How do I build a model of the 3 different kinds of volcanoes for my
8th grade school project?
Jolene
Hi Jolene,
First thing, I don't know where this "3 types" comes from; there are more
than 3 types of volcanoes. Volcanoes of the World, by Tom Simkin and Lee
Seibert, lists 26 different types. Probably the most common types are
strato volcanoes, shield volcanoes, monogenetic fields (with many types of
individual vents included), rhyolite caldera complexes and submarine
volcanoes. Many times people say that "cinder cone" is a type of volcano,
but that is kind of confusing. Individual members of a monogenetic field
can be cinder cones and in this case you might say that it is a volcano
(although the volcanic system really includes all the associated vents
within that particular monogenetic field). Additionally, however, cinder
cones exist as vents on larger volcanoes, particularly shield volcanoes
and strato volcanoes. In these cases the volcano is the big structure and
the cinder cone is only the product of a single eruption from that volcano.
That is kind of a digression, I realize. You can make a pretty convincing
version of a cinder cone with either potassium dichromate or aluminum
dichromate. These are orange-colored chemicals that come in a powdered
form. You place a pile of the stuff on a NON-FLAMMABLE(!) surface, and
ignite it with a match. Once the stuff starts burning it throws little
particles of ash into the air and this piles up around the center to form
a small cone. This produces some pretty intense fumes and should be done
outside.
A shield volcano is constructed of hundreds of thousands of lava flows.
You could try making one of these by pouring out many layers of molten
wax, waiting for each to harden before adding the next. This would take a
while but I imagine you could get a pretty good volcano after a while.
A strato volcano is made up of ash as well as viscous lava. You might try
piling up some blobs of soften clay (as the viscous lava), and pouring
some sort of powder (as the ash). You would want to make the amounts of
each relatively equal but be random in how you distribute them.
It would be tricky to form the collapsed caldera of a rhyolite caldera
structure. I guess you could make some layers of clay on a board that had
a hole cut into it but with the round piece still there. Then remove the
round piece from below and see how the clay layers sag into the void (as
the surface of a volcano does during a magma-chamber-evacuating eruption).
Hopefully these suggestions will help. You should also take a look at
some of the volcano lessons in VolcanoWorld.
Sincerely,
Scott Rowland
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