Volcanic Eruptions and Lava Lakes 🌋
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Season 2: Episode 19 Description
In today’s episode: 🌋 Get caught up on the news about the very active volcano in La Palma, Spain. ♨️ Then we head to Hawaii to check in on another volcano making noise! 🗞️ In the news: Mosquitoes and a very big tooth. 🦖 And test your volcanic knowledge in today's Trivia on the Ten. ✅
Sources for the episode:
Volcano Erupts On Spanish Island Near Morocco : NPR
Lava blocks the size of buildings falling from La Palma volcano - CNN
Three Big Changes in Three Years at Halemaʻumaʻu Crater (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
UN endorses world's 1st malaria vaccine as 'historic moment' (apnews.com)
Michigan boy finds historic mastodon tooth in Rochester Hills creek - ABC13 Houston
Panda cubs at Tokyo zoo get their names, to debut in January (apnews.com)
| Volcano World | Oregon State University
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TRANSCRIPT:
Bethany Van Delft 0:02
From the islands of Spain to the islands of Hawaii, magma is flowing and the ground is shaking. Liquid hot magma. So, what's going on? Today the floor is lava as we learn about volcanic eruptions around the world. I'm Bethany Van Delft. It's October 14th, and this is The Ten News.
Various Voices 0:25
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Bethany Van Delft 0:33
Volcanoes have been erupting into the news lately. On the Spanish island of La Palma, lava has been flowing for the last three weeks and it's showing no signs of letting up. Recently blocks of magma the size of three-story buildings were seen flowing down the volcano. The eruption in La Palma caught residents of the volcanic island off guard because this is the first time the volcano has erupted in 50 years. While La Palma is part of Spain, it's one of the Canary Islands, a set of volcanic islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. And if you live on a volcanic island, it's important to always be prepared for the possibility of an eruption. The eruption en La Palma has damaged over 1,000 buildings and displaced over 6,000 people. But so far, there have been no reports of injuries or deaths. When a volcano erupts, it's not just the lava you need to worry about. Are you kidding me? Eruptions are usually accompanied by seismic activity, you know, earthquakes, and even lightning. You heard me lightning. Scientists think the collisions between ash particles around lava cause electrical charges to build up that lead to lightning strikes. Volcanoes come in all shapes and sizes. Some go tens, hundreds, or even 1,000's of years between eruptions. And right now, La Palma's not the only volcano in the news, no way. Kīlauea is located in the Volcano National Park in Hawaii. In the last three years, Kīlauea has done things most other volcanoes do over decades. It all started in 2018 when a huge lava lake at the summit of the volcano collapsed. In three months, the summit of the volcanoes sank by over 1,600 feet. Then through 2019, this new crater filled up with water forming a lake over 160 feet deep. Many scientists thought that this would be it for a little while, but the volcano was not finished. At the end of 2020, the water suddenly disappeared and a new eruption started and now it's been replaced by a lake of lava over 600 feet deep. Fortunately, this new lava hasn't moved outside the crater so there isn't currently a threat. But given how active this volcano is, I guess you never know. I feel like maybe an intense back-binding mission to Hawaii is totally an order.
Bethany Van Delft 3:19
With all this volcano news, you may think volcanic activity is going up. But volcanoes are part of our planet's normal activity. Here are five red hot facts about volcanoes. Number one, there are always eruptions somewhere. According to the Smithsonian Institution, on average, there are 40 to 50 eruptions going on at any given moment. Wow. I did not know that. Number two, eruptions can last a long time. 101 eruptions have been recorded that have lasted five years or longer. Unbelievable. Number three, there are a lot of volcanoes. In the last 10,000 years, there have been over 1,350 active volcanoes. Holey Moley. Number four, if you're looking for a volcano in the US, it might not be as far away as you think. In the lower 48 states, there are 40 known active volcanoes, but only two have erupted since 1900. Mount Lassen in California and Mount St. Helens in Washington. Okay. Number five, almost all volcanoes are relatively new, well newish. The average real candle is less than 100,000 years old, which in terms of the history of the Earth is pretty young. Mount Etna in Italy, is considered one of the oldest volcanoes at 350,000 years old.
Tracy Kaplan 5:01
Hey parents and awesome guardians. I'm Tracy Leeds Kaplan, executive producer of The Ten News.
Owen 5:06
I'm Owen and I'm eight and a half.
Tracy Kaplan 5:09
And who are you?
Owen 5:09
You son? How would you like to know the future? Follow us at The Ten News on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. There we drop a few clues on upcoming episodes in emojis.
Tracy Kaplan 5:27
What's your favorite emoji?
Owen 5:28
Maybe the scream emoji.
Tracy Kaplan 5:30
The scream emoji? That's fitting.
Bethany Van Delft 5:33
Now let's check in on what else is happening.
Bethany Van Delft 5:41
There's vaccine news, though this time it's not related to COVID-19. The World Health Organization has endorsed the first-ever vaccine for malaria. Malaria is a really serious disease transmitted by mosquitoes. Malaria is rare in the United States, but it's a big problem in some parts of the world, especially in Africa. Experts hope that this new vaccine will save many, many lives. Let's do this. Last month, a six-year-old boy named Julien Gagnon was exploring the Dinosaur Hill Nature Preserve in Michigan when he found a tooth and not just any tooth, but the giant tooth of a mastodon, an extinct mammal related to elephants that lived 12,000 years ago. Julien is donating the tooth to the University of Michigan and he believes that the discovery is a sign he's meant to be a paleontologist. It belongs to the museum. And in adorable news, twin pandas is born at a zoo in Tokyo over the summer have names now. The female cub will be called Lei Lei while her brother will go by Xiao Xiao. Before choosing the names Tokyo officials asked the public for suggestions and received more than 190,000 entries. The twins will debut at the zoo in January and they're going to be very, very popular.
Bethany Van Delft 7:10
All right, it's time for...
Various Voices 7:13
What, what, what's the big idea?
Bethany Van Delft 7:16
Trivia on The Ten. When we talk about volcanoes, we talk about the ones on land because those are easy to see. But what about volcanoes in the oceans? Yes, there are underwater volcanoes. Scientists don't even know exactly how many volcanoes there are beneath the surface of the sea. But they can guess at what percentage of the Earth's eruptions happen underwater. Is it a) 1/4 b) 1/2, or c) 3/4's?
Bethany Van Delft 7:45
You guessed it, the answer is C. It's estimated that 75% or three-quarters of all magma is produced by underwater volcanoes with an average depth of over 8,000 feet. Finding underwater volcanoes isn't easy. Scientists mapping the oceans think there could be as many as 1 million underwater volcanoes, including some of the biggest volcanoes ever discovered. Wow. Time's up. But before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. Thanks for listening to The Ten News. Look out for new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeartRadio. The Ten News creative team is watching videos of lava flows and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Andrew Hall, and Nathalie Alonso. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and thanks for listening to The Ten News. Don't forget, we love you!
