• Question: why does volcanos have lava if they are just like mountains?

    Asked by minecraftian to Angela, Gopal, Hannah, Becky, Vince on 18 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Hannah Little

      Hannah Little answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      Volcanoes are different to most mountains in that they’re caused when 2 tectonic plates, which make up the Earth’s crust, move apart and the lava comes up through the crust. Mountains without lava are caused by 2 tectonic plates being pushed together which causes the earth to get pushed upwards.

    • Photo: Rebecca Cook

      Rebecca Cook answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      Hannah is right. Just to expand a little bit, volcanoes arise from tectonic plates collide and one goes underneath the other. (Normally an oceanic plate slips under a land plate as it is heavier). This creates extreme heat and pressure which can result in the magma under the surface of the earth to break the surface of the volcano as lava.

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