| 
  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

Unit 2 Section B - Causes and effects of volcanoes and responses to them

This version was saved 13 years, 10 months ago View current version     Page history
Saved by K J Hutchinson
on May 8, 2010 at 12:00:42 pm
 

Lesson 1 - What happens in an eruption?

 

Learning objectives:

- to be able to describe at least 3 differences between composite and shield (basic) volcanoes

- to be able to describe at least 3 primary effects of a volcanic eruption

- to be able to describe at least 3 secondary effects of a volcanic eruption

 

Key words 

  

A volcano is an opening in the ground where magma forces its way to the surface. Magma which reaches the earth's surface is called lava. Volcanoes can be active (erupting), dormant (sleeping) or extinct (no eruption for 10,000 years and unlikely to erupt again). You need to know about two different types of volcano - composite volcanoes and shield (basic) volcanoes. 

 

The first video (the one on the left) is a catchy song that tells you the basics about an eruption. THe second video (the one on the right) is much more useful as it highlights some of the key differences between composite and shield volcanoes. It also introduces some of the hazards of volcanoes as well as briefly discussing some of the benefits that they bring to an area.

 

YouTube plugin error    YouTube plugin error



 

Composite volcanoes

 

Composite volcanoes happen where the lava is acidic. The sticky acidic lava pours slowly down the side of the cone and cools quickly to produce a steep sided volcano. Alternate layers are formed because each eruption first produces rock fragments which are later covered by lava. This kind of volcano is found at destructive plate margins.

 

 

Shield (basic) volcanoes

 

Shield volcanoes are enormous features built up only from layers of lava. They produce lots of lava but they tend not to erupt violently. Shield volcanoes form when the lava is basic (the opposite to acidic). You get these types of volcanoes along constructive plate margins and also where there are hotspots. Basic lava is runny so it flows quite a long way before it cools.

 

 

The diagram below shows how much bigger shield volcanoes are than composite volcanoes.

 

 

The effects of volcanic eruptions

 

The effects of volcanic eruptions can be divided into primary and secondary effects. The primary effects are immediate and come from the eruption itself whereas the secondary effects result from the primary effects. You need to be able to describe at least 3 primary and 3 secondary effects of volcanic eruptions. A number of these effects are shown on the diagram below., Can you categorise them into primary and secondary effects?

 

 

  

Primary effects of a volcanic eruption

  

You need to learn the definitions of the terms volcanic gases; lava flows; pyroclastic flows; tephra.

  

Volcanic gases - All magma contains dissolved gases that are release during and between eruptions. These gases are mainly steam, carbon dioxide and compounds of sulphur and chlorine.

 

Lava flows - These are streams of molten rock.

 

Pyroclastic flows - These are high speed avalanches of hot ash, rock fragments and gas which move down the sides of a volcano. These flows occur when the vent area or ash column collapses.

 

Tephra - The explosive power of an eruption causes old lava to be blasted into tiny pieces and hurled into the air. The fragments are tephra. 

 

Secondary effects of a volcanic eruption

 

Make sure that you know at least 3 secondary effects of an eruption in detail.

 

Lahars - These are mixtures of water, rock, ash, sand and mud that originate from the slopes of a volcano. Lahars often happen because of heavy rainfall eroding volcanic deposits or heat from a volcanic vent suddenly melting snow and ice.

 

Landslides - Heat from cooling magma can cause hydrothermal alteraton of the rocks, turning sections of them into clay. This weakens the rocks and increases the risk of slope failures.

 

Flooding - Explosive eruptions can change thge surface areas around a volcano and disrupt drainage patterns, leading to long-term flooding.

 

Other secondary effects include:

 

Food / water supply interrupted.

Homelessness.

Businesses forced to close.

Cost of insurance claims.

Unemployment.

Long-term issues with the tourism industry. 

 

Useful links:

BBC Bitesize on types of volcano 

BBC Bitesize on why volcanoes form and how they erupt

BBC Bitesize on effects (positive and negative) of eruptions

 

Lesson 2 - The Mount St Helen's eruption May 1980 - an eruption in an MEDC

 

Learning objectives:

- to be able to recall basic factual information about the eruption - date, time, location, number of deaths, direction of blast

- to be able to give at least 3 primary and secondary effects of the Mount St Helen's eruption

 

Mount St Helens is a mountain in the Cascades range in North West USA. The volcano is in Washington State, on the west coast of the USA (see map below). The Cascades have formed because the area is a destructive plate margin. The small Juan de Fuca plate (oceanic) is being subducted under the large North American plate (continental). This is shown in the diagram below.

 

             

 

The Cascades have experienced a lot of earthquakes and eruptions over the years because they are on a plate boundary. The chart below shows eruptions in the area in the last 4000 years.

 

 

Mount St Helens erupted on May 18th 1980. This followed a period of activity which began in March 1980 with an earthquake measuring 4.0 on the Richter scale. There was 3 months of activity as magma rose inside the mountain, creating a large bulge on the north side of the mountain. This was due to a blockage in the main vent which prevented the magma rising through the vent in the normal way. The technical name for the bulge is a cryptodome.

 

On May 18th, an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale caused a landslide on the northern flank of the volcano. This explosed the cryptodome and resulted in a sudden release of pressure and a huge eruption in the form of a lateral (sideways) blast. The Plinian eruption lasted for 9 hours (see images below).

 

          

 

The plume of ash erupted for more than 9 hours. It spread north-eastwards, eventually reaching 30 kilometres into the sky. 540 million tonnes of ash were pushed into the atmopshere and noticeable ash fell on 11 American states. Just three days after the eruption, air pollution monitoring systems detected ash in east coast cities such as New Yoprk (over 4000 kilometres away). The ash circled the globe in 17 days.

 

The blast zone covered over 700 square kilometres and left a lunar landscape. Trees were flattened and ash covered the area. This is shown below.

 

 

Primary effects of the Mount St Helens eruption

  

  • Ash column of over 80,000 feet in height.
  • Pyroclastic flows moving at up to 670 miles per hour flattened over 600 square kilometres of forest.
  • Poisonous gases released. 

 

Secondary effects of the Mount St Helens eruption

  

Make sure that you can describe at least 3 of these effects. Give as much detail as you can!

 

  • Glaciers melted on the volcano, mixing with ash and mud to form lahars.
  • 200 homes, 27 bridges, 15 miles of railway and 185 miles of roads were destroyed.
  • 7000 big game animals perished (deer, elk and bear). 
  • People across north-western America were told to stay indoors and wear gauze masks.
  • The ash made roads slippery and reduced visibility. Many roads were closed, trains halted and aircraft grounded.
  • Fish, in some hatcheries, perished as ash fell into lakes and streams, clogging their gills and raising the temperature of the water.
  • Crops were destroyed, or subsequently produced low yields, because ash settled on leaves, impeding photosynthesis.
  • Electricity supplies were interrupted and sewers were blocked, and the ash damaged car engines.
  • The town of Yakima, as an example, some 150km away, was blanketed in 1.5cm of ash
  • Skies were turned grey as far away as as Spokane, Washington State, 400km away.
  • 57 people lost their lives in the blast, including 84-year-old Harry Truman who had refused to evacuate his lodge near Spirit Lake. 

 

Harry Truman's story

 

 

84-year-old Harry R. Truman died in the 1980 blast. After consistently refusing to leave his lodge at the foot of the mountain beside Spirit Lake he had been granted special permission to remain inside the Red Zone (evacuation zone). He stayed while about 2000 people were evacuated from the area in the last few weeks before the eruption. His body was never found.

 

            

 

They had to change their postcard!

  

The eruption of 1980 completely changed the shape of Mount St Helens. The volcano had previously been nicknamed 'America's Mount Fuji' because of its symmetrical shape which was similar to Mount Fuji in Japan. The blast changed this and the tourist operators in the area literally had to change their postcard (see below). The Mount St Helens song (clip below) also refers to this change.

 

  YouTube plugin error

 

Useful links:

Panoramic image of the Mount St Helens crater

National Geographic Magazine's 30 year anniversary edition about Mount St Helens

National Geographic interactive about the blast zone 

USGS Mount St Helens factsheet

BBC Bitesize case study of Mount St Helens

 

Lesson 3 - The Mount Pinatubo eruption June 1991 - an eruption in an LEDC

 

Learning objectives:

- to be able to recall basic factual information about the eruption - date, time, location, number of deaths

- to be able to give at least 3 social, economic and environmental effects of the eruption

 

In an exam, you might be asked to locate a volcano or other feature. Think about scale, distance and direction. Try to zoom in from international to national to local scale when giving locations.

 

Mount Pinatubo is in Asia. It is on the island of Luzon in the Philippines, about 200km northwest of the capital Manila.

 

         

 

Prior to the 1991 eruption, Mount Pinatubo had not erupted since 1380 (so it was a dormant volcano). The volcano was monitored by the Americans from the nearby Clark airbase using scientific equipment such as seismometres, tiltmeters and GPS.

 

From 9th June 1991 there were many eruptions and earthquakes with the largest eruption being at midday on 12th June. Watch the video clip below for a summary of the eruption.

 

YouTube plugin error

 

Environmental (physical effects)

 

The explosion sent a cloud of steam and ask up to 30 km into the sky turning day into night.

Volcanic bombs were thrown into the air.

Up to 50cm of ash fell on nearby farmland, villages and towns. SOme ash even reached Australia!

A typhoon then passed over the ash cloud and the heavy rainfall mixed with the ash in the sky creating thick mud which fell to the ground.

A lahar was generated - this travelled as far as Angeles City over 20 km away.

The weight of the ash caused buildings to collapse, including 200,000 homes.

Water supplies were contaminated.

The 1991 rice crop was ruined and planting was impossible for a number years following the eruption.

 

Social effects

 

Over 200,00 homes collapsed under the weight of the ash, leaving people homeless.

Huige shanty-type refugee camps were set up and disease spread rapidly in them (especially diahorrea, chickenpox and malaria) leading to 600 deaths.

Many schools collapsed under the weight of ash.

Destruction of rice crops led to food shortages.

People had no electricity for weeks.

Many people moved from rural to urban areas to seek shelter and food.

 

Economic effects

 

Many factories collapsed under the weight of ash.

Roads were unusable and bridges were destroyed - they were very costly to rebuild.

Over 1 million farm animals died either due to starvation or by drinking contaminated water supplies. This had a huge economic cost.

The total cost of damages and repairs was estimated at $450 million.

There is high unemployment in the area and the Clark Airbase remains closed.

 

Managing the eruption

 

The eruption claimed a relatively small number of lives as it had been accurately predicted (by the Americans) allowing the immediate area to be evacuated in advance.

 

On 5th June, alert level 3 was reached and villages on the volcano slopes were evacuated. This included members of the Aeta tribe.

On 7th June, alert level 4 was reached and all villages within 10 km of Mount Pintaubo and the 15,000 people at Clark Airbase were evacuated.

On 9th June, alert level 5 was reached and all people living within 20 km of the summit were evacuated.

 

In total, about 1 million people were evacuated before the eruption on 11th June. It is estimated that only 6 people died from the primary effects of the eruption (pyroclastic flow), although 70 more died later when they were suffocated by lahars. Many more deaths occurred due to the spread of disease in camps set up to house the homeless.

 

YouTube plugin error

 

The ash that was ejected into the atmopshere circled the earth within a few days and blocked out some of the sun's heat for several months, lowering world temperatures. It is believed that the eruption may have delayed global warming for a few years. 

 

What did people do after the eruption?

 

The responses can be divided into two groups - short and long term responses. Make sure you can give examples from each category,

 

Short term responses:

  • Shanty-type refugee camps set up to shelter the homeless.
  • Emergency aid brought into the area (eg food, drinking water, tents, blankets) from other parts of the Philippines and from further afield.
  • Disaster relief from other countries (from Governments and NGOs such as ActionAid, Oxfam) sent to the area.
  • Some infrastructure repaired (eg roads cleared of ash and mud, electricity supplied again after 3 weeks).

Long-term responses:

  • The Philippines is an LEDC and had little money to spend on rebuilding the area devastated by the eruption.
  • New schools and houses have been built but this has taken time.
  • New villages away from the danger area are slowly being built.
  • Local authorities have tried to encourage new investment in the area (there is high unemployment eg Clark Air Force base still closed).
  • Repairs to the infrastructure damaged by the eruption continues

 

Thanks to Slideshare user jmoncur for this very informative PowerPoint presentation about the eruption.

 

 

Useful links:

Notes from The Student Room

'The sleeping giant awakens' - detailed information about the eruption



USGS factsheet

USGS factsheet about lahars at Mount Pinatubo

 

Lesson 4 - Why do people live in danger zones?

 

Learning objectives:

to be able to explain why people choose to stay in, or are unable to move away from, an area at risk from earthquakes and volcanic eruptions

 

500 million people live close to active volcanoes across the world and they form a major tourist attraction. The exam specification is very specific about the fact that you need to know how geothermal energy, tourism and fertile soils can attarct people to live in risk areas so make sure you remember these three factors!

 

What are the advantages of living in earthquake zones and areas close to volcanoes?

 

Geothermal energy

 

Geothermal energy is where steam from water heated by hot rocks below the surface of the earth is used to drive turbines and generate electricity. This is a very cheap and sustainable way of producing electricity since it uses a renewable source.

 

Tourism

 

Volcanic landscapes often have very beautiful scenery. They attract a whole range of visitors from students on geography fieldtrips to artists, photographers, walkers etc. The tourism industry that builds up in the area can provide many jobs and these encourage people to live in the area. Thse include jobs as gudies, in visitor centres, in hotels and other types of accommodation as well as in gift shops, cafes. bars etc.

 

Fertile soils

 

The volcanic rocks are very rich in minerals. They form fertile soils when weathered, and these are ideal for growing crops.

 

Raw materials

 

Many valuable minerals are erupted from volcanoes and these can be collected and used.

 

 

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.