Eruption Zone
BY Callie P., Ella S., Brook k. and miles G.
Table of Contents
*Introduction............................................... 1 *What is a volcano..................................... 2 *How a volcano explodes.......................... 4 * Different kinds of volcanoes................... 8 *How volcanoes effect animals ................12 *How volcanoes are good and bad ......... 13 *Hot spots.................................................15 *Famous volcanoes..................................17 *Fun facts................................................. 21 *Conclusion.............................................. 23 *Glossary.................................................. 24 *Bibliography ........................................... 25
INtroduction
Boom, crash, snap and explosion. Those are the words that best describe a volcano in action. Lava rushes through the Earth, through the volcano, and then boom! It explodes with a sound like thunder. The smell of smoke fills your nostrils and coats your lungs. You feel the hot air rush against your face, it makes you stagger backwards. The heat is too extreme for life on Earth. Then the cinders clear and you are able to see again. Even though everything has been destroyed, you know that life will arise from the ashes better, stronger and more sustainable than before.
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what is a volcano ?
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There it is, the opening of the crust. The magma is building up heat and lots of pressure. The magma and gases need to escape, but how will they get out? They will escape through the top of a mountain, a volcanic mountain. A volcano is an opening in the Earth’s crust where magma escapes from the mantle. A volcano is first made when two tectonic plates collide and one plate goes down into the mantle and the other rises up creating a mountain. Underneath the young mountain, there is a crack in the crust which reveals the Earth’s mantle.
Tectonic plates
Magma pushes its way up through the crust, being pressured by extremely hot gasses trapped in the magma. The pressure builds and builds until suddenly...BOOM! The volcano has erupted showering magma, molten boulders and ash over the surrounding land and sea.
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how volcanoes explode
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Explosive eruptions
There are two ways a volcano can erupt and shoot lava. One way a volcano erupts is by exploding viciously. Magma rises from the mantle, up through the volcano and into the magma chamber. The magma keeps coming which creates pressure in the volcano. Gas gets trapped in the sticky viscus and lots of pressure builds in the chamber. Crystal in the rock walls of the volcano gets pulled into the mass of magma which is flowing up. Eventually the pressure makes it explode.
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Effusive Eruptions
There’s a different kind of an eruption which is called effusive. The lava flows out at 2192 degrees fahrenheit which does not make it explode but instead lava flows out. The high temperatures melt the magma so it thins out and it is able to flow out of the volcano. There is not much pressure in the volcano because the gas can escape through all of the thin magma. Some of the magma is made out of runny or thin basalt.
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Different KInds Of Volcanoes Scientists have narrowed volcanoes down to four different kinds: shield volcanoes, cinder cone volcanoes, dome volcanoes, and stratovolcanoes. The real question is whether there are big differences between the four scientific kinds?
Shield volcanoes sort of look like an ancient warrior's shield from Europe. Shield volcanoes have gentle slopes instead of big drops off like a cliff. Scientists believe that the biggest eruptions from volcanoes mostly come from shield volcanoes.
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Cinder cone volcanoes look mostly like an upside down ice cream cone. They get their name because they send lots cinders and ash into the air when they erupt. When cinder cone volcanoes erupt, they really explode and start to collapse. Even though cinder cone volcanoes sound very confusing, they are made very simply. When lava comes rocketing out the hole of the volcano and falls to the sides of the mountain, the lava hardens and forms rock which make new sides of the mountain.
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Stratovolcanoes almost look like a triangle with sloping edges. This kind of volcano is formed by lava and ash. When hundreds of years go by, stratovolcanoes often turn into crater lakes. When a stratovolcano explodes, lava and ash can shoot up to 8,000 feet! Mount Rainer in Washington, D.C. is a stratovolcano.
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Dome volcanoes look like a very rocky mountain. Lava that comes from dome volcanoes is very thick and moves very, very slowly. When this kind of volcano erupts, lava does not always shoot in every direction. Most of the time, lava oozes out of the hole for hours. Dome volcanoes get their name because after the volcano erupts, the lava creates a bubble or dome of lava above the hole where the lava comes out. Pressure starts to build up over time and then the volcano explodes again.
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how Volcanoes Effect plant and animal life How they affect
A volcano can be disastrous to the surrounding plants and animals, but they can also be a source of new life. When a volcano first erupts, it will be very difficult for plant and animal life. Lava flows over livestock and sometimes humans. The lava and gasses fall into the water which makes the water very acidic and poisonous for aquatic life. The lava also burns the plants and houses. Afterwards the ground will be coated in a layer of ash, making the land grey and lifeless. But it just so happens that volcanic ash is extremely rich in nutrients, so plants can grow back with abundance and have even more beauty than before.
Regular Dirt
Volcanic dirt
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how Volcanoes are good and bad Although volcanoes Thousands of tourists
can be good, they do
come each year to see
have their hazards. They
volcanoes all over the
can cause death if you
world. They come to see
don't go to safety in time.
the beauty of a volcanic
The gas from the volcano
eruption and the life it
gets into the air which
brings after they erupt.
makes it dangerous to breathe. The picture to the left shows the destruction of a forest after a volcano has exploded. 13
When volcanic ash and lava sinks into the ground, it creates rich farming soil that is full of useful minerals. The result is good because sustainable soil helps our plants grow. The volcanoes themselves have natural resources too. They can create sulfur and diamonds. Men risk their lives every day to collect these resources.
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hot spots
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One kind of hot spot is where a crack opens above a magma chamber and lava flows out. Another kind of hot spot is where a magma chamber under the crust heats a pond above the crust and then where people can bathe in the pond. A hot spot is not a volcano, its a crack or a place where people can bathe. Hawaii has lots of hot spots because it has lots of volcanoes.
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famous volcanoes Mount St. Helens Washington state’s Stratovolcano Mount St Helens stands 8,366 feet tall. On May 18, 1980 it exploded in one of the most unusual ways. When Mount St Helens erupted a landslide caused a sideways explosion which scientists call a direct blast. On that day the blast killed 75 people.
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Mount Etna: Mount Etna, Europe's largest volcano is mysterious and full of wonders. It started forming under the Mediterranean Sea 500,000 years ago and it emerged from the sea 100,00 years ago. On March 8th, 1669 Etna's eruption killed 20,000 people. At 10,922 feet high Etna covers 460 square miles.This stratovolcano in Sicily, Italy has been erupting for several thousands of years and several thousand years to go.
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Fun fActs 1. Somewhere in the world right now there are 20 volcanoes erupting.
2. The tallest volcano in our Solar System is 25 km in hight and it is not even on earth, it is on Mars.
Wow lava can go fast
3. If a volcano erupts and you are 20 miles away, it is very likely that you are safe.
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4. In the Azores islands there are so many hotspots that families put their food in metal containers in big holes in the ground to heat and cook their food. 5. In ancient Rome the people believed in a god named Vulcan, Vulcan was god of fire and made volcanoes erupt. 6. Volcanoes can be formed in 2 ways: 1. a big hole in the ground, 2. a tall mountain or hill formed by lava. 7. Hawaiian lava, a type of lava can flow up to 35 miles per hour. 8. 75% of volcanoes are found in the Pacific Ring of Fire. 9. 90% of earths volcanoes are under water and people do not even know they are happening. 10. Volcanic rock is the only rock that can float 11.The worst volcanoes are called super volcanoes. 12. Iceland is know as the Land of Fire and Ice because it has so much ice but yet so many volcanoes.
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Conclusion
In conclusion, volcanoes are a way of creating new parts of our Earth, which can be made in destructive harmful ways, but also can be a source of new life. You can help by telling other people all about volcanoes, and help your friends and family understand how volcanoes work and tell them how volcanoes are not only disastrous.
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Magma: Extremely hot lava which is in the mantle. Mantle: The second outer layer of Earth, which is made up of magma. Tectonic Plates: The Earths crust split into different pieces. Crust: The outer layer of Earth. Abundance: A great amount. Viscus: Having a thick, sticky consistence between liquid and solid. Basalt: Is a kind of lava. Sloping: A hill that runs downwards. Crater lakes: Were a volcano explodes and then it fils with water.
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About. New York Times Company, n.d. Web. 4 Jan. 2014. <http://climbing.about.com/od/ mountainclimbing/a/Facts-About-Mount-Shasta.htm>. Arnold, Eric. Volcanoes! 2003: Randomhouse, 2003. Print. Ask. Ask, n.d. Web. 7 Jan. 2014. <http://us.wow.com/ search?s_pt=aolsem&s_it=aolsem&s_chn=25&q=facts %20about%20volcanoes>. Dinwidde, Robert. Violent Earth. New York: DK, 2011. Print. Nationalgeographic. Nationalgeographic, n.d. Web. 6 Feb. 2014. <http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/ natural-disasters/volcano-profile/>. Science.howstuffworks. How stuff works, n.d. Web. 2 Jan. 2014. Simon, Seymour. Volcanoes. New York: Morrow Junior, 1988. Print. Taylor, Barbra. Mountains and Volcanoes. New York: Kingfisher, 2001. Print. Volcano World. Volcano world, n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2014. <http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/ what-is-a-hot-spot>.
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