Cooling the lava john mcphee

The Control of Nature Questions 2

Cooling the Lava

(35 points total)

1. What is Vestmannaeyjar? How is this pronounced? (see pp. 96-97) (3 points)

2. Briefly summarize, in a paragraph, this second part of the book on “Cooling the Lava” in your own words. What are some of the things done to try to control nature and save Vestmannaeyjar? (5 points)

3. What did you find most interesting about this part of the book? Was there anything that surprised you or made you think, “wow!”? (3 points)

4. Why is Vestmannaeyjar economically important to the country of Iceland? (3 points)

5. What is apalhraun or “aa”? What is pohoehoe “pah-hoy-hoy”? (see pp. 99, 154) Compare and contrast these, (3 points)

6. Fill-in-the-blank questions: (5 points)

a. See p. 114: “Hekla is in the area as well – the __________ that appears in early literature as one of the two mouths of ______.”

b. See p. 119-20: “In the vocabulary of volcanology today, an explosively rising turbulent stream of magmatic fragments and magmatic gas is known as a _________eruption.”

c. See p. 124: “Kirkjubaer lies under three hundred feet of __________.”

d. See p. 137: ….________ are used as construction material. (There is no __________ in Iceland.)

e. See p. 157: Are volcanic eruptions in Hawaii explosive?

7. John McPhee writes on p. 130, there are three dates that everyone in Iceland knows. First, what are these three dates? Next, describe the relationship between religion, omens, and superstition in Iceland. (3 points)

8. General plate tectonics are described on p. 156. First, generally summarize plate tectonics in our own words. Second, how does plate tectonics affect volcanoes? (5 points)

9. Using information from p. 159 and 160… First, explain what a geophysical hot spot is. Secondly, in your own words compare and contrast Iceland and Hawaii as hot spot locations. (5 points)