# Fissure vent > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Fissure_vent > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Fissure_vent.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fissure_vent > Source revision: 1326522084 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|Linear volcanic vent through which lava erupts}} [[File:Volcano q.jpg|thumb|A volcanic fissure and lava channel with [lava fountain](/source/lava_fountain)]] [[File:Lava channel with overflows edit 4.jpg|thumb|Channel of lava erupted during a fissure eruption of [Kīlauea](/source/K%C4%ABlauea) volcano, Hawaii, 2007]] thumb|Eruption fissure with spatter cones, Holuhraun, Iceland, 2014 [[File:Mauna Loa from the air May 2009.jpg|thumb|[Mauna Loa](/source/Mauna_Loa) with different lava flows and fissure vent]] thumb|A volcanic fissure eruption on Fagradalsfjall, Iceland, 2021 thumbnail|Crater row of Laki thumbnail|Eldhraun, a lava field produced by the Laki craters thumb|Cinder cones on Etna A '''fissure vent''', also known as a '''volcanic fissure''', '''eruption fissure''' or simply a '''fissure''', is a linear [volcanic vent](/source/volcanic_vent) through which [lava](/source/lava) erupts, usually without any [explosive activity](/source/explosive_eruption). The vent is often a few metres wide and may be many kilometres long. Fissure vents can cause large [flood basalt](/source/flood_basalt)s which run first in [lava channel](/source/lava_channel)s and later in [lava tube](/source/lava_tube)s. After some time, the eruption tends to become focused at one or more [spatter cone](/source/spatter_cone)s. [Volcanic cone](/source/Volcanic_cone)s and their craters that are aligned along a fissure form a '''crater row'''.{{cite journal | title=Local stresses, dyke arrest and surface deformation in volcanic edifices and rift zones | last1=Gudmundsson | first1=A. | last2=Brenner | first2=S.L. | journal=Annals of Geophysics | year=2004 | volume=47 | issue=4 | pages=1433–1454 | doi=10.4401/ag-3352}} Small fissure vents may not be easily discernible from the air, but the crater rows (see [Laki](/source/Laki)) or the canyons (see [Eldgjá](/source/Eldgj%C3%A1)) built up by some of them are. The [dikes](/source/Dike_(geology)) that feed fissures reach the surface from depths of a few kilometers and connect them to deeper [magma reservoirs](/source/magma_chamber), often under volcanic centers. Fissures are usually found in or along [rift](/source/rift)s and [rift zone](/source/rift_zone)s, such as [Iceland](/source/Iceland) and the [East African Rift](/source/East_African_Rift). Fissure vents are often part of the structure of [shield volcano](/source/shield_volcano)es.{{Cite web |url=http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/index.html |title=V. Camp, Dept. of Geologic Sciences, Univ. of San Diego: How volcanoes work. Eruption types. Fissure eruptions. |access-date=2014-09-24 |archive-date=2018-02-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180228090151/http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/index.html |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|website=www.volcanodiscovery.com|url=https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/geology/glossary/fissure-vent.html|title=Geology glossary|access-date=September 25, 2001}} ==Iceland== In Iceland, volcanic vents, which can be long fissures, often open parallel to the rift zones where the [Eurasian](/source/Eurasian_Plate) and the [North American](/source/North_American_Plate) [lithospheric](/source/lithosphere) [plates](/source/plate_tectonics) are diverging, a system which is part of the [Mid-Atlantic Ridge](/source/Mid-Atlantic_Ridge).{{cite journal |url=http://jardvis.hi.is/sites/jardvis.hi.is/files/Pdf_skjol/Jokull58_pdf/jokull58-einarsson.pdf |first1=Páll |last1=Einarsson |title=Plate boundaries, rifts and transforms in Iceland |journal=Jökull |volume=58 |issue=12 |year=2008 |pages=35–58 |doi=10.33799/jokull2008.58.035 |s2cid=55021384 |access-date=2014-09-24 |archive-date=2017-11-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171118113203/http://jardvis.hi.is/sites/jardvis.hi.is/files/Pdf_skjol/Jokull58_pdf/jokull58-einarsson.pdf |url-status=dead }} Renewed eruptions generally occur from new parallel fractures offset by a few hundred to thousands of metres from the earlier fissures. This distribution of vents and sometimes voluminous eruptions of fluid basaltic lava usually builds up a thick lava plateau, rather than a single volcanic edifice. But there are also the [central volcano](/source/central_volcano)es, [composite volcano](/source/composite_volcano)es, often with [caldera](/source/caldera)s, which have been formed during thousands of years, and eruptions with one or more magma reservoirs underneath controlling their respective fissure system.{{cite journal |url=http://www.geo.mtu.edu/~raman/papers2/Thordarson%20and%20Hoskuldsson%202008%20Postglacial%20volcanism.pdf |first1=Thorvaldur |last1=Thordarson |first2=Ármann |last2=Höskuldsson |title=Postglacial volcanism in Iceland |journal=Jökull |volume=58 |issue=198 |year=2008 |pages=e228 |doi=10.33799/jokull2008.58.197 |s2cid=53446884 }} The [Laki](/source/Laki) fissures, part of the [Grímsvötn](/source/Gr%C3%ADmsv%C3%B6tn) volcanic system, produced one of the biggest [effusive eruption](/source/effusive_eruption)s on earth in historical times, in the form of a flood basalt of 12–14 km3 of lava in 1783.{{Cite web |url=http://earthice.hi.is/grimsvotn_volcano |title=Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland: Grímsvötn. Received 9/24, 2014. |access-date=2014-09-24 |archive-date=2018-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180514052657/http://earthice.hi.is/grimsvotn_volcano |url-status=dead }} During the [Eldgjá](/source/Eldgj%C3%A1) eruption A.D. 934–40, another very big effusive fissure eruption in the volcanic system of [Katla](/source/Katla_volcano) in South Iceland, ~{{convert|18|km3|cumi|abbr=on}} of lava were released.{{Cite web |url=http://earthice.hi.is/katla_volcano |title=Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland: Katla. Received 9/24, 2014. |access-date=2014-09-24 |archive-date=2018-03-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180318224202/http://earthice.hi.is/katla_volcano |url-status=dead }} In September 2014, a fissure eruption was ongoing on the site of the 18th century lava field Holuhraun. The eruption is part of an eruption series in the [Bárðarbunga](/source/B%C3%A1r%C3%B0arbunga) volcanic system.{{Cite web |url=http://earthice.hi.is/bardarbunga_2014 |title=Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland: Bardarbunga 2014 |access-date=2014-09-24 |archive-date=2021-04-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415105100/http://earthice.hi.is/bardarbunga_2014 |url-status=dead }} ==Hawaii== The radial fissure vents of [Hawaiian volcanoes](/source/Hawaii_Volcanoes_National_Park) also produce "curtains of fire" as [lava fountain](/source/lava_fountain)s erupting along a portion of a fissure. These vents build up low ramparts of [basalt](/source/basalt)ic spatter on both sides of the fissure.{{Cite journal |last1=Rader |first1=Erika |last2=Geist |first2=Dennis |date=2015-10-01 |title=Eruption conditions of spatter deposits |journal=Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research |volume=304 |pages=287–293 |doi=10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2015.09.011 |bibcode=2015JVGR..304..287R |issn=0377-0273|doi-access=free }} More isolated lava fountains along the fissure produce crater rows of small spatter and [cinder cone](/source/cinder_cone)s. The fragments that form a [spatter cone](/source/spatter_cone) are hot and plastic enough to weld together, while the fragments that form a cinder cone remain separate because of their lower temperature. ==List of fissure vents== {{incomplete list|date=March 2019}} {| class="wikitable sortable" ! rowspan="2"|Name!!colspan ="2"|Elevation!!Location!!rowspan="2"|Last eruption |- ! metres!!feet!![Coordinates](/source/Geographic_coordinates) |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Bolivia}} [Quetena](/source/Quetena) || 5730|| 18799|| {{coord|22.25|S|67.42|W|type:mountain|name=Quetena}} || Unknown |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Canada}} [Ray Mountain](/source/Ray_Mountain) || 2050|| 6730|| {{coord|52.23|N|120.12|W|type:mountain|name=Ray Mountain}} || Pleistocene |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Chile}} [Cordón Caulle](/source/Cord%C3%B3n_Caulle) || 1798|| 5899|| {{coord|40.46|S|72.25|W|type:mountain|name=Cordón Caulle}} || [2011](/source/2011_Puyehue_eruption) |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Eritrea}} [Manda-Inakir](/source/Manda-Inakir) || 600+|| 1968|| {{coord|12.38|N|42.20|E|type:mountain|name=Manda-Inakir}} || 1928 |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Ethiopia}} [Alu](/source/Alu_(Ethiopia)) || 429|| 1407|| {{coord|13.82|N|40.55|E|type:mountain|name=Alu}} || Unknown |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Ethiopia}} [Hertali](/source/Hertali) || 900|| 2953|| {{coord|9.78|N|40.33|E|type:mountain|name=Hertali}} || Unknown |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Iceland}} [Eldgjá](/source/Eldgj%C3%A1) || 800|| 2625|| {{coord|63.88|N|18.77|W|type:mountain|name=Eldgjá}} || 934 |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Iceland}} [Fagradalsfjall](/source/Fagradalsfjall) || 385|| 1263|| {{coord|63.88|N|22.27|W|type:mountain|name=Fagradalsfjall}} || 2023 |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Iceland}} [Holuhraun](/source/Holuhraun) || 730|| 2395|| {{coord|64.87|N|16.83|W|type:mountain|name=Nornahraun}} || 2014 |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Iceland}} [Krafla](/source/Krafla) || 650|| 2130|| {{coord|65.73|N|16.78|W|type:mountain|name=Krafla}} || 1984 |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Iceland}} [Laki](/source/Laki)|| 620|| 2034|| {{coord|64.07|N|18.23|W|type:mountain|name=Laki}} || 1784 |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Iceland}} [Litli-Hrútur](/source/Litli-Hr%C3%BAtur) || 312|| 1024|| {{coord|63.92|N|22.21|W|type:mountain|name=Litli-Hrútur}} || 2023 |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Iceland}} [Sundhnúkur](/source/Sundhn%C3%BAkur) || 98|| 322|| {{coord|63.88|N|22.39|W|type:mountain|name=Sundhnúkur}} || 2024 (ongoing) |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Indonesia}} [Banda Api](/source/Banda_Api) || 640 || 2100 || {{coord|4.525|S|129.871|E|type:mountain|name=Banda Api}} || 1988 |- align="right" | align="left" | {{flagicon|Japan}} [Koma-ga-take](/source/Hokkaido_Koma-ga-take) || || || || 1996 |- align="right" | align="left" | {{flagicon|Japan}} [Kuchinoerabu](/source/Kuchinoerabu-jima) || || || || 1980 |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Myanmar}} [Singu Plateau](/source/Singu_Plateau) || 507|| 1663|| {{coord|22.70|N|95.98|E|type:mountain|name=Singu Plateau}} || Unknown |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Nicaragua}} [Estelí](/source/Estel%C3%AD) || 899|| 2949|| {{coord|13.17|N|86.40|W|type:mountain|name=Estelí}} || Unknown |- align="right" | align="left" | {{flagicon|Northern Mariana Islands}} [Pagan](/source/Pagan_(island)) || || || || 1981 |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Nicaragua}} [Nejapa Miraflores](/source/Nejapa_Miraflores) || 360|| 1181|| {{coord|12.12|N|86.32|W|type:mountain|name=Nejapa Miraflores}} || Unknown |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Pakistan}} [Tor Zawar](/source/Tor_Zawar){{cite journal |doi=10.1180/minmag.2010.074.6.1027 |title=Eruption of basaltic magma at Tor Zawar, Balochistan, Pakistan on 27 January 2010: Geochemical and petrological constraints on petrogenesis |journal=Mineralogical Magazine |volume=74 |issue=6 |pages=1027–36 |year=2010 |last1=Kerr |first1=A. C |last2=Khan |first2=M |last3=McDonald |first3=I |bibcode=2010MinM...74.1027K |s2cid=129864863 }} || 2237|| 7339|| {{Coord|30|28|45|N|67|28|30|E|type:mountain|name=Tor Zawar}} || 2010 |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Portugal}} [São Jorge Island](/source/S%C3%A3o_Jorge_Island) || 1053|| 3455|| {{coord|38.65|N|28.08|W|type:mountain|name=São Jorge Island}} || 1907 |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Russia}} [Tolbachik](/source/Tolbachik) || || || || 1975 |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Spain}} [Cumbre Vieja](/source/Cumbre_Vieja) || 1949|| 6394|| {{coord|28|34|N|17|50|W|type:mountain|name=Cumbre Vieja}} || 2021 |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Spain}} [Lanzarote](/source/Lanzarote) || 670|| 2198|| {{coord|29.03|N|13.63|W|type:mountain|name=Lanzarote}} || 1824 |- align="right" | align="left"| {{flagicon|Sri Lanka}} [Butajiri Silti Field](/source/Butajiri_Silti_Field) || 2281|| 7484|| {{coord|8.05|N|83.85|E|type:mountain|name=Butajiri Silti Field}} || Unknown |} ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *{{Commons category-inline|Fissure vents}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20111019131319/http://www.volcanodb.com/volcanoes/Fissure-Vent/ Detailed list and KML files for Fissure Vents] *[http://www.volcanolive.com/fissurevent.html Volcanolive.com Page on Fissure Vents] {{Volcanoes}} Category:Fissure vents Category:Lists of coordinates --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Fissure vent](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fissure_vent) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fissure_vent?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.