Friday, 1 March 2013

recent research/main points

since doing research into volcano's ive been researching the main volcanic points to focus on;


  • erruptions
  • how they are made
  • natural disasters they have caused
these main points are the most interesting and also have the most information.
i want to create a website/ibook thats navigation acts as if you are going through the layers on the volcano. our age range we're focusing on is 16-18 year olds so an interesting navigation is key to also keep them focused on the product. 

so far some of the main information i have found includes:

What is a pyroclastic flow?
A pyroclastic flow is a fluidized mixture of solid to semi-solid fragments and hot, expanding gases that flows down the sides of a volcano. These awesome features are heavier-than-air emulsions that move much like a snow avalanche, except that they are fiercely hot, contain toxic gases, and move at phenomenal, hurricane-force speeds. They are the most deadly of all volcanic phenomena.


What is lahar?
A lahar is a type of mudflow or debris flow composed of pyroclastic material, rocky debris, and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley. It is very dangerous because it's consistency and the way it acts is very much like cement. It is liquid when it's moving, but when it stops, it solidifies. This can cause just as much devastation as lava itself.

What is the Ring of Fire?
The Pacific Ring of Fire is an area of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions encircling the basin of the Pacific Ocean. The Ring of Fire has 452 volcanoes and is home to over 50% of the world's active and dormant volcanoes. Ninety percent of the world's earthquakes and 81% of the world's largest earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire.


A volcano is an opening, or rupture, in a planet's surface or crust, which allows hot magma, volcanic ash and gases to escape from the magma chamber below the surface.
Volcanoes are generally found where tectonic plates are diverging or converging. A mid-oceanic ridge, for example the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, has examples of volcanoes caused by divergent tectonic plates pulling apart; the Pacific Ring of Fire has examples of volcanoes caused by convergent tectonic plates coming together. Volcanoes can also form where there is stretching and thinning of the Earth's crust in the interiors of plates.
Erupting volcanoes can pose many hazards. Volcanic ash can be a threat to aircraft, in particular those with jet engines where ash particles can be melted by the high operating temperature. Large eruptions can affect temperature as ash and droplets of sulfuric acid obscure the sun and cool the Earth's lower atmosphere or troposphere; however, they also absorb heat radiated up from the Earth, thereby warming the stratosphere.
natural disasters
the story of hundreds of mysterious deaths that occurred on 21 August 1986 in villages near Lake Nyos, Cameroon. Lake Nyos sits in the crater of an inactive volcano. It was later found that a landslide disturbed volcanic gas - carbon dioxide - that had dissolved in water at the bottom of the lake and sent it down the slopes of the volcano. Approximately 1,700 people in nearby villages were asphyxiated in and around their homes. The event at Lake Nyos is a rare type of natural disaster called a limnic eruption or lake overturn.





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