shield volcano

plural shield volcanoes · plural shield volcanos

1. geographyA large volcano, with shallow-sloping sides and a flattened dome, formed of successive eruptions of free-flowing lava from fissure vents.

   2015, Edward Keller, Duane DeVecchio, Natural Hazards, Pearson Education, 4th Edition, page 136, Shield volcanoes are constructed from basaltic lavas and in profile appear as broad arcs with gentle slopes (Figure 5.10).

   2 more examples

   Large shield volcanoes of the Hawaiian type (Macdonald, 1972) are more complex, longer lived, polygenetic centres whose life spans may be measurable in terms of hundreds of thousands of years to a millions years.

   1989, R. W. Johnson, editor, Intraplate Volcanism, Cambridge University Press, page 61

   2019, Peter Macinnis, Australian Backyard Earth Scientist, National Library Australia (NLA Publishing), page 41, Shield volcanoes can be tens of kilometres from side to side, though the shield volcano called Rangitoto, just off Auckland, is a lot smaller. Each island of Hawaii was once an active shield volcano.

   Synonyms: lava dome