[Must Read!] Red Alert issued for Chilean volcano: Copahue

Some of the most powerful and destructive volcanoes in human history have been stratovolcanoes. They can send cubic miles of rock and ash into the atmosphere in an extremely violent series of eruptions known as a plinian-type eruption. The build up of extreme - really extreme - pressure beneath the surface from gases trapped in the magma trying to escape eventually breaks loose in a violent paroxysm, liberating enormous volumes of overlying rock, steam and ash into the atmosphere. With some historically famous and cataclysmic volcanoes, the build up of pressure beneath the crust of the volcano was so extremely intense that the entire volcanic mountain blew up, leaving just the root of the original mountain remaining.

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