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VOLCANOES AND THE
RING OF FIRE
Introduction
Nearly a million people lived in and around
Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines before it
erupted on June 15, 1991. At the time, few
people even believed that this mountain was,
in fact, a volcano; after all, it had been
dormant for nearly 500 years. Fortunately,
the volcano sent some signals before its eruption
that allowed most people in the area to evacuate
in time. As a result, approximately 350 people
died in the eruption and in the mudflows that
followed. The eruption of Mount Pinatubo was
one of the most severe eruptions ever recorded;
it spewed out between 3.7 and 5.3 km3 of
magma. In contrast, the May 18, 1980 eruption
of Mount St. Helens in Washington State produced
just a tenth of this volume.
The Philippine people are still struggling
to recover from the devastating environmental
and economic losses that resulted from Mount
Pinatubo's eruption. Meanwhile, there are signs
that another Philippine volcano, Mount Mayon,
is beginning to wake up. In Japan, Mount Fuji
also has begun to emit smoke and noxious gases.
What is going on in this part of the world?
Why are there so many active volcanoes in places
like the Philippines and Japan? What other
volcanoes are showing signs of activity? How
are these volcanoes related to those in the
Philippines and Japan?
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Task
Your job in this WebQuest is to explore the
active volcanoes of the world and discover
how these volcanoes are related. In order to
do this, you first will have to learn a little
about plate tectonics, and about what happens
when plates collide on Earth's surface. You
will learn about three different types of plate
boundaries, and what kinds of volcanic activities
are associated with each type. You will describe
the plate boundaries located along the edges
of the Pacific Ocean and identify an area known
as the ring of fire. Then you will list information
in a table on at least five active volcanoes
from the ring of fire. Finally, you will draw
a simple map of the ring of fire area and identify
each of the volcanoes in your table on the
map.
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Resources
Look at the web sites given here to find the
information that will enable you to complete
your table and map on active volcanoes located
in the ring of fire.
- Plate
Tectonics. Go to this National
Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) site to learn more about plate
tectonics. You can view animations here
of the formation of a mid-ocean ridge,
a subduction zone, and a fault. Scroll
down and click on the book to open the
site, then click on whatever subject
you are interested in. If you click on
plate boundaries, you can learn more
about the three types of lithospheric
plates.
- Understanding
Plate Motions. Visit this
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) site to
learn about the different type of plate
boundaries. Scroll down to oceanic-continental
convergence, then click on ring of fire
to see a larger graphic of the Pacific
Ocean and its convergent plate boundaries.
- Savage
Earth: The Earth at Work. Go
to this Public Broadcasting System (PBS)
online site to find out more about how
plates move around on Earth's surface.
Scroll down to see a map of Earth with
the major tectonic plates outlined in
yellow. The map also shows the locations
of earthquakes during the 20th century.
Notice that the earthquakes are clustered
at the plate edges. Click on ring of
fire to learn about the most volcanically
and seismically active region on Earth.
You can find out what percentage of Earth's
active and dormant volcanoes lie along
this area at the margin of the Pacific
Ocean here.
- Active
Volcanoes, Plate Tectonics, and the "Ring
of Fire." At this USGS site you
can see a map of the world, showing the
different tectonic plates and the active
volcanoes found around their edges. Notice
the concentration of volcanoes along
the western edge of the Pacific Plates,
part of the ring of fire.
- Volcano
World: Volcanoes! At this site
you can learn about any volcano on Earth.
You can click on Earth's volcanoes, then
on the continent to see a list by country
of the active and dormant volcanoes found
there. For example, click on North and
Central American region, then on Paricutin
in Mexico to find out when Paricutin
first erupted and where.
- Exploring
the Environment: Volcanoes. Visit
this NASA Classroom of the Future site
to learn more about volcanoes, and why
they are located where they are. To move
to the next page, scroll down and click
on page 2. Read through all of the pages
available to find out how the Hawaiian
Islands formed.
- Global
Volcanism Program: Volcanoes of the World. Go
to this site by the National Museum of
Natural History, Smithsonian Institution,
to see the Volcano Basic Data files that
include geographic and geologic information
on all Holocene volcanoes (those with
known activity during the last 10,000
years). You can search by the name of
a particular volcano, or by region of
the world in which it is located to obtain
data about individual volcanoes.
- Earth's
Active Volcanoes. At this
Michigan Technological University site
you can find a map showing the locations
of active volcanoes around the world.
Scroll down and choose a region to study,
then click on it. Click on any volcano
to see photographs of the volcano, or
to learn about recent volcanic activity.
- Update
on Current Volcanic Activity. Visit
this site by the University of North
Dakota site for a list of the most current
volcanic activity worldwide. Information
is listed by the name of the volcano
and location, and by the date of the
last eruption or activity. You can click
on a volcano's name to see a photograph
of the eruption as well as a summary
of volcanic activity at that location.
- Volcano
Watch. At this site by
the Space Science and Engineering Center
of the University of Wisconsin -
Madison, you can learn about the world's
most active volcanoes. The site lists about
ten volcanoes and includes images of each
volcano. This site is updated every 30 minutes.
Scroll down to any of the volcanoes listed
and click on the volcano's name to view recent
activity there.
- The
Electronic Volcano. Go
to this Dartmouth College site to learn
more about active volcanoes. The site
has links to sites with catalogs of active
volcanoes, data sets, and videos of active
volcanoes. Scroll down to volcano name
to search for information about a particular
volcano.
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Time
1 class period for research and completion
of the table and map
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Process
Now that you have completed your research
on active volcanoes found along the ring of
fire, prepare a table that lists at least five
active volcanoes found there. In the left column,
write in the names of the volcanoes that you
have researched. At the top of the rows, write
in the location, date of last volcanic activity,
and any important facts about the volcano.
Finally, draw a simple map of the ring of fire
area and identify each of the volcanoes listed
in the table on the map. The table is started
for you below.
Table 1. Ring of Fire Volcanoes
| Name
of Volcano |
Location |
Date
of Last Activity |
Important
Facts |
| Mount Mayon |
Philippines |
May 16,
2001 |
The dome
vented gases; lava fragments are still
being shed |
| Mt. Krakatau |
Indonesia |
May 27,
2001 |
Seismographs
detected 7 deep and 54 shallow volcanic
earthquakes |
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Once you have completed the table with information
gathered from the Internet, you should be able
to pinpoint the location of each volcano on
a simple map you draw.
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Conclusion
In the process of completing this WebQuest,
you have become informed about the ring of
fire and the volcanoes associated with it.
You have become familiar with plate tectonics,
and with the different types of plate boundaries.
You have learned what type of plate boundary
the ring of fire represents. You completed
a table listing five active volcanoes, and
included pertinent information in the table
about the recent volcanic activity of each
volcano. Finally, you drew a simple map and
identified each volcano represented in the
table on your map.
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