Eruption! Volcanoes and The Science of Saving Lives

Paragraph 1:
When the Colombian volcano Nevado del Ruiz erupted in 1985, United States Geological Survey (USGS) scientist Andy Lockhart was horrified by the tragedy. A year later, he became one of the earliest members of a volcano crisis team, called the Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (VDAP). The VDAP's mission is to bring equipment and knowledge to areas threatened by volcanoes in order to predict eruptions and prevent catastrophes. Six years after the program started, Chris Newhall, another VDAP scientist, got a call about steam shooting from Mount Pinatubo (peen-uh-TOO-boh), a mountain in the Philippines. Until this happened, most people thought Mount Pinatubo was a huge jungle-covered mountain, not a volcano. Chris knew it was serious. He and the team had to do something. He and fellow VDAP scientists Andy Lockhart and Rick Hoblitt set out to try to predict Mount Pinatubo's next move. They worked from Clark Air Base, very close to the volcano.

Question 1
According to this paragraph, what was the main goal of the Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (VDAP)?

• To study past volcanic eruptions.

• To bring tools and information to areas at risk from volcanoes to help predict eruptions and prevent disasters.

• To help people after a volcano had already erupted.

• To explore jungle-covered mountains.

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Paragraph 3:
A few days later, instruments recorded two unusual earthquakes. A shallow, continuous, rhythmic shaking known as a low-frequency earthquake meant magma was moving toward the surface and releasing more gas. Then the seismographs recorded the first earthquake directly under the vent.

Question 2:
What did the low-frequency earthquake tell the scientists about what was happening at Mount Pinatubo?

• The volcano was becoming quiet.

• There was heavy rain nearby.

• Hot, melted rock (magma) was moving up and releasing gas.

• The ground was shaking because of strong winds.

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CCSS.RL.5.2

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Paragraph 9:
Ray, the head of the Filipino geologists, would need time to spread any warning to people scattered in villages all around Pinatubo. He raised his alert level to three: eruption possible in two weeks. About 10,000 members of the Aeta tribes were moved to evacuation camps.

Question 3:
Why did Ray decide to raise the alert level for the area around Mount Pinatubo?

• Because the volcano had already started erupting.

• To give enough time to warn and move the people living in the villages.

• Because the American scientists told him to do it immediately.

• Because there were no more earthquakes.

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Paragraph 21:
On June 8, a chopper lifted off to give scientists a closer view of the summit. The sky cleared. They could see that a big, ugly gray blob of rock had poked out of the east crater wall. It was a lava dome. Cold, hard, heavy rock could be clogging the vent. With magma moving up with nowhere to go and pressure building, this thing could blow—with deadly results.

Question 4:
What did the scientists see sticking out of the side of the volcano's top?

• A cloud of steam and ash.

• A river of hot, flowing lava.

• A large, gray lump of hard rock called a lava dome.

• Many small cracks in the side of the volcano.

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Example sentence about the volcanoes:
"The volcano was very dangerous."

Now, make a sentence about the scientists.

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CCSS.RI.5.5

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CCSS.RI.7.5

CCSS.RI.8.5