Volcanoes Are Out Of This World! No, Really...

Hello scientists!

First of all, I am alive. You may have wondered why I haven't updated this blog in a while. The reason is that I've been preparing for final exams recently, and I just haven't found the time. They're done though, so we can get back on track. We're still going to be keeping with the schedule I made a few posts back, and the next posts are about geology and astronomy. That's when I found something that fits into both categories. Perfect!

Anyway, what could possibly relate to earth and non-earth science? Well, volcanoes are a popular geologic study, almost as well known as planets in the field of astronomy, so as you may have guessed by that and the title of this post, we're talking about volcanoes on other planets!

There are actually only four bodies in the solar system that have had volcanic activity, so we're going to go through them one by one. The first one is Earth. This isn't a surprise to you, and may not be as interesting as the other planets, so let's just list some stats. Mount Etna in Sicily is the most active volcano on Earth, with continuous eruptions for more than 3,000 years. The tallest volcano is Mauna Kea in Hawaii, being 56,000 feet tall from base to summit. It's next to Mauna Loa, which is the largest volcano overall.

But that's enough about us. We want to know more about the other planets that have volcanoes. Well, too bad. The other three bodies are moons, although we'll look at other planets later. There's both Enceladus and Triton, moons of Saturn and Neptune, respectively.

The last moon deserves special attention. It's name is Io, one of many moons of Jupiter. Besides having the shortest name of a moon int he solar system, it is the most volcanically active. But why? It's so small and distant from the Sun, not to mention its icy surface. Why on Earth (or Io) would volcanoes be the most prominent there? Well, the fact that it is tiny is the answer. Any astronomer knows that a relatively tiny object placed next to a goliath like Jupiter will have some gravitational issues. This enormous gravity constantly deforms Io, including producing strong tides inside the moon. This in turn makes Io a very volcanic body.

So where's the proof?

Well, first of all, Io has little craters. Granted, it is small, but the main reason it doesn't have any large craters is that matter is always coming out onto the surface and burying any craters that the moon has. Secondly, they happen on Earth. Of course, other planets are very different than ours, but that doesn't mean that it's not impossible to have volcanoes elsewhere.

And finally, we've seen the eruptions. However, they aren't what you think of when you think of a volcanic eruption. Instead of erupting lava, they erupt gases, such as water vapor, ammonia, and methane. This supports the second reason because Earth spit out those exact same gases when it was young.

One last thing. Out of all the planets and moons, we didn't cover the largest volcano, Olympus Mons. It's a volcano located on Mars that is incredibly large. The only way to put it in perspective is to compare it to something like Mount Everest. So, here you go.

That's just an elevation comparison. Here's what it would look like if it was placed on Hawaii:

As cool as this volcano is, the reason I didn't mention it before is that it has become extinct. Don't be disappointed though. Olympus Mons was a shield volcano, meaning that any eruption out of it would have been boring. Because after all, the real reason we study volcanic eruptions is because they look awesome.

Thanks for reading! As I said before, the next post is going to be about geology. After that, the playing field will be level and we'll start talking about another field of science! What field? I'll tell you tomorrow, don't worry. One last note, my summer is very busy, so the blog may take some hits in terms of not being updated, but I'll still try to do my best. See you in the next post!

Until next time,

Ben's jamin'

Benjamin

P.S. Make sure to check out John's math blog at johncooksmathblog.blogspot.com.