6 JANUARY, 2014

VOLCANO!

Geography at
the movies

BASIL TSUI YEAR 9N

HOW DOES VOLCANO

WORK?

THE VOLCANO IN THE

MOVIES
PAGE 4

WHICH IS MORE
REALISTIC?
PAGE 5

VOLCANO!

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VOLCANO!

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Volcano
Plot Summary

What is a Volcano?
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A dead or sleeping volcano is similar to a normal mountain in
appearance.

There are openings or ruptures on the surface

which allow extremely hot lava, gases and volcanic ash to come
out from the magma chamber. Once the volcano stores enough
energy and lava, it will begin to erupt immediately which is
highly destructive. Lava will burn down trees and stones, thus,
it destroys the natural habitat. Its toxic gases can kill all kinds
of living-beings, including humans. Volcanic ash will affect air
traffic as well because if a plane flies into a cloud of volcanic
ash, its engines cant help but shut down in the end as it gets
clogged up. For example, approximately 32 years ago, a British
Airways Flight 9 aircraft flew into a cloud of volcanic ash which
was thrown up by the eruption of Mount Galnggung. By the
end, it resulted in the failure of her four engines. #1

After a minor earthquake

occurred one night in Los
Angles. Birds were flying
away, dogs and cats were
barking loudly. The
temperature had risen 6-8
degrees in 12 hours. A
giant burst of lava was
released from the La Brea
Tar Pits, which created a
new volcano under the
city. Lava began to soil out
into streets, destroying
buildings and cars. Deadly
lava bombs were raining
down, aiming accurately to
cars, roads and people. !

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The diagram above shows how a volcano erupts. There is a
magma chamber under the volcano where heat and pressure
accumulate. Once it stores enough energy, itll erupt any
minute. The lava will spill out quickly through cracks, but will

A brave man called Mike

Roark rushed to the rescue,
and with his crew, he
saved most of the people in
LA.!

soon cool down and solidifies as the new surface layer of the
volcano while a new cycle of energy accumulation paves way
for the next eruption.

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VOLCANO!

How are volcanos formed and where are

they located?
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Most of the volcanos are formed by the movement of tectonic plates on earth. The evidence lies in
the fact that most of volcanos are mainly located near the edge of the tectonic plates. They tend to
get larger and larger because lava keeps spitting out. A volcano can be active for at least 1000
years or even more than 5000 years. #2

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This diagram shows how a volcano
is formed. As two plates crush
towards each other, the heavier
plate is forced under the lighter
plate. Due to friction and pressure,
lava would be formed. Molten lava
rises through cracks and finally, it
forms a volcano. The volcano will
soon grow larger and larger while
more and more lava will spill out.

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VOLCANO!

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Location of the volcano in this movie
Volcano
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According to the movie, the volcano is right beneath the city of Los Angles, which was already
formed before the small earthquake occurred one night. Renowned geologists confirm that Los
Angles is really located within volcanic areas, thats why earthquakes are not uncommon in
California, in real life. Although the possibility of a volcano forming under the LA plates does
exist, it is likely not going to happen. In fact, the nearest volcano is situated in 180-200 km away
from the north called Coso Volcanic field, which has been sleeping for 39,000 years. Hence, it is
hard to predict when the next eruption will be. #2 If a major volcanic eruption occurred, it would
be extremely destructive.

Before an eruption
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In the movie, before the eruption of the volcano, the entire Los Angles started to heat up,
especially when the underground water commenced to boil and then becoming steam that came
out from underground. It then exploded against the sewer system fiercely, ending it with loads of
grates flying into the air. Dogs at houses and at streets started to bark in panic whilst birds were
flying everywhere without direction. These were the telltale signs before a volcano eruptions,
however, people ignored these warnings.

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Volcano Erupts
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Finally, people knew they were in a severe
situation with serious troubles getting closer and
closer when they saw streams of magma spewing
out rapidly through every drainage system, which
served as a pressure relief for the volcano. Magma
then flowed to pavements, streets, entered into
houses and buildings, burning and melting all

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VOLCANO!

kinds of vehicles and plants. Lava bombs started to burst out from nowhere hitting buildings, all
blocks, roads, cars and trunks randomly. People in underground railway systems didnt have any
hope to survive as they became lava river tubes, which eventually made the situation even worse.

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Dantes Peak
#3

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Location of the
volcano in this movie
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The volcano is located in the Cascades called Dantes Peak, which
is near Washington. Washington is located near cracks. In There
are four volcanos in or near Washington.
1.Mount St. Helens - 150-160 km south of Seattle Washington

DANTES PEAK
PLOT
SUMMARY

2.Mount Baker - 50 km east of Bellingham, Whatcom

Country
3.Mount Rainier- 80- 90 km southeast of Seattle in the state of
Washington
4.Glacier Peak - in Washington
It is possible to have a volcanic eruption in Cascades as
Washington is located in volcanic areas.

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Before an eruption
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A week before the eruption, animals, trees living near the volcano
had died mysteriously. Even people died in that area. After a
week, the activity of the volcano increased rapidly.

One day, Harry Daltson

finds some unusual
activity of a dormant
volcano called Danates
Peak. Later, the
volcano erupts. In
order to escape, he and
his family have to
travel trough lava, ash
that falls like rain and
pyroclastic clouds.

Volcano Erupts
Finally, the angry volcano erupts, splashing out tons of lava.
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Volcanic ash clouds and pyroclastic flow formed, sweeping across the land, in exchange of a flat
land. Acid rain, destroyed most of the trees and plants.

Does this movie (Volcano) show the realistic

sceneries?
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Most of the scenes in Volcano! are quite realistic. The omens were able to explain the coming of
a volcano eruption, especially when the water started to heat up, dogs and cats commenced to
become out-of-control.

All of these were good evidence in showing the eruption that was to

follow.
On the other hand, not all of the lava bombs are explosive. Bomb explosions are most often in
bread-crust type bombs, which are rare. According to the movie, most of the bombs were
explosive. The worst damage was derived from the lava bombs impacts. Besides, most of the
volcanic bombs showed in the movie were huge. A normal size volcanic bomb should be larger
than 64mm, but not as large as a car!
Moreover, the movie did not include any volcanic thunderstorms created by ash clouds which
normally should happen. It is unlike another movie called Dantes Peak which has also talked
about acid rain destroying the natural habitat.

Bread-crust type bombs

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CONCLUSION
Volcanos are extremely dangerous towards living beings. The heat of the lava is hotter than hell.
When a volcano erupts, it blasts out lava, ashes and lava bombs, which are extremely harmful to
the earth. Most of the volcanos are located near the edges of the tectonic plates and are formed as
plates crush towards each other. The movie, called VOLCANO, is a movie on natural disasters. It
is realistic in most aspects, especially when it depicted the omens before an eruption. The way the
main characters cool down the lava is smart, clever and effective, but please be bear in mind, DO
NOT DO THIS IN REAL LIFE! Given HKs geographical location, it is probably not going to
happen, and absolutely, no one wants it to happen!

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Image From:
http://blogs.r.ftdata.co.uk/photo-diary/files/2013/05/VOLCANO.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7b/Volcano_ver2.jpg/220pxVolcano_ver2.jpg
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~nowack/geos105/lect10-dir/lecture10_files/image045.gif
http://volcano-pictures.info/pictures/bread_crust_bomb.JPG
http://files.cookienscreenuk.webnode.com/200000860-8760889540/Dantes_Peak_G_03.jpg

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Information from:
#1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9
http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/about/faq/faqmovie.php #2
#3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante's_Peak
Volcanic!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfIUYDjo8WM
Dantes Park 1-10

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