Britannica Educational Publishing IN ASSOCIATION WITH ROSEN EDUCATIONAL SERVICES LET’S FIND OUT OUR DYNAMIC EARTH VOLCANIC PROCESSES LAURA LORIA
explosive earth When you think of a volcano what do you picture in your mind Most people would say they see a large gray mountain spitting out red streams of lava and huge clouds of smoke However this is just one type of volcano Volcanoes can take different forms and behave in different ways Vocabulary A volcano is an opening in Earth’s crust Lava gas and ashes come out of the opening This is an eruption of the volcano Tungurahua in Ecuador The fiery streams of lava it is spewing out are just one type of volcanic eruption 4
Some volcanic eruptions like this one in Indonesia release mainly gas and ashes The moment when material comes out from an opening in Earth’s surface is called an eruption This is the part of the volcanic process that we can observe However there are many things that happen underground before the eruption Earth looks and feels solid to us here on the surface However the planet is actually always changing Pieces of Earth’s solid rocky surface shift Some pieces rise up while others settle down As rock moves deep underground it sometimes becomes molten or melted and rises up to the surface Once it comes out it cools and hardens making new rock 5
