View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. On January 23, 1973, the five thousand residents of Heimaey, the only populated island of Vestmannaeyjar, are threatened by what?
(a) Flu epidemic.
(b) Lava.
(c) War.
(d) Cracking ice shelf.

2. Both Iceland and Hawaii are the world's most what?
(a) Earthquake-prone islands.
(b) Dangerous places to live.
(c) Inhabited islands.
(d) Productive geophysical hotspots.

3. What does "City Flow" do in Heimaey?
(a) Moves lava streams away from the town.
(b) Kills twenty-nine workers.
(c) Melts the moving mountain.
(d) Crushes houses in its path.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What position does Magnus Magnusson hold in 1973?

2. What childhood fear does Magnus Magnusson share with the author?

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

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

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Is there any warning prior to the eruption in Heimaey that began on January 23, 1973?

2. How old are the oldest parts of Hawaii and Iceland?

3. Briefly describe Mauna Loa.

4. What role does Magnus Magnusson play during the 1973 volcanic eruptions in Heimaey?

5. The author moves away from his discussion of Iceland's 1973 lava eruptions to talk about Hawaii's volcanoes. Describe what he writes about the U.S. Army Air Corps' attempts to stop lava from burying Hawaii's towns and cities.

6. Describe work crews' first attempts at cooling off the lava flows of Heimaey in 1973.

7. How do residents of Heimaey benefit from the cooling but still hot lava after the 1973 eruptions?

8. What is the "City Flow?"

9. How does the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration protect its sensitive, expensive equipment against damaging lava in Hawaii?

10. What is the population of Iceland's Heimaey before and after the 1973 eruptions?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 847 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample