Kinds of volcano Each volcano and each eruption are slightly different. Shield volcanoes are shaped like upturned shields. They form where lava is runny and spreads over a wide area. Fissure volcanoes are found where floods of lava pour out of a long crack in the ground. Composite volcanoes are cone-shaped. They build up in layers from a succession of explosive eruptions. Cinder cones are built up from ash, with little lava.       fig. 7 - A shield volcano (top), a crater volcano (middle) and a cone-shaped volcano (bottom).

Kinds of eruptions

Strombolian eruptions are eruptions from sticky magma. They spit out sizzling clots of red-hot lava.

Vulcanic eruptions are explosive eruptions from sticky magma. The magma clogs the volcano's vent between cannon-like blasts of ash clouds and thick lava flows

Peléean eject glowing clouds of ash and gas called nuée ardente ( see famous eruptions ).

Plinian eruptions are the most explosive kind of eruption. They are named after Pliny who witnessed the eruption of Vesuvius in ad79 ( see famous eruptions ). In Plinian eruptions boiling gases blast clouds of ash and volcanic fragments up into the stratosphere.