An active volcano in Indonesia, named Mount Merapi had erupted twice, sending clouds of ash 6 kilometers (4 miles) into the sky, Indonesia's geological agency reported. The eruptions caused gray ash to rain down on some of the villages on the slopes of the 2,930-meter high volcano near Indonesia's cultural capital, Yogyakarta.
There are three general types of volcanoes: active, dormant, and extinct.
Active volcano: An active volcano is a volcano that has had at least one eruption during the past 10,000 years. An active volcano might be erupting or dormant.
Dormant volcano: A dormant volcano is an active volcano that is not erupting, but supposed to erupt again.
Extinct volcano: An extinct volcano has not had an eruption for at least 10,000 years and is not expected to erupt again in a comparable time scale of the future.
Mt. Merapi, also known as the Mountain of Fire, is one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia.
It is the most active volcano in Indonesia and has erupted regularly since 1548.
It is located approximately 28 kilometres north of Yogyakarta city which has a population of 2.4 million, and thousands of people live on the flanks of the volcano, with villages as high as 1,700 metres above sea level.
The mountain was still erupting on 30 November 2010, but due to lowered eruptive activity on 3 December 2010, the official alert status was reduced to level 3.
The volcano is now 2,930 metres high, 38 metres lower than before the 2010 eruptions.
Indonesia is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a group of volcanoes and fault lines that runs through the Pacific Basin.
Indonesia has a great number of volcanoes in the world. There are 147 volcanoes, and 76 of them are the active volcanoes and spread along the islands of Sumatra, Java, Celebes, and Lesser Sunda.
Mount Tambora, also called Mount Tamboro, Indonesian Gunung Tambora, volcanic mountain on the northern coast of Sumbawa island, Indonesia, that in April 1815 exploded in the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history.
75% of Earth’s volcanoes i.e. more than 450 volcanoes are located along the Ring of Fire. 90% of Earth’s earthquakes occur along its path, including the planet’s most violent and dramatic seismic events.
The abundance of volcanoes and earthquakes along the Ring of Fire is caused by the amount of movement of tectonic plates in the area.
The 1815 eruption of Tambora in Indonesia killed 50,000 Sumbawa Islanders and threw so much dust into the upper atmosphere that it caused the so-called Year Without a Summer. The Most Dangerous Volcano in the World is the next to have a gigantic explosion.