Volcano Questions

Michal wrote about our recent trip to Idaho, which included Craters of the Moon National Monument. We spent oodles of time in the car with a five, four, and not quite two year old. While we were driving through the volcanic landscape, Theo (and Vivian contributed a time or two) came up with the following questions about the scenery:

How can a volcano spread this much out? (Many volcanoes)

How can it spread this wide? (see above)

How big tall and wide was the volcano? (Many volcanoes)

What was its name? (Lots of names, including one called Inferno)

Was it a stratovolcano? (No)

How many trees used to be here? 

What did the early days look like before the volcano erupted?

How much lava did the volcano throw out?

How many houses did the volcano knock down?

How many people died?

Does the volcano have gas in it?

Did this road get knocked off?

How many rivers had the lava in it?

The short answer to most his questions (we asked a ranger on duty): It was a lot of different volcanoes over a very long period of time (certainly to a five year old).