supervolcano
English
editEtymology
editPronunciation
editNoun
editsupervolcano (plural supervolcanoes or supervolcanos)
- (volcanology) A powerful volcano, often having an explosive or cataclysmic eruption.
- Synonym: (uncommon) hypervolcano
- 1983, Louis Berman, John C. Evans, Exploring the Cosmos, →ISBN, page 178:
- Mosaic of Olympus Mons on Mars. The supervolcano is nearly 600 kilometers wide at the base and 25 kilometers high and is capped by a crater 65 kilometers in diameter. It is about five times larger than the most massive volcanic cone on earth, Mauna Loa in Hawaii.
- 1984, Richard Monaco, Runes, →ISBN, page 64:
- The stone went dark, and instantly the supervolcano burst with an unthinkable blast. A miles-deep plug of dark and hot earth flew upward, followed by a tremendous expanding cloud. Swirling, dense substance spread and thickened [...]
- 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Sytau:
- Sytau is rabidly volcanic; a dozen "supervolcanoes" 50-120 kilometers wide are erupting across the planet. Sytau's carbon content and constant volcanism make natural diamonds plentiful, if extremely costly and dangerous to recover.
Hypernyms
editDerived terms
editTranslations
editTranslations
|
References
edit- “supervolcano”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.