Geoscience Education in the Mountain State:
	CATS Earth Science Connections III
	Environmental Geology Telecourse

Weekly Course Notes: October 8, 2001 (Show 4)

Outline

Dr. Deb and Dr. Bob

• Volcanoes: Hollywood Films to Promote Inquiry in the Classroom
• Linking Topics: Mt. St. Helens, Earthquakes, Landslides, Eruptions
• Class Requirements
  • Quizzes
  • Project
  • Field Trip

Break

Dr. Jack and Dr. Bob

• Weathering: Physical and Chemical
• Erosion by Fluids in Motion and Gravity
• Clay Minerals: The Weathering of Feldspars
• Soils S=f(Cl, O, R, P, T)
• Mass Movement
• Subsidence: Natural and Human-Induced
• Preview of Show #5: Climate Changes---El Nino, La Nina, and the Big Picture: Desertification, Glaciations, etc.

• Measurements recorded by vulcanologists:
  • SO₂ monitored (via chopper)
  • Seismographs
  • pH
  • Tiltmeter (doming of mountain)
  • Robotic video
  • Remote gas sensors on robot

• Sociological problems:
  • Town at great risk due to location at the base of a "chute"
  • Town resistant to evacuation (loss of grant monies)
  • Cannot predict with certainly when the mountain will erupt
  • USGS sensitive to false alarms after Mammoth Lakes incident
  • Residents simple refusal to leave high-risk areas

• Characteristics of the eruption:
  • Ash blowing out the top of the volcano at the onset
  • Earthquakes generated strong enough to topple buildings
  • Firey volcanic bombs and blocks striking town
  • Light is blocked and the area becomes dark
  • Ash too thick to see through
  • Lightning
  • Magma spewing out of fissure
  • Thin lava flows moving rapidly
  • Mountain lake acidifies, killing fish and dissolving props off boat motor
  • Lahars---mudflows as snowpack melts
  • Flooding rivers laden with debris, taking out dams and bridges
  • Tremendous explosion emitting a cloud knocking down anything in its path

• Student-generated questions?
  • Could the lake really dissolve your grandmother's leg?
  • Could this happen in the United States?
  • Can a truck with rubber tires and a loaded gas tank REALLY cross a river of lava?
  • How do most people die in volcanic eruptions?
  • Was this real?
  • Why don't we have volcanoes here?

• Chemical weathering
  • Oxidation
  • Dissolution
  • Carbonation/Hydrolysis

• Oxidation
  • Fe + O₂ Fe₂O₃
  • 4Fe + 3O₂ + 2H₂O 4FeOOH (Limonite ~ Yellow Boy)
  • 2FeOOH Fe₂O₃ + H₂O (Hematite)

• Carbonic Acid
  • H₂O + CO₂ H₂CO₃
  • H₂CO₃ H⁺ + HCO₃

• Dissolution
  CaCO₃ + H⁺ + HCO₃ Ca²⁺ +2HCO₃^- (Calcite)

Links

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

• West Virginia Soil Surveys

Dr. Robert Behling (rbehling@wvu.edu)

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Page last revised: October 31, 2001