CDS (II) 2020 General Knowledge · Question 60 of 120

Correct — D, A-4 B-3 C-2 D-1. Mount Merapi is in central Java and belongs to Indonesia, so A goes with 4. Sakurajima stands over Kagoshima Bay in Kyushu, so B goes with 3, Japan. Mount Vesuvius overlooks the Bay of Naples in Italy, so C goes with 2 — the volcano that buried Pompeii and Herculaneum in AD 79. Mauna Loa is on the island of Hawaii, so D goes with 1. Only option (d) puts all four in place. A useful check while matching: three of these four sit on the Pacific Ring of Fire and one, Vesuvius, does not, which is enough to fix C on its own.

• (a)A-1 B-2 C-3 D-4 — Reverses the whole list. It puts Merapi in Hawaii, Sakurajima in Italy, Vesuvius in Japan and Mauna Loa in Indonesia — every pairing wrong.
• (b)A-1 B-3 C-2 D-4 — Gets Sakurajima and Vesuvius right but swaps the two ends, sending Merapi to Hawaii and Mauna Loa to Indonesia.
• (c)A-4 B-2 C-3 D-1 — Gets Merapi and Mauna Loa right and then transposes the middle pair, putting Sakurajima in Italy and Vesuvius in Japan.

Volcano form follows magma chemistry. Basaltic magma is runny and low in gas, so it spreads in thin flows that pile into broad, gently sloping shield volcanoes — Mauna Loa is the classic example, the largest active shield volcano on Earth. Silica-rich, gas-charged magma is viscous and erupts explosively, building steep composite or strato-volcanoes out of alternating lava and ash; Merapi, Sakurajima and Vesuvius are of that kind, and all three sit where one plate is descending beneath another.

Match-the-list items are fastest when you anchor the one you are surest of and let the options do the rest. Vesuvius and Italy is near-automatic, and only two options place C with 2. Between those, Merapi is unmistakably Indonesian, which settles it. Learn the Ring of Fire membership as the second check: Indonesia, Japan and Hawaii sit in or around the Pacific basin, Italy does not — Vesuvius belongs to the Mediterranean volcanic belt where the African plate meets the Eurasian. Anchor the activity to the exam and note that Mauna Loa erupted again in late 2022 after thirty-eight quiet years.

• Mount Merapi is in central Java, Indonesia, and is among the most active volcanoes in the country.
• Sakurajima lies in Kagoshima Prefecture on Kyushu, Japan, and erupts almost continuously.
• Mount Vesuvius stands near Naples in Italy and destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum in AD 79.
• Mauna Loa, on the island of Hawaii, is the largest active shield volcano on Earth and erupted again in late 2022.
• Merapi, Sakurajima and Mauna Loa lie in or around the Pacific Ring of Fire; Vesuvius belongs to the Mediterranean belt.

• Placing Vesuvius on the Ring of Fire; it belongs to the Mediterranean belt.
• Assuming Mauna Loa is extinct because Kilauea gets more coverage; it erupted in 2022.
• Confusing Merapi in Java with Krakatoa, also Indonesian but a different volcano and a different eruption.

As a volcano-to-location match like this one, as a Ring of Fire question, or through the type of volcano a description implies.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following volcanoes does not lie on the Pacific Ring of Fire?

  • (a)Mount Fuji
  • (b)Mount Merapi
  • (c)Mount Vesuvius
  • (d)Mount St. Helens

  Answer(c) Mount Vesuvius — it belongs to the Mediterranean volcanic belt near Naples, not to the Pacific rim.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Mauna Loa in Hawaii is the world's largest active volcano of which type?

  • (a)Shield volcano
  • (b)Composite volcano
  • (c)Cinder-cone volcano
  • (d)Caldera volcano

  Answer(a) Shield volcano — built up by repeated thin flows of runny basaltic lava.