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Volcanoes
(Volcanoes are not associated with weather, but instead are natural disasters.)

What is a volcano?
A volcano is a mountain that opens downward to a pool of molten rock below the surface of the earth. When pressure builds up, eruptions occur. Gases and rock shoot up through the opening and spill over or fill the air with lava fragments. Eruptions can cause lateral blasts, lava flows, hot ash flows, mudslides, avalanches, falling ash and floods. Volcano eruptions have been known to knock down entire forests. An erupting volcano can trigger tsunamis, flash floods, earthquakes, mudflows and rockfalls.

How are volcanoes formed?
Volcanoes are formed when magma from within the Earth's upper mantle works its way to the surface. At the surface, it erupts to form lava flows and ash deposits. Over time as the volcano continues to erupt, it will get bigger and bigger.

What are the different stages of volcanoes?
Scientists have categorized volcanoes into three main categories: active, dormant, and extinct. An active volcano is one which has recently erupted and there is a possibility that it may erupt soon. A dormant volcano is one which has not erupted in a long time but there is a possibility it can erupt in the future. An extinct volcano is one which has erupted thousands of years ago and there's no possibility of eruption.

Why do volcanoes erupt? The Earth's crust is made up of huge slabs called plates, which fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. These plates sometimes move. The friction causes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions near the edges of the plates. The theory that explains this process is called plate tectonics.

The theory of plate tectonics is a interesting story of continents drifting from place to place breaking apart, colliding, and grinding against each other. The plate tectonic theory is supported by a wide range of evidence that considers the earth's crust and upper mantle to be composed of several large, thin, relatively rigid plates that move relative to one another. The plates are all moving in different directions and at different speeds. Sometimes the plates crash together, pull apart or sideswipe each other. When this happens, it commonly results in earthquakes. What are plate tectonics?

Continental Drift: To see this animation again, just refresh this page! This animation shows you what our planet looked like millions of years ago and what it looks like now! (Graphic Credit: Geology Department at University of California, Berkeley)

There are more than 1500 active volcanoes on the Earth. We currently know of 80 or more which are under the oceans. Active volcanoes in the U.S. are found mainly in Hawaii, Alaska, California, Oregon and Washington.
How many volcanoes are there?

What are the different types of volcanoes?
Volcanoes are grouped into four types: cinder cones, composite volcanoes, shield volcanoes and lava volcanoes.

Cinder Cones

Cinder cones are circular or oval cones made up of small fragments of lava from a single vent that have been blown into the air, cooled and fallen around the vent.

Composite Volcanoes

Composite volcanoes are steep-sided volcanoes composed of many layers of volcanic rocks, usually made from high-viscosity lava, ash and rock debris. Mt. Rainier and Mount St. Helens are examples of this type of volcano.

Shield Volcanoes

Shield volcanoes are volcanoes shaped like a bowl or shield in the middle with long gentle slopes made by basaltic lava flows. Basalt lava flows from these volcanoes are called flood basalts. The volcanoes that formed the basalt of the Columbia Plateau were shield volcanoes.

Lava Volcanoes

Lava domes are formed when erupting lava is too thick to flow and makes a steep-sided mound as the lava piles up near the volcanic vent. The eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980 was caused in part by a lava dome shifting to allow explosive gas and steam to escape from inside the mountain.

Magma is liquid rock inside a volcano. Lava is liquid rock (magma) that flows out of a volcano. Fresh lava glows red hot to white hot as it flows.

What is the difference between lava and magma?

Why does lava take a long time to cool down?
Lava cools slowly because lava is a poor conductor of heat. Lava flows slow down and thicken as they harden.
What is a pyroclastic flow?
A pyroclastic flow is a fluidized mixture of solid to semi-solid fragments and hot, expanding gases that flows down the sides of a volcano. These awesome features are heavier-than-air emulsions that move much like a snow avalanche, except that they are fiercely hot, contain toxic gases, and move at phenomenal, hurricane-force speeds. They are the most deadly of all volcanic phenomena.

What is lahar?
A lahar is a type of mudflow or debris flow composed of pyroclastic material, rocky debris, and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley. It is very dangerous because it's consistency and the way it acts is very much like cement. It is liquid when it's moving, but when it stops, it solidifies. This can cause just as much devastation as lava itself.
What is pumice?
Pumice is a light, porous volcanic rock that forms during explosive eruptions. It resembles a sponge because it consists of a network of gas bubbles frozen amidst fragile volcanic glass and minerals. All types of magma (basalt, andesite, dacite, and rhyolite) will form pumice.

What is the largest active volcano?
The world's largest, active volcano is Mauna Loa in Hawaii, where famous coffee is grown in the rich volcanic soils. Mauna Loa is 13,677 feet above sea level. From its base below sea level to its summit, Mauna Loa is taller than Mount Everest.

What is the Ring of Fire?

The Pacific Ring of Fire is an area of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions encircling the basin of the Pacific Ocean. The Ring of Fire has 452 volcanoes and is home to over 50% of the world's active and dormant volcanoes. Ninety percent of the world's earthquakes and 81% of the world's largest earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire.

When did Mount St. Helens erupt?
On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted. It's located in southwestern Washington State in the Cascade Range. The blast was heard as far away as Montana, Idaho, Canada and California. Fifty-seven people died and the eruption caused $1.2 billion in damage.

What are some other notable volcano eruptions?
Krakatoa was a dormant volcano in Indonesia, which awakened and produced one of the biggest volcanic eruptions in 1883. So massive was the eruption that the sound of it was heard as far away as Australia. It's widely reported as the loudest sound heard in recorded history. The Krakatoa eruption created a huge amount of ash cloud which covered the Earth and reduced global temperatures for 5 years! A total of 40,000 people died in that explosion and an entire chain of the volcanic island was destroyed. For more info: Click Here!

Mount Pelee was a dormant volcano situated in the Caribbean island of Martinique. In 1902, it erupted in a massive horizontal explosion sending huge clouds of ash released towards the nearby town of Saint-Pierre. The side of the volcano exploded and lava flowed straight into the town, killing 30,000 people in a matter of minutes. It is regarded as one of the biggest and most devastating volcanic eruptions of the 20th century, a benchmark for future eruptions.

Mount Fujiyama, also popularly known as Mount Fuji, is an active volcano which last erupted in 1708. It is incidentally the tallest mountain in Japan. If you are visiting Tokyo, the capital of Japan, look in the west on a clear day and you will be able to see Mount Fuji. It is an iconic volcano. Mount Fuji is 3,776 meters high and it is snow clad throughout the year, with five lakes surrounding it. Currently in a state of dormancy, there has not been any eruption reported for more than 300 years. The last known eruption lasted for about 3 weeks during which it covered the surrounding villages with ash and cinders. Mount Fuji is now a popular tourist location with a large number of climbers actively scaling the mountain top.

What is a tsunami?
A tsunami is a large ocean wave usually caused by an underwater earthquake or a volcanic explosion. Tsunamis are NOT tidal waves. Tidal waves are caused by the forces of the moon, sun, and planets upon the tides, as well as the wind as it moves over the water. With typical waves, water flows in circles, but with a tsunami, water flows straight. This is why tsunamis cause so much damage!

Know the Lingo
MAGMA - Magma is the liquid rock inside a volcano.

LAVA - Lava is the liquid rock (magma) that flows out of a volcano. Lava glows red hot to white hot as it flows.

ACTIVE VOLCANO - An active volcano is one that erupts regularly.
Volcano Safety Tips
PLAN FOR A VOLCANO: First of all, have a disaster plan and know whether or not you are at risk for danger. Be prepared for mudslides, flash floods, earthquakes, ash falling, acid rain and tsunamis. Prepare a disaster supplies kit for your home and car. Include a first aid kit, canned food and a can opener, bottled water, battery-operated radio, flashlight, protective clothing, dust mask, goggles and sturdy shoes. Don't forget, know all of your evacuation routes. DURING A VOLCANO: Follow the evacuation order issued by authorities. Avoid areas downwind and river valleys downstream of the volcano. If your caught indoors, close all windows and doors, put machinery inside a barn, and bring animals inside. If you're trapped outdoors, seek shelter indoors. If you're caught in falling rocks, roll into a ball and protect your head. If you're caught near a stream, be aware of mudflows and move to higher ground. Protect yourself when ash falls by wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants. Use goggles to protect your eyes. Wear a dust mask and keep car engines off.
DORMANT VOLCANO - A dormant volcano is one that has not erupted for many years, although there is still some activity deep inside. AFTER A VOLCANO: Cover you mouth and nose. Volcanic ash can irritate your respiratory system. Wear goggles and protect your eyes. Keep your skin covered. Clear roofs of ash, because the ash is very heavy and can cause the building to collapse.
Volcano Activities
Lesson Plan: Here are great lesson plans on learning more about volcanoes. These are great lesson plans for elementary school students.
EXTINCT VOLCANO - An extinct volcano is a volcano that is no longer active.Volcano Experiment: Here is an experiment on how to make a soda bottle volcano with Mentos.
Volcano Experiment: Here is another experiment on how to make a baking soda volcano.
GEYSERS - Geysers are springs that throw boiling water high in the air. They are caused by volcanic heat warming trapped ground water.Science Fair Project Ideas: Here is a complete list of science fair project ideas. Discover the science behind the weather that impacts us every day.

ASH - Ash are very small fragments of lava or rock blasted into the air by volcanic explosions.

PUMICE - It is a light-colored volcanic rock containing lots of bubbles from trapped gases.

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Weather Wiz Kids weather information for kids

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Weather Wiz Kids is a fun and safe website for kids about all the weather info they need to know. It contains tools for weather education, including weather games, activities, experiments, photos, a glossary and educational teaching materials for the classroom.

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Kids learn about the science of volcanoes including how they form mountains, lava, and magma; types such as cinder cone, composite, and shield; watch a video about volcanoes.

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Scholastic Teaching Tools | Resources for Teachers

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Explore Scholastic Teaching Tools for teaching resources, printables, book lists, and more. Enhance your classroom experience with expert advice!

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Explore National Geographic. A world leader in geography, cartography and exploration.

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Be Ready!

Scientists keep close watches on areas where volcanoes are likely to erupt. Thats good news for most people, who usually have plenty of time to plan before a nearby mountain blows its top.

There are warning signs that let scientists know a volcanic may soon erupt: it will swell, spout steam and gas, and rumble noisily for several months. Other ways volcanologists monitor active volcanoes include:

examining rock deposits from previous eruptions to chart their frequency

using seismometers to detect even small quakes that often occur before an eruption

monitoring geophones, which are microphones placed underground in river valleys to listen for approaching mudslides

If you learn there's a chance of a volcanic eruption near your home, you should have a family escape plan that includes:

Ways to get to safety on high ground, far away from the eruption

A back-up route, just in case the main roads are blocked

A plan for keeping in touch in case family members are separated

An out-of-state relative or friend to serve as the family contact someone you can call by phone and report where and how you are

After a volcano erupts, be sure to:

Stay away from volcanic ashfall areas

Wear goggles to protect your eyes

Put a dust mask or kerchief over your mouth and nose

Wear a long-sleeved shirt and pants to keep your skin covered and limit contact with any itchy ash

Experts recommend that you stay indoors until local health officials tell you its safe to go outside, especially if you have asthma or another type of breathing problem.

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Scholastic.com | Online Activities: Weather Watch

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Be Ready! Scientists keep close watches on areas where volcanoes are likely to erupt. Thats good news for most people, who usually have plenty of time to plan before a nearby mountain blows its top. There are warning signs that let scientists know a volcanic may soon erupt: it will swell, spout steam and gas, and rumble noisily for several months.

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Witness Account

The Volcano That Shook the World: Krakatoa 1883
Sunday, August 26, 1883

It was an especially lovely afternoon in Anjer, a small seaside town on the island of Java. Children played on sparkling white beaches. Palm trees whispered in the breeze. Families rested or strolled along the streets. It was not the kind of day anyone would expect disaster to strike.

Then, at about 1:00 p.m., the sudden, sharp crack of an explosion shattered the quiet. All eyes turned west, toward Krakatoa (kra-kuh-TOW-uh), a volcanic island about six miles long and two miles wide.

Krakatoa jutted up 2,625 feet out of the sea. It lay in the Sundra Strait, a stretch of water separating the islands of Java and Sumatra, in the Indian Ocean, in Southeast Asia. Today, both islands are part of Indonesia. In 1883, the islands were Dutch colonies, controlled by the government of the European country the Netherlands.

The volcano of Krakatoa had been quiet, or "dormant", for 200 years. Then, in May, it had suddenly awakened, with cracklings, explosions, and smoke.

Most sensed that the noises and smoke of this afternoon seemed different from the rumblings of the past few months. But nobody could imagine the catastrophe that was about to overwhelm their beautiful land.

WHAT IS A VOLCANO?
A volcano is a hole in the crust of Earth or other planets. It forms when molten rock, or magma, erupts to the surface, where it is called lava. In a way, you could say that volcanoes are vents. They are the way that planets cool off.

Scientists estimate that there are about 1,500 volcanoes that have erupted in the last 10,000 years. Today, scientists keep a careful watch on "active" volcanoes, and can predict when they will erupt. In 1883, however, little was known about volcanoes. And most of the scientists who did study volcanoes lived in Europe and America, across the earth from the remote land of Krakatoa.

ASHES RAINING DOWN
By mid-afternoon, the town of Anjer was enveloped in an eerie darkness. Clouds of smoke had spewed into the air, covering the sun. People could hardly see their hands in front of their faces. Hot ashes rained down. From time to time, a red, fiery glare could be spotted over the volcano.

The seas began to behave strangely. Waves crashed wildly against the shore. In the harbor, churning water tore boats loose from their moorings and dashed them to pieces. The town's telegraph operator tapped out reports to the city of Batavia (today it is Jakarta, Indonesia's capital), 100 miles to the east. But at 6:00 p.m. the telegraph cable broke, and the line went dead. The telegraph operator hoped to fix it in the morning. That was not to be.

As the evening wore on, the explosions continued. People began to panic, not only in Anjer but in other small villages and towns in western Java and in southern Sumatra.

In the Sumatran town of Ketimbang, the Beyerinck family, including three children, fled to their summer cottage in the hills. Just before they set off, a wave rose so high they had to scramble up coconut trees to keep from being washed away. After the wave fell back, they raced through muddy fields to what they hoped was safety.

Soaking wet, covered with mud, and shivering with fear, they reached the cottage at midnight. All around, local people huddled together. Throughout that long, terrifying night, everyone wondered: What would the morning bring?

A TERRIBLE EXPLOSION
All night long, trading ships in the area were pounded by hot winds full of flying cinders and ash. One captain wrote that the "night was a fearful onethe blinding fall of sand and stonesthe sky one second intensely black, the next a blaze of light." Monday arrived, but dawn never came. Instead, the skies stayed dark. Ash filled the air. Lightning flashed.

As Monday morning wore on, Krakatoa's eruptions grew more intense. Beginning at 5:30 a.m., three terrible explosions shook the air, generating immense, powerful waves.

Then, at exactly 2 minutes past 10:00 a.m., the unthinkable happened. Krakatoa exploded into nothingness.

Think about the loudest sound you've ever heard. Multiply that sound by thousands. Then try, if you can, to imagine the loudest sound in the world a sound so deafening, an explosion so terrifyingly loud, people more than 2,000 miles away recorded hearing it. Buildings 500 miles away shook.

The violent explosion blew away the volcano and most of the small island it sat upon. Six cubic miles of rock were blasted to smithereens. The eruption sent shock waves speeding around Earth at 700 miles an hour. Clouds of gas, fire, and smoke shot up about 20 miles into the sky.

But this was not the deadliest aspect of the eruption. Underwater, the force of the volcano collapsing gave birth to a giant sea wave, called a tsunami.

Moving out from Krakatoa at 60 miles per hour, the wave bore down on western Java and southern Sumatra. When it reached the villages and towns scattered along the coasts, it broke on shore as a powerful, devastating wall of water more than 100 feet tall.

There are stories of the few people who managed to outrun this giant monster. A Javanese field worker near the town of Merak described what happened: "Wesaw a great black thing, a long way off, coming towards us. It was very high and very strong, and we soon saw that it was water. Trees and houses were washed awayNot far off was some steep, sloping ground. We all ran towards it and tried to climb up out of the way of the water. The wave was too quick for most of them, and many were drowned almost at my side."

Most everyone killed that day died because of water. But experts believe some people on Sumatra died from burns caused by the spewing of hot gas and volcanic particles, called a pyroclastic flow.

Huddled in their cottage above the town of Ketimbang, Mrs. Beyerinck and her family were at the edge of this kind of flow. She described what it was like that Monday morning: "Suddenly it became pitch-darkI felt a heavy pressure, throwing me to the floorThen it seemed as if all the air was being sucked away and I could not breathethe hot bite of the pumice [a light, gas-filled lava] pricked like needles."

The Beyerincks survived. But 165 towns and villages were destroyed. A total of 36,417 people died from the eruption, making it one of the deadliest in recorded history. Scientists have given the Krakatoa eruption a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 6, or "colossal." Eruptions like this occur only every few hundred years.

AFTER KRAKATOA
Propelled by the enormous force of the explosion, the sea wave fanned out from Krakatoa. On the Thousands Islands, east of the Sundra Strait, residents had to climb trees to save themselves. Hours later and nearly 2,000 miles away, the wave killed a woman in Ceylon (today the Asian country of Sri Lanka), who died after being swept off her feet by water. Twelve hours after the eruption, the wave was recorded at a spot 3,800 nautical miles from Krakatoa, a distance it usually took a steamship 12 days to reach.

The devastating eruption of Krakatoa changed the world's skies, winds, and weather, not just in the days following the disaster, but for months to come. The dust cloud caused darkness as far as 250 miles away, and close to the volcano, it stayed dark for three days. Volcanic ash and pumice from the eruptions covered parts of the nearby islands, making it difficult for plants to grow for several years. Ash fell on Singapore, 525 miles away.

Ash and other particles from Krakatoa entered Earth's atmosphere and circled the equator in about 13 days. Months later, volcanic dust and ash in the upper atmosphere reached northern latitudes, causing violently red sunsets. In November, three months after the eruption, firefighters in Poughkeepsie, New York, raced to what they thought was a blazing red fire. It turned out to be only "a peculiar light" in the sky light caused by particles of Krakatoa's eruption in the atmosphere.

The volcano of Krakatoa blasted itself out of existence that day in August. It caused horrific loss of life, and one of the largest explosions on Earth in recorded history. It was also the first catastrophe reported immediately throughout the world, thanks to undersea telegraph cables. For the first time, people on different continents could communicate almost instantly.

KRAKATOA Died that Day, in 1883. Or Did It?
Before the eruption, the island of Krakatoa was 14 miles long. The eruption on August 26 spewed billions and billions of tons of rock into the air and destroyed all but a small part of the island. In 1926, a new volcano appeared from under the water. It is called Anak Krakatoa, which means "child of Krakatoa." Someday, this child may be as dangerous as its parent.

From
Deborah Hopkinson. Storyworks. New York: Jan 2004. Vol. 11, Iss. 4; pg. 8

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Scholastic.com | Online Activities: Weather Watch

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Witness Account The Volcano That Shook the World: Krakatoa 1883 Sunday, August 26, 1883 It was an especially lovely afternoon in Anjer, a small seaside town on the island of Java. Children played on sparkling white beaches. Palm trees whispered in the breeze. Families rested or strolled along the streets.