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Mount Etna

Kirstie`s  and  Claudette`s  Webpage
 

 


Contents

Introduction

Mount Etna is on the island of Sicily located off the south west coast of Italy. Areas in danger are the towns Catania and Messina, they are in danger because they are really close to Mount Etna. People live there because it is good for farming. Mount Etna is 3,340 metres high. Etna is steep and cone shaped. It rumbles and steams before erupting, but once it has started it is very hard to get away!

Volcanoes

In year 8 the first National Curriculum Assessment is a detailed study of a volcano and its impacts to the surrounding area.

 

I studied mount Etna in Sicily, Italy. What follows is part of my assessment. 

 

Look at this to find more about volcanoes

http://www.geo.mtu.edu/volcanoes/

http://www.volcanoes.com/

 

Interview

When I saw the volcano erupt I was at my boyfriends house playing  on the playstation. When suddenly I heard ``BOOM’’. There was another sound like that but then I saw this very runny REDDY, ORANGE lava running down  to the town. Everyone was screaming. My friend fell into the lava and died.    It was like watching a massive fireworks display. Volcanic bombs and gasses were shooting out from the vent and crater. I could hear loud explosions and crackles, the fire spread quickly burning houses and buildings everywhere. A huge gas and ash cloud threw out of the volcano headed my way…I ran in case it was poisonous.

 

Causes

Volcanoes are found around the world in Indonesia, the whole line down the west coast of south America, around the Pacific Ocean (Ring of Fire) east Africa and in many more locations. Volcanoes are found on plate boundaries. Two plates are forced together (towards each other, past each other and away from each other)and effect  the earth’s crust  to more  and more stress and cause a volcano. The two plates that are colliding to course Etna are the  African plate and the Eurasian Plate.

The inside of the Earth is very VERY HOT!

It has something called a core which is very hot.

Around the core is the mantle which is liquid melted rock.The plates float on this and then bash into each other causing this dangerous activity.

 

 

Effects

 

Ash, lava and lava bombs are thrown out of a volcano.

Pyroclastic flow,volcanicbombs,poisonous gas and lava can kill people because they are hot and poisonous and can kill.nature,houses ,ski slopes,cablecar stations Buildings can be destroyed by runny lava and lava bombs. Earthquakes are another hazards associated with volcanoes. Good soils are left after volcanic eruptions but so are fires which devastate homes and families.

 

The future

We can stop volcanoes being so destructive by putting BIG walls around the volcanoes and then it will not flow down and destroy towns.The attempts  before have been 1 to get helicopters and get large rocks and drop them to form a big circle round the volcano to divert the lava away.

2 dig ditches and trenches

3 evacuate the area

4 try to predict when a volcano will erupt

 

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