4.3.2

Primary Effects of Volcanoes

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Primary Effects of Volcanoes

Listed below are the primary effects that volcanic eruptions have on people and the environment.

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Suffocation

  • Ash can cause suffocation and can bury places and people (as in the case of Herculaneum and Pompeii when Vesuvius erupted in 79AD).
  • The gases produced (like sulfur) can also suffocate people.
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Crop and livestock deaths

  • After a volcanic eruption, ash can cover fields of crops in volcanic rock and kill livestock. This can lead to famine or starvation, as people can no longer eat the crops they grow or livestock that they raise.
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Damaged buildings

  • Lava and ash can damage houses and start fires. This can leave people homeless.
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Human deaths

  • Volcanic bombs (large pieces of magma/lava) can burn people or knock people out.
  • Pyroclastic flows (masses of very hot ash, lava fragments, and gases) destroy everything in their path, including buildings, homes, workplaces.
  • People can die as a result of any of these.

Jump to other topics

1Paper 1 - Changing River Environnments

2Paper 1 - Changing Coastal Environments

3Paper 1 - Changing Ecosystems

4Paper 1 - Tectonic Hazards

5Paper 1 - Climate Change

6Paper 2 - Changing Populations

7Paper 2 - Changing Towns & Cities

8Paper 2 - Development

9Paper 2 - Changing Economies

10Paper 2 - Resource Provision

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