A volcanologist or volcanologist is a geologist who focuses on understanding the formation and eruptive activity of volcanoes. [1] Volcanologists frequently visit volcanoes, sometimes active, to observe and monitor volcanic eruptions, to collect eruptive products such as tephra (such as ash or pumice), rock and lava samples. A recent objective of the survey is the prediction of eruptions to mitigate the effects on the surrounding population and monitor natural hazards associated with volcanic activity. [2] [3] Geologists who study the volcanic matter that makes up the solid Earth are called magmatic petrologists. The word volcanologist (or volcanologist) is derived from the English volcanology (volcano + -logy), which was derived from French volcanology (or volcanology), which was derived from the French word volcan (volcano), which was derived even further away from Vulcanus, the Latin name for the Roman god of fire and metalworking. The Latin word is of estucan origin, but of unknown meaning. Volcanologists study many aspects of volcanic processes to better understand planet formation or monitor current and future volcanic eruptions to protect citizens living in volcanic danger zones. [4] [5] Volcanologists work in universities, museums or other national research institutes (often including volcanic observatories) or in industry. Volcanologists working in science will typically be involved in teaching geology courses if they are based at a university (lecturer or professor), conduct laboratory experiments, collect data, and write peer-reviewed scientific papers for the scientific community to critique and advance knowledge and findings.
Volcanologists working for volcanic observatories and museums work closely with academic researchers, but day-to-day tasks may also include collecting and preserving volcanic samples, writing reports from monitoring stations, and raising awareness related to volcanic hazards and climate change volcanology. also written in volcanology, a discipline of geological sciences that deals with all aspects of volcanic phenomena. In some cases, rising magma can cool and solidify without reaching the surface. Instead, the magmatic mass cooled and solidified in the crust crystallizes into an igneous intrusion. As the magma cools, the chemicals in the formed crystals are effectively removed from the main magma mixture (through a process known as fractional crystallization) so that the chemical content of the remaining magma grows as it slowly solidifies. Injections of fresh, undeveloped magma can remobilize more evolved magmas, allowing eruptions of more viscous magmas. These are formed where water interacts with volcanism. [4] These include geysers, fumaroles, hot springs and mud pots, which are often used as a geothermal energy source.
[4] When magma cools, it solidifies and forms rock. The type of rock formed depends on the chemical composition of the magma and how quickly it cools. Magma that reaches the surface to become lava cools rapidly, resulting in rocks with small crystals such as basalt. Some of this magma can cool extremely quickly, forming volcanic glass (rock without crystals) like obsidian. Magma trapped underground in thin intrusions cools more slowly than exposed magma, creating rocks with medium-sized crystals. Magma that remains trapped underground in large quantities cools the slowest the slowest, resulting in rocks with larger crystals such as granite and gabbro. Volcanism, volcanism or volcanicity is the phenomenon of the eruption of molten rock (magma) on the surface of the Earth or a solid-surfaced planet or moon, where lava, pyroclastic and volcanic gases erupt through a fracture of the surface called a blowhole. [1] It includes all phenomena resulting from magma in the crust or mantle of the body that cause it to rise through the crust and form volcanic rock on the surface. Magmas that reach the surface and solidify form extrusive reliefs. [2] These are formed where magma presses between existing rocks, intrusions can occur in the form of batholiths, thresholds and stratified intrusions. Volcanology deals with the formation, distribution, and classification of volcanoes, as well as their structure and the types of material ejected during an eruption (such as pyroclastic flows, lava, dust, ash, and volcanic gases).
It is also about looking for links between volcanic eruptions and other large-scale geological processes such as plate tectonics, orogeny and earthquakes.