SCIENCE
Use our resources to better understand volcanoes.

Photograph by Alpsdake, courtesy Wikimedia. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Discussion Ideas
- Read through our activity “Types of Volcanic Eruptions,” which includes a video about volcanoes and volcanic eruptions. The video describes some differences between composite volcanoes and shield volcanoes. Based on Nat Geo photographer Carsten Peter’s description of the eruption, do you think Mount Ontake is a composite volcano or a shield volcano? Why?
- Mount Ontake is a classic composite volcano, also called a stratovolcano.
- Mount Ontake has steep slopes, like most composite volcanoes.
- Mount Ontake erupted suddenly and violently, a characteristic of composite volcanoes.
- Mount Ontake erupted with toxic gases and ash, both characteristics of composite volcanoes.
- Mount Ontake is a classic composite volcano, also called a stratovolcano.
- The video used in “Types of Volcanic Eruptions” also describes where volcanoes form. Some volcanoes form at the boundaries of Earth’s tectonic plates, while others form over “hot spots”—or cracks in the Earth’s crust in the middle of a tectonic plate. Use our MapMaker Interactive’s “Plate Tectonics” layer to determine if Mount Ontake formed on a tectonic boundary or a hot spot.
- Tectonic boundary. Mount Ontake, like all volcanoes in Japan, is part of the Ring of Fire, a string of volcanoes roughly circling the Pacific Ocean. Central Japan lies near the boundary of the Eurasian, North American, Pacific, and Philippine plates.

NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
- Look at our MapMaker Interactive Map of Japan’s tectonic plates. Click on the first bookmark, “Japan volcanoes,” which highlights our layer on Japan’s volcanic activity. Use the zoom feature to find Mount Ontake, which is just about halfway between the cities of Nagoya and Matsumoto. Using the “Legend” tab in top right menu, can you determine the number of significant volcanic eruptions experienced by Mount Ontake?
- No! Trick question! Mount Ontake is not represented by a symbol on the map, as this is its first significant volcanic eruption.

- PUT MOUNT ONTAKE ON THE MAP! Start from here.
- 1. Use the zoom feature to find Mount Ontake—it’s the big mountain (3,062 meters) between Nagoya and Matsumoto.
- 2. Use the volcano marker to mark the spot.
- 3. Use the text feature (T) to label Mount Ontake.
- 4. Your map might look like the “Mount Ontake” bookmark here!
TEACHER TOOLKIT
NG News Article: Q&A: Veteran Volcano Climber on the Allure, Danger of Japan’s “Holy Mountain”
Activity: Types of Volcanic Eruptions
MapMaker Interactive: