Volcanic Hot Spot Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mars

Mars has a shield volcano known as Olympus Mons. It was made from several lava flows that built up over time. Olympic Mons is three times the height of Mount Everest. Olympus Mons can be located on the western hemisphere of Mars.

Answer: Pacific Ocean

The Ring of Fire is an area around the Pacific Ocean where volcanoes form a pattern along the edges of the tectonic plates. There are thirteen volcanoes just in the Cascade range of the ring of fire. Ninety percent of earthquakes occur in the Ring of Fire.

Answer: 5.1 on the Richter scale

On May 18, 1980 at 8:32 a.m., an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale woke Mount St. Helens from her dormancy. The sides of the volcano split, spewing ash clouds into the sky. A lake close to Mount St. Helens reached a temperature of 194 degrees Fahrenheit.

Answer: False

In 1883, an eruption on the island of Krakatoa from the composite volcano was so loud it was heard in Australia, 3100 miles away. The island was destroyed by the volcanic eruption and nine tsunamis were formed killing and injuring several people on neighboring islands. Krakatoa was uninhabited so they were was no death toll due to the volcanic eruption.

Answer: Giant mudflow

The mudflow killed ninety percent of the people and sixty percent of the animals in the town of Armero, Columbia. The town was warned about the eruption, but the warning came too late. The composite cone volcano erupted in 1985 spewing twenty-six million cubic yards of hot ash.

The ash melted the snowcaps on and around the Nevado Del Ruiz causing the large mudflows. The destruction of the town of Armero by Nevado Del Ruiz was the second worst volcanic disaster in the twentieth century.

Answer: Rabaul

Rabaul was a tourist attraction and held a magnificent harbor for fishing and boating. In 1994, Rabaul's two stratovolcanoes, Tavurvur and Vulcan, erupted spewing hot volcanic ash over the town. Due to frequent volcano drills, the people of Rabaul were able to escape and only five deaths occurred.

Answer: A cornfield outside of Paricutin

A twenty inch crack opened in a cornfield outside the city of Paricutin, Mexico in 1943. The ground rose six and a half feet in a matter of minutes. By the next day a cone of ashes four hundred and ninety two feet high surrounded the area. One year later, the cinder cone volcano was one thousand one-hundred and two feet high.

In February 1952, the volcano became dormant. At the time of its dormancy, the volcano was one thousand three hundred and forty five feet above the cornfield.

Answer: World's largest volcano

Mauna Loa is a shield volcano on the island of Hawaii that is 13,680 feet tall. Its crater is measured at sixty-two miles across and is the second largest crater in the world. Half of the island of Hawaii is covered with volcanoes. It is the only state in the US that can increase in size, due to the build up of cooled lava.

Answer: Iceland

Eldfell was a composite volcano that rested on the southern coast of Iceland. Fifty three hundred people were evacuated from the nearest town. Several volunteers stayed to help stave off the lava flow before it sealed off the port. Water was sprayed on the lava to cool it. Pumps were brought in from different countries to help spray down the lava. Iceland's island of Heimaey was saved in July of 1973 when the main lava flow was permanently cooled. Due to the cooled lava, twenty percent of new land had been added to the island of Heimaey.

Answer: Herculaneum

The town of Pompeii was five miles from Mount Vesuvius. The town of Herculaneum was three miles from Mount Vesuvius. A day after Mount Vesuvius erupted, the city of Pompeii was under ten feet of volcanic residue while the town closer to Mount Vesuvius, Herculaneum, was under sixty-six feet of volcanic residue.