Classifying Volcanic Activity

The activities of volcanoes have been classified according to how often they erupt. There are active volcanoes, intermittent volcanoes, dormant volcanoes and extinct volcanoes.

Active volcanoes erupt frequently. An example is Mount Stromboli in Italy.

Intermittent volcanoes erupt at fairly regular periods. Some examples are Mount Asama in Japan and Mount Etna in Sicily

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Dormant volcanoes may be inactive for some time, before erupting suddenly and violently. One example is Mount Pinatubo, which erupted violently in 1991 after lying dormant for about six centuries.

Extinct volcanoes are volcanoes that do not erupt anymore. They have not been erupting since the beginning of recorded history.

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