Istituto Comprensivo Camozzi

Scuola primaria G.Rosa.

Classi  5A e 5B   a.s. 2014/15

Il mestiere della mamma e del papa & Keep in touch plus

Mr Ettore Romagnoli is Enrico’s dad. He is a geologist and he explained us some interesting things about Volcanoes.

The word "VOLCANO" comes from the little island of Vulcano in the Mediterranean Sea of Sicily.

Centuries ago, the people living in this area believed that Vulcano was the chimney of the forge of Vulcan, the blacksmith of the Roman gods.

They thought that the hot lava fragments and clouds of dust erupting form Vulcano came from Vulcan's forge as he beat out thunderbolts for Jupiter, king of the gods, and weapons for Mars, the god of war.

WHAT IS A VOLCANO?

A volcano is a place on the Earth’s surface where hot, molten rock (magma) breaks through.

CLASSIFICATION OF VOLCANOES:

1. ACTIVE if it erupts lava, rock, gas or ash, or if it shows seismic (earthquake) activity.
2. DORMANT if it hasn't erupted for a long time (less than 1 million years) but could again one day.
3. EXTINCT when a volcano will never erupt again.

The volcano’s structure

HOW DO THE VOLCANOES ERUPT?

The eruptions can be:

•        EXPLOSIVE with large amounts of gas and a high viscosity (sticky) magma

^•         EFFUSIVE with small amounts of gas and low viscosity magma

^{EXPLOSIVE VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS CAN BE CATASTROPHIC}

^{THREE PRODUCTS FROM AN EXPLOSIVE ERUPTION}

^{•            ASH FLOW}

^{•            PYROCLASTIC FLOW}

^{•            PYROCLASTIC SURGE}

^{A famous historic example of an explosive eruption that produced devastating pyroclastic flows was the 79AD eruption of Mt Vesuvius in Italy that buried the ancient Roman city of Pompeii.}

^{SEISMIC ACTIVITY}

^{Earthquake activity commonly precedes an eruption.}

^{Earthquake activity is measured by Seismographs.}

^{Top ten famous volcanoes}

^{In Italy there are four important volcanoes:}

Etna	Vulcano
Stromboli	Vesuvio

^{Thanks a lot to mister Romagnoli for giving us this fascinating information}

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