• Question: How many volcanoes are there in the world?

    Asked by to Becky on 19 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by , .
    • Photo: Rebecca Williams

      Rebecca Williams answered on 19 Jun 2014:

      Hi tylerbriany,
      What a great question! And it is a lot harder to answer than you might think.

      There are probably around 20 volcanoes erupting as you read this! Each year, about 50 – 70 volcanoes erupt. There have been about 600 volcanoes that we know have erupted since humans recorded history.

      We call any volcano that has erupted in the last 10,000 ‘active’. There are about 1500 volcanoes that we know about that have erupted in the last 10,000 years. These are mostly volcanoes on land – they are a lot easier to count! There are tens of thousands of volcanoes under the sea. In fact, did you know, that the longest mountain chain in the world is actually under the sea and is made entirely of volcanoes?

      If you think about all the volcanoes that have existed since the Earth formed – there are probably millions!

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