More than 50 volcanoes in the United States have erupted one or more times in the past 200 years. The most volcanically active regions of the Nation are in Alaska, Hawaii, California, Oregon, and Washington. Volcanoes produce a wide variety of hazards that can kill people and destroy property. Large explosive eruptions can endanger people and property hundreds of miles away and even affect global climate. Some of the volcano hazards described below, such as landslides, can occur even when a volcano is not erupting.
Volcanoes produce a wide variety of natural hazards that can kill people and destroy property.
Some hazards, such as lahars and landslides, can occur even when a volcano is not erupting. Eruption columns can grow rapidly and reach more than 12 miles above a volcano in less than 30 minutes, forming an eruption cloud . The volcanic ash in the cloud can pose a serious hazard to aviation. During the past 15 years, about 80 commercial jets have been damaged by inadvertently flying into ash clouds, and several have nearly crashed because of engine failure. Heavy ash fall can collapse buildings, and even minor ash fall can damage crops, electronics, and machinery.