VOLCANOES

Before You Listen

1. What do you know about volcanoes? Write some information that you know about them.
a.
b.
c.
d.
2. How many types of volcanoes do you know? What about the characteristics of each type?

Whilst Listening: As you are listening, fill in the blanks with the correct words.

Volcanoes act out in every possible way. Like a (1)_______ person, they can erupt in violence or
steam silently, lazily creep along, or self-destruct. A volcano’s origin determines its temperament.

Many volcanoes (2)______ along subduction zones. Here, the great (3)________ of our planet’s
surface push against one another. Along this margin, when one plate is rolled beneath another, we find the
most (4) ________ volcanoes. Explosive eruptions fit our image of a volcano. They create large, (5) _______
mountains. These erupt when magma below forces its escape. Fueled by expanding gases and boiled
ground water, the excess heat blasts through. Volcanoes like this often have alternating layers of different
volcanic materials – ash, cinders, and lava. These layered cones are called composite volcanoes.

Hawaii isn’t near the joining of two plates, but it’s a hot spot of (6) _______ activity. What fuels it?
The Hawaiian Islands are hotspot islands, created when a pool of magma breaks through a thin spot in the
crust. As it burns through, the plate (7) ______ ten centimeters a year. One island is carried away to cool,
while the next one is created, in assembly-line fashion. On the big island of Hawaii, Kilauea has been
erupting since (8) ________, and shows no signs of letting up. It’s an example of a second kind of volcano,
the shield volcano. The central (9) ______ is called a caldera. It still steams but probably won’t erupt (10)
________. Farther out, lava oozes and flows, creating new land as it cools. The wide flow is what creates a
shield volcano rather than a cone. This new unstable bench is pure basalt. Sometimes the flows are only
inches from the surface. The thick, honey-like lava, typical of Hawaii, cools into a harsh (11) _______
environment that can take years to support life.

Cinder cones are a third kind of volcano. Mexico’s Paracutin is a (12) _______ example. Like
composite volcanoes, they can be explosively violent visitors to the (13) ______ of our planet. They burst
forth with enormous quantities of ash, cinders, and lava (14) _______. They rapidly build volcanic
mountains, but never as (15) ______ as shield volcanoes, or as high as high composites. Cinder cone shape
is determined by the size of the ejected material.
 After You Listen: Answer the following questions based on the passage.

1 . Where can we mostly find volcanoes?

2 . What type of volcanoes is formed when two plates push against one another? 3. When do these volcanoes
erupt?

4 . What are the materials released from a composite volcano?

5 . What type of volcanoes does Kilauea in Hawaii belong to?

6 . What’s the difference between this type (no 5) and composite volcanoes?

7 . Does Kilauea erupt violently? Why?

8 . How does the lava of Kilauea look like?

9 . What’s the third kind of volcanoes?

1 0 . What are the characteristics of this type?

1 1 . What determines the cone shape?

1 2 . According to the text, how are “hotspot islands” created (par. 4)?

1 3 . Identify what the underlined words mean in the passage.

1. …
Characteristics:

2. …
Characteristics:
Types of Volcanoes

3. ….
Characteristics