An eruption is the time when a volcano throws out molten rock, ash and gas. Lava is molten rock that pours out onto the surface; it flows, then cools and hardens into new rock. Volcanic ash is made of tiny pieces of rock and glass blown into the air by an eruption; it falls back like a grey snow.


示例
Example 8.3 (Mount St. Helens, 1980)
In the spring of 1980, a bulge grew on the side of Mount St. Helens, as molten rock pushed up inside the mountain. On the morning of 18 May, a small earthquake shook the mountain, the bulge slid away in a giant landslide, and the volcano exploded sideways and upwards. The top 400 metres of the mountain were gone: the summit became a huge crater.