Do you know where I could find evidence that a volcano would or would not occur in Delaware. I am doing a project for an introductory college geology course and I need to state the probability of a volcano occurring in Delaware. I have been unable to locate any maps on the internet that show the composition of the crust in Delaware or any maps that show the distribution of the volcanoes worldwide. Could you please help me?

Heidi Keller(incredibly frustrated)

Dear incredibly frustrated Heidi,

Volcanoes are associated with plate boundaries (like the "Ring of Fire" around the Pacific), hot spots (like Hawaii), or rifts (like volcanoes in Antarctica). Delaware is a fine state but it lacks the conditions to produce volcanoes.

You might contact the very nice people at the Delaware Geological Survey for a map of the surface geology of your state:

Delaware Geological Survey
DGS Building
University of Delaware
Newark, Delaware 19716

Your geology text book should have a map that shows the distribution of the volcanoes worldwide. If not try another Intro text book. If they fail go to the library for a copy of Volcanoes of the World:

Simkin, T., and Siebert, L., 1994, Volcanoes of the World: Geoscience Press, Tucson, Arizona, 349 p.

Good luck in class.

Steve Mattox, University of North Dakota

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