Page 52 - (DK) Danger! Open with Extreme Caution!

WHOOMPH! An exploding volcano flings out
giant ash clouds that blanket
vast areas with a suffocating
layer. In 1982, two jumbo jets
almost crashed after flying into
an ash cloud from Indonesia’s
Galunggung volcano, while in
2010, Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull
volcano turned most of Europe’s
airspace into a no-fly zone.

VOLCANO!

Every day, somewhere around the world, 20 volcanoes
erupt. Volcanic rock makes up about four fifths of
Earth’s surface, oozing up through the crust as lava
before cooling and hardening. Volcanoes rise up at
the boundaries between the “plates” that make up
Earth’s surface and owing to “hot spots” in Earth’s
crust. These fiery monsters are fiendishly
unpredictable, so expect the unexpected as
things heat up…
WHOOSH!

A pyroclastic flow is a flaming
cocktail of superhot gas and
magma droplets that cascade
POW! speeds of up to 435 mph
down the side of a volcano at
(700 km/h). It can suddenly
change direction, with deadly
consequences—a flow on Japan’s
Mount Unzen killed 42 people
studying its actions in 1991.

Sideways volcanic explosions
away from the main crater, known
as lateral blasts, can fire out
seething magma and blocks
of rock weighing up to 110 tons
(100 tonnes). In 1980, when
Mount Saint Helens erupted in
Washington State, a blast traveling
at more than 620 mph
(1,000 km/h) flattened
entire forests up to 18 miles
(30 km) away.

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