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The shield volcano responsible for the destruction was active just before and after the asteroid impact that drew the curtains on the Cretaceous, and both are thought to have contributed to the extinctions that followed.

Mauna Kea is a dormant 14,000-foot shield volcano.

"The Eyjafjallajokull eruption of 2010 was quite different as it was associated with a shield volcano topped by a glacier. It was the interaction of the magma with ice and melt water that made that eruption so explosive and dangerous for aviation. This is not the case for Fagradalsfjall", said Dr Michele Paulatto, volcanologist at Imperial College London.

Kilauea first formed underwater roughly 280,000 years ago, according to the National Park Service, and it is considered to be a fairly typical shield volcano, named for its gentle slopes that resemble a shield lying on the ground.

It would be like Mount St. Helens, a steep stratovolcano that can erupt explosively, sending dirt, rock and sodium into the atmosphere, erupting on Earth, rather than Mauna Loa, a gently-sloped shield volcano that erupts with liquid lava flows.