Why Do Volcanoes Have Different Shapes?

Volcanoes come in different shapes because they pour out lava in different ways.

Imagine you have two buckets of water, one is poured slowly, and the other is poured all at once. The slow pour makes a gentle hill, while the fast pour makes a big splash.

Some volcanoes are like painting with thick paint, it moves slowly and makes wide, flat areas. These are called shield volcanoes, because they look like big shields on the ground.

Other volcanoes are like spraying paint quickly, it goes up high and makes a pointy mountain. These are called stratovolcanoes, and they have layers of rock like an onion.

The kind of lava is important too. If the lava is runny, it flows far and makes wide volcanoes. If it’s sticky, it piles up high and makes pointy ones.

So, just like you can make different shapes with paint or water, volcanoes get their shapes from how fast and how thick their lava moves!