 Tim's
|
|
Volcanoes.
Big mountains that shoot broiling lava? Pretty much. Volcanoes are also
a magnificent example of the ever-changing geological structure of our
home planet. For us, though, that says they're really neat if you wanna
learn about Earth.
See, volcanoes are a little bit like earthquakes. If you look at one
of the maps for the earthquakes, you can also apply volcanoes to the same
list of places and frequencies. They, too, lie mostly on the boundaries
of the plates of the earth, and when the plates move around, all that hot
yellow lquid - called MAGMA - rises up and
collects in the volcano. Then, when the pressure's just right, BOOM!! Out
it comes, only now it's called LAVA.
Lava is really REALLY hot! And so is the ash and pumice that
comes out with it. Sometimes, big chunks of steamy rocks and pumice come
flying out, hitting everybody and everything. OW! They say that at Pompeii
(is that how you spell it?), it got so dark that it was just like night,
because of all the debris. Actually, it would have been worse, because
at night there are still stars and the moon. Of course, everybody died,
so we don't know for sure...
So volcanoes are very similar to earthquakes in the way that they are
along the boundaries of the plates. HERE's
some more info on volcanoes, from people who actually study thethings on
a regular basis! Also, THIS
place has got a little bit of stuff on our friends.
| Tim's
|
|
