GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -They are formed from viscous, sticky lava that does not flow easily. The lava therefore builds up around the vent forming a volcano with steep sides. Stratovolcanoes are more likely to produce explosive eruptions due to gas building up in the viscous magma.

Detailed explanation-2: -Due to the higher viscosity of magmas erupted from these volcanoes, they are usually more explosive than shield volcanoes. Stratovolcanoes sometimes have a crater at the summit that is formed by explosive ejection of material from a central vent.

Detailed explanation-3: -The more felsic a magma, the more Felsic magmas can be up to ten times as viscous as mafic. The “wetter” the magma (i.e. the more volatiles in solution), the more explosive the eruption because of the effervescence of water vapor leaving solution (Analogous to CO2 escaping a bottled beverage).

Detailed explanation-4: -Composite volcanoes are some of the most dangerous volcanoes on the planet. They tend to occur along oceanic-to-oceanic or oceanic-to-continental boundaries because of subduction zones. They tend to be made of felsic to intermediate rock and the viscosity of the lava means that eruptions tend to be explosive.

Detailed explanation-5: -Like shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are polygenetic; however, they differ from shield volcanoes in that they erupt infrequently, with typical repose intervals of hundreds of years between eruptions. Most active stratovolcanoes worldwide appear to be < 100, 000 years old, although some, like Mt.