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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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) Three hundred thousand gallons.
(b) Thirty trillion gallons.
(c) Thirty million gallons.
(d) Three thousand gallons.

2. When the author recounts the moments before the 1973 eruption in Heimaey, he describes what?
(a) A loud, deep sound emanating from the volcano.
(b) An uncanny silence settling over the land.
(c) Vibrations that are not unusual for the region.
(d) A violent shaking of the ground.

3. During Thorbjorn Sigurgeirsson's test run to cool lava by the coastline, what happens?
(a) Lava cools completely and stops flowing.
(b) Water solidifies lava, but it doesn't cool completely.
(c) Water evaporates before it can solidify lava.
(d) Lava cools slightly, but it doesn't solidify.

4. After the eruptions of 1973 end, how many of Heimaey's evacuees return?
(a) Half.
(b) Two-thirds.
(c) All of them.
(d) Only a handful.

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

6. What do doctors dispense to workers who are cooling down the lava in Iceland to soothe their hoarse throats?
(a) Icelandic throat lozenges.
(b) Norwegian chest drops.
(c) Swedish chest lozenges.
(d) Finnish cough drops.

7. What is Thorbjorn Sigurgeirsson's vocation?
(a) Physicist.
(b) Biologist.
(c) Chemist.
(d) Environmentalist.

8. In "Cooling the Lava," when the author redirects his conversation to Hawaii he talks about the The Hawaiian Research Association which formed in:
(a) 1911.
(b) 1885.
(c) 1956.
(d) 1932.

9. What position does Magnus Magnusson hold in 1973?
(a) Prime Minister.
(b) Ambassador.
(c) Governor.
(d) Mayor.

10. With "City Flow" moving towards them in Heimaey, what do pumping crews do?
(a) Board a ship and leave.
(b) Abandon efforts and run away.
(c) Dismantle and move equipment to save it.
(d) Send an emergency request for more crews and equipment.

11. How are residents and livestock evacuated from Heimaey during the 1973 eruptions?
(a) By boats, trains, and planes.
(b) By trains and planes.
(c) By ships, planes, and boats.
(d) By ships and trains.

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

13. What does the U.S. Army Air Corps do to an insulating vent on Mauna Loa volcano in 1935?
(a) Bombs it.
(b) Floods it with water.
(c) Attaches vibration sensors.
(d) Fills it with boulders.

14. Even though Hawaii's Hilo is often threatened by lava flows, Hilo has thus far been protected because:
(a) A tall mountain stands between Hilo and the lava.
(b) Flows stop within a dozen to one mile of the port.
(c) Of man-made barriers.
(d) A freshwater stream slows the lava flow.

15. When does the author visit Vestmannaeyjar?
(a) During the eruption.
(b) Fifteen years after the collapse of the ice shelf.
(c) Fifteen years after the eruption.
(d) When the ice shelf collapses.

Short Answer Questions

1. In gallons, how much water is pumped onto the lava flows of Heimaey each day?

2. Sveinn Eiriksson is a man of:

3. Over two centuries of recorded history, Mauna Loa erupts how often on average?

4. Vestmannaeyjar holds how much of Iceland's total population?

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

(see the answer keys)

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