She's Gonna Blow Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mauna Loa

The whole of the Hawaiian archipelago is volcanic in origin, while the main island is made up of five overlapping shield volcanoes, of which Mauna Loa is the largest. The others are Mauna Kea, Kohala, Kilauea, and Hualalai. Mauna Loa is an active volcano, and its 1984 eruption produced a flow of lava that came to within four miles of the settlement of Hilo. Merapi is a volcano in Indonesia, Ulawun is in Papua New Guinea, and Taal is in the Philippines.

Answer: No

The most famous eruption of Italy's Mount Vesuvius was in 79, when it destroyed the settlements of Pompeii and Herculaneum. However, it has been active ever since. Significant eruptions took place on at least eight occasions between 1801 and 1900 - 1822, 1834, 1839, 1850, 1855, 1861, 1868 and 1872.

It then erupted on four more occasions in the twentieth century, most recently in 1944. You don't need to be a vulcanologist to realise that this makes it long overdue for another major eruption.

Answer: 6 (colossal)

The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa is believed to have killed over 36,000 people, most of whom died in the tsunamis that followed the eruption itself. Eruptions at level 6 on the VEI scale are fortunately rare, although the 1991 eruption of Pinatubo in the Philippines was also a "colossal" event. No level 8 eruptions have occurred during modern times, the most recent being that of Mount Taupo in New Zealand, which occurred in around 24,500 BC.

This illustration shows the 1883 eruption, and appeared in the "Report of the Krakatoa Committee of the Royal Society, London", published in 1888.

Answer: 0

Mayon is known to be extremely active, and is regularly monitored by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS). Prior to the 1984 eruption, over 73,000 were evacuated from the area on the advice of PHIVOLCS, and as a result there were no fatalities.

Another major eruption took place in 2009, which also resulted in mass evacuations and no deaths. However, a much smaller eruption in 2013 killed five people (four tourists and a local guide) who were hiking in the area.

Answer: Lombok

All of the options are islands in the Lesser Sunda archipelago, which was formed as a result of volcanic activity. Mount Rinjani's volcanic activity in 1994 and 1995 was relatively low-level, although it is believed that a previous eruption in the year 1257 would have measured 7 (super-colossal) on the Volcanic Explosivity Index, making it one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded human history.

Answer: Alaska

Mount Redoubt is an active volcano in the Aleutian mountain range in the southern region of Alaska. It also erupted in 2009. Fortunately, the area is relatively lightly populated, and there were no casualties on either occasion, though during the 1989/90 eruption a Boeing 747 aircraft flew into a cloud of volcanic ash and all four engines failed. Fortunately, it was able to glide to a lower altitude and the engines were restarted, enabling a safe landing at the airport in nearby Anchorage.

The enormous mushroom-cloud of smoke and steam in this picture was caused by pyrocastic flows of hot lava running down the volcano's northern side.

Answer: Disruption to air travel over Europe

The 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull was relatively low-level (around 4 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index). However, a combination of factors led to an enormous cloud of volcanic dust spreading across northern and western Europe. Because of the damage that ingestion of volcanic dust can cause to aircraft engines (potentially causing them to shut down completely), for a period of about a week all commercial flights were cancelled across a wide area of Europe. This obviously caused major disruptions, stranding hundreds of thousands of travellers.

At the time, much incidental amusement could be had from listening to newsreaders attempting to pronounce Eyjafjallajökull, which can be roughly translated as "ice-cap of the mountains of the islands".

Answer: Abandoned permanently

In 1995, the Soufriere Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat began a series of eruptions that continued on and off for several years. The capital city, Plymouth, was initially evacuated as a safety precaution, and sadly had to be abandoned in 1997 when a pyroclastic flow of volcanic material inundated it completely. Large areas of the island were rendered uninhabitable, and several thousand of its inhabitants had to leave the island permanently.

During the succeeding years, further eruptions have taken place, and the accompanying photograph, taken in 2009, shows a plume of steam and ash emerging from the volcano.

Answer: Etna

Etna is one of the world's most active volcanoes, and at over 3,000 metres high (10,000 feet) it is Europe's highest. Significant eruptions of lava and columns of ash occur every few years, although fortunately casualties are rare. Its frequent low-level activity helps to make it a major tourist attraction for Sicily, and a cable car carries visitors up to a height of around 2,500 metres.

Answer: 120 years

An eruption of Mount St Helens is known to have taken place in 1800, which contemporary accounts suggest was of a similar size to the 1980 one. It then erupted on around twelve occasions during the next 50 years. The last recorded eruption of any size took place in 1857.

In March 1980, monitors recorded low-level activity, which grew steadily over the following two months. On May 18, an eruption occurred that registered at level 5 (paroxysmic) on the Volcanic Explosivity Index. Fortunately, most people living in the area had been evacuated, but even so more than 50 people died as a direct result of the explosion, including some who refused to leave despite the warnings.