Volcanoes Earth Shattering News Reading Answers

Feb 23, 2023

Volcanoes Earth Shattering News Reading Answers talks about the volcanoes, their types and origin. Volcanoes Earth Shattering News Reading Answers is a topic that appeared in IELTS previous year's test. This IELTS reading passage comprises of a total of 13 questions that are to be answered by the candidates within a timeframe of 20 minutes. The IELTS reading topic, Volcanoes Earth Shattering News Reading Answers comprises of question types; choose the correct heading, no more than two words and no more than three words. In this section of the IELTS Reading, to solve choose the correct heading, candidates are required to find relevance with given cues in the reading passage. To gain accuracy and profciency in IELTS Academic Reading section, candidates can undertake extensive practice. They can practice from IELTS Reading practice paper that are available throughout the internet.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

Volcanoes Earth Shattering News Reading Answers

When Mount Pinatubo suddenly erupted on 9 June 1991, the power of volcanoes past and present again hit the headlines

Volcanoes are the ultimate earth-moving machinery. A violent eruption can blow the top few kilometers off a mountain, scatter fine ash practically all over the globe and hurl rock fragments into the stratosphere to darken the skies a continent away.

But the classic eruption - cone-shaped mountain, big bang, mushroom cloud and surges of molten lava - is only a tiny part of a global story. Vulcanism, the name given to volcanic processes, really has shaped the world. Eruptions have rifted continents, raised mountain chains, constructed islands and shaped the topography of the earth. The entire ocean floor has a basement of volcanic basalt.

Volcanoes have not only made the continents, they are also thought to have made the world's first stable atmosphere and provided all the water for the oceans, rivers and ice-caps. There are now about 600 active volcanoes. Every year they add two or three cubic kilometers of rock to the continents. Imagine a similar number of volcanoes smoking away for the last 3,500 million years. That is enough rock to explain the continental crust.

What comes out of volcanic craters is mostly gas. More than 90% of this gas is water vapor from the deep earth: enough to explain, over 3,500 million years, the water in the oceans. The rest of the gas is nitrogen, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, methane, ammonia and hydrogen. The quantity of these gasses, again multiplied over 3,500 million years, is enough to explain the mass of the world's atmosphere. We are alive because volcanoes provide the soil, air and water we need.

Geologists consider the earth as having a molten core, surrounded by a semi-molten mantle and a brittle, outer skin. It helps to think of a soft-boiled egg with a runny yolk, a firm but squishy white and a hard shell. If the shell is even slightly cracked during boiling, the white material bubbles out and sets like a tiny mountain chain over the crack - like an archipelago of volcanic islands such as the Hawaiian Islands. But the earth is so much bigger and the mantle below is so much hotter.

Even though the mantle rocks are kept solid by overlying pressure, they can still slowly 'flow' like thick treacle. The flow, thought to be in the form of convection currents, is powerful enough to fracture the 'eggshell' of the crust into plates, and keep them bumping and grinding against each other, or even overlapping, at the rate of a few centimeters a year. These fracture zones, where the collisions occur, are where earthquakes happen. And, very often, volcanoes.

These zones are lines of weakness, or hot spots. Every eruption is different, but put at its simplest, where there are weaknesses, rocks deep in the mantle, heated to 1,350°C, will start to expand and rise. As they do so, the pressure drops, and they expand and become liquid and rise more swiftly.

Sometimes it is slow: vast bubbles of magma - molten rock from the mantle - inch towards the surface, cooling slowly, to snow through as granite extrusions (as on Skye, or the Great Whin Sill, the lava dyke squeezed out like toothpaste that carries part of Hadrian's Wall in northern England). Sometimes - as in Northern Ireland, Wales and the Karoo in South Africa - the magma rose faster, and then flowed out horizontally onto the surface in vast thick sheets. In the Deccan plateau in western India, there are more than two million cubic kilometers of lava, some of it 2,400 meters thick, formed over 500,000 years of slurping eruption.

Sometimes the magma moves very swiftly indeed. It does not have time to cool as it surges upwards. The gasses trapped inside the boiling rock expand suddenly, the lava glows with heat, it begins to froth, and it explodes with tremendous force. Then the slightly cooler lava following it begins to flow over the lip of the crater. It happens on Mars, it happened on the moon, it even happens on some of the moons of Jupiter and Uranus. By studying the evidence, volcanologists can read the force of the great blasts of the past. Is the pumice light and full of holes? The explosion was tremendous. Are the rocks heavy, with huge crystalline basalt shapes, like the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland? It was a slow, gentle eruption.

The biggest eruptions are deep on the mid-ocean floor, where new lava is forcing the continents apart and widening the Atlantic by perhaps five centimeters a year. Look at maps of volcanoes, earthquakes and island chains like the Philippines and Japan, and you can see the rough outlines of what are called tectonic plates - the plates which make up the earth's crust and mantle. The most dramatic of these is the Pacific 'ring of fire' where there have been the most violent explosions - Mount Pinatubo near Manila, Mount St Helens in the Rockies and El Chichon in Mexico about a decade ago, not to mention world-shaking blasts like Krakatoa in the Sunda Straits in 1883.

But volcanoes are not very predictable. That is because geological time is not like human time. During quiet periods, volcanoes cap themselves with their own lava by forming a powerful cone from the molten rocks slopping over the rim of the crater; later the lava cools slowly into a huge, hard, stable plug which blocks any further eruption until the pressure below becomes irresistible. In the case of Mount Pinatubo, this took 600 years.

Then, sometimes, with only a small warning, the mountain blows its top. It did this at Mont Pelee in Martinique at 7.49 a.m. on 8 May, 1902. Of a town of 28,000, only two people survived. In 1 815, a sudden blast removed the top 1,280 meters of Mount Tambora in Indonesia. The eruption was so fierce that dust thrown into the stratosphere darkened the skies, canceling the following summer in Europe and North America. Thousands starved as the harvests failed, after snow in June and frosts in August. Volcanoes are potentially world news, especially the quiet ones.

Section 2

Solution and Explanation
Questions 1-4
Reading Passage has four sections A-D.
Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number i-vi in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings:

Causes of volcanic eruption
Efforts to predict volcanic eruption
Volcanoes and the features of our planet
Different types of volcanic eruption
International relief efforts
The unpredictability of volcanic eruptions

Section A

Answer: iii - Volcanoes and the features of our planet
Supporting Statement: Volcanoes have not only made the continents, but they are also thought to have made the world's first stable atmosphere and provided all the water for the oceans, rivers, and ice-caps.
Keywords: Volcanoes, continents
Keyword location: Section A
Explanation: Volcanoes are not only responsible for creating the continents but also for the establishment of the world's initial stable atmosphere and the provision of water to oceans, rivers, and ice caps.

Section B

Answer: i - Causes of volcanic eruption
Supporting Statement: These fracture zones, where the collisions occur, are areas where earthquakes happen. And, very often, volcanoes.
Keywords: fracture zones, collisions, earthquakes, volcanoes
Keyword location: Section B
Explanation: Fracture zones where collisions take place are where earthquakes occur, and it's not uncommon for volcanoes to arise as well. These are the reasons behind the formation of volcanoes.

Section C

Answer: iv - Different types of volcanic eruption
Supporting Statement: Every eruption is different but put at its simplest, where there are weaknesses, rocks deep in the mantle, heated to 1,350°C, will start to expand and rise.
Keywords: eruption, different, weaknesses, 1,350°C
Keyword location: Section C
Explanation: Although eruptions may vary in nature, the underlying cause is the expansion and upward movement of rocks from the mantle, which occurs when weak spots are exposed to temperatures of 1,350°C. Therefore, the correct answer is that there are various types of eruptions.

Section D

Answer: vi - The unpredictability of volcanic eruptions
Supporting Statement: But volcanoes are not very predictable. That is because geological time is not like human time.
Keywords: volcanoes, not predictable
Keyword location: Section D
Explanation: The unpredictability of volcanoes stems from the difference between geological time and human time.

Questions 5-8
Answer the questions below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 5-8 on your answer sheet.

What are the sections of the earth’s crust, often associated with volcanic activity, called?

Answer: plates// the plates// the tectonic plates
Supporting Statement: Look at maps of volcanoes, earthquakes, and island chains like the Philippines and Japan, and you can see the rough outlines of what are called tectonic plates - the plates which make up the earth's crust and mantle.
Keywords: volcanoes, earthquakes, island chains, tectonic plates
Keyword location: Section C
Explanation: The crust and mantle of the earth consist of tectonic plates, which can be visualized on maps of volcanic activity, seismic events, and island chains such as the Philippines and Japan.

What is the name given to molten rock from the mantle?

Answer: magma
Supporting Statement: Sometimes it is slow: vast bubbles of magma - molten rock from the mantle - inch towards the surface, cooling slowly, to snow through as granite extrusions (as on Skye, or the Great Whin Sill, the lava dyke squeezed out like toothpaste that carries part of Hadrian's Wall in northern England).
Keywords: magma, molten rock, granite extrusions
Keyword location: Section C
Explanation: Magma - molten rock from the mantle - can sometimes be a slow process: vast bubbles of magma flow towards the surface, cooling slowly, to form granite extrusions (like on Skye, or the Great Whin Sill, a lava dyke carried by part of Hadrian's Wall)).

What is the earthquake zone on the Pacific Ocean called?

Answer: ring of fire
Supporting Statement: The most dramatic of these is the Pacific 'ring of fire' where there have been the most violent explosions - Mount Pinatubo near Manila, Mount St Helens in the Rockies and El Chichon in Mexico about a decade ago, not to mention world-shaking blasts like Krakatoa in the Sunda Straits in 1883.
Keywords: Pacific, ring of fire
Keyword location: Section C
Explanation: Numerous volcanic eruptions have taken place in the Pacific "ring of fire," including Mount Pinatubo near Manila, Mount St. Helens in the Rockies, and El Chichon in Mexico. The catastrophic Krakatoa eruption in the Sunda Straits in 1883 is also worth mentioning.

For how many years did Mount Pinatubo remain inactive?

Answer: 600// 600 years// for 600 years
Supporting Statement: In the case of Mount Pinatubo, this took 600 years.
Keywords: Mount Pinatubo, 600 years
Keyword location: Section D
Explanation: It took 600 years for Mount Pinatubo to erupt.

Questions 9-13
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.

Volcanic eruptions have shaped the earth’s land surface. They may also have produced the world’s atmosphere and 9_______ . Eruptions occur when molten rocks from the earth’s mantle rise and expand. When they become liquid, they move more quickly through cracks in the surface. There are different types of eruptions. Sometimes the 10_______ moves slowly and forms outcrops of granite on the earth’s surface. When it moves more quickly it may flow out in thick horizontal sheets. Examples of this type of eruption can be found in Northern Ireland, Wales, South Africa, and 11_______ . A third type of eruption occurs when the lava emerges very quickly and 12_______ violently. This happens because the magma moves so suddenly that 13_______ are emitted.

Answer: water// the water// oceans// the oceans
Supporting Statement: We are alive because volcanoes provided the soil, air, and water we need.
Keywords: volcanoes, soil, air, water
Keyword location: Section A
Explanation: The soil, air, and water essential for life are all products of volcanoes.

10.

Answer: lava// magma// molten rock
Supporting Statement: Sometimes - as in Northern Ireland, Wales, and the Karoo in South Africa - the magma rose faster, and then flowed out horizontally onto the surface in vast thick sheets.
Keywords: Northern Ireland, Wales, Karoo, magma, horizontally, thick sheets
Keyword location: Section C
Explanation: At times, magma ascends swiftly and streams horizontally onto the ground, as seen in South Africa's Karoo region, Northern Ireland, and Wales.

11.

Answer: India// western India
Supporting Statement: In the Deccan plateau in western India, there are more than two million cubic kilometers of lava, some of it 2,400 meters thick, formed over 500,000 years of slurping eruption.
Keywords: Deccan Plateau, western India, slurping eruption
Keyword location: Section C
Explanation: Over 500,000 years of volcanic eruptions in western India's Deccan plateau, it's estimated that more than 2 million cubic km of lava accumulated, some of it reaching a thickness of 2,400 meters.

12.

Answer: explodes
Supporting Statement: Sometimes the magma moves very swiftly indeed. It does not have time to cool as it surges upwards. The gasses trapped inside the boiling rock expand suddenly, the lava glows with heat, it begins to froth, and it explodes with tremendous force.
Keywords: magma, surges, boiling rock, lava, explodes
Keyword location: Section C
Explanation: At times, magma has the ability to swiftly propel itself. Its ascent is so rapid that cooling doesn't occur. The gas enclosed in the scorching stone expands abruptly, causing the lava to glow and bubble fiercely, ultimately leading to a powerful explosion.

13.

Answer: guess// the glasses// trapped glasses
Supporting Statement: The gasses trapped inside the boiling rock expand suddenly, the lava glows with heat, it begins to froth, and it explodes with tremendous force.
Keywords: gasses, trapped, explodes
Keyword location: Section C
Explanation: If there is gas trapped within lava, the lava will start to glow due to heat, froth, and eventually burst out with immense power.

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