Ask Dr. Universe

Join Dr. Universe and her friends at Washington State University as they investigate science questions from kids around the world. Know a kid with a curious science question? Help them submit it at askDrUniverse.wsu.edu for a chance to be featured on a future episode.

All Episodes

Ask Dr. Universe

Episode 16: All About Volcanoes

July 14, 2022 • Washington State University • Season 2 • Episode 16

Send us a text

Dr. Universe joins a group of junior scientists from Palouse Prairie Charter School to learn about volcanoes. Students from the fourth-grade class in Moscow, Idaho, help Dr. Universe answer how volcanoes work, how they form, what happens when they erupt, whether volcanoes are on other planets, and a lot of other cool (or hot) information about these amazing mountains.

A big thank you to Northwest Public Broadcasting for help with recording!

You can find sources for volcano information in the transcript.

As always, submit burning questions at askdruniverse.wsu.edu. Who knows where your questions will take us next.

Dr. Universe

Hi cool cats. I'm Dr. Universe. And if you're anything like me, you have lots of big questions about our world. You know, I get a lot of questions from young scientists. And the other day I got a phone call from Palouse Prairie Charter School.

Renee Hill

Hi, Dr. Universe. It's Renee Hill. Our fourth-grade crew was wondering if you could use any help answering some of your science questions.

Dr. Universe

Answering all these questions is a big job for one cat. That would be amazing. Let's do it. I'll send you some geology questions soon. Thanks so much.

Renee Hill

Bye, Dr. Universe.

Dr. Universe

On this episode, you'll hear from our fourth-grade scientists, they help us investigate some cool science questions from kids. Let's get started. Our first question comes from Ava rose age 11. “Dr. Universe, How do volcanoes work?”

Hello, Sandra. What can you tell us about volcanoes and how they work?

Sandra

So, you know volcanoes erupt lava, but there's more to it. There's a lot of pressure and air in the magma chamber below the Earth's surface. The volcano can't take it so erupts. You want to hear more we can tell you more. We hope you enjoy it. Isaac, how do volcanoes form?

Isaac

Volcanoes form two types of plate boundaries. There are continental boundaries where two plates are moving towards each other. There are also divergent boundaries where two plates are moving away from each other. Volcanoes can also form at hotspots in the middle of a tectonic plate. In each of these situations rock melts in different ways.

Dr. Universe

Whoa, molten rock. How does the rock melt?

Isaac

There are a few different ways. At divergent boundaries, rocks melt from the crust opening up and decreasing pressure on the mantle. At convergent boundaries, rock melts when the water is added in the subduction zone.

Student
Have you ever tried adding water to a sugar cube, the wet sugar cube will melt faster than the trice sugar cube, maybe you can try it out sometime. At hotspots the earth's core heats up at the bottom of the mantle which causes magma to rise to the surface.

Dr. Universe

So is this molten rock where the lava comes from?

Student

Magma and lava are both molten rock. Magma is what it's called when it's under the Earth's surface or inside a volcano. When magma erupts from the volcano, and it's on the Earth's surface, it's called lava.

Dr. Universe

Fascinating. I heard you learned about some different types of volcanoes and how they erupt.

Sandra

There are two main types of volcanoes, shield volcanoes and stratovolcanoes. Stratovolcanoes are the most common type of volcanoes. They are tone pointing shape and tend to reach a maximum height of 11,000 feet. Magma in stratovolcanoes can stay below the volcano for thousands of years before erupting. Eruptions from stratovolcanoes are medium to small in size. They erupt in a series of bursts. The lava’s sticky and sometimes doesn't make it out of the volcano. On the other hand, shield volcanoes are enormous and have a rounded dome shape. Shield volcanoes form over hotspots that have a large pool of magma underneath. When issue of volcano erupts. It's abuse running lava that can travel long distances and cover huge areas.

Dr. Universe

Thanks, Sandra. Hey, Morgan, I heard you were curious about some of the volcanoes on our planet and right here in the Pacific Northwest.

Morgan

According to the United States Geological Survey, there are about 1,350 active volcanoes on Earth. Many of these have erupted in the past and many are bound to erupt in the future. Everyone seems to be very interested in the sideways eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington State on May 18, 1980. A lot of lava and ash were unleashed in this eruption. The ashes spread all the way from Western Washington to Moscow, Idaho, and even all the way to Yellowstone National Park.

Dr. Universe

Wow, that's quite a journey from Mount St. Helens all the way to Yellowstone.

Morgan

I know. In fact, Yellowstone National Park is on top of a giant supervolcano called the Yellowstone caldera. There's a hotspot under Yellowstone National Park with two magma bodies. One is shallow and one is deep. The shallow magma chamber reaches 10 miles below the earth's surface and is 55 miles long and 25 miles wide. The deeper magma chamber reaches 30 miles beneath the earth's surface. It’s 4.5 times larger than the shallow chamber. The last volcanic activity in Yellowstone was a lava flow 70,000 years ago. You might have heard that Yellowstone is overdue for its next big eruption. However, volcanoes are not predictable and their eruptions do not follow a schedule.

Dr. Universe

Volcanoes can be quite unpredictable and cause some damage, but they also helped shape the landscape of our planet. Chase, what did you find out about volcanoes?

Chase

Volcanoes can be violent, destructive and very dangerous, but they are an important part of Earth's environment. Like Morgan said, there are about 1,350 active volcanoes in the world, and many more that are inactive or dormant. In fact, more than 80 percent of the Earth's surface is shaped by volcanic activity and volcanic eruptions have formed the shape of the seafloor, many mountains and other beautiful features on Earth's surface. Early in Earth's formation, volcanic eruptions helped create the atmosphere and ocean, which allowed life to evolve on our planet. Another beautiful benefit of volcanoes is that they spew ash and dust that decomposes into soil with lots of nutrients, making them fertile for agriculture. Volcanoes have even helped us discover a species of fish. In 1950, when Mauna Loa erupted, lava flowed on the seafloor and killed deep sea fish, making them float on the surface. The Hawaiian spike fish was discovered this way.

Dr. Universe

I bet that was a surprising discovery. Do you know if there are volcanoes on any other planets?

Chase

Earth is not the only planet that has volcanoes there is actually a lot of volcanic activity throughout our solar system, the moon and the planet Mercury has small volcanoes but Mars and Venus have much larger volcanoes. Olympus Mons on Mars is the tallest volcano in our solar system. It's more than twice as tall as Mauna Loa, one of the tallest volcanoes on Earth. Jupiter's moon Io is the most volcanically active place in our solar system. Its entire surface is covered with volcanic craters and lava flows.

Dr. Universe

Thanks, Chase. Sandra, we just learned a lot about volcanoes. How would you sum it all up?

Sandra

Now you know some basics about how volcanoes work so let's review. When a lot of pressure builds up in the magma chamber, the volcano can't take it so it erupts from the top or sometimes from the side like Mount St. Helens, letting all the magma spew out causing lava to spread on the Earth's surface or planets or moons.

Dr. Universe

That's a wrap on this episode, friends. Thanks so much for joining us on this special edition of the Ask Dr. Universe podcast featuring fourth-grade scientists at Palouse Prairie Charter School.

Isaac

And a big thanks to Northwest Public Broadcasting for helping us record and to Dr. Julie Menard at Washington State University for fact-checking the science. We are grateful for the helpful and informative resources from NASA, USGS, NOAA, the Smithsonian and universities all around the world. You can find a list of our resources in the transcript.

Dr. Universe

As always, kids can submit science questions at askdruniverse.wsu.edu That's a-s-k-d-r-u-n-i-v-e-r-s-e.wsu.edu. Who knows where your questions will take us next!

Sources

NASA

· Earth Observatory: Volcanoes

· Space Place: What is a volcano?

· Earth Science: Monitoring volcanoes

National Geographic

· Environment: Volcanoes

· NG Kids: Volcanoes

· Geology of the Deep (submarine volcanoes)

· Volcano Facts

US Geological Survey (USGS)

· About Volcanoes