I would show short videos that your library or public library may have or select from youtube. If you can find the Kraffts video, that would be my favourite. All the volcanic effects and hazards can be observed in videos. Make summary notes of the phenomena for the students, so you can ask questions in tests later on.

Dear Mrs. Glancy,

one of the nicest ways to get young students or interested people in touch with volcanology and the hazards resultant from this geogenic activity is a demonstration of fire (magma) and water. In nature such phreatomagmatic processes are common. I saw some of these phenomena artificially created in a museum and a university lab. It is impressive and stimulates people to think over these processes. All devices from the blast furnace to create the molten material through to the device for the injection of water are available on the market. It only needs a skillful and experienced technician to put together the pieces and a person carrying out this demonstration trial and monitor the activity so that the safety is warranted.

Best regards

Harald G. Dill

Sarah,

have you been to the SERC website for teaching.

http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/environmental/activities/74390.html

Andrew Greene and I developed a teaching exercise using maps for different hazards for the Big Island of Hawaii. If you need more information, let me know.

Mike

Sarah,

Here are some good links and activities:

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/about/edu/index.php

I developed this one on the SERC website several years ago. You could modify it or even just use individual resources from it. Let me know if you have suggestions for updating:

Pringle, Patrick, 2012, Old sticks in the mud: hazards of lahars from Mount Rainier volcano: IN Curriculum for the biogregion, SERC—Science Education Resource Center, Carleton College. [accessed on March 18, 2013 at http://serc.carleton.edu/bioregion/examples/51255.html ]

The UNESCO video "Understanding Volcanic Hazards" is particularly great to show students, although it's now a bit outdated. I understand they may update it. There is another video, "reducing volcanic risk" on the same DVD. Also check out the US Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory web site and usgs volcanoes site noted by Martin above.

Hi Sarah,

Here are a few suggestions:

1. Educational doc study

David Lee and Steve Sparks have made a special educational DVD on the Montserrat volcano. It is stupendous and comes with educational notes for teachers (K12-14 education or intro for Univ-level DVD available from David Lee.

And yes the IAVCEI Video on Volcano Hazards by Maurice and Katia Krafft is outstanding.

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Below are a few suggestions for readily-made near zero budget experiments

2. Eruption plumes and pyroclastic currents

Explosive volcanism can be simulated using very simple analogue systems. Volcanic plumes or pyroclastic flows can be simulated in any kind of small tank (fish-like) using died fluid of a different density than the ambiant fluid. A density difference can be generated can using hot and cold water or fresh and salty water or a mix of water and methanol (careful) into water. This already enables to simulate turbulent flows that are very much like pyroclastic plumes or pyroclastic flows.

To make things even simpler you can also pour milk into water. Or water and kaolin clay into fresh water.

3. Lava flows

To simulate lava flows and how they grow a volcano, one can use wax, melt it and pour it onto flat ground to build up a volcano.

An alternative experiment is to mix washing powder and water, mix it well and then pour it on some inclined plane with a slope break at the bottom. With the right mix (about 50-50) the result looks remarkably like lava flows with all the sorts of structures observable in nature.

4. A mix of starch powder and water Under an IR lamp reproduced columnar jointing of lava flows

5. Cone and crater volcano

Take a cardboard box and a pencil. Make a hole in the middle of the box floor with the pencil. Clog it with a piece of sponge onto which you attach a long string (1m). Using a funnel pour a sugar cone over the cardboard box. Pulling the string, drainage occurs producing a perfect cone and crater assembly. It is quantitatively analogous to a real strombolian scoria cone with its crater in terms of geometry. To find out why you can read (Riedel and Ernst 2003 in JVGR).

6. Caldera formation

Immerse a ballon into a transparent box filled with sand/flour (or kaolin clay) mix - box open to one side for ease of manipulation. When you let the air out of the ballon, a caldera will form. See Marti and others 1994 in Bulletin of Volcanology for explanations and détails.

7. Make a gelatine cake (see your local supermarket); as transparent as possible. Using a needle and died water inject it from the base upward into the gelatine volcano. This simulâtes dike propagation into a volcano.

Well these are just a few ideas. Possibilities are limitless.

Hoping this helps a little.

Have fun.

Gerald

Hi again Sarah,

Here is another suggestion to illustrate how rapid (explosive) volatile expansion produces a pumice foam-like texture.

This needs to be done in a proper chemistry lab with an extraction so I assume you have one in class; otherwise it may be done outdoors.

In some chemical glassware, place a 10cm thickness of powdered sugar (the finest type, which is white and is used to cover cakes), then pour pure sulfuric acid so that it saturates the pores in between the sugar grains. Then wait a few minutes.

As the moisture present between the sugar grains establish contact with the sulfuric acid, and as this is strongly exothermic, the sugar will be transformed into pure carbon at the same time that the trapped gas turned expands very rapidly to form a foam that looks just like volcanic pumice.

It is spectacular and provides insights into extreme vesiculation into volcanic conduits before full fragmentation and explosive éruptions.

The resulting carbon-foam can be compared to volcanic scoria or pumice generated by explosive éruptions both qualitatively and quantitatively. It is very much alike.

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Yes avalanches can also be readily simulated. One way is to fill a trapped-door box filled with fine white sand below sealing and using a rope and pulley suddenly open it to release the whole thing onto the floor 2-3 meters underneath. Such experiments have been used to simulate volcano débris avalanche flows. See G Lube and others.

Avalanche shoots can also be made to simulate granular flow avalanches using grains of rice, mustard seeds, coucous grains or what inspires you.

If you place an expanse of water at the bottom and make a brick slide instead it is also possible to illustrate how volcanic slides can trigger tsunami waves (see Jo Walder, USGS, for the full works).

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Finally I believe George Walker told me once he had tried to light up K2Cr2O7, outdoors, to simulate volcanic plumes and that it was stupendous. As for myself I have not tried yet.

Much fun.

Gerald

Gerald,

Thanks for taking the time to contribute these many ideas!

Pat