Vulcan's Furnaces Trivia Quiz

Answer: Indonesia

Indonesia, Japan, and the western coast of the USA all border the so-called "Ring of Fire", whose volcanoes and volcanic islands indicate the borders of tectonic plates and and the presence of ocean trenches. As the plates grind against and slide beneath each other, magma (hot liquid rock, called "lava" when it reaches the surface) is released and volcanoes form.

The Ring of Fire contains more than 75% of the world's active and dormant volcanoes.

Answer: Yes

It's not only possible, it's happening right now. The town of Mammoth Lakes, California, is located inside Long Valley Caldera. There is active magma below the caldera. Its last eruption was only about 600 years ago. The USA's Yellowstone caldera, which is enormous (45 by 25 MILES in size) had possibly the largest series of explosions in the world's history.

The last was 600,000 years ago, but the area is still quite geologically active. Around 1000 people live in the town of West Yellowstone, but in July of 2003, 809,689 people visited Yellowstone National Park. Let's hope the area never blows up in the summertime! (Yellowstone statistics from http://www.yellowstone-natl-park.com/stats.htm)

Answer: Unlikely to erupt, but could

Volcanoes are loosely classified into three categories: extinct, dormant, and active. In ancient times before formal geologic study was possible, a volcano was often considered extinct if it hadn't erupted within anyone's memory and showed no signs of activity (such as smoke or lava production).

The perils of such a system became clear in 79 AD when the "extinct" volcano Vesuvius erupted. Today an extinct volcano must meet several criteria, including having no signs of geologic or historic activity.

A dormant (sleeping) volcano is one that has shown little or no historic activity but that still exhibits geologic potential for activity, like hot springs, fumaroles, etc. Dormant volcanoes often wake up...Mount St. Helens in Washington State, USA and Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines were considered dormant before their spectacular eruptions in 1980 and 1991 respectively.

Answer: Tambora (Indonesia, 1815)

All of the listed volcanoes exploded with considerable force, but despite being comparatively little-known, Tambora's was the largest. It was also very historically significant, not only because it killed thousands of people, but because it ejected so much ash and debris into the atmosphere that the following year, 1816, became known as "The Year Without a Summer". Global temperatures fell 1-3 degrees C worldwide, causing extensive crop failures and resultant famine.

When deaths from famine are added to the deaths in Tambora's immediate vicinity, it is also the deadliest eruption in recorded history.

More than 90,000 people perished. (for more about Tambora, including how the eruption helped create Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", see http://www.indodigest.com/indonesia-special-article-19.html)

Answer: Subduction

Most of the earth's most devastating volcanic eruptions are due to
tectonic plate subduction (where one plate goes under another) into the mantle. The immense pressure eventually bursts into a massive eruption. Many of the world's most destructive volcanic events have been of this type, among them Tambora, Krakatoa, and Pelée.
Erosion is the wearing or washing away of soil or rock by geologic forces, convection is heat transfer or movement in a gas or liquid, and conservative-margin plate tectonics is when geologic plates meet without either destruction or creation of material.

Answer: Volcanic Explosivity Index

"The size of a volcanic eruption is quantified using a scale called the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI), which takes into account the volume of material erupted, the height of the eruption cloud, the duration of the main eruptive phase, and other parameters to assign a number from 0 to 8 on a linear scale.

For example, the 18 May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, which destroyed 632 km² of land, expelled 1.4 km³ of magma, and produced an eruption column that rose to 24 km, was assigned a VEI of 5. On the other hand, the last large eruption from the Yellowstone caldera, which occurred 600,000 years ago and expelled over 1000 km³ of magma, would be assigned a VEI of 7.

However, the vast majority of volcanic eruptions have VEIs from 0 to 2." (http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/gsc/pacific/vancouver/volcanoes/05_haz_e.php)

Answer: False

A pyroclastic flow is composed of ash and larger chunks (clasts); a nuee ardente is composed of ash and super-heated gases. These phenomena are extremely dangerous because they move swiftly (up to 150 km/hr!) and can cover extensive areas. A nuee ardente created by Mont Pelée's 1902 eruption on Martinique killed 29,000 people.

Answer: Phreatic eruption (Turbulent lava eruption)

A phreatic eruption typically involves steam only. It is caused by water underground encountering magma and explosively erupting through the volcano's vent or fissures.
Tephra, which is Greek for "ash", can be extremely destructive when ejected from a volcano. In addition to killing people, animals and vegetation directly in its blanketing fall, tephra contains tiny particles of quartz which can become lodged in people's lungs and cause the disease silicosis.
Lahar, an Indonesian word for mudflow, is often a deadly consequence of volcanic eruption. In 1985, an otherwise insignificant eruption of Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Columbia killed 23,000 people when mud inundated the village of Armero.
Scoria is formed when bubbly, frothy lava cools quickly. Some volcanic cones are composed largely of scoria and are known as scoria cones.

Answer: Starvation

Of the ten most deadly volcanic eruptions in the past 2,000 years, only one of them (Vesuvius, in 1631) killed a large number of people (3,500) with its lava. The highest death toll from volcanic activity historically has been from the starvation which has often ensued worldwide from crop failures due to the lowering of global temperatures from volcanic debris in the atmosphere. Mud flows and ash falls together rank second, and tsunami (tidal waves) are a close third.
(data from http://www.medhunters.com)

Answer: Glacier melting

Glaciers melting because of volcanic activity is actually a hazard to anyone living in the path of the onrushing water and mud. Conversely, volcanoes are sources of geothermal power, and their concentrated heat can cause valuable metals to be deposited in the rocks of which they are formed. People often choose to live close to volcanoes because the soil created from their explosions is extremely fertile.

I hope you have enjoyed this look at Vulcan's furnaces, and will try some of my other FunTrivia quizzes.