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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. To cool the lava flows of 1973, what does Valdimar Jonsson suggest?
(a) Redirecting the flow towards an iceberg.
(b) Stacking ice blocks along the lava's path.
(c) Using ice and snow.
(d) Using ten times more water.

2. What gives Thorbjorn Sigurgeirsson the idea to cool the oncoming flow of lava?
(a) Stories he'd heard of ancestors doing the same.
(b) Watching lava cool by the sea.
(c) His post-graduate studies.
(d) Watching children play by the water.

3. What ultimately happens to the moving piece of mountain on Vestmannaeyjar?
(a) Hits another mountain and stops.
(b) Falls into the ocean.
(c) Completely destroys the town and stops.
(d) Breaks up into smaller, non-moving pieces.

4. How tall does the erupting volcano in Heimaey grow to above sea level?
(a) One thousand two hundred feet.
(b) Three thousand feet.
(c) Seven hundred feet.
(d) One hundred feet.

5. After being hosed down, how long does it take for red-hot lava to turn black?
(a) A month and a half.
(b) Two and a half weeks.
(c) Hours to days.
(d) Four weeks.

6. The U.S. Army Air Corps' actions on an insulating vent on Mauna Loa volcano in 1935 result in what?
(a) Cooled lava.
(b) Better seismic readings.
(c) Debris buildup and redirected lava flows.
(d) Temporary halt of lava flows.

7. When the author visits Vestmannaeyjar, what does he notice?
(a) No polar bears are left.
(b) Most residents have moved out.
(c) Steam still rises from the ground.
(d) Few survived the flu epidemic.

8. How does Sigurdur Steinthorsson monitor volcanic gases during the 1973 eruption?
(a) Measuring static electricity.
(b) Particle detector.
(c) Smoking cigars.
(d) Infrared glasses.

9. When does hot lava stop glowing red?
(a) When the air temperature is minus twenty.
(b) When it hits an iceberg.
(c) Below thirty-five hundred degrees.
(d) Below fifteen hundred degrees.

10. How long does the the Mauna Loa eruption of 1984 last?
(a) Thirty-three weeks.
(b) Thirty-three days.
(c) Three months.
(d) Three weeks.

11. In 1973, the eruptions in Heimaey begin on January 23 and continue vigorously before diminishing in strength through when?
(a) February 25th.
(b) January 30th.
(c) February 5th.
(d) March 1st.

12. The Civil Defense Council in the Reykjavik National Emergency Center is established in 1962 as what?
(a) Volcano eruption monitoring station.
(b) Natural disaster preparedness center.
(c) Storm-monitoring communication headquarters.
(d) Command-post bomb shelter.

13. Heimaey is about the same size as:
(a) Manhattan south of the Empire State Building.
(b) Seattle west of the Space Needle.
(c) San Francisco north of Chinatown.
(d) Washington, D.C. east of the Washington Monument.

14. How much water is pumped onto a lava field directly in the path of the moving mountain headed towards Heimaey's town and harbor?
(a) Thirty million gallons.
(b) Three hundred thousand gallons.
(c) Three thousand gallons.
(d) Thirty trillion gallons.

15. What do work crews call the two-million ton floating mountain that breaks off during the 1973 eruptions?
(a) Surtsey the Fiery.
(b) Flakkarinn the Wanderer.
(c) Haukadalur the Ominous.
(d) Dettifoss the Mountain.

Short Answer Questions

1. Sveinn Eiriksson is a man of:

2. What position does Magnus Magnusson hold in 1973?

3. When the author walks the streets of Iceland's Heimaey years after the 1973 eruption, what does he see?

4. Officials propose to protect Hilo, Hawaii's second-largest city and port, against lava flows through what?

5. Why do residents of Heimaey hose down oncoming lava?

(see the answer keys)

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