Hello Steemit community, I hope you are very well.
In this opportunity I come to show you why there are no volcanoes in Venezuela,
If we analyze the internal structure of the space where the national territory is located, we are in an area suitable for the formation of a volcano, why do I say suitable?
1. The Venezuelan territory is located in a zone of contact between plates, and there are 2, if not 3 tectonic plates:
- Nazca plate
- Plate of the Caribbean
- Plate of South America.
In these areas of contact usually intense volcanism is observed, produced by the collision between the plates, a process that affects the magma in the depths, by the pressures exerted on it and that forces this magma to ascend to the surface through of openings or chimneys present in the earth's crust.
2. The northernmost part of the Andes mountain range penetrates the Táchira, Mérida, Trujillo and other states to a lesser extent. This mountainous system was formed by the clash between the Nazca plate and the South America plate. The first more dense, sank below the other, originating the mountain range. This process of subduction affected the magma of the region, forcing it to ascend to the surface in different and dense points along the mountainous system. The South American Andes are recognized by the number of active and inactive volcanoes along it, such as Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia.
3. Venezuela presents continental and Insular Caribbean mountainous reliefs (Cordillera de la Costa and the insular arc), these Caribbean reliefs in the same way as the Andean ones, are recognized by their numerous volcanoes originated by the effect of the subduction process, as for example those of the Lesser Antilles, Granada, Montserrat, and even Central American countries with Caribbean orography, such as Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica.
We are surrounded by countries with active volcanoes, clashes between plates, processes such as subduction but even so we do not have the presence of these phenomena, why?
1. In the case of the Andean mountain range, the subduction angle is very low, therefore the process does not have enough depth to reach the magnetic levels and originate a volcano.
2. In the Caribbean regions of the country, the mountain systems originated from the lateral sliding process between the Caribbean plate and the South America plate, the subduction process does not occur as in other Caribbean orographic systems, but both plates they slide parallel, and for this reason this region is absent of volcanism.
3. The Guayana Massif was part of the Pangea continent. Bone that was already formed when the processes that originated the country's mountain ranges occurred. Therefore, there is no plate nearby that exerts pressure on the portion of magma that could be found in its depths.
4. In the case of the other natural regions of the country, such as Los Llanos, the Orinoco River Delta and the depression of Lake Maracaibo, the formation of volcanoes is not possible, because they are geologically very young plains, originated by sedimentation and not by orographic processes or related to tectonic plates.
However, in the east of the country (Monagas and Delta Amacuro), the word "volcano" is used to name certain emanations of mud, the recognized mud volcanoes. But these events, in spite of also being originated by the presence of plate and tectonic faults, are not of origin, nor of magnetic material, if not sedimentary. In addition, the size and threat of these phenomena is much lower compared to a real volcano.
In conclusion, despite Venezuela having important factors for the formation of a volcano, the territory is absent from them due to certain very specific factors.
Sources:
Leonel Vivas (2012) Geotemas, tomo 2.
Tarbucks y Lutgens (2005) Earth sciences