The picture above is a volcanic eruption. An eruption is when ash, magma, and carbon dioxide shoot out and fill the air and/or spew down the volcano. The reason this happens is because the earth’s core sometimes builds up too much pressure from the burning of carbon below the earth’s crust, and it is relieved and released through volcanic eruptions. There are primarily two types of volcanoes that exist which are composite and shield volcanoes. Composite volcanoes are volcanoes in the shape of a cone and tend to have violent eruptions. An example of a composite volcano is Mt. Baker in Washington state, of the United States. The picture above is also composite volcano. Shield volcanoes are much larger in more of a flatter cone shape and are much larger in size. They also do not have as much of intense eruptions as composite volcanoes and pressure is released mostly by magma spewing out as lava although carbon dioxide and ash is still released through them as well. An example of a shield volcano is Maunaloa in Hawaii.