Volcanoes dominate the landscape in Nicaragua and Costa Rica – big, massive volcanoes rising up out of nowhere. Occasionally, steam or glowing red lava seeps out of tops. How do volcanoes form, anyway?
Most volcanoes are formed by the movement of tectonic plates on the surface of the earth. These plates are basically huge pieces of rock that ‘float’ on the mantle (a layer of the earth that is sort-of liquid rock). The tectonic plates are in constant motion, albeit very slow motion. They sometimes move toward each other, other times they’ll move apart, and still other times one will sink while the other rises above it.
When a tectonic plate sinks, it sinks down into the mantle and becomes very hot. So hot, in fact, that the rock melts. This molten rock will gradually make its way up to the surface of the earth through a series of cracks. When it reaches the surface of the earth, we refer to it as lava. As layer upon layer of lava builds up, a volcano is formed.
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