Tongariro Volcano erupted in the North Island region of New Zealand

The Tongariro Volcano in Mount Tongariro at Tongariro National Park, New Zealand erupted on 21 November 2012. This volcano left behind massive plume of ash billows up to 3 kilometers in the skies of Tongariro National Park in the North Island of New Zealand.

The volcano erupted with a grumble at 1:25 pm about 300 kilometers away from Wellington City of New Zealand.  The volcano was used as the backdrop in many scenes and sequences of the Hollywood movie, Lord of the Rings film Trilogy.

Mount Tongariro Volcano
Mount Tongariro Volcano, located in Tongariro National Park of the Taupo Volcanic Zone of the North Island of New Zealand is a compound volcano. Located in the south western part of Lake Taupo, the volcano is the northernmost volcano of the three active volcanoes of the central North Island region.  This Volcano consists of 12 cones and has erupted more than 70 times since 1839.

The Tongariro National Park is a dual World Heritage site and first park to win the recognition of National Park in New Zealand, because of its natural beauty, peaks like peaks of Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu.

What Causes Volcanoes?
The Earth is comprised of three different layers, which includes crust, mantle and core. The crust on which we live on is made of hard solid rocks and its thickness varies from place to place. Its thickness is about 60 kilometer in the Himlayas and Alps, whereas it remains about 5 kilometer under Oceans and Seas. The Mantle comprises thick molten rock also called as Magma and the core that is solid at the center is covered with the liquid layer on the outerside, with a temperature of more than 5000 ° C. The eruption takes place, when the temperature of the earth rises and the magma inside it tries to find a way to move out, under such condition it rises up and finds a way forming a crater or mouth to come out in form of lava and smoke of poisonous gases. The release of gases, magma, and other things happens with an explosion because of the energy with which these comes out from the earth’s inner core. The molten magma after being out of the earth is called as Lava.

Types of Volcanoes
The exact nature of volcanic eruptions can be identified by the way they erupts, the type of lava that it spills out from the earth and the amount of lava and ash that comes out of the vent of the volcano. The volcanoes are also grouped following the way they erupt and the group includes Composite Volcanoes also called strato volcanoes, Shield Volcanoes also called shields, Cinder Cones, Spatter Cones, and Complex Volcanoes also called compound volcanoes.

Effects of the gases that comes out of the volcano
Gases that comes out from the volcano provides a potential threat to the people, animal and agriculture as well as property of the people residing in the nearby area of the volcano. The gases released from the volcano contains gases like sulphur dioxide, hydrogen fluoride and carbon dioxide in huge amount, which pollutes the air in the atmosphere. The released sulphur dioxide (SO2) can cause acid rains and harm the farm lands and its crops and pollute the water bodies of the world. SO2 the colourless gas with a pungent smell can impact the upper respiratory system of human being and can cause skin irritations on the mucous membrane and tissues of eyes, throat and nose. Whereas, the Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) that is a flammable gas can act as a depressant at low concentrations and can also irritate eyes, it can cause pulmonary edema to person long exposed to the gas. Many more gases that evolve from the volcano can impact the life on earth and its environment in several ways.