You Thought It Was Dangerous To Live in California!

Although California is noted for its Earthquakes, have you ever thought of how many volcanoes (active and dormant) there are in the United States? I did not think about this until I traveled in Central America and every time I looked around I saw another volcano. Traveling through Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua the Landscape is dotted with Volcanoes, many of which are still active. You see large mountains with cone like tops. Also you see dark rocks that were at one time thrown from the volcanoes or oozed out as lava covering the ground around the area of the volcanos.
There are many active volcanos in Central America, which is only one part of the Ring or Fire. We saw smoking volcanos in Guatemala and El Salvador. I have seen smoking volcanos in Alaska and Washington as well.
Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes are both caused by movement in the earth's crust. The results of this type of movement change depending on the type of movement that occurred.
Volcanic eruptions most often occur in subduction zones, where one plate is being shoved under another plate.
The pressure caused by this movement is relieved by the volcanos, much like what happens after you shake up a soda can and open it.
Earthquakes also result in plate movement (the study of plate movement is called Plate Tectonics). When plates collide pressure is built up in certain areas, the release of this pressure can produce an earthquake.
In Microsoft Encarta, Central America has at least 14 active volcanos-and frequent earthquakes. In this century alone, Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, has twice been destroyed by earthquakes. The most recent, in 1972, took 10,000 lives. In 1976 some 25,000 people were killed in an earthquake registering 7.5 on the Richter scale and centered in the Motagua depression in Guatemala. This quake left 25 percent of the country's population homeless. Volcanic activity has produced a landscape dotted with majestic cones built from eruptions of ash and lava, and beautiful lakes formed in collapsed volcanic craters called calderas Questions to consider:

1. Can you name 5 famous volcano eruptions and point out where they occurred on a map?
   
2. Can you name 5 famous earthquakes and point out where they occurred on a map?
   
3. Can you name the volcano that is nearest to your hometown?
   

• Earthquakes
  
• The Ring of Fire
  
• Plate tectonics
  
• volcanos