PDF version
This investigation will help you to:
- To complete the investigation, each student group will need:
- Preparing for the Chapter Challenge
- Learn more about Volcanoes Beneath the Sea
- Learn more about Volcanoes on Land
- Learn more about the Ring of Fire
- Learn more about Volcanoes Formed by Rifting on the Continents
- Learn more about Volcanoes at Hot Spots
- Learn more about Volcanoes and Water on Earth
- Learn more about Map Projections
- US Geological Survey map: This Dynamic Planet
Click on title ("This Dynamic Map") to download a copy of the map as a PDF file. Note that you will need Adobe Acrobat (available for free on the USGSS site) to open this file.
The map can also be purchased for $7 (plus $5 s/h) from:
USGS Information Services
Box 25286
Denver CO 80225
Think about how you can help the audience understand why you chose the probable location of the volcanic eruption for your story. Use the following resources to find the volcanic eruptions in California.
- Chart listing the features of 6 active or potentially active volcanoes in California.
- Map showing the major cascade range volcanoes in Washington, Oregon and California.
- Map showing potentially active volcanoes of the Western United States.
- Map showing Long Valley and vicinity, California
- Graph profiling the Cascade eruptions of the past 4,000 years.
- Map of major West Coast Volcanoes.
- Volcano World - "Submarine Volcanoes"
Reviews the basics of platetectonics and examines closely submarine volcanoes at divergent and convergent boundaries and hot spots. The site has good images of underwater lava flows as well as images of the organisms that live near these submarine volcanoes. - USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory -"Submarine Volcanoes, Ridges, and Vents"
Site includes a general overview of submarine volcanic eruptions as well as information about specific underwater volcanoes including the volcanoes of the Juan de Fuca ridge in the Pacific, Kavachi of the Solomon Islands, Kick 'Em Jenny of the West Indies, the Loihi Seamount of Hawaii, and Surtsey and the Vestmannmaeyjar volcanics of Iceland.
- USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory -"Volcano Types - Quick Reference Guide"
Review the major types of volcanoes, including calderas, cinder cones, composite volcanoes, statrovolcanoes, and shield volcanoes. Provides links for further details and information about specific eruptions.
USGS Volcano Hazards Program, Read about volcanism in the following US states:
+ Alaska
- Alaska:
- Alaska Volcanic Observatory
- Adagdak
- Akutan
- Amak
- Aniakchak
- Augustine
- Behm Canal-Rudyerd Bay
- Black Peak
- Bobrof Volcano
- Bogoslof
- Buldir
- Buzzard Creek
- Carlisle
- Chagulak
- Chiginagak
- Churchill
- Cleveland
- Dana
- Davidof
- Denison
- Douglas
- Duncan Canal
- Dutton
- Edgecumbe
- Emmons Lake Volcanic Center
- Fisher Caldera
- Fourpeaked
- Frosty Peak
- Gareloi
- Gordon
- Great Sitkin Volcano
- Griggs
- Hayes
- Herbert
- Iliamna Volcano
- Imuruk Lake
- Ingakslugwat Hills
- Isanotski Peaks
- Kagamil Volcano
- Kaguyak Crater
- Kanaga Volcano
- Kasatochi
- Katmai
- Kialagvik
- Kiska Volcano
- Koniuji
- Kookooligit Mountains
- Korovin
- Kukak Volcano
- Kupreanof
- Little Sitkin
- Mageik
- Makushin Volcano
- Martin
- Moffett
- Novarupta
- Nunivak Island
- Okmok
- Pavlof
- Pavlof Sister
- Recheshnoi
- Redoubt
- Roundtop
- Sanford
- Seguam Island
- Segula Peak
- Semisopochnio
- Sergief
- Shishaldin
- Snowy Mountain
- Spurr Volcano
- St. Michael Island
- St. Paul Island
- Steller
- Stepovak Bay 2
- Table Top Mountain
- Takawangha
- Tanaga
- Tlevak Strait- Suemez Island
- Trident Volcano
- Ugashik-Peulik
- Ukinrek Maars
- Uliaga Island
- Unnamed (near Ukinrek Maars)
- Veniaminof
- Vsevidof
- Westdahl Peak
- Wrangell
- Yantarni Volcano
- Yanaska Island
+ Arizona
+ California
- California:
- California Volcanic Observatory
- Brushy Butte
- Clear Lake Volcanic Field
- Coso Volcanic Field
- Eagle Lake Volcanic Field
- Golden Trout Creek Volcanic Field
- Lassen Volcanic Center
- Lavic Lake Volcanic Field
- Long Valley Caldera
- Mammoth Mountain
- Medicine Lake
- Mono Lake Volcanic Field
- Mono-Inyo Chain
- Mt. Shasta
- Salton Buttes
- Silver Lake Volcanic Field
- Tumble Buttes
- Ubehee Craters
+ Colorado
- Colorado:
+ Idaho
- Idaho:
+ Nevada
- Nevada:
+ New Mexico
+ Oregon
- Oregon:
- Cascades Volcanic Observatory:
- Belknap
- Blue Lake Crater
- Cinnamon Butte
- Crater Lake
- Davis Lake Volcanic Field
- Devils Garden Lava Field
- Diamond Craters Volcanic Field
- Four Craters Lava Field
- Jordan Craters Volcanic Field
- Lava Mountain Lava Field
- Mount Bachelor
- Mount Hood
- Mount Jefferson
- Newberry
- Sand Mountain Volcanic Field
- Three Sisters
+ Utah
- Utah:
+ Washington
- Washington:
+ Wyoming
- Wyoming:
- USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory - "Plate Tectonics and Sea Floor Spreading, Subduction Zones, "Hot Spot", and the "Ring of Fire"
Reviews the basics of plate tectonics and allows reader to further investigate specific volcanoes within the "ring of fire". Includes several maps which highlight the "ring." - USGS Alaska Volcano Observatory
Read an introduction about the volcanoes and volcanic fields of Alaska, which make up the northern portion of the "ring of fire". Also includes maps and allows further investigation of specific volcanoes in Alaska.
- Columbia Plateau - Columbia River Basalt Group
Read more information about flood basalt and how they formed the Columbia Plateau. It also includes links to a map and geologic time scale for the subdivisions within the Columbia River Basalt Group. - Mount Kilimanjaro
Learn more about Africa's tallest mountain in the East African rift valley.
- USGS - "Hot spots:" Mantle Thermal Plumes
Learn more about the geology of the Hawaiian islands as well as other other hotshots around the world. - USGS Hawaii Volcano Observatory
Read about the Hawaiian Volcanoes and how they formed. It also includes links to other pages about specific volcanoes on the islands of Hawaii and Maui. - Volcano World - Hawaii
View a slide show with color photos and descriptions about the theory of "hotshots." Site also includes a list of sample lesson plans, key concepts, references, and activities about hot spots and the Hawaiian islands.
- Vents Program, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
Find information on how submarine volcanoes and hydrothermal vents affect the global oceans. - Submarine Volcanoes, Ridges, and Vents, USGS
Provides general information along with specific examples. - Unraveling the Mystery of Underwater Volcanoes, NOAA
Read an article about the mysteries of underwater volcanoes.
Learn more about other kinds of map projections: