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Volcanoes
 Volcanoes and the Power of Three

Volcanoes and the Power of Three
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 7 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   7.91

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    composite, medium-sized, tephra, desolation, standing, sealing, fast-moving, volcanologists, agriculture, cubic, cinder, destruction, estimate, red-hot, magma, suffocate
     content words:    Independence Day, Mount Vesuvius, Mount St, United States Geological Survey

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     Spanish: Los volcanes y el poder de tres

Volcanoes and the Power of Three
By Brenda B. Covert 		  
1     Mention volcanoes, and most people picture a tall mountain spewing out red-hot lava like fireworks on Independence Day. However, that is just one of the three types of volcanoes that exist. Interestingly enough, lava is just one of the three kinds of material emitted from an erupting volcano. Finally, volcanoes endanger three different entities in their active state. When it comes to studying volcanoes, remember the power of three.
 
2     The most common, well-known type of volcano is the composite volcano. It is a medium-sized mountain with a steep peak and sloping sides made up of a combination of layers of lava and cinders. It may have one or more vents through which lava escapes from the magma chambers within the Earth's mantle. Each eruption adds another layer of material to the volcano that is growing around the vent. Mount Vesuvius in Italy is a composite volcano.
 
3     The shield volcano is a large, gently sloping mountain formed by flowing lava that cooled and hardened. Hawaii boasts many shield volcanoes.
 
4     A cinder cone volcano is a small volcano, normally less than 1,000 feet tall. They are made up of lava chunks called cinders.
 
5     Did you know that most volcanoes are formed beneath the oceans? In recent decades scientists have been mapping out the location of volcanoes on the ocean floor. Even so, of all the land volcanoes, an average of 50 to 60 are active in any given year, with half of them being newly formed. Scientists have watched and recorded the growth of some new volcanoes!

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