Each volcano’s life is a little different. Many of them are born when big chunks of the Earth’s crust, or tectonic plates, collide or move away from each other. The moving plates force hot, liquid rock, or magma, to rise up from deep within the Earth. Some volcanoes can spew ash and lava several miles into the sky. Others will slowly ooze out lava.
Just as each volcano is unique, so are the reasons they go extinct. Generally, though, if a volcano doesn’t have a source of magma, it won’t erupt. That’s what I found out from my friend John Wolff, a geologist at Washington State University.