Volcanoes Flashcards
Nyiragongo
Volcanoes are an example of a natural hazard. Their spread relates closely to plate margins. The area around the Pacific Ocean is especially prone to volcanoes and is known as the Pacific Ring of Fire.
On 17th january 2002, Nyiragongo volcano in the Democratic Republic of Congo was disturbed by the movement of plates along the East African Rift Valley. This led to a southward spilling of lava, travelling up to 60kph. The lava flowed across a runway at Goma airports and through the town, splitting it in half. The lava destroyed homes, water pipes, roads, set of explosions ad killed 45 people. Some of the secondary effects were the spread of diseases like cholera, lack of electricity and clean water.
Monitoring
Volcanoes that are prone to eruptions or have erupted in the past are careful monitored so people can predict eruptions. Volcanologists cannot determine when a volcano will erupt, but they may be able to tell which direction lava will flow and how large the eruption may be. The gases are monitored as a change in gas may be a change in magma level, and the temperature is monitored with a heat satellite. A tilt meter can be used to measure any change in angle of the ground, usually on the rim of a volcano.
Super Yellowstone
Super volcanoes erupt at least 1000km3 of material and are on a much larger scale than regular volcanoes. The Yellowstone volcano in North America could be responsible for threatening/destroying human existence. The magma below yellowstone is shifting, and the colder is rising up. The magma chamber beneath Yellowstone is 80km long, 4km wide and 8km deep. This super volcano erupted 630,000 years ago, 2.3 million years ago and 2 million years ago. This suggests a pattern in which an eruption would be predicted very soon. As the magma chamber is so big, an eruption is likely to destroy 20,000km^2, threaten the lives of 87,000 people and within a 2000km radius everything would be covered in a 15cm thick layer of ash. 1 in 3 people affected by the eruption would die. The eruption would have a devastating impact on the world, affecting alternate continents, and it has been predicted the ash would reach the UK 5 days later. Transport, electricity, water, farming and global climates would all be affected.
