40 Volcano Trivia Questions for Kids

1. What is an opening where lava and gases come out of a volcano called?

2. Where can magma collect below a volcano before an eruption?

3. A volcano’s conduit acts most like which part of a house?

4. Lava sometimes comes from a long crack instead of a round opening. What is that crack called?

5. What is the bowl-shaped hollow around many volcano openings called?

6. What can form when the ground above a partly emptied magma chamber sinks down?

7. A composite volcano is built from layers of which materials?

8. Which small volcanic hill is built mainly from loose cinders piled around a vent?

9. What happens when very sticky lava builds a lava dome?

10. What word describes how strongly lava resists flowing?

11. Which lava-flow name describes a rough, jagged surface?

12. Which lava surface can look like loops of twisted rope?

13. Rounded blobs called pillow lava usually form when lava erupts where?

14. What can remain after flowing lava drains out from under its hardened roof?

15. In a lava tube, what is a “skylight”?

16. What is a jet of lava spraying upward from a volcanic opening called?

17. What fills a lava lake while it is molten?

18. Why can a thick lava flow split into tall rock columns as it cools?

19. Which rock forms when volcanic ash becomes packed or welded together?

20. What is volcanic ash made of?

21. What name is used for small volcanic fragments about pebble size?

22. The volcanic rock andesite takes its name from which mountains?

23. Which dark volcanic rock makes up most of Hawaiʻi’s lava flows?

24. Which gas is usually the most abundant gas released by volcanoes?

25. In a volcanic area, what warms the water that rises in a hot spring?

26. Which natural feature sends out repeated bursts of hot water and steam?

27. What is a fumarole?

28. A geyser’s underground passages have narrow spots. What can build up behind them?

29. What produces many orange and yellow mats around Yellowstone hot springs?

30. Old Faithful geyser is in which national park?

31. The volcanic belt called the Ring of Fire curves around which ocean?

32. At a volcanic subduction zone, what happens to one tectonic plate?

33. At a spreading boundary where magma rises, which way do the plates move?

34. Kīlauea stands on which Hawaiian island?

35. What does the Hawaiian name Mauna Loa mean?

36. Mount Vesuvius overlooks the bay beside which Italian city?

37. Mount Etna is on which Italian island?

38. On which continent would you find Mount Erebus?

39. Mount Teide rises on which of the Canary Islands?

40. Parícutin began growing in Mexico in 1943 in which unlikely place?