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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Los Angeles Against the Mountains.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When the author walks the streets of Iceland's Heimaey years after the 1973 eruption, what does he see?
(a) A town twice as large as before the eruption.
(b) Several new neighborhoods built atop cooled lava flows.
(c) Vacant houses that have never been repaired.
(d) A completely deserted ghost town.

2. McPhee acknowledges that Pasadena Glen in the mountains of Southern California is a tranquil place providing an escape from city life, but he points out the danger of:
(a) Boulders rumbling down.
(b) High winds damaging homes.
(c) Brush fires starting in canyons.
(d) Depression that stems from isolation.

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

4. In Hawaii, how many volcanoes are there within the group that includes Mauna Loa?
(a) Two.
(b) Five.
(c) Ten.
(d) Seven.

5. The author asserts that due to floods in the region, Louisiana loses how much land each year?
(a) Seven hundred acres.
(b) A thousand square miles.
(c) Three acres.
(d) Fifty square miles.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is a weir?

2. In the mountain neighborhood called Pasadena Glen in Southern California, what is built above the highest home to protect the neighborhood?

3. Thorbjorn Sigurgeirsson is a native of which country?

4. The author tells stories of the following people in conflict with forces of nature:

5. The first debris basin in Southern California starts out as what?

(see the answer key)

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