Published in the United States of America by Cherry Lake Publishing Ann Arbor Michigan www cherrylakepublishing com Consultants Jennifer Rivers Cole Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Harvard University Marla Conn ReadAbility Inc Editorial direction Red Line Editorial Book design and illustration Design Lab Photo Credits Pablo Hidalgo Shutterstock Images cover 1 Herbert M Herget National Geographic Society Corbis 5 Stefano Bianchetti Corbis 6 Nick Hall Thinkstock 9 James Stevenson Donks Models DK Images 10 AP Images 15 Twonix Studio Shutterstock Images 17 Design Lab 19 Dr Morley Read Shutterstock Images 23 Bettmann Corbis 24 Maridav Shutterstock Images 28 Copyright 2015 by Cherry Lake Publishing All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bell Samantha author The science of a volcanic eruption by Samantha Bell pages cm Disaster science Audience Age 11 Audience Grades 4 to 6 Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 978-1-63137-628-3 hardcover ISBN 978-1-63137-673-3 pbk ISBN 978-1-63137-718-1 pdf ebook ISBN 978-1-63137-763-1 hosted ebook 1 Volcanism Juvenile literature 2 Volcanoes Juvenile literature 3 Volcanic activity prediction Juvenile literature I Title QE522 B39 2015 551 21 dc23 2014004034 Cherry Lake Publishing would like to acknowledge the work of The Partnership for 21st Century Skills Please visit www p21 org for more information Printed in the United States of America Corporate Graphics Inc July 2014 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Samantha Bell has written or illustrated more than 20 books for children Her interests are as varied as her books and she is especially fascinated by the natural world
TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 A City Is Destroyed 4 CHAPTER 2 The Making of a Volcano 8 CHAPTER 3 Types of Volcanoes and Eruptions 14 CHAPTER 4 Violent Volcanoes 20 CHAPTER 5 Science Saves Lives 26 TOP FIVE WORST VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS 30 LEARN MORE 31 GLOSSARY 32 INDEX 32
21st century skills library 4 A City Is Destroyed chapter 1 August 20 of the year 79 CE began as a typical day in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii People bustled about the marketplace buying and selling goods such as wine olives wool and onions Some relaxed in public baths and others exercised in the gymnasium Vesuvius a peak about ten miles 16 km away overlooked the city of 15,000 people For Pompeii the morning was business as usual Then the ground began to shake But the trembling did not worry the people of Pompeii They
disaster science 5 Pompeii was a peaceful thriving town before Vesuvius erupted did not realize these earthquakes were signs of something much worse to come In the afternoon of August 24 smoke billowed up from Vesuvius The strange sight made some curious Others became worried Suddenly the mountain exploded with massive force Magma and hot gases had been building up pressure within the mountain and
