What percentage of volcanic eruptions has contributed to the depletion of the ozone layer?
Good question, and wouldn’t we like to know the answer. Violent volcanic eruptions can place aerosols of sulfur dioxide and hydrochloric acid into the upper atmosphere. Both of these aerosols may contribute to ozone destruction. We do not have good statistics on the volume of these aerosols released by eruptions, neither do we how much (if at all) they contribute to ozone depletion. 37. What would you say was the worst volcanic hazard which has occurred? Tambora in 1815 was the greatest eruption ever recorded by humans: http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/southeast_asia/indonesia/tambora.html 38. How large can volcanoes be? Shield volcanoes are the largest, Mauna Loa on Hawaii is probably the largest volcano on earth, it is at least 9 kilometers from top to base (Lutgens and Tarbuck, “Foundations of Earth Science” p. 185-190.) Stratovolcanoes are next in size, with cinder cones being the smallest. 39. How long can volcanoes remain active? An individual cinder cone may be ac
