Lava tree mold

High school (ages 12+)
Geography

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/lava-tree-mold

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the paleoenvironmental proxy?Provides data on ancient forest composition, structure, and vegetation succession
2. What is the volcanological application?Informs understanding of lava flow dynamics, eruption history, and hazard assessment
3. What are lava tree molds?Lava tree molds are big, hollow shapes left in solid lava where trees once stood. They look like the outside of a tree trunk but are made of rock.
4. How do lava tree molds form?When hot lava flows over trees, the lava cools on the outside and keeps the tree’s shape. The heat burns the tree away, leaving a hollow space inside the rock.

Effusive eruption: A volcanic eruption characterized by the relatively gentle outflow of lava, rather than explosive ejection of ash.
Pyrolysis: The thermal decomposition of materials at elevated temperatures in an inert atmosphere or vacuum.
Paleoenvironmental proxy: A natural archive that provides indirect evidence of past environmental conditions.
Taphonomy: The study of the processes of fossilization, from the death of the organism to its discovery as a fossil.