Long Exercise IA : Distribution of Active Volcanoes

You will have about 6 weeks to complete this exercise. It will be due on March 24, 2001 when you take your second exam. This exercise will be worth 30 points.

I am sure that the residents of Pompei (to the right) would have liked to have been better informed about volcanic processes!

Volcano World was one of the first geoscience resources on the Internet and it remains a great jumping off site.

For this exercise you will need a map showing plate boundaries which is a small map or this one which is larger [if you print from the browser, turn the image on its side and reduce the size to about 75% for the best effect).

Exploding Mountains is a similar sort of exercise that may give you some good ideas.

Look at the Update on Current Volcanic Activity.

Prepare a table in which you list the 20 most recent volcanic events prior to January 30, 2001. [Your final report will include eruptions that occur from January 30 up to March 15, 2001.]

Location	Composition	Nature of the Eruption	Remarks


Under the Nature of the Eruption column tell whether this was an explosive eruption or a gentle flow. Under the Remarks column tell whether the volcano is located at a plate boundary or within a plate. If the volcano occurs at a plate boundary list the kind of boundary.

Locate each of these events (the 20 previous eruptions) with a red circle on your reference map.

Questions

1. What is a hot spot? Mark the location of a proposed hot spot with a purple circle on your reference map.

2. Describe the plate tectonic setting of the Cascade Mountains.

3. Describe the orientation of the volcanoes of the Cascades. How far (on average) are the Cascades from the subduction zone(s)? Speculate as to what controls the distance between a subduction zone and the volcanoes?

4. At the Volcano World site is a list of volcanic activity from about 1995 to the present. How many eruptions have occurred since the table was started? How many eruptions per month on average?

5. What is the range of the numbers of eruptions per month : ______ (lowest) to ______ (highest). Predict how many eruptions you think will occur between January 30, and March 15, 2001 (do this early - honor system!).

6. Add the eruptions that took place during your study (since January 31) to the table and locate them in blue

7. You are an investigative reporter for the Cascading Times - a moderate sized daily that circulates in the Cascade area. There are plans to use a tax increase to build a new convention center (yes, the Cascade Convention Center - CCC). Given your knowledge of volcanoes in general and the geology of the Cascades, write a newspaper column (no more than 2 typed pages - about 500 words) in which you inform your readers about the likelihood that future eruptions will occur in the area. Make use of the data you have gathered and your understanding of volcanic processes. Should the citizens of the area be concerned about using the tax base for the planned convention center? Should potential users of the center be concerned?

8. Field trips are the geologists' counterpart of a business case history. Take some time and Virtually Climb Stromboli, if you have not already done so!

   Locate Stromboli on your map in orange.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

| jbutler@uh.edu |E-mail the ClassListserv|Read the ClassListserv|
|Textbook Home Page |Glossary of Geologic Terms|Search These Pages|
|Other Courses|Resources|Grade Book|

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Return to the Physical Geology Home Page

Copyright by John C. Butler, July 29, 1995