Nothing shows the power of the Earth more than an erupting volcano, which is like rivers of fire carrying molten rock and billowing plumes of ash.

These erupting peaks can be found all over the world. The eruption of volcanoes helped carve the earth’s surface, creating craters, filling mountain peaks with cooled lava flows and desolate landscapes. As we know, volcanoes have helped shape life.

Each eruption drew nutrients from deep underground, coating rocks in fertile soil and promoting life around the world. However, their explosions are also a stark reminder of the fragility of life, with the power to devastate the landscape in the blink of an eye.

Each mountain erupts differently and these images capture the extent of their activity. By studying volcanic explosions, researchers hope to decipher the planet’s past and glimpse its potential future.

Watch images of volcanic eruptions around the world.

Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau volcano is a special volcano that activates every few years. This volcano is the “child” of the Krakatoa volcano, which once caused a series of terrifying explosions with more than 10,000 times the power of the American atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, and each explosion caused a tsunami that devastated coastal towns and killed to more people. of 37,000 people in 1883. On the night of December 22, 2018, an explosion caused the slopes of Krakatau’s Anak Krakatau volcano to collapse, causing a tsunami that killed hundreds of people. Photo: Stocktrek Images, Inc./Alamy.

Thanks to the emission of sulfur, Indonesia’s Kawah Ijen crater has a wonderful light show. Sulfur gases seeping through the volcano’s cracks ignite when they come into contact with air and come to life in a bright blue flame. Photo: SONNY TUMBELAKA, Getty Images.

Mount Etna in Italy is the largest active volcano in Europe and often causes spectacular explosions of molten rock into ring-shaped clumps of ash. Mount Etna, which awoke in December 2018, is said to be the oldest volcano on Earth, with records of its frequent explosions dating back to 1,500 BC. It is also slowly sliding into the Ionian Sea, raising concerns that the volcano could send large tsunamis to the nearby Mediterranean coast. Photo: FABRIZIO VILLA, Getty Images.

The Bárðarbunga volcano in Iceland is an inhospitable area, as its central crater is buried under ice, but volcanic vents rise far from the mountain. Deep fissures in the ground may spew the largest known giant lava flows on Earth in the past 11,000 years. Photo: BERNARD MERIC, Getty Images.

In 2018, after more than three decades of activity, Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano violently erupted with enough lava to fill at least 320,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Its lava flow devoured everything in its path, engulfing part of the residential area of ​​Leilani Estates in flames. Photo: MARIO TAMA, Getty Images.

Pictured is a lava flow flowing down the slopes of Mount Sinabung in 2018 in Karo, North Sumatra. While these eruptions pose many dangers, the nutrient-rich lava flowing from the mountaintop creates a vast expanse of fertile land that attracts people to settle nearby. Photo: IVAN DAMANIK, Getty Images.

The light show was captured in a 2016 image of the Sakurajima volcano in Japan. Volcanoes not only create beautiful streams of incandescent rock, but also unusual lightning bolts. Photo: ASAHI SHIMBUN, Getty Images.

The Halemaʻumaʻu vent in Hawaii’s Kilauea Crater has long resembled a sinuous lava lake. After 100 years of inactivity, the volcano erupted again in 2018, and a year later small holes appeared on the surface of that lava lake. Photo BRETTMANN, Getty Images.

One of the most active volcanoes in the world is the Piton de la Fournaise peak on the French island of Réunion. Since the 17th century, more than 150 eruptions have agitated this volcano. The eruption photo was taken in September 2016. Photo: RICHARD BOUHET, Getty Images.

On June 22, 2019, the Raikokoe volcano erupted, sending a plume of gas and ash rising into the North Pacific Ocean. The eruption was so large that astronauts could see it from the International Space Station and captured images of the expanding cloud. The particles from this eruption spread towards the stratosphere, causing a scattering of light that turns sunsets and sunrises purple. Photo: NASA.

While there are countless volcanoes on land, there are volcanoes lurking beneath the sea. A photographer captured this underwater volcano off the coast of Tonga erupting in March 2009, and it is one of 36 underwater volcanoes in the area. Photo: DANA STEPHENSON, Getty Images.

A flock of pigeons flies over the slopes of Indonesia’s Merapi volcano on June 4, 2018. Merapi is Indonesia’s most active volcano and has been erupting regularly since 1548. Located near the populous city of Yogyakarta, Merapi’s past eruptions have devastated the local population.