In size they vary from mere mounds a few yards in diameter, such as the
salses or mud-volcanoes near the Caspian, to Etna, 9,652 feet high, with
a base thirty miles in diameter; Cotopaxi, in the Andes, 18,880 feet
high; or Mauna Loa, in the Sandwich Isles, 13,600 feet high, with a base
seventy miles in diameter and two craters, one of which, Kilauea, is the
largest active crater in our earth, being seven miles in circuit.
Two great terrestrial zones include nearly all the known volcanoes of
the globe, arranged in long bands or series, or in isolated groups.
FIRST ZONE. This includes the vast array of mountain chains, peninsulas,
and bands of islands which encircle the Pacific Ocean with a belt of
burning mountains. Within it occur, in the New World: (1) the Andes
mountains, with three of the most remarkable series of volcanoes--those
of Chili, Bolivia, and Ecuador--separated by hundreds of miles; (2) the
volcanic group of Central America; (3) the series of Mexico; (4) the
series of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains; (5) the group of
Alaska; and (6) the long series of the Aleutian Islands.
In the Old World are: (1) the series of Kamchatka and the Kurile
Islands; (2) the group of Japan; (3) the series south of Japan,
including Formosa, the Philippine and the Molucca Islands; and (4) the
Australian series, including New Guinea, New Britain, New Hebrides, and
New Zealand. In this vast zone there are not less than four hundred
volcanoes, one hundred and seventy of which are still active.
SECOND ZONE. This contains the belt of broken lands and inland seas,
which extending round the globe, separates the northern from the
southern continents, and intersects the first zone, in the equatorial
regions, nearly at right angles.
In it are: (1) the volcanic regions of Central America and Mexico, and
the series of the Lesser Antilles; (2) the groups of the Azores and
Canary islands (3) the Mediterranean islands and peninsulas, including
all the active volcanoes of Europe; (4) Asia Minor with numerous extinct
volcanoes; (5) the shores of the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, and the two
Indias, rich in traces of volcanic action; (6) the East Indian
Archipelago with hundreds of burning mountains; and (7) the Friendly
Islands and other volcanic groups of the central Pacific.
In this zone there are no less than one hundred and sixty volcanoes, so
that the two volcanic zones together contain five hundred and sixty, or
five-sixths of all known.
ISOLATED VOLCANOES. The volcanoes not included in these two great zones
are isolated, in the midst of the oceans, or in the broken polar lands.
The most noted are the Hawaiian Island group, in the Pacific; Bourbon
and Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean; Cape Verde Islands, Ascension, St.
Helena, and Tristan da Cunha, in the Atlantic; Iceland and Jan Mayen, in
the Arctic Ocean; and Erebus and Terror, in Antarctic.
=MOST NOTED VOLCANOES=
=Name= =Location= =Height
(feet)=
=Altar= Ecuador 17,710
=Antisana= Ecuador 19,335
=Asosan= Japan 5,630
=Cayambi= Ecuador 19,255
=Chimborazo= Ecuador 21,424
=Copiapo= Chile 19,700
=Cotocachi= Ecuador 16,300
=Cotopaxi= Ecuador 18,880
=Demavend= Persia 18,500
=Etna= Sicily 9,652
=Fujiyama= Japan 12,390
=Hecla= Iceland 5,110
=Hood, Mt.= Oregon 11,225
=Iztaccihuati= Mexico 16,076
=Kirishima-yama= Japan 5,530
=Llullaillac= Chile 21,000
=Maipo= Chile 17,670
=Mauna Kea= Hawaii 13,953
=Mauna Loa= Hawaii 13,600
=Misti= Peru 20,015
=Nevado de Colima= Mexico 14,210
=Orizaba= Mexico 18,310
=Pelée= Martinique, W. I. 4,300
=Pichincha= Ecuador 15,918
=Pico, Peak of= Azores 7,013
=Popocatepetl= Mexico 17,748
=Ruiz= Colombia 17,388
=Sahama= Peru 23,000
=Sangai= Ecuador 17,459
=San Jose= Chile 20,020
=St. Elias, Mt.= Alaska 18,024
=St. Helena, Mt.= United States 10,000
=Stromboli= Lipari Islands 3,090
=Tahiti, Peak of= Friendly Islands 7,400
=Teneriffe= Canary Islands 12,000
=Tolima= Columbia 18,069
=Toluco= Mexico 14,950
=Tunguragua= Ecuador 16,690
=Vesuvius= Italy 4,260