Volcanoes # Practice Reading

You must have seen picture and movies of volcanoes erupting (when a volcano erupts or burning rocks, smoke etc. are erupted the burning rocks etc. are thrown out from the volcano), but do you know what a volcano actually is? To put it very simply, a volcano is a mountain that has a hole or vent(an opening that allows air, gas or liquid to pass out of or into a room, building, container etc.) that leads to reservoirs(a large amount ) of molten or liquid rock deep below the earth’s surface. As the pressure builds up inside the earth, eruptions occur. Gases and molted(heated to a very high temperature so that it becomes liquid) rock shoot up through the opening, and spill over, or fill the air with lava fragments(a small part of something that has broken off or comes from something larger).
Eruptions can cause sideways blasts, lava flows, hot ash flows, mudslides, avalanches, failing ash and floods. Volcano eruptions have been known to knock down entire forests. An erupting volcano can trigger(to make something happen suddenly)tsunamis too. Volcanic eruptions mould and shape the earth’s structure. They give rise to new land masses, and constantly create changes in the Earth’s atmosphere.
The word volcano comes from the roman god of fire, Vulcan. Vulcan was said to have had a forge(a place where objects are made by heating and shaping pieces of metal, especially one where a black smith works)- which is a place to melt and shape iron on the little island of volcano in the Mediterranean Sea, off Sicily. The island was the site of an active volcano in ancient times. Centuries ago, the people living in this area thought that the hot lava fragments and clouds of the dust erupting from a volcano came from Vulcan’s forge as he beat out thunderbolts for Jupiter, king of the gods, and weapons for mars, the god of war.


QUESTION TIME
Questions
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage?
In boxes 1- in your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there information on this.

  1. Volcano is a phenomenon of eruption which can occur in any mountain.
  2. Eruptions occur when the pressure inside the earth’s surface increases.
  3. When lava erupts, only gases erupt out of the vent in the rock.
  4. After a volcanic eruptions, usually new landmasses are created and changes in Earth’s atmosphere are seen.

SAMPLE ANSWER

  1. False
  2. True
  3. False
  4. True

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