Volcano detective
Read the clues written in rock.
Before you jump in
Draw a volcano from memory and you might sketch a neat cone with a dramatic cloud overhead. That picture is a useful beginning, but it leaves out a surprising amount. Volcanic landscapes can be broad or steep, and the materials they produce can look very different from one another. This quiz invites you to look past the familiar silhouette and notice the evidence.
You will begin with the words used for molten rock, then connect textures and shapes with the processes that create them. Later questions introduce the signals scientists watch and the limits of what a single observation can tell us. There are no eruption dates or record-breaking measurements to memorize. Instead, each explanation gives you another piece of a working picture: a volcano as a changing geological system whose story is bigger than the mountain above it.
What you’ll explore
- Magma, lava, and volcanic fragments
- Volcano shapes and flowing rock
- Monitoring a changing system
Connect volcanic materials and landforms with the processes and measurements that explain them.
What is molten rock called while it is beneath Earth's surface?
This is the opening question. Start the round to see the choices and test your answer.
