcanoes And The Environment Summary

Abstract: Volcanoes and the Environment

By Fred M. Bullard As a little kid, volcanoes always interested me, as it probably interested every little kid at that time. It was always just something that amazed me when I saw that vicious eruption and the flow of lava; that would just make beyond ecstatic. But even as I have gotten older, I still have interest in volcanoes; I always wanted to learn more about them and about how they affect their environment and those things surrounding that environment. This article thoroughly explains what volcanoes do to the environment. As any person would probably think, you would probably think that the type of impact that volcanoes have on an environment would be negative; this was certainly my thought

I was intrigued to find out this was false. According to Bullard, the most dangerous and least predictable types of volcanoes are mudflows, such as the one that destroyed Herculaneum in the 79 A.D. eruption of Vesuvius. Mt. Rainer and other volcanoes of the Cascades are potential sites for destructive mudflows. I also learned that volcanoes have the most impact on climates and soil. Bullard stated that the major environmental impact of volcanoes is in their effect on climate and soils. The huge quantity of ash ejected into the atmosphere in a major eruption results in a decrease in the solar radiation and a lowering of the temperature. Volcanoes also played a major role in pollution. The author states that starting somewhere in the 1880s, a world-wide warming trend set in, that in which then reached a climax in the 1940s, and since that time has somewhat reversed. He says that the role of volcanic dust was examined in an effort to account for these temperature changes that were occurring all across the world, and researchers then came to a conclusion that major volcanic eruptions were responsible for lowering global temperature. The study was expanded to include pollution of the atmosphere by carbon dioxide, smoke, dust particles, and things of that

According to Miller, volcanoes between the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands are somewhat of a big deal. He states that More than 35 major volcanic centers of Quaternary age occur in the 1,200-km-long segment of the Aleutian volcanic arc between Cape Douglas on the Alaska Peninsula and Umnak Island in the eastern Aleutians. He also states that At least 21 of these centers have had historical volcanic activity, and at least 200 eruptions have been reported in the past 200 years. The region that he is addressing has a population of 19,000. Although these 19,000 are widely spread out, they are still in close proximity of an active volcano, which can still mean that they could be in a world of trouble. These volcanos cause many hazardous conditions for the people living in these towns. According to the author, hazards that deal with with the most common types of volcanic eruptions include hot pyroclastic flows and surges, mudflows, debris avalanches, landslides, floods, and ash fallout. The author also says that they are many more hazards, including typical eruptions, large caldera-forming eruptions similar to the 1912 Novarupta event, though rare, have occurred at about a third of the volcanic centers in the region. The Aniakchak caldera-forming eruption 3,400 year BP caused the collapse of a large volcanic cone, formed a crater 10 kilometers in diameter,