Vulcanology is one of the most exciting branches of Earth Sciences.  Many science fair prizes have been won by students who created mock-ups of volcanoes using paper maché and baking soda., but there are other ways you can explore the filed of Vulcanology without making a mess.

For our example, we have chosen to feature one of the most recent volcanoes to have formed on the Western Hemisphere, the Paricutin.

Facts about the Paricutin Volcano

• The Paricutin eruption took place between February 1943 and February 1952.
• The Paricutin volcano grew out of a cornfield.
• The worst of Paricutin's volcanic activity, took place in 1943, with its lava rising to about 50 feet below the crater's rim.
• The Paricutin volcano now stands at exactly 1,345 feet above the ground and 9,210 feet above sea level.
• It hardened lava is covers about 10 square miles, its volcanic sand (unconsolidated fragments of volcanic material) covers about 20 square miles
• The type of eruption which happened at Paricutin is called a Strombolian eruption, which means it gushed basaltic lava, and exploded from a single vent.
• Nearly 1000 people died following one of its last major eruptions in 1949.
• Paricutin is situated about 200 miles west of Mexico City, in the state of Michoacán, Mexico.
• Ashes from the volcano fell as far as Mexico City.
• The Paricutin is part of the Volcanic Axis, a.k.a., "The Transversal", a 700 mile line of volcanoes that extends across southern Mexico in an east-west direction.
• It is the only one of several hundred cones in the area to have erupted in historic times.
• The Paricutin is a Monogenetic cone, meaning it stems from a single point of eruption.
• The man who first Witnessed the eruption in 1943, was Dominic Pulido, a Tarascan Indian farmer.
• Paricutin is named after a small Tarascan Indian village

Possible Topics

• The story of Paricutin
• Different types of volcanoes
• The effects of volcanic eruptions on the environment
• The composition of volcanic rock
• The study of plate tectonics

The information appearing on this page was used by permission of www.paricutin.com