Inside a Volcano

Our mission was inside a real volcano—and the only way there was down! “All aboard!” called Professor Pebble, inviting us into a heat-proof drill pod built for this sizzling adventure. BRRRR went the drill as we headed beneath the ground, leaving the world above behind. What glowing secret was waiting deep below our feet?

Deep underground, we found a glowing pool of magma—rock so hot it had melted! “It can be hotter than one thousand degrees Celsius,” Professor Pebble told us as we peered out from our heat-proof pod. Blub, blub—the magma bubbled, and suddenly this hidden world felt very much alive. Why were those bubbles growing?

Those gas bubbles were expanding, pushing magma upward, rather like the fizz rushing out when you open a shaken soda bottle. “Hold on!” called Professor Pebble as the rising magma carried our pod with it. RUMBLE—the volcano was about to erupt, and we were caught in the rush. Where would all that pushing send us?

WHOOSH—the volcano erupted, and our heat-proof pod popped out into the sky! “We made it!” we cheered, bursting from that rumbling underground world into the wide-open air above the volcano. The glowing magma had reached the surface, so now it had a new name: lava. But what would happen when that hot lava reached the sea?

HISSS—the lava flowed into the sea, where it cooled and hardened into solid rock, making new land! “An island can grow this way,” said Professor Pebble, “as eruption after eruption builds a volcano up from the seafloor.” That is how the Hawaiian Islands began, growing until they rose above the waves. Our Earth was making something new—and we had shared its wonderful secret.