Lesson 6 Activity 2: There's a Volcano in my Backyard!

• 45-minute work session one followup project
• Using a volcanic hazard map of Mount Rainier, students reach conclusions about the potential hazards of future eruptions. They then create educational materials about these hazards.

Key teaching points

• Mount Rainier is located 35 kilometers (21 miles) southeast of the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area - an area that has a population of 2.5 million.

• Mount Rainier is an active volcano whose last major eruption was approximately 150 years ago.

• Mount Rainier has five times as much snow and glacier ice as all the other Cascades volcanoes combined. Mudflows are the most dangerous hazard.

• Throughout the volcano's history, there have been numerous mudflows. Today, parts of Tacoma, Wash., and many other smaller communities have been built on top of these old flows - evidence that they lie within the reach of future mudflows that could originate from an eruption of Mount Rainier.

• An eruption of Mount Rainier could kill hundreds of thousands of people and cripple the region's economy.

Materials

Work Session

1. Review with students that Mount St. Helens is one of a number of active volcanoes in the Cascade Range. Some others include: Mount Baker, Mount Rainier, and Mount Adams in Washington; Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson, and Crater Lake in Oregon; and Mount Shasta and Lassen Peak in California.

2. On a large map, locate Mount Rainier and locate cities within 80 kilometers (50 miles) of it.

3. As a class, list the major eruptive events (include avalanches, mudflows, and tephra falls) that occurred during the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.

4. Using an overhead projector, show students the eruptive history map of Mount Rainier (see Activity Sheet 6.2). Explain that scientists study past eruptions to help them forecast future eruptions. Looking at this map, what type of eruptive events have occurred in the past

5. Distribute Activity Sheet 6.2.
   Tell students they will look at Mount Rainier's history of volcanic mudflows and forecast if there are any cities that would be at risk during a future eruption.

6. Discuss: What cities, if any, would be at risk if there were a future eruption? Is it possible, or practical, to eliminate all risks to these cities? What things can be done to reduce risks to life and property? Conclude that public education is a major activity.

Followup Project