In culture

Past beliefs

Many ancient accounts ascribe volcanic eruptions to supernatural causes, such as the actions of gods or demigods. To the ancient Greeks, volcanoes' capricious power could only be explained as acts of the gods, while 16th/17th-century German astronomer Johannes Kepler believed they were ducts for the Earth's tears. ^[20] One early idea counter to this was proposed by Jesuit Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680), who witnessed eruptions of Mount Etna and Stromboli, then visited the crater of Vesuvius and published his view of an Earth with a central fire connected to numerous others caused by the burning of sulfur, bitumen and coal.

Various explanations were proposed for volcano behavior before the modern understanding of the Earth's mantle structure as a semisolid material was developed. For decades after awareness that compression and radioactive materials may be heat sources, their contributions were specifically discounted. Volcanic action was often attributed to chemical reactions and a thin layer of molten rock near the surface.

Panoramas

Mount Bromo, East Java, Indonesia.

Crater of Mount Tangkuban Perahu, West Java, Indonesia.

Irazú Volcano, Costa Rica.

Black Rock Volcano an extinct cinder cone near Fillmore, Utah.

Taal Volcano, Philippines.

Crater of Sierra Negra volcano, Isabela island, Galapagos, Ecuador.

Vulcano island with the north coast of Sicily in the background.

Remote Binubulauan in Kalinga province, central northern Luzon, Philippines, April 2009