2 I'm a Volcano

I'm a Volcano!

Hi. I'm Volcano. I may be quiet for now, but big things are happening beneath me.

Earth is made of layers of rock. It gets hotter the deeper you go. Crust: where you walk and swim. It's also where you'll find me! Mantle: the middle part of the Earth. It is solid but gets hotter and squishier the deeper you go. Core: the center of Earth. The outer core is so hot it has melted (but this is not where lava comes from). The inner core is even hotter but is solid because of all the pressure from the layers above it. Lithosphere: a solid and hard layer formed where the crust sticks to the upper mantle. Asthenosphere: a hot, squishy, playdough-like layer. THIS is where lava comes from. crust mantle core Me! Lithosphere asthenosphere outer core inner core

You can't tell by looking at it, the lithosphere is broken! The pieces are called plates. They look as if they fit together like puzzle pieces, but they won't stay together because they are in motion. The pieces drift-sometimes closer to each other, sometimes farther apart. I am on a land plate. My plate is drifting toward an ocean plate. EURASIAN PLATE PHILIPPINE PLATE AUSTRALIAN PLATE ANTARCTIC PLATE JUAN DE FUCA PLATE Here I am! NORTH AMERICAN PLATE COCOS PLATE EASTER PLATE NAZCA PLATE JUAN FERNANDEZ PLATE PACIFIC PLATE ANTARCTIC PLATE CARIBBEAN PLATE SOUTH AMERICAN PLATE SCOTIA PLATE EURASIAN PLATE ARABIAN PLATE AFRICAN PLATE INDIAN PLATE AUSTRALIAN PLATE ANTARCTIC PLATE

Bump. The ocean plate slips beneath my plate into the squishy, hot asthenosphere. The ocean plate is wet from all that—you guessed it—ocean water. When the asthenosphere heats up, the ocean plate "sweats" out its water. Water is a melter helper! It helps to melt the asthenosphere. Voilà! Or should I say "voi-lava"? Hot tip: magma is melted rock below ground. Once it reaches the surface, it is called lava. ocean lithosphere Hi there! lithosphere ocean asthenosphere asthenosphere

The magma rises. It collects in a magma chamber. All magma contains gas bubbles. The thicker the magma, the harder it is for the bubbles to escape. My magma is thinnick. The bubbles grow and grow and grow. I'm like a shaken soda, ready to... It's getting crowded in here!