Book 12, Question 122
How Do Scientists Study a Volcano’s Crater Lake or Glacier?
Many volcanoes have lakes in their craters or glaciers on their slopes, and both can be hazards. Scientists study them to learn about heat and water. A volcano's lake can act like a thermometer.
More fun facts
- Mount Spurr in Alaska is a 3,374 meter tall volcano with a glacier-filled summit basin.
- From 2004 to 2006, Mount Spurr showed more heat, earthquakes and gas, which scientists think came from new magma pushing in.
- The extra heat melted snow and ice from below, and a lake of meltwater grew under the glacier.
- In mid 2004, an ice plug collapsed into that lake, forming a giant hole in the ice called an ice cauldron, which kept widening into 2005.
- Ice crashing into the lake likely pushed water and rock out along paths through the glacier, sending dark debris flows down the mountain.
- A web camera caught one debris flow on May 2, 2005, at the same time the lake level dropped about 15 meters.
- By March 2006, about 5.4 million cubic meters of snow and ice had melted at Spurr's summit.
- In the Cascade Range, scientists monitor water at 25 sites around 10 volcanoes, measuring flow, temperature and chemistry to look for signs of fresh magma.
Sources: U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Geological Survey
Questions kids ask
Why watch a volcano's ice?
Melting ice or a growing meltwater lake can show that heat beneath the volcano is rising.
What clues can volcano water give?
Changes in temperature and chemicals like magmatic carbon dioxide or certain kinds of helium can signal magma below.