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Geography at the movies !

BASIL TSUI YEAR 9N HOW DOES VOLCANO WORK?

THE VOLCANO IN THE MOVIES PAGE 4

WHICH IS MORE REALISTIC?

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VOLCANO!

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!What is a Volcano? !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

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 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 Plot Summary

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. !!A brave man called Mike Roark rushed to the rescue, and with his crew, he saved most of the people in LA.!

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How are volcanos formed and where are they located? !!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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!Location of the volcano in this movie Volcano !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 !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.

!Volcano Erupts !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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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.

!Dantes Peak #3

!Location of the volcano in this movie !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

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.

!Before an eruption !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.

!Volcano Erupts Finally, the angry volcano erupts, splashing out tons of lava.

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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.

DANTES PEAK PLOT

SUMMARY

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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? !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/220px-Volcano_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

!!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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