Volcanoes are majestic and powerful creatures of nature. They, acting and inactive, exist from the beginning of time to this day, as if forcing humanity to “listen” to the changes taking place inside the Earth itself. Indeed, more than once already in world history entire cities have been buried under the thickness of volcanic ash and magma, and civilizations are doomed to perish! Each volcano has a crater. This is a funnel-shaped recess located on its top or slope.
Origin and structure
The word itself comes from the ancient Greek "bowl, a vessel for mixing wine and water." By analogy, the form of education is similar to a bowl or funnel. Through it occurs the eruption of magma from the inside of the volcano. A crater is a natural formation that has a diameter of several meters to several kilometers. Its purpose is the conclusion of magma. In temporarily inactive volcanoes, the crater is a kind of outlet for the withdrawal of gaseous mixtures accumulated in the bowels. This formation is equipped with special channels leading to the middle and down of the volcano, allowing for a free eruption. In "extinct" volcanoes, the channels sometimes "overgrow", and the crater becomes, rather, a decorative formation, sometimes used by people for ritual and other purposes.
On the moon
With the possibility of mankind to explore the Moon with the help of powerful telescopes, the dream came true and a closer look at it. It turned out that there are also craters here. A lunar crater is essentially a ring mountain. This bowl-shaped recess has a relatively flat bottom and is surrounded by an annular shaft. According to modern science, almost all lunar craters are of “shock” origin. That is, they were formed as a result of mechanical action of meteorites on the lunar surface, which fell mainly in distant times. Only a small part of the Earth satellite craters are still considered by some scientists to be of volcanic origin.
A bit of history
It is known that Galileo first discovered lunar formations with the help of his telescope (a small, approximately three-fold increase). He also appropriated the name of the phenomenon - the crater. This definition has remained in scientific use to this day. But the opinions of scientists about the origin of craters have changed dramatically: from the effects of space ice and volcanic formation to "shock". Modern science accurately defines the latter as the mode of origin of the vast majority of craters on the moon. By the way, similar formations were found on other planets of our system, for example, on Mars.