Volcanoes and Earthquakes Quiz
Pompeii, Krakatoa, the Ring of Fire and a magnitude 9.5 monster: 15 questions on the planet's most violent moments.
Which volcano destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum in AD 79?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Mount Vesuvius
Vesuvius, near Naples, buried Pompeii under metres of ash and pumice and Herculaneum under pyroclastic flows in AD 79, preserving both Roman towns until excavations began in the eighteenth century.
Pliny the Younger watched the eruption from across the bay and wrote the first detailed eyewitness account of a volcanic eruption, which is why such blasts are called Plinian.
The Ring of Fire, where most of the world's active volcanoes sit, surrounds which ocean?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Pacific Ocean
The Ring of Fire traces the edges of the Pacific plate and its neighbours from New Zealand up through Japan and across to the Americas, hosting about 75 percent of Earth's active volcanoes.
Around 90 percent of the world's earthquakes also happen along the Ring of Fire, where oceanic plates dive beneath continental ones in subduction zones.
What is molten rock called once it reaches the Earth's surface?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Lava
Molten rock is called magma while it remains underground; the moment it erupts through a vent or fissure onto the surface it becomes lava, which cools into solid rock.
Runny basaltic lava in Hawaii can flow faster than a person can run, while sticky, silica-rich lava barely moves and tends to explode instead.
Mount St. Helens, which erupted catastrophically in 1980, is in which US state?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Washington
Mount St. Helens in Washington's Cascade Range blew out its north face on 18 May 1980, killing 57 people and losing about 400 metres (1,300 feet) of its summit in the deadliest eruption in US history.
The blast flattened some 600 square kilometres (230 square miles) of forest and sent ash drifting across eleven states.
Which fault runs for about 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) through California?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault marks the boundary where the Pacific plate grinds northwest past the North American plate, and it was responsible for the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
The two sides slide past each other at roughly 5 centimetres (2 inches) a year, so Los Angeles is slowly creeping towards San Francisco.
What is the name for the point on the Earth's surface directly above where an earthquake begins?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Epicenter
The epicenter is the spot on the surface directly above the hypocenter, or focus, where the rock first ruptures underground, and it is usually where the shaking is felt most strongly.
Seismologists locate an epicenter by comparing arrival times of fast P waves and slower S waves at three or more seismograph stations.
Which volcano's 1883 eruption produced the loudest sound in recorded history?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Krakatoa
Krakatoa, between Java and Sumatra, blew itself apart on 27 August 1883 with a blast heard about 4,800 kilometres (3,000 miles) away on Rodrigues Island, near Mauritius.
The tsunamis it caused killed more than 36,000 people, and a new volcano, Anak Krakatau, meaning child of Krakatoa, rose from the sea in 1927.
Which active volcano towers over the Sicilian city of Catania?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Mount Etna
Mount Etna rises to around 3,350 metres (11,000 feet) above Catania on Sicily's east coast and is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, erupting almost every year.
Etna's height changes with each summit eruption; a burst of activity in 2021 added roughly 30 metres (100 feet) to its southeast crater.
The 2010 eruption of which Icelandic volcano grounded flights across Europe for days?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Eyjafjallajökull
Eyjafjallajökull erupted in April 2010 under a glacier, producing fine ash that drifted across Europe and caused the largest shutdown of airspace since the Second World War, cancelling around 100,000 flights.
The name means island mountain glacier, and newsreaders worldwide struggled with it; its larger neighbour Katla has historically erupted soon after it.
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was triggered by an earthquake off the coast of which island?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Sumatra
A magnitude 9.1 earthquake off northern Sumatra on 26 December 2004 lifted the seafloor and sent tsunami waves across the Indian Ocean, killing around 230,000 people in 14 countries.
The fault ruptured along roughly 1,300 kilometres (800 miles), the longest ever recorded, and the shaking lasted nearly ten minutes.
The most powerful earthquake ever recorded, magnitude 9.5 in 1960, struck which country?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Chile
The Valdivia earthquake of 22 May 1960 in southern Chile measured about magnitude 9.5, the strongest ever recorded by instruments, and its tsunami killed people as far away as Hawaii and Japan.
The second strongest on record, the 1964 Good Friday earthquake in Alaska, hit magnitude 9.2 and shook the ground for more than four minutes.
Which volcano's 1815 eruption, the largest in recorded history, caused the Year Without a Summer?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Mount Tambora
Mount Tambora on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa erupted in April 1815 with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 7, hurling so much ash and sulphur into the sky that global temperatures fell and crops failed in 1816.
The gloomy, cold summer of 1816 kept Mary Shelley indoors in Switzerland, where she began writing Frankenstein.
What type of plate boundary is found where two tectonic plates move apart and new crust forms?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Divergent
At a divergent boundary, such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge or East Africa's Rift Valley, plates pull apart and magma rises to fill the gap, creating new oceanic crust.
Convergent boundaries push plates together to build mountains or subduction zones, while transform boundaries like the San Andreas slide past each other.
Which Hawaiian volcano is the largest active volcano on Earth?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Mauna Loa
Mauna Loa on Hawaii's Big Island is the largest active volcano by volume, rising about 4,170 metres (13,680 feet) above sea level and some 9 kilometres (5.6 miles) from its base on the seafloor.
It has erupted 34 times since 1843, most recently in late 2022 after nearly four decades of quiet.
Which scale do seismologists now use to measure large earthquakes, having largely replaced the Richter scale?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Moment magnitude scale
The moment magnitude scale, introduced in 1979, measures the total energy released by a quake and works for huge events where the 1935 Richter scale saturates, which is why modern figures like 9.1 use it.
The Mercalli scale is still used alongside it, but it rates the shaking felt and damage done at a location rather than the earthquake's size.
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All Geography quizzes →About the Volcanoes and Earthquakes Quiz
In 1883 the eruption of Krakatoa produced the loudest sound in recorded history, heard nearly 4,800 kilometres (3,000 miles) away. In 1960 an earthquake off Chile reached magnitude 9.5, the most powerful ever measured, and sent tsunamis as far as Japan. Both happened on the Ring of Fire, the horseshoe of volcanoes and fault lines that circles the Pacific and hosts about three quarters of the world's active volcanoes.
These 15 questions cover the famous eruptions from Pompeii to Eyjafjallajökull, the basics of plate tectonics, the terms geologists use, and the biggest earthquakes of the modern era. It suits science fans, disaster documentary addicts and anyone who has ever stood on a volcano and wondered what was going on underneath.
You will find 15 multiple choice questions here, each with four options. Difficulty: Medium. Most people finish in about 6 minutes, and every answer comes with a short explanation and one extra fact worth keeping.
How to play
Read the question and pick one of the four answers. The correct answer is revealed straight away with a short explanation, then press Next question to keep going. At the end you get your score out of 15 and a full review of your round. Play again any time and the questions arrive in a fresh order. There is no timer and no account.
Good to know before you play
What is the Ring of Fire?
A roughly 40,000 kilometre (25,000 mile) horseshoe around the Pacific Ocean where tectonic plates collide, producing most of the world's earthquakes and about 75 percent of its active volcanoes.
What was the biggest earthquake ever recorded?
The 1960 Valdivia earthquake in southern Chile, measured at about magnitude 9.5. It triggered tsunamis that killed people as far away as Hawaii and Japan.
What is the difference between magma and lava?
Magma is molten rock below the Earth's surface. Once it erupts or flows out onto the surface it is called lava.
Answer key: all 15 questions with explanations
- Which volcano destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum in AD 79?
Mount Vesuvius Vesuvius, near Naples, buried Pompeii under metres of ash and pumice and Herculaneum under pyroclastic flows in AD 79, preserving both Roman towns until excavations began in the eighteenth century. Pliny the Younger watched the eruption from across the bay and wrote the first detailed eyewitness account of a volcanic eruption, which is why such blasts are called Plinian. - The Ring of Fire, where most of the world's active volcanoes sit, surrounds which ocean?
Pacific Ocean The Ring of Fire traces the edges of the Pacific plate and its neighbours from New Zealand up through Japan and across to the Americas, hosting about 75 percent of Earth's active volcanoes. Around 90 percent of the world's earthquakes also happen along the Ring of Fire, where oceanic plates dive beneath continental ones in subduction zones. - What is molten rock called once it reaches the Earth's surface?
Lava Molten rock is called magma while it remains underground; the moment it erupts through a vent or fissure onto the surface it becomes lava, which cools into solid rock. Runny basaltic lava in Hawaii can flow faster than a person can run, while sticky, silica-rich lava barely moves and tends to explode instead. - Mount St. Helens, which erupted catastrophically in 1980, is in which US state?
Washington Mount St. Helens in Washington's Cascade Range blew out its north face on 18 May 1980, killing 57 people and losing about 400 metres (1,300 feet) of its summit in the deadliest eruption in US history. The blast flattened some 600 square kilometres (230 square miles) of forest and sent ash drifting across eleven states. - Which fault runs for about 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) through California?
San Andreas Fault The San Andreas Fault marks the boundary where the Pacific plate grinds northwest past the North American plate, and it was responsible for the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The two sides slide past each other at roughly 5 centimetres (2 inches) a year, so Los Angeles is slowly creeping towards San Francisco. - What is the name for the point on the Earth's surface directly above where an earthquake begins?
Epicenter The epicenter is the spot on the surface directly above the hypocenter, or focus, where the rock first ruptures underground, and it is usually where the shaking is felt most strongly. Seismologists locate an epicenter by comparing arrival times of fast P waves and slower S waves at three or more seismograph stations. - Which volcano's 1883 eruption produced the loudest sound in recorded history?
Krakatoa Krakatoa, between Java and Sumatra, blew itself apart on 27 August 1883 with a blast heard about 4,800 kilometres (3,000 miles) away on Rodrigues Island, near Mauritius. The tsunamis it caused killed more than 36,000 people, and a new volcano, Anak Krakatau, meaning child of Krakatoa, rose from the sea in 1927. - Which active volcano towers over the Sicilian city of Catania?
Mount Etna Mount Etna rises to around 3,350 metres (11,000 feet) above Catania on Sicily's east coast and is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, erupting almost every year. Etna's height changes with each summit eruption; a burst of activity in 2021 added roughly 30 metres (100 feet) to its southeast crater. - The 2010 eruption of which Icelandic volcano grounded flights across Europe for days?
Eyjafjallajökull Eyjafjallajökull erupted in April 2010 under a glacier, producing fine ash that drifted across Europe and caused the largest shutdown of airspace since the Second World War, cancelling around 100,000 flights. The name means island mountain glacier, and newsreaders worldwide struggled with it; its larger neighbour Katla has historically erupted soon after it. - The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was triggered by an earthquake off the coast of which island?
Sumatra A magnitude 9.1 earthquake off northern Sumatra on 26 December 2004 lifted the seafloor and sent tsunami waves across the Indian Ocean, killing around 230,000 people in 14 countries. The fault ruptured along roughly 1,300 kilometres (800 miles), the longest ever recorded, and the shaking lasted nearly ten minutes. - The most powerful earthquake ever recorded, magnitude 9.5 in 1960, struck which country?
Chile The Valdivia earthquake of 22 May 1960 in southern Chile measured about magnitude 9.5, the strongest ever recorded by instruments, and its tsunami killed people as far away as Hawaii and Japan. The second strongest on record, the 1964 Good Friday earthquake in Alaska, hit magnitude 9.2 and shook the ground for more than four minutes. - Which volcano's 1815 eruption, the largest in recorded history, caused the Year Without a Summer?
Mount Tambora Mount Tambora on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa erupted in April 1815 with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 7, hurling so much ash and sulphur into the sky that global temperatures fell and crops failed in 1816. The gloomy, cold summer of 1816 kept Mary Shelley indoors in Switzerland, where she began writing Frankenstein. - What type of plate boundary is found where two tectonic plates move apart and new crust forms?
Divergent At a divergent boundary, such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge or East Africa's Rift Valley, plates pull apart and magma rises to fill the gap, creating new oceanic crust. Convergent boundaries push plates together to build mountains or subduction zones, while transform boundaries like the San Andreas slide past each other. - Which Hawaiian volcano is the largest active volcano on Earth?
Mauna Loa Mauna Loa on Hawaii's Big Island is the largest active volcano by volume, rising about 4,170 metres (13,680 feet) above sea level and some 9 kilometres (5.6 miles) from its base on the seafloor. It has erupted 34 times since 1843, most recently in late 2022 after nearly four decades of quiet. - Which scale do seismologists now use to measure large earthquakes, having largely replaced the Richter scale?
Moment magnitude scale The moment magnitude scale, introduced in 1979, measures the total energy released by a quake and works for huge events where the 1935 Richter scale saturates, which is why modern figures like 9.1 use it. The Mercalli scale is still used alongside it, but it rates the shaking felt and damage done at a location rather than the earthquake's size.
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