Tackling Volcano Exam Questions (3)

UN Report On Montserrat

UN report on the Montserrat Eruption

Introduction ·      Describe the location of Montserrat (continent, country, local area) The Soufriere Hills is a volcano located on the island of Montserrat, in the Caribbean. The island of Montserrat is located in the range of the destructive plates, the Caribbean and North American Plate. Is it part of the Andellies Island Arc and is nestled between Guadeloupe and St Kittis and Nevis Island ·      List the dates of the eruption The eruptions begun during July 1995, the volcano began to quiet down, then in July 1997, Montserrat erupted again. July 1999 was the third time that Montserrat erupted and in September 2000, Montserrat erupted again. ·      Primary impacts -People were injured or killed -Crops were destroyed -Buildings and infrastructure were damaged or destroyed -Much of the landscape was destroyed -Roads blocked by lava and rock -Power lines and telecommunication lines knock down ·      Secondary impacts -    Physiological distress due to loss or death of family -    Starvation due to lack of resources -    Businesses suffered due to the fact that buildings were destroyed -    Major loss in the tourism industry -    Aid and rescue cannot be given as soon as possible -    Electricity and communications will be down

Main discussion: Use the PEE Chain (point-evidence-explain) ·      How was the Montserrat eruption managed? Firstly, when the impending hazards were threatening the lives of the citizens of Montserrat, law enforcement evacuated the public, this can be seen when Plymouth and the south parts of the island were evacuated. Also, an extensive seismographic measure was set up around the island to detect earthquakes, which may forewarn an eruption. Satellites were used to track aerial views of the volcanoes condition. Rainwater was collected and it’s PH level was collected to determine the concentration of volcanic gases in the air. Finally geologists would fly to the volcano to conduct an inspection of the volcano    ·      What was effective (worked well) about the management strategy? What worked well was the evacuation method when the volcanic hazards were dangerously close to the towns and villages this reduces the rate of human death and injury. Also, the rainwater collection worked well because volcanic gases usually are released before and eruption and a high concentration of them may indicate an eruption. ·      What was ineffective (did not work well)? Why? What I feel is ineffective are the intrusion zones, people returned back to their homes in the danger zone and when the Soufriere hills erupted again in June 1997, 19 people were killed. The blame falls on human error, by not being able to maintain the intrusion zones well enough causing the death of those people

Conclusion ·      Your decision about how effectively Monserrat was managed I felt that Montserrat was fairly well managed, due the fact that not many people were killed during the eruption and they were able to use all these methods such as PH level testing, satellites etc. And will all future eruptions, there were no records of loss of human life, This proves that the management worked well and the rate of human life loss was reduced in the future eruptions after the main eruption ·      What lessons can be learnt from this example? Plan in advance, learn from past mistakes, be able to prepare before an event happens, try our best to manage the hazards of an impending event to minimize death and damage ·      Can we manage volcanic hazards? Why? Why not? I feel that we can manage volcanic hazards with advance planning and learning from past error and mistakes. By learning of what we did wrong in the past, we can correct on so in future the volcanic hazards will be more easily manageable. Also, with knowledge of how, why and when the volcanic hazards appear, makes us better prepared should the hazards happen again in the near future

Can we effectively manage hazards?

I feel that we can manage hazards with advance planning and learning from past error and mistakes. By learning of what we did wrong in the past, we can correct on so in future the hazards will be more easily manageable. Also, with knowledge of how, why and when the hazards appear, makes us better prepared should the hazards happen again in the near future

Tackling Volcano Exam Questions (2)

Volcano Sample Question (2)

Explain why some volcanic eruptions are more violent than others. (4 marks)

Command Word: Explain

Key Words: Volcanic eruptions, more violent, others

Plan

What factors make volcanoes more violent?

-Type of plate boundary? (Destructive)

-Type of volcano? (Composite)

-Type of lava (Acidic lava, more viscous lava)

-Amount Of gases (A higher amount of gas, the lava becomes under higher pressure)

-Eruption Frequency? (long dormant periods, irregular eruptions)

Ans: There are certain factors that make volcanoes more violent than others. Firstly, the type of plate boundary it’s on makes the difference. A more gentle volcano rests on a constructive plate, where the plates move apart and lava oozes out, a more violent volcano rests on a destructive boundary, where one crust is subducted under the under and is destroyed under high heat and pressure.

The type of lava also plays a role, a gentle volcanic eruptions tends to erupt basic lava that contains less silica while a more violent volcano erupts acidic lava, which has a higher silica content making it more explosive. Next, the volcano type determines it’s violence level. A shield volcano such as Mount Loa tends to be more gentle and causes little to no impact to humans while a composite volcano for example Montserrat is more destructive and causes large impacts to humans.

Not only that, the amount of gases in the lava also plays a role, a lower concentration of gases ensures that the magma is under low pressure making the eruption gentle while a high concentration of gases causes the magma to be under higher pressure causing the eruptions to become more violent. Lastly, the volcano eruption frequency also plays a important role, a volcano that eruptions frequently makes the volcano more gentle as the pressure does not build up in the volcano while a volcano that have long dormant periods and irregular eruption frequency causes a “plug” to form on the mouth of the volcano thus pressure builds causing a more violent eruption

Success Criteria 30/1/12 Monserrat Eruption Report

1. To be able to use the PEE (Point Evidence Explain) method
2. To be able to create a report suitable for revision
3. To be able to create a report with at least a B grade

Tackling Volcano Exam Questions (1)

View- Geo book- Tackling Volcano Exam Questions 1

See results and comments in book

Disaster Response Curve

Each stage represents either prevention, protection and preparation as described below. The timeline above shows the different stages of time where either relief, rehabilitation or reconstruction is commenced. The words on the left of the the graph, show the quality of life, economically, socially and environmentally and corresponds to the stage and time of the incident .

Stage 1: In this stage, the quality of life is normla before disaster strikes, people try their best to prevent and prepare if such events should happen by either educating the public on how to act when disaster strikes, prepare supplies, putting medical teams on standby etc.

Stage 2: This stage happens when the event happens, immediately the quality of life sheerly drops, and people use protection and prevention methods such as putting barricades, evacuating people, building trenches to stop water, lava etc.

Stage 3: After the incident has occurred, this is the period of time followed with stage 2 called relief where medical attention, rescue services and overall care is given out, This period in time can last from days to weeks. The quality of life has seemingly stopped decreasing and beginning to slowly move up.

Stage 4/5: This stage is called the rehabilitation stage, where people try to return the state of things back to normal, by providing food, water and shelter for those who are derived from those basic needs. Stage 5 moves to the reconstruction period where infrastructure, crops and property are reconstructed or regrown. During this stage people use preparation and prevention to improve from the mistakes of this disaster to respond better to the next one.

Further stages: In future stages, people will use preparation or prevention to either return to the state before the disaster struck or improve themselves even further and do much better coping with any other future disasters.

The Three P's- Prepare, Predict and Prevent

Preparation
In the preparation stage, people can either be educate or educate others on the hazards of an incident and how it can be managed.
Law officials can also place building laws on where to place buildings to minimize loss, death and injury during the event

Prediction
-This is basically trying to forecast when an incident will occur
- We can use various methods such as satellites, river flow meters etc

Prevention
-Methods that can be put into place to stop or at least minimize damage, loss, injury or death due to an incident
-

Short/Long Term Management/Response definition

Short Term Response/Management: Action people take immediately or shortly after an incidence happens (Give medical attention, Manage immediate threats etc.)

Long Term Response/Management: Action people take after a period of time after the incident has occurred (Rebuild buildings, replant crops etc.)

Definition of mitigation/ preparation, management, response to a volcano

Definition Of Mitigation: The action to reduce the severity, seriousness, painfulness of the event

How do you think people PREPARE, RESPOND to and MANAGE a volcanic eruption?

-    Run away (Evacuation)

-    Set up blockades

-    Monitor the volcanic activity

-    Use remote sensing (satellites)

-    Frequent news reports on volcano status

-    Give medical attention to casualties

Success Criteria (19/1/12) Volcanic Hazard Management

Success Criteria (19/1/12)

1. I can explain 3 short/long term responses
2. I can use what I know so far to apply in this lesson, thus improving my learning
3. I can record what I did today effectively

Success Criteria 16/1/12 (Volcanic Hazard Management) (Part 1)

I can understand how people adapt and prepare for natural hazards
I can know a large range of short/long term strategies  to manage a volcanic eruption
I can use what I know in the previous lessons to enhance my learning further in this lesson

Montserrat Volcano Question Sheet

MONTSERRAT VOLCANO ERUPTIONS 1995-1998

1.   Describe the location of Montserrat (2 marks)

The location of Montserrat can be described as mountainous and filled with pine trees, it is located in Caribbean and it’s other name is called “the emerald island of the Caribbean’ due to the reason it is covered in lush emerald green plant life

2.   Explain why Montserrat is a volcanic island (3 marks)

Montserrat is a volcanic island due to the fact that a volcano, the Soufriere Hills formed in the destructive boundaries between the North American and Caribbean plate.

3.   List the Primary and Secondary hazards of the Soufriere Hills volcano (6 marks)

Primary Hazards

Lava Flow, Ash Cloud, Tephra

Secondary Hazards

4.   Which part of the island was evacuated first, and when did this take place ? (2 marks)

The south part of the island, specifically the river valleys were evacuated in August 1995

5.   What is a pyroclastic flow ? Describe how this hazard has affected the people of Montserrat (4 marks)

A pyroclastic flow is a huge rapidly moving cloud of superheated rock, gases and ash, the boulders that follow can flatten trees and other objects. The pyroclastic flow affected the people of Montserrat because it scorched the vegetation located on the island. Also, it killed 19 people 

6.   How is the hazard of the volcanic activity 'managed' ? (4 marks)

The hazards of the volcanic activity were managed by using a seismograph to calculate the movement of the earth, Also, A satellite with GPS were used to track ground movement.

Plus, the PH value of rainwater was collected to see how much magmatic gases were found in the water, as an increase of it may indicate a upcoming eruption. Lastly, geologists often flew to the most dangerous parts of the volcano to check flow deposits, measure cracks and observe the dome to see if swelling occurs, as all these factors may lead to a volcanic eruption

7.   How is risk calculated ? (2 marks)

Risk is calculated by the formula people, property x risk x hazard

8.   Why is the fact that the south of the island has been most badly hit a particular problem for the people of Montserrat ? (4 marks)

Due to the fact that many of the facilities and the infrastructure are located on the south side of the island people had to cope with homelessness, joblessness, and shortages of land to rebuild.

Also, quite a lot of vegetation were planted in the south, when the volcano destroyed it all, it caused starvation, lack of resources and since the lava had hardened over the soil and the lahar had washed away mots of the soil’s humus layer, it was difficult for the people to start replanting

9.   What role did the British have to play in the evacuation of the island ? (3 marks)

The British helped to pay compensation to the people who were affected by the Montserrat eruption, a total of 2,400 euros were offered to each adult as compensation for destroyed property and other objects.

Primary and Secondary Impacts

See geo book

Success Criteria (12/1/12) DME Monserrat Eruption

Success Criteria

I can identify more in 2 primary and secondary impacts
I can quickly make decisions based on events
I can use what I have learned so far to help me understand during this lesson

Monserrat Eruption Timeline