Volcanoes by Hannah

Hi! Today I am teaching you about volcano. A "Ring of Fire" goes around the Pacific Ocean. The "Ring of Fire" is an imaginary circle. It goes along the coast of North America down from the state of Alaska to the country of Mexico. On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, it runs north through the countries of New Zealand, Philippines, and Japan. This "Ring of Fire" gets its name from lava that comes up from deep in the ground along this ring. More than half of the world's volcanoes are inside this ring. Thousands of earthquakes shake the ground each year inside the "Ring of Fire". The land around the "Ring of Fire" changes all the time. Large mountains form over millions of years. Volcanoes and earthquakes along the "Ring of Fire" kill people and destroy many things. Scientists watched a volcano form for the first time in 1943. It happened near the village of Paricutín west of Mexico City. Farmers in Paricutin saw some strange things happening. First, they felt heat come up from the fields. Then they saw a crack, or opening, in the ground. Steam and rocks came out of the crack.  lava and ash came out too. The ash and rocks made a hill that looked like a cone. Finally, the cone became a mountain that was more than 1,300 feet tall. The Paricutin volcano continued to erupt until 1952. It destroy the farmers fields and the town. There had been many earthquakes in the area before the first eruption in 1943. Mount St. Helens Volcano, in Washington State, had been inactive for 123 years. Then, in march 1980, the area was shaken by a series of small earthquakes. Steam rose from the mountain. A huge bulge formed on its side. Scientists recognized the signs of an upcoming eruption. People were warned to evacuate. Unfortunately, not everyone listened.bye!