By studying the layers of soil and rock to learn about past volcanic activities, scientists can make predictions about the future. Scientists called volcanologists have been studying volcanoes at Yucca Mountain for more than a decade. They believe that the probability of a volcano erupting in the Yucca Mountain region over the next 10,000 years is very remote and does not make the site unsuitable for a repository. The chance of a volcano directly affecting a repository in the Yucca Mountain area has been calculated as about one in 70 million per year. The seven volcanoes located near Yucca Mountain are among the most common type of volcano on earth.
Composite volcanoes have explosive eruptions.
Shield volcanoes have less explosive eruptions, and people can walk fairly close to slow-moving lava from these volcanoes. The Hawaiian islands are examples of shield volcanoes. Of the three main types of volcanoes, cinder cones generally are the smallest, with the simplest and weakest eruptions. The seven dormant volcanoes near Yucca Mountain are cinder cones. Different types of volcanic eruptions When discussing volcanoes, it helps to know about different types of eruptions.