Reference no: EM133532569

Assignment:

What is the reason for calling the five big volcanoes on Hawai'i "shield volcanoes"? In other words, what is the origin of this name in terms of the significance of the volcano form? Select the best answer.

a. Prior to modern warfare, warriors often used shields as protection during battle. The shape of these shields when placed on the ground could be described as having a broad dome shape -- like the big volcanoes found on the Big island.

b. There is some big of truth to all of these answers, and thus this is the best answer to pick.

C. The term shield volcano was proposed by Captain Cook upon first seeing the Big Island upon realizing that the large mountainous forms were volcanoes. Exactly why Captain Cook named them shield volcanoes is not known for sure. There are some who argue he was drunk at the time and was trying to say something else as a name, but what came out of his mouth best resembled the term "shield" and thus the term stuck.

D. The term "shield volcano" originated in the Gulf War, when the the MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missing (SAM) system was first deployed after manufactured by the U.S. defense contractor Raytheon. The SAM system's area of operational deployment is best described as a broad dome shape ... where the area of protection would be under this broad dome shape of a shield. Thus, volcanoes with a broad dome shape are given the name shield volcano -- named for the shield of this defensive missile system.