THE TIME BOMB Approximately sixty volcanoes erupt every year. Some eruptions are big, some are small. Mount St. Helens is an active volcano in Washington, USA. On May 15th 1980, there was an earthquake in the Mount St. Helens area, and ten minutes later the volcano erupted. An explosion of hot rock, lava and gas, travelling at 300 miles per kour, destroyed everything in the area. There were floods and landslides, and 400 metres of the mountain disappeared. The cloud of volcanic ash was 12 miles high, and the ash closed roads 200 miles away. Now, imagine a volcano 1,000 times bigger and more destructive than Mount St. Helens. Imagine a "super volcano". Experts say that the last eruption of a super volcano was 75,000 years ago in Toba, Indonesia. Plants and animals which were 2,500 miles away from Toba died under 35 centimetres of ash. Ash from the volcano blocked the sun for a year. In this volcanic "winter" it was dark, cold and rainy. The rain was acid and there wasn`t much food. Only 5,000 humans survived on the planet. There is another super volcano in Yellowstone National Park in the USA. Super volcanoes are not mountains; they are under the earth, and under Yellowstone there is an area of lava 50 kilometres long. There are often earthquakes in the area and many experts say that the Yellowstone super volcano will erupt soon. Some scientists predict a 'small' eruption, like Mount St. Helens. Other scientists predict a terrible catastrophe - a catastrophe for the planet and a catrastrophe for man. ja k sie czyta prosze o szybką odpowiedz