By Esther Greatbanks

Volcanoes are formed by hot magma in the upper mantle bursting through the earth's crust and making a mountain. This mountain is a volcano. Inside a volcano there is a big hole going from the mantle to the top of the volcano. This hole is called a crater. Volcanoes erupt when huge rocks underneath the earth's crust crash together and make enormous fires. These fires go up the crater of a volcano, causing the hot magma and rocks to flow down the volcano. Volcanoes are often on the edge of a techtonic plate, but not always. Hawaii is a good example of this, because it's volcanoes are in the centre of a plate. Volcanoes are often at the edge of a plate because the crust is weaker there, making it eaiser to push the rocks up through the crust. Volcanoes that erupt often, such as White Island a re called 'Active Volcanoes' and vbolcanoes that only erupt sometimes or hardly ever erupt are called 'Dormant Volcanoes'.

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