• Question: how many elements are in a volcano?

    Asked by jordan12 to James on 15 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: James Hickey

      James Hickey answered on 15 Nov 2013:


      Hi Jordan!

      Volcanoes are made up of numerous different materials and rock types. Each different rock or lava can have different elements in it. So there are loads of different elements in a volcano – I couldn’t even type them all if I knew all of them, it would take me too long!

      But as an example, lava can contain the following elements: silicon, oxygen, aluminium, iron, magnesium, calcium, sodium, potassium, phosphorus, and titanium (plus other elements in very small concentrations).

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