Volcanic plug

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An aerial view of the Gros Piton and Petit Piton, in St. Lucia, 2006. Pitonpair.JPG
An aerial view of the Gros Piton and Petit Piton, in St. Lucia, 2006.

A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcanic object created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if rising volatile-charged magma is trapped beneath it, and this can sometimes lead to an explosive eruption. In a plinian eruption the plug is destroyed and ash is ejected. [1]

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Glacial erosion can lead to exposure of the plug on one side, while a long slope of material remains on the opposite side. Such landforms are called crag and tail. If a plug is preserved, erosion may remove the surrounding rock while the erosion-resistant plug remains, producing a distinctive upstanding landform.

Examples of volcanic plugs

Volcanic plug near Rhumsiki, Cameroon. Rhumsiki Peak.jpg
Volcanic plug near Rhumsiki, Cameroon.

Africa

Near the village of Rhumsiki in the Far North Province of Cameroon, Kapsiki Peak is an example of a volcanic plug and is one of the most photographed parts of the Mandara Mountains. Spectacular volcanic plugs are present in the center of La Gomera island in the Canary Islands archipelago, within the Garajonay National Park. The Pico Cão Grande (Portuguese for "Great Dog Peak") is a landmark needle-shaped volcanic plug peak in São Tomé and Príncipe, in the Caué District of São Tomé Island in Parque Natural Obô de São Tomé. Its summit is 663 m (2,175 ft) above sea level,[1] and it rises about 370 m (1,210 ft) over the surrounding terrain.[2]

Roque Bentayga from the town of Artenara Roque Bentayga visto desde Artenara.jpg
Roque Bentayga from the town of Artenara

Asia

Sigiriya is an ancient rock fortress near the town of Dambulla in Sri Lanka. Approximately 180m high, it is now a UNESCO listed World Heritage Site. [2]

Europe

Saint Michel d'Aiguilhe chapel, on top of a volcanic plug in Le Puy-en-Velay, France. Rocher St Michel a Aiguilhe.JPG
Saint Michel d'Aiguilhe chapel, on top of a volcanic plug in Le Puy-en-Velay, France.

Borgarvirki is a volcanic plug located in north Iceland.

A volcanic plug is situated in the town of Motta Sant'Anastasia in Italy.

Saint Michel d'Aiguilhe chapel, whose construction started in 969, [3] near Le Puy-en-Velay in France. The volcanic plug rises about 85 metres (279 ft) above the surroundings. Another building on a volcanic plug is the 14th century Trosky Castle in the Czech Republic. Strombolicchio, the northernmost of the Aeolian Islands, and Rockall, a small, uninhabited, remote islet in the North Atlantic Ocean, are also volcanic plugs.

In the United Kingdom, two examples of a building on a volcanic plug are the Castle Rock in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Deganwy Castle, Wales. The Law, Dundee, Ailsa Craig, Bass Rock, North Berwick Law and Dumgoyne hill are other examples of volcanic plugs located in Scotland. There are over 30 volcanic plugs in Northern Ireland, including Slemish in Ballymena, Tievebulliagh, Scawt Hill, Carrickarede, Scrabo and Slieve Gallion. [4]

North America and the Caribbean

There are several volcanic plugs in the United States, including Morro Rock in California, Devils Elbow located in the Heceta Head Lighthouse Scenic State Park on the Oregon coast, Thumb Butte in the Sierra Prieta of Arizona, and Shiprock in New Mexico. Devils Tower in Wyoming and Little Devils Postpile in Yosemite National Park, California, are also believed, by many geologists, to be volcanic plugs. In Canada, the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province gives rise to several confirmed and suspected plugs. Chief among these is Castle Rock, located in British Columbia, which last erupted during the Pleistocene. The southern coast of Saint Lucia is dominated by the iconic Pitons, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The twin peaks, Gros Piton and Petit Piton, steeply rise more than 770 metres (2,530 ft) above the Caribbean.

South America

Pinnacle Rock, Galápagos, Ecuador.

Oceania

There are several volcanic plugs in the North Island of New Zealand, including:

In New Zealand's South Island, Onawe Peninsula on Banks Peninsula is a prominent volcanic plug, and erosion of Saddle Hill near Dunedin has also revealed a plug. Dunedin's Mount Cargill displays two plugs: its main summit and the subsidiary summit of Buttar's Peak.

In Australia, The Nut in Tasmania are further examples, along with Mount Warning and the several peaks in the Warrumbungles in New South Wales. The 11 peaks of the Glasshouse Mountains National Park including Mount Beerwah, Mount Tibrogargan, Mount Coonowrin, Mount Cooroora, Mount Ngungun, Mount Tibberoowuccum, Mount Tunbubudla, and Mount Beerburrum, in South East Queensland are volcanic plugs. [5] [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of São Tomé and Príncipe</span>

São Tomé and Príncipe is a small island country composed of an archipelago located in the Gulf of Guinea of the equatorial Atlantic Ocean. The nation's main islands are São Tomé Island and Príncipe Island, for which the country is named. These are located about 300 and 250 kilometres, respectively, off the northwest coast of Gabon in Central Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fumarole</span> Volcanic opening that emits hot gases

A fumarole is a vent in the surface of the Earth or another rocky planet from which hot volcanic gases and vapors are emitted, without any accompanying liquids or solids. Fumaroles are characteristic of the late stages of volcanic activity, but fumarole activity can also precede a volcanic eruption and has been used for eruption prediction. Most fumaroles die down within a few days or weeks of the end of an eruption, but a few are persistent, lasting for decades or longer. An area containing fumaroles is known as a fumarole field.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glass House Mountains National Park</span> Protected area in Queensland, Australia

Glass House Mountains National Park is a heritage-listed national park at Glass House Mountains, Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It is also known as Beerburrum Forest Reserve 1. It is 70 km (43 mi) north of Brisbane and consists of a flat plain punctuated by rhyolite and trachyte volcanic plugs, the cores of extinct volcanoes that formed 26 million to 27 million years ago. The mountains would once have had pyroclastic exteriors, but these have eroded away.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cliff</span> Tall, near vertical rock face

At all geography and geology, a cliff or rock face is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually composed of rock that is resistant to weathering and erosion. The sedimentary rocks that are most likely to form cliffs include sandstone, limestone, chalk, and dolomite. Igneous rocks such as granite and basalt also often form cliffs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inselberg</span> Isolated, steep rock hill on relatively flat terrain

An inselberg or monadnock is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. In Southern Africa, a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, an Afrikaans word from the Dutch diminutive word kopje. If the inselberg is dome-shaped and formed from granite or gneiss, it can also be called a bornhardt, though not all bornhardts are inselbergs. An inselberg results when a body of rock resistant to erosion, such as granite, occurring within a body of softer rocks, is exposed by differential erosion and lowering of the surrounding landscape.

Landforms are categorized by characteristic physical attributes such as their creating process, shape, elevation, slope, orientation, rock exposure, and soil type.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stromboli</span> Active volcanic island off the coast of Sicily, Italy

Stromboli is an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily, containing Mount Stromboli, one of the four active volcanoes in Italy. It is one of the seven Aeolian Islands, a volcanic arc north of Sicily, and the mythological home of Aeolus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cirque</span> An amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion

A cirque is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie and cwm. A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform arising from fluvial erosion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shiprock</span> Monadnock in San Juan County, New Mexico

Shiprock is a monadnock rising nearly 1,583 feet (482 m) above the high-desert plain of the Navajo Nation in San Juan County, New Mexico, United States. Its peak elevation is 7,177 feet (2,188 m) above sea level. It is 10.75 miles (17.30 km) southwest of the town of Shiprock, which is named for the peak.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warrumbungles</span> Mountain range in New South Wales, Australia

The Warrumbungles is a mountain range in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. The nearest town is Coonabarabran. The area is easiest accessed from the Newell Highway which is the major road link directly between Melbourne, Victoria and Brisbane, Queensland and cuts across inland New South Wales from the north to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agathla Peak</span> Landform in Navajo County, Arizona

Agathla Peak or Agathlan is a peak south of Monument Valley, Arizona, which rises over 1,500 feet above the surrounding terrain. It is 7 miles (11 km) north of Kayenta and is visible from U.S. Route 163. The English designation Agathla is derived from the Navajo name aghaałą́ meaning 'much wool', apparently for the fur of antelope and deer accumulating on the rock. The mountain is considered sacred by the Navajo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cameroon line</span> Chain of volcanoes in the Gulf of Guinea

The Cameroon line is a 1,600 km (1,000 mi) long chain of volcanoes that includes islands in the Gulf of Guinea and mountains on the African mainland, from Mount Cameroon on the coast towards Lake Chad on the northeast. They form a natural border between eastern Nigeria and the West Region of Cameroon. The islands, which span the equator, have tropical climates and are home to many unique plant and bird species. The mainland mountain regions are much cooler than the surrounding lowlands, and also contain unique and ecologically important environments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strombolicchio</span> Island in Messina, Italy

Strombolicchio is a sea stack of volcanic origin 2 km (1.2 mi) to the northeast of the island of Stromboli in the Aeolian Islands of Italy. Its name in the Sicilian language, Struognulicchiu, means Little Stromboli.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pilot Rock (Oregon)</span> Mountain in Oregon, USA

Pilot Rock is a prominent volcanic plug located in the western Cascade Range near the east end of the Siskiyou Mountains, just east of the Siskiyou Summit near Ashland, Oregon. Rising thousands of feet above the Shasta and Rogue valleys, it is a landmark distinguishable from over 40 miles (64 km) away. At 25.6 million years old, it is one of the oldest formations of the Cascade Range. The rock is protected by the Cascade–Siskiyou National Monument and the Soda Mountain Wilderness. Several trails pass near Pilot Rock, including the Pacific Crest Trail.

The Neck is a mountain in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, located in Mount Edziza Provincial Park. It is a volcanic feature of the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province that formed in the past 1.6 million years of the Pleistocene epoch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pico Cão Grande</span> Geographic landmark in São Tomé and Príncipe

The Pico Cão Grande is a landmark needle-shaped volcanic plug peak in São Tomé and Príncipe, in the Caué District of São Tomé Island in Parque Natural Obô de São Tomé. Its summit is 663 m (2,175 ft) above sea level, and it rises about 370 m (1,210 ft) over the surrounding terrain. The volcanic plug was formed by magma solidifying in the vent of an active volcano. The nearest village is Vila Clotilde, 3 km to the east. The district seat São João dos Angolares is 9 km to the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scawt Hill</span> Mountain in Northern Ireland

Scawt Hill is a volcanic plug in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, in the borough of Larne, 5 km from the village of Ballygally.

São Tomé and Príncipe both formed within the past 30 million years due to volcanic activity in deep water along the Cameroon line. Long-running interactions with seawater and different eruption periods have generated a wide variety of different igneous and volcanic rocks on the islands with complex mineral assemblages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Navajo volcanic field</span> Volcanic field in southwestern United States

The Navajo volcanic field is a monogenetic volcanic field located in the Four Corners region of the United States, in the central part of the Colorado Plateau. The volcanic field consists of over 80 volcanoes and associated intrusions of unusual potassium-rich compositions, with an age range of 26.2 to 24.7 million years (Ma).

References

  1. Huff, W.D.; Owen, L.A. (2013). "Volcanic Landforms and Hazards". Treatise on Geomorphology. 5: 155. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-374739-6.00089-0. ISBN   9780080885223.
  2. Voiland, Adam. "Sri Lanka's Granite Fortress". NASA Earth Observatory. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
  3. Base Mérimée : Eglise Saint-Michel , Ministère français de la Culture. (in French)
  4. Wilson, H E et al (1986) Geological Survey of Northern Ireland, HMSO
  5. "Guide to the Glass House Mountains – Tourism Australia". 21 July 2021.
  6. "Wollumbin/Mt Warning Shield Volcano". Geological sites of NSW. Cartoscope Pty Limited. Retrieved 30 June 2013.