# Volcanoes - Earth-Shattering News: answers and explanations

Cambridge IELTS 4, Test 3, Reading Passage 2

Source: Passage, questions and answer key from Cambridge IELTS 4, Test 3, Reading Passage 2. © Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Used for educational practice. Explanations and evidence notes are written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 14 | iii | Volcanism, the name given to volcanic processes, really has shaped the world. |
| 15 | i | These fracture zones, where the collisions occur, are where earthquakes happen. And, very often, volcanoes. |
| 16 | iv | Every eruption is different ... Sometimes the magma moves very swiftly indeed. |
| 17 | vi | But volcanoes are not very predictable. |
| 18 | plates | you can see the rough outlines of what are called tectonic plates |
| 19 | magma | vast bubbles of magma - molten rock from the mantle - inch towards the surface |
| 20 | ring of fire | The most dramatic of these is the Pacific 'ring of fire' where there have been the most violent explosions |
| 21 | 600 | later the lava cools slowly into a huge, hard, stable plug ... In the case of Mount Pinatubo, this took 600 years. |
| 22 | water | they are also thought to have made the world's first stable atmosphere and provided all the water for the oceans |
| 23 | lava | inch towards the surface, cooling slowly, to show through as granite extrusions |
| 24 | India | In the Deccan plateau in western India |
| 25 | explodes | and it explodes with tremendous force. |
| 26 | gases | The gases trapped inside the boiling rock expand suddenly |

## Why these answers are right

**14. iii.** Section A describes how eruptions rifted continents, raised mountain chains, built islands and even supplied the atmosphere and the water in the oceans. Its theme is how volcanoes formed the earth, which matches heading iii, Volcanoes and the features of our planet.

**15. i.** Section B explains the layers of the earth and how slowly flowing mantle rock cracks the crust into plates. The fracture zones where plates collide are where earthquakes and very often volcanoes occur, so the section gives the causes of eruption, heading i.

**16. iv.** Section C says every eruption is different and then describes slow magma forming granite, faster magma spreading in thick sheets, and very fast magma that explodes. These contrasting kinds of eruption match heading iv, Different types of volcanic eruption.

The why and the trap for questions 17 onwards are free with an account on the [answers page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/volcanoes-earth-shattering-news/answers).

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