I wrote a research paper about volcanoes for my 4th / 5th grade writing class.
Earth’s Eruptions : All about Volcanoes
By Yahney
Natural disasters have earned their name. Many historic events are the result of eruptions large amounts of years before. But volcanoes have set the scene for some of the craziest events in history. Learn about volcanoes and their eruptions, statistics, and amazing circumstances in this paper.
What are volcanoes
Volcanoes are simply put vents in Earth’s surface. Lava from the magma chamber of Earth is allowed to pass into these vents, which give them a place to escape, resulting in an eruption of lava, volcanic ash, rocks, or all three at once. Volcanoes also have different types with differing eruptions, formation, and properties.
Volcanoes start with their location. Volcanoes usually form on tectonic plates, which are large moving pieces of the Earth’s surface. A number of volcanoes are located along the Ring of Fire.
The ring of fire is not an actually a ring, but it is a belt of volcanoes nicknamed the ring of fire for their very explosive tendencies in the particular area. The Ring of Fire spans about 24,854 miles, and the volcanoes that are around it it frequently erupt.
Volcanoes form when magma from Earth’s upper mantle comes to the surface. This allows for lava to escape, and eruptions. After thousands of years of eruption, the magma builds up which eventually makes a mountain-like structure erupting lava. The more they erupt, the more they form. This also means that the older a volcano is, the more tension forms and the more intense an eruption can tend to be and the volcano may be larger than one of lesser age.
Volcanoes erupt magma in its liquid form, commonly called lava. Magma is a concept humans are still trying to figure out. The formation of magma is one of the many things we don’t know about it, though it is known that most of it is composed of basalt rock. Magma might form near the base of Earth’s crust and is moved upward through a magma chamber before erupting, however this is a theory and not yet confirmed. As magma erupts over time it forms volcanoes. Liquid magma is the true type of “lava”, but magma can also become a solid form. Either way, it’s extremely hot and is one of the most recognizable features of volcanoes.
Types of volcanoes
There are many different types of volcanoes and it’s very hard to cover all of them in a short span of a few paragraphs in an essay. Nonetheless, here I cover three very popular types that you will probably come around to more often.
Stratovolcanoes are your typical movie volcanoes. Strato means compound, and the volcano fits it title. Stratovolcanoes are made of solid lava mixed with volcanic rock, mostly sand or gravel-like. These volcanoes are very tall, commonly being more than a thousand feet in height. They also are long, stretching across miles of land. A popular volcano of this type is Mount St. Helens.
Cinder cones are volcanoes that are small and quiet. They’re not very tall, being a usual thousand feet in height. They’re made of mostly cinder, giving this volcano its trademark name. They have steep sides are almost no lava. A popular cinder cone is Paricutin.
Shield volcanoes are huge, being tens of thousands of feet high and hundreds of feet wide. Mauna Loa, the largest shield volcano in the world, is easily recognized. They have low slopes and are almost completely made of frozen lava flows. They also have highly fluid basalt flows and are mostly low and broad, but are ordinarily very old so they become huge.
Dangers of Volcanoes
Volcanoes, as you might’ve imagined, can be extremely hazardous. Including lava, many things make volcanoes this way. Here we’ll show you the dangers of volcanoes and how to avoid them.
Mud flows are flows of mud from volcanoes that come suddenly and quickly from the volcano. They mostly affect land that is on low ground, despite that, if they are intense enough can affect medium ground land too. The safest way to avoid mudflows is to not live low, or near a river. You can also try to stay in your house, which makes mudflows less threatening.
Falling rocks are an obvious occurrence in volcanoes. Rocks fall when the tension pushes them out. Given extreme conditions, you might have to dodge rocks. They can come down as huge boulders or as tiny stones. The rocks could be heavy and dangerous. If big enough, they might even be able to destroy a wall. There’s a very easy way to avoid falling rocks. Simply seek shelter, stay in your home, or stay in the safest place you can be. You’ll probably be safe from them as long as you’re in a good place.
Volcanic ash has given itself quite a name because of Pompeii. It can come before the eruption, during, and after. If there’s enough, the ash could cover a whole city. It might be even faster than lava! It pollutes the air, making it toxic to breathe.
In order to survive the multiple perils of volcanoes, you need to prepare, know what to do, and understand them. But here are some safety tips about them.
Volcanic Safety
Before a volcanic eruption, prepare for one! Since it’s likely cellphones don’t work, make sure to have a plan of where to meet if you get lost. Also, make sure to have an emergency list of supplies to bring as well as a family emergency kit. Only bring the essentials, including gas-masks, medicine, food, water, batteries, flashlights, and a radio that will work without internet will be useful especially to figure out local news and stay healthy.
During a volcanic eruption, listen to your superiors. If they tell you to stay inside, stay inside. Try to seek cover and don’t go near windows. Do not get near low ground or rivers. Mud flows are very dangerous. In a volcanic eruption, just listen and follow directions and it’s most likely you will be fine.
After an volcanic eruption, if you feel unsafe, go to a local public shelter. Authorities might not be able to tell you what to do first hand or exactly when it is safe, so make sure to try to watch the TV, check the radio, and find internet resources to get more information.
Famous Eruptions
Volcanoes have made some famous eruptions that greatly impacted history! Here are two eruptions that have made quite a name. Here is information about them.
Pompeii was the receiver of the brutal eruption of Mount Vesuvius. On the day of August 24, 79, the volcano decided to create an eruption that would go down in history. It was near Mount Vesuvius, so it was an easy target, a mere 14 miles away. The locals could see the volcano, but little did they know that their whole city would be wiped out clean after the eruption.
What made Mount.Vesuvius so dangerous wasn’t just the structure of the city, the location, or the lava itself, but mostly the volcanic ash. The ash rained down, sealing up the city. Rocks fell, making it hard to move or walk. Mount Vesuvius would keep Pompeii impossible to survive slowly, for two days, and then bury it completely in the ash. Luckily, most people escaped. But Pompeii was left covered with ash, it’s victims faces forever frozen in horror. The story of Pompeii is an example of how it isn’t just lava that kills, but ash too.
Like the ancients, if Pompeii happened again, it would be likely most would be able to escape. It would be likely that the ash would still consume cities, but depending on how intense the eruption, very tall buildings might not be covered. There would probably be many chemicals in the air. Stones falling would be hard to escape, but the warning signs would be easier from the beginning, letting most people escape in their cars first. It is, though, very probable that would bury much of the city and would set another huge event in history.
Not only did Pompeii devastate, but many other volcanic eruptions did as well. In fact, Mount St. Helens erupted only 35 years ago. This eruption started with various small earthquakes on the base of the volcano. The earthquakes created small cracks in its surface, however, this only resulted in steam pluming from the volcano. These small earthquakes started in March, and grew more intense for the next few weeks. Then, in the morning of May 18, an earthquake was harsh enough to create a landslide. This landslide allowed for rock to escape, and now the magma hidden beneath was free to roam.
“The effect was like shaking up a bottle of soda and then popping the top off of the bottle.” (livescience.com) -Steve Malone, a professor of geophysics at the University of Washington said when describing the eruption. The lava came out lopsided, called a lateral blast. This probably was because of previous blasts, which carved pathways from eruptions many years ago. It rose to the top asymmetrically. The explosion created the largest terrestrial landslide in history.
Later that day came the ash and smoke. It erupted vertically from the top of St. Helens. The volcanic plume created from this lasted nine hours. 57 people died from the attack, showing Pompeii wasn’t the only volcano to look out for.
Volcanoes still have much more to do. Because it’s unknown if one will erupt, even dormant volcanoes might surprise us one day and explode, making another event that might change history. Volcanoes show how Earth is fatal, but at the same time, create a sequence in the record of life.
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