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Geology Adventures

Geology Adventures
The average person does not notice, nor understand the makings of the environment which surround him or her. It seems only when one travels away from home that the word “world” takes on a new meaning. New experiences can academically and scientifically stimulate parts of oneself that, he or she never knew existed or had an interest in. An understanding of the world around us is an absolute necessity in order to protect and preserve it. More importantly, this required understanding will also reveal both the history and possible future of our fascinating planet. To begin this path to understanding our planet we will embark on a Geology Adventures tour which will not only fascinate, but educate as well. We will first start with an island volcano in the Caribbean Sea, then head north – northwest to the mid-southern United States to experience some peculiarly located hot springs. Lastly we will travel back the Caribbean Sea, just southwest of the island volcano to another island with every type of coastline found worldwide packed into one island.
There are many different types of volcanoes seen all over the world. Some are seen as the most dangerous and violent in the world, responsible for taking the lives of thousands of people without warning. One of these is our first stop on our tour of Geology Adventures. For its unique behavior as a volcano and its particular type of eruption it has been given its own category known as a pelean-type eruption; Mount Pelée is considered one of the most deadly, and yet most beautiful volcanoes in the world (Britannica Online, 2007).
Mount Pelée is located on a “classic island arc” on the Caribbean Island of Martinique in the French West Indies, between Puerto Rico and Venezuela (Lesales, 2007). This particular area is where the Caribbean and Atlantic tectonic plates meet causing the volcano chain of islands in that region. Mount Pelée is classified as a stratovolcano due to its history of violent eruptions...