0_Apprentice
I am a daredevil like you wouldn't believe, and I want to hike volcanoes. What kind of protective gear should I invest in, if any?
1_Wizard
Im not too knowledgeable about gear but I do know a lot about volcanoes. They happen when the crust of a planet ruptures which allows gas and lava to escape.
0_Apprentice
Oh yeah, now that's what I'm TALKING about! In the lava, will there be large chunks of rocks floating that I can jump around on?
1_Wizard
I wouldnt recommend doing that because of the heat. YOu can find volcanoes where the tectonic plates diverge. Most are underwater.
0_Apprentice
Oh I'm not worried about the heat. I tan easily. Underwater volcanoes, huh? Should I be worried about getting the bends?
1_Wizard
Im no scuba diver. If you want to find some volcanoes head to Hawaii. Its a hotspot for them. They arise from 3000 km deep in the Earth.
0_Apprentice
That's right, there was just an eruption there recently, right? I wonder if anyone did any lava surfing? That would have been fun.
1_Wizard
Sounds like a good time. Volcanoes also form where the crust is stretching and thinning. There are examples of this on the Rio Grand Rift.