Editing Volcano (section)

==History of volcano understanding==
{{Main|Volcanology#History}}

Volcanoes are not distributed evenly over the Earth's surface but active ones with significant impact were encountered early in human history, evidenced by footprints of [[hominina]] found in East African volcanic ash dated at 3.66 million years old.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Zaitsev|first1=AN|last2=Chakhmouradian|first2=AR|last3=Musiba|first3=C|title=Laetoli: The Oldest Known Hominin Footprints in Volcanic Ash|journal=Elements|year=2023|volume=19|issue=2|pages=104–10|doi=10.2138/gselements.19.2.104|bibcode=2023Eleme..19..104Z|s2cid=259423377}}</ref>{{rp|p=104}} The association of volcanoes with fire and disaster is found in many oral traditions and had religious and thus social significance before the first written record of concepts related to volcanoes. Examples are: (1) the stories in the Athabascan subcultures about humans living inside mountains and a woman who uses fire to escape from a mountain,<ref>,{{cite journal|last1=Fast|first1=PA|title=The volcano in Athabascan oral narratives|journal=Alaska Journal of Anthropology|year=2008|volume=6|issue=1–2|pages=131–40|url=https://www.alaskaanthropology.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/akanth-articles_261_v6_n12_Fast.pdf|access-date=November 11, 2023}}</ref>{{rp|p=135}} (2) [[Pele (deity)|Pele]]'s migration through the Hawarian island chain, ability to destroy forests and manifestations of the god's temper,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Swanson|first1=DA|title=Hawaiian oral tradition describes 400 years of volcanic activity at Kīlauea|journal=Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research|year=2008|volume=176|issue=3|pages=427–31|doi=10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2008.01.033|bibcode=2008JVGR..176..427S}}</ref> and (3) the association in Javanese folklore of a king resident in [[Mount Merapi]] volcano and a queen resident at a beach {{convert|50|km|abbr=on}} away on what is now known to be an earthquake fault that interacts with that volcano.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Troll|first1=VR|last2=Deegan|first2=FM|last3=Jolis|first3=EM|last4=Budd|first4=DA|last5=Dahren|first5=B|last6=Schwarzkopf|first6=LM|title=Ancient oral tradition describes volcano–earthquake interaction at Merapi volcano, Indonesia|journal=Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography|year=2015|volume=97|issue=1|pages=137–66|doi=10.1111/geoa.12099|bibcode=2015GeAnA..97..137T|s2cid=129186824}}</ref>

Many ancient accounts ascribe volcanic eruptions to [[supernatural]] causes, such as the actions of [[gods]] or [[demigod]]s. The earliest known such example is a neolithic goddess at [[Çatalhöyük]].<ref name=Chester2007>{{cite book|last1=Chester|first1=DK|last2=Duncan|first2=AM|chapter=Geomythology, theodicy, and the continuing relevance of religious worldviews on responses to volcanic eruptions|title=Living under the shadow: The cultural impacts of volcanic eruptions|year=2007|pages=203–24|chapter-url=https://assets.pubpub.org/dzhycvw5/41608048843389.pdf|editor-last1=Grattan|editor-first1=J|editor-last2=Torrence|editor-first2=R|publisher=Walnut Creek: Left Coast|isbn=9781315425177}}</ref>{{rp|p=203}} The Ancient Greek god [[Hephaistos]] and the concepts of the underworld are aligned to volcanoes in that Greek culture.<ref name=Thomaidis2021/>

However, others proposed more natural (but still incorrect) causes of volcanic activity. In the fifth century BC, [[Anaxagoras]] proposed eruptions were caused by a great wind.<ref name=Sigurdsson2000>{{cite book|last1=Sigurdsson|first1=H|last2=Houghton|first2=B|last3=Rymer|first3=H|last4=Stix|first4=J|last5=McNutt|first5=S|chapter=The history of volcanology|title=Encyclopedia of volcanoes|year=2000|pages=15–37|publisher=Academic Press|isbn=9780123859396}}</ref> By 65&nbsp;CE, [[Seneca the Younger]] proposed combustion as the cause,<ref name=Sigurdsson2000/> an idea also adopted by the [[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 in ''[[Mundus Subterraneus]]'' with a central fire connected to numerous others depicting volcanoes as a type of safety valve.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Major|first1=RH|title=Athanasius Kircher|journal=Annals of Medical History|year=1939|volume=1|issue=2|pages=105–120|pmid=33943407|pmc=7939598}}</ref> Edward Jorden, in his work on mineral waters, challenged this view; in 1632 he proposed [[sulfur]] "fermentation" as a heat source within Earth,<ref name=Sigurdsson2000/> Astronomer [[Johannes Kepler]] (1571–1630) believed volcanoes were ducts for Earth's tears.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Micheal|last=Williams|date=November 2007|title=Hearts of fire|magazine=Morning Calm|publisher=[[Korean Air Lines]]|issue=11–2007|page=6}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=cited source reference – an article in "Morning Calm", a Korean airline's in-flight magazine for passengers – is probably not a reliable source of science history|date=November 2023}} In 1650, [[René Descartes]] proposed the core of Earth was incandescent and, by 1785, the works of Decartes and others were synthesized into geology by [[James Hutton]] in his writings about [[igneous intrusion]]s of magma.<ref name=Sigurdsson2000/> [[Lazzaro Spallanzani]] had demonstrated by 1794 that steam explosions could cause explosive eruptions and many geologists held this as the universal cause of explosive eruptions up to the [[1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera]] which allowed in one event differentiation of the concurrent [[phreatomagmatic]] and [[hydrothermal]] eruptions from dry explosive eruption, of, as it turned out, a basalt [[Dike (geology)|dyke]].<ref>{{cite book|first1=F.W.|last1=Hutton|title=Report on the Tarawera volcanic district|publisher=Government Printer|location=Wellington, New Zealand|url=https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Stout67-t17.html|year=1887|access-date=August 30, 2023|archive-date=August 29, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230829102014/https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Stout67-t17.html|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|16–18}}<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Berryman|first1=Kelvin|last2=Villamor|first2=Pilar|last3=Nairn|first3=Ian.A.|last4=Begg|first4=John|last5=Alloway|first5=Brent V.|last6=Rowland|first6=Julie|last7=Lee|first7=Julie|last8=Capote|first8=Ramon|volume=427|date=July 1, 2022|title=Volcano-tectonic interactions at the southern margin of the Okataina Volcanic Centre, Taupō Volcanic Zone, New Zealand|doi=10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2022.107552|journal=Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research|page=107552|bibcode=2022JVGR..42707552B|s2cid=248111450|doi-access=free|hdl=2292/59681|hdl-access=free}}</ref>{{rp|4}} [[Alfred Lacroix]] built upon his other knowledge with his studies on the [[1902 eruption of Mount Pelée]],<ref name=Sigurdsson2000/> and by 1928 [[Arthur Holmes]] work had brought together the concepts of radioactive generation of heat, Earth's [[mantle (geology)|mantle]] structure, partial decompression melting of magma, and magma convection.<ref name=Sigurdsson2000/> This eventually led to the acceptance of plate tectonics.<ref>{{cite web|title=Arthur Holmes: Harnessing the Mechanics of Mantle Convection to the Theory of Continental Drift|url=https://www.amnh.org/education/resources/rfl/web/essaybooks/earth/p_holmes.html|access-date=November 12, 2023}}</ref>