Most volcanoes form at the boundaries of Earth's tectonic plates, which are huge slabs of crust and upper mantle that fit together like puzzle pieces. Think of these plates as massive rafts floating ...

At any given time, 20 to 50 of these active volcanoes are erupting. The proximity of people and buildings makes it important to study volcanoes and understand the hazards. The center of the Earth is ...

Volcanoes can look like small mountains or hills. A volcano is an opening in the Earth's crust that allows magma, hot ash and gases to escape. Composite volcanoes are the most common type of volcano.

Some volcanoes erupt with little to no warning, posing serious risks to nearby communities and air traffic. A study of Alaska's Veniaminof volcano reveals how specific internal conditions like slow ...

Scientists have uncovered a long-missing piece of the volcanic puzzle: rising magma doesn’t just form explosive gas bubbles when pressure drops—it can do so simply by being sheared and “kneaded” ...

Volcanoes in Alaska, Washington state, Oregon and Hawaii have been rumbling and even spewing lava, enough to spark a swarm of news stories. But despite the jolts and temblors, geologists say there's ...