DELOS SANTOS, Jose Raphael M.

February 12,2016

Nat Sci II
Movie Review: Volcano (1997)
Los Angeles, where the movie took place, is geologically active. As we all know, the
famous San Andreas Fault is there. The San Andreas Fault is a transverse fault, which means
the two plates move sideways. The movie was about a sudden volcanic activity on McArthur
Park in Los Angeles but we all know that there is no volcano around the area. Although, it is not
impossible that there will be a volcanic activity there, there is a very small chance. It is because
formation of volcanoes happens in converging fault lines where the subducting plate serves as a
magma source that enables volcano formation. Examples of these regions are Japan and
Alaska where the Pacific Plate is subducting under the said regions. If it so happen that a
volcano was formed over a transverse fault, it would just be a small one.
Another thing is, while they are doing all these things, most of the people do not wear
masks. Ashes from the volcano are like fine shards of glasses so they are all basically breathing
particles of glasses. With this so, it is impossible that no one did have massive bleeding lungs.
All these ashes irritate and wound up lung tissues but no one ever cough.
Next, lava is so hot. No one can ever survive going around near them. Its heat is enough
to melt the cars, send everything into flames even without touching it. The movie showed so
many instances where some people became very close to the flowing lava and yet, they have
not died. When the movie was just starting, one public worker came out an excavation under
Los Angeles after steam release. It is surprising that he was able to get out well in fact, the
steam from beneath is so hot and their excavation is insulating it further. The next instance was
when a train was halted on the K-rails because of a volcanic earthquake. Next thing happened
was lava was already making its way towards them and after some time, there came some
rescuers that aimed to save the lives of the passengers of the said train including the driver. As I
have said, this is impossible also. The subway rail is insulating the lava trapping the heat. Yes,
they felt the heat coming from the flowing lava but they have come very close to it without
having burns. The only man who got burned was the man who saved the life of the driver
because he jumped from the end of the train but the lava was already beneath them so he
landed on it and he slowly got melted away, literally.
Aside from the stated above, most of the things shown in the movie are, I can say, true.
Yes, you can stop lava flow by pouring in a lot of water. Only, you need enough amounts of
water and the right temperature for it to cool the lava down. And you can also redirect the lava
flow to lessen casualties and magnitude of the disaster.
References
Jackson, M. (Director). (1997). Volcano [Motion picture]. United States: 20th Century Fox.
Penny. (2012). Bad geology movies: Volcano, 1997. Retrieved from http://paleopix.com/blog
/2012/12/05/bad-geology-movies-volcano-1997/