Stranded in the airport waiting for a flight to or from Europe? Pass the time and entertain fellow passengers with this Core Knowledge Quiz about volcanos. Bonus points if you can correctly pronounce Eyjafjallajökull.
- What is the difference between lava and magma?
- Geologists generally identify four types of volcano: cinder cones, composite volcanoes, shield volcanoes, and lava domes. The Hawaiian Islands are a chain of which type of volcano?
- A massive eruption of this volcano on 1883 killed over 36,000 people; ash from the explosion may have caused a worldwide drop in temperature.
- Nearly 75% of the world’s active and dormant volcanoes occur in a zone called the “Ring of Fire” around which ocean?
- Which country has the most active volcanoes?
- The world’s tallest volcano is in the United States. What is it?
- The word volcano comes from an island off the coast of Sicily. During the Roman Empire, it was thought that Vulcano was the home of which Roman god?
- How many active volcanoes are on Earth? Less than 500? 500 to 1000? 1000 to 2000? 1000 to 2000. Or over 2000?
- The expression “to blow his top” is thought to come from volcanoes. When this U.S. volcano blew its top in 1980, it lost 1,300 feet from its summit.
- Last week’s eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland is an example of a “Plinian” eruption–when a volcano spews a massive column of ash and gas into the stratosphere. The name comes from the Roman statesman Pliny the Younger, who wrote a detailed description of the eruption of which famous volcano?
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