One very famous eruption was in 79 AD, when Mount Vesuvius destroyed the two Roman cities named Pompeii and Herculeum. The Polynesians believed that volcanoes were ruled by the fire goddess, Pele. One of the most spectacular volcanic eruptions in recorded history occurred in 1883 with the explosion of Krakatoa, on an island in the Sunda Strait near Java. Another, more recently, occurred in 1980 on Mount St. Helens in the Cascade Mountain range in Washington. Volcanology is a branch of geology which studies volcanoes and their activities.
Scientists study volcanoes to prevent people from getting hurt or killed.
The location of earthquakes and how often they occur give vocanologists clues to when and where volcanoes are going to erupt. Also, some tremors are caused by magma. Magma can cause up to 1,000 tremors a day. There are many ways for a volcano to erupt. Eruptions of magma are most common.