Earthquakes and Volcanoes

Reader's Digest Pathfinders Earthquakes and VolcanoesARE YOU READY TO ROCK AND ROLL?Because that's what's happening beneath your feet every day, even though most of the time you can't feel it. Giant plates on the surface of our planet are always afloat on the soft, hot rock of Earth's interior. Sometimes the plates grind against each other and suddenly shift position -- that's what makes an earthquake. Other times, hot rock seeps through a gap in the plates and bursts onto the surface as a volcano. You're about to learn more about Earth's amazing, shifting surface in "Earthquakes and Volcanoes."The forces that unleash earthquakes and volcanoes are among the most powerful in nature. Did you know that an earthquake can have 400 times the power of all the nuclear bombs ever exploded? Or that a single volcanic eruption can change the weather around the world? These pages offer plenty of fascinating facts to get you thinking, and that's just the start. You'll get a behind-the-scenes look at some amazing scientific discoveries in the "Inside Story" sections, or find out how to put some science to the test in the "Hands On" features. You can read up on a topic, and then jump straight to a related yet different one.It's up to you.