Good Example Of Large Volcanoes Essay

Yellowstone Park, the oldest national park in the whole world, is famous for having been built in order to protect the remaining ecosystems here on Earth. It acts as a nature reservoir and is home to many wild plants and animals. With Yellowstone Park’s unique geological features, it has natural hot springs, steam vents and geysers (Yellowstone National Park). As a result, it is a very good place to conduct studies in order to gain more information about the activities of nature above and below the ground.
The Curie point, or sometimes called the Curie temperature, is the point or temperature wherein a material loses its ability to be attracted to magnets. For example, if you place an iron near a magnet, the atoms inside the iron will line up and it will then be attracted to the magnet. But if the iron is subjected to a high temperature, the heat tends to make the atoms inside the iron vibrate, causing too much movement, and they will fail to line up; hence, the iron loses its ability to be magnetized (Curie Point). With this, the Curie point can be very useful in detecting magma bodies. By gathering and recording the Curie points of the rocks in Yellowstone Park, magma bodies that are shallow can be easily inferred.
The Obsidian Cliff, also known as the Glass Mountain, is located approximately 13 miles south of Mammoth Hot Springs and 9 miles north of Norris Junction (Yellowstone National Park). Just as the name of the cliff suggests, it is very famous for its abundance of obsidian, a kind of black glass, found in the rock itself that is rhyolite (U.S. Geological Survey). Obsidian can be used as a cutting tool like knives, scrapers, and arrowheads.
Norris Geyser Basin is the largest of the nine geyser basins in the Park. It houses the largest and tallest geyser, the Steamboat Geyser, which was recorded to have emitted steam and water up to 380 feet. It recently erupted last September 3, 2014 around 11:00 PM as reported by a witness, Rosa Prasser (Wu). Also, the Norris Geyser Basin is considered the hottest among the basins in Yellowstone Park (YellowStoneNationalPark.com). One of the test holes needed to be abandoned due to the destruction of the drilling rig that reached 265 feet and has already reached the temperature of 401˚ F. This basin has two sections, the Back Basin and the Porcelain Basin (Yellowstone Net). The Back Basin has hot springs and geysers in a forest setting while the Porcelain Basin is the opposite, but still displays a variety of colors from the mineral deposits that could thrive in its acidic environment.
In Hawaii, small volcanic eruptions are very common and are estimated to happen on a daily basis. With this, the production of basalts varies because of the duration they took to cool and crystallize. Alkali basalts, which are abundant in potassium and sodium, cool faster than the tholeiitic basalts that lack the alkali elements (Petrology–the different types of magmas).
When hydrovolcanic explosions occur, they generate vents that are either maars or tuff rings. Maars are caused by steam blasts that are phreatic explosions. On the other hand, phreatomagmatic explosions that were generated from the interaction of heated groundwater and magma cause tuff rings (How Volcanoes Work).

Works Cited

Yellowstone National Park. Geology. National Park Service, n.d. Web. 18 February 2015.
Yellowstone National Park. Obsidian Cliff. National Park Service. n.d. Web. 18 February 2015.
U.S. Geological Survey. Formation of the Yellowstone Caldera. USGS,18 January 2007. Web. 18 February 2015.
“Curie Point.” Exploratorium, n.d. Web. 18 February 2015.
Wu, Hsing-Mei. World’s Tallest Geyser Erupts Unexpectedly in Yellowstone. MyYellowStonePark.com, 6 September 2014. Web. 18 February 2015.
YellowStoneNationalPark.com. Geysers – Norris. Yellowstone Media, n.d. Web. 18 February 2015.
Yellowstone Net. Norris Geyser Basin. Bruce Gourly, n.d. Web. 18 February 2015.
“Petrology – The Different Types of Magmas.” Geology of Hawaiian Islands, n.d. Web. 18 February 2015.
“How Volcanoes Work.” San Diego State University, n.d. Web. 18 February 2015.