Volcanologists Study

Question:

What does this type of Scientist Study? What natural phenomena are they interested in learning more about? Answer:

Volcanologists study volcanoes and all its phenomena. One of the phenomena that volcanologists study is pyroclastic flows. Pyroclastic flows are combinations of hot rocks and hot gases. These flows are dangerous because these flows can go at speeds around 50 M.P.H. and their temperatures can range from 392 Fahrenheit to 1300 Fahrenheit. These flows will destroy nearly everything in their path. Volcanologists also study the world underneath our world. They study how the magma flows up and also why it flows up to our surface. Question:

What research/investigation questions do they ask? Why do they ask these questions,

A volcanologist might ask this question because a usual precursor to a volcano erupting is a sizeable earthquake and change in seismic activity.

Another question a volcanologist might ask is: If this volcano erupts, how will it affect it surroundings? A volcanologist might ask this question because they might have to act quickly if they need to evacuate an area or send a warning out to the local officials etc.

What tools do Volcanologists use? What is the function or purpose of each tool?

A tool a volcanologist may use is a seismometer to track a volcano which could give clues to where magma is along the fissures in the Earth near the volcano. Another tool a volcanologist might use is beakers to collect samples of gas. Change in gas contents may tell a volcanologist way more information than just by looking at the volcano. A volcanologist might learn if more magma is on its way by collect more gases that are found in magma. Carbon dioxide and Sulfur are some of the gases that are most found in magma.

Which words (vocabulary, language) are important for Volcanologists to understand and apply in their study and why?

Term Importance pertaining to

The Ring of Fire is a region of the earth where volcanoes are very common because of the convergent boundary that resides in that region. The North American Plate and the Pacific plate collide forcing the Pacific plate to be sub ducted beneath the North American Plate. This causes the Pacific plate to melt, thus creating volcanoes along that region. This vocabulary would be important to a volcanologist because A. he would be spending a lot of time over there studying volcanoes and B. he can apply lessons that he learned in the ring of fire to over here in the U.S.

Tectonic Plates There are 7 primary plates in the world, the

African, Antarctic, Australian, North American, Pacific, South American, and Eurasian plates. They are the driving forces behind how volcanoes are formed/ sustained. Magma rushes up from cracks in the mantle formed by tectonic plate boundaries. Volcanologists need to know/ how to apply this information in everyday volcanology life.

Magma Magma is molten rock or in other words, melted rock that bubbles to the surface where there are weaknesses in the crust of the Earth. Volcanologists need to how magma can affect the world outside but also how it’s formed inside Earth to better understand volcanoes. sampling Most of a volcanologists’ work is in the lab or in their office. But on the occasion that they do go to a live volcano, good sample taking of the