Volcanoes

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Good, Bad or Both?
by Leslie Whitaker

When a volcano erupts, people may be killed. When Mount St. Helens erupted, 57 people died, even though the mountain is in an area of low population density and there was lots of warning about its eruption. Land may be destroyed. In Hawaii, the lava flows from Kilauea burns roads, houses, fields, crops, and fences. Entire species may be eliminated in an area because the eruption either killed them or destroyed their habitat. The larger species of animals and the forests of Mount St. Helens were very badly affected by the most recent eruption. Erosion can produce scars which continue to grow as more soil is washed from the naked land after an eruption kills the forests, scrubs, and grasses. The ash and gas may cloud the atmosphere so that it is hard to breath, and the sunlight cannot get through. In 1815, a volcano (Tambora) produced so much ash and sulfur that it circled the globe. It was called the Year Without a Summer, because the weather never did warm up that year. Tourists may stay away because they are afraid of another eruption or because the natural beauty of the area has been damaged. These are all negative consequences of a volcanic eruption.

However, there are also positive consequences. Many peoples around the world continue to live near volcanoes because the eruptions produce wonderful soil for growing crops. Most of the surface of the North American continent itself was produced by the eruption of volcanoes over millions of years. The atmosphere of the Earth got much of its components from the eruption of volcanoes. Even tourism can be positively affected. Pompeii is a very popular tourist site because of the information preserved there by the eruption of Vesuvius. Mount St. Helens has more visitors each year now than it did before the explosion, despite the destruction to its natural beauty.

Generally in the short time frame, volcanoes are destructive; however, in the longer frame of time, they are a vital and necessary part of the Earth as we know it. Without volcanic eruptions, the life we know on the Earth today would not exist.

Introduction - Magma, Lava, and Mountain Formation - Predicting Volcanoes - Tectonic Plates - Mt. St Helens - Mount St. Helens Recovery - Volcanoes: Good, Bad or Both