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Volcano

From CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science

Mount St. Helens, Washington, reawakens on October 1, 2004.

A volcano is a geothermal vent at the Earth's surface through which magma (molten rock) and associated gases erupt, and also the cone built by eruptions.

Volcanic eruptions are important for creation science because they can provide vivid examples of how catastrophic processes are able to form features that are typical of the fossil record (i.e. layered rock). Since uniformitarian thought dominates geology today, much of the earth's features have been interpreted as having formed slowly over long periods of time. In some cases volcanoes, like Mount St. Helens, have illustrated that catastrophic processes are able to form thick beds of rock with fine laminae.

Pyroclastic flow sweeps down the side of Mayon Volcano, Philippines, during an explosive eruption on 15 September 1984. Note the ground-hugging cloud of ash (lower left) that is billowing from the pyroclastic flow and the eruption column rising from the top of the volcano.

1 Volcanic Activity
2 Related References
3 See Also

Volcanic Activity

Pyroclastic Flows

Pyroclastic flows are known to form strata rapidly. A pyroclastic flow is a ground-hugging avalanche of hot ash, pumice, rock fragments, and volcanic gas that rushes down the side of a volcano as fast as 100 km/hour or more. The temperature within a pyroclastic flow may be greater than 500° C, sufficient to burn and carbonize wood. Once deposited, the ash, pumice, and rock fragments may deform (flatten) and weld together because of the intense heat and the weight of the overlying material.

Mud Flows

Catastrophic mud flows are also commonly associated with volcanos, as many reach elevations that cause them to become covered with ice. This ice can then melt when the volcano becomes active, triggering massive mud flows like those observed at Mount St. Helens.

Heat Release

Occasionally creationists are criticized for believing that many volcanoes erupted in a short span of time (a few decades) because that much heat released would raise the atmospheric and oceanic temperature immensely. In answer, Phil Hoff pointed out that if 2,000 volcanoes were involved (though this number of volcanoes is not suggested by creationists) the air temperature increase would not be 1,500 degrees Celsius but more than a thousand times less. This number of volcanoes would raise the sea temperature less than 2.7 degrees C. The heat released by Mt. St. Helens was estimated at about 1.7 x 10¹⁸ joules (during nine hours) which is four million times less than that needed for 2,000 volcanoes to raise the atmosphere's temperature 1,500 degrees.