Teach Yourself Volcanoes, Earthquakes and Tsunamis

by Rothery, David

• ISBN13: 9780071497008
• ISBN10: 0071497005
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-10-12
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Summary

Volcanoes, Earthquakes and Tsunamis is the essential guide to these fascinating natural hazards. These three phenomena pose the most frightening geological events with which we inhabitants of planet Earth have to contend. This book focuses on plate tectonics before delving into the nitty-gritty of the ensuing hazards so that you soon have a clear understanding of what causes them, how they relate to each other, and how they can be predicted and, if possible, controlled. Book jacket.

Author Biography

David Rothery is a volcanologist and geologist. He is a senior lecturer at the Open University. His international collaborative research on active volcanoes has taken him to places as diverse as Hawaii, the Americas, Indonesia and Italy.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
How the Earth moves	p. 5
Magma, minerals and rocks	p. 6
Compositional layering of the Earth's interior	p. 7
Mechanical layering of the Earth's interior	p. 11
Plate tectonics, earthquakes and magma generation	p. 13
Volcanoes and plate boundaries	p. 21
Partial melting	p. 25
Eruptions	p. 27
Magma migration and magma rise	p. 28
How rising magma evolves	p. 32
Volcano plumbing	p. 36
Eruptions	p. 42
Eruption triggers	p. 59
The sizes of eruptions	p. 61
Eruption frequency and duration	p. 61
Non-erupting volcanoes	p. 62
Types of volcano	p. 65
Composite cone volcanoes	p. 66
Shield volcanoes	p. 77
Flood basalts	p. 84
Monogenetic features	p. 87
Calderas	p. 92
Subglacial volcanoes	p. 96
Undersea volcanoes	p. 97
Volcanic hazards	p. 103
Lava flows	p. 107
Pyroclastic flows	p. 112
Airfall	p. 122
Eruption clouds and air traffic	p. 126
Debris avalanches	p. 128
Volcanogenic tsunamis	p. 128
Lahars	p. 133
Jokulhlaups	p. 137
Gases and air pollution	p. 138
Volcanoes and climate	p. 144
Recent volcanic climate disturbances	p. 145
Volcanoes and human history	p. 151
Toba	p. 155
Supervolcanoes	p. 156
Continental flood basalts and mass extinctions	p. 160
Monitoring volcanoes	p. 162
Volcano observatories	p. 163
Seismic monitoring	p. 164
Ground deformation	p. 172
Microgravity monitoring	p. 176
Magnetic and electric monitoring	p. 177
Infrasound	p. 178
Lahar warnings	p. 179
Gas analyses	p. 179
Thermal monitoring	p. 183
Remote sensing	p. 185
Living with volcanoes	p. 192
Why live near a volcano?	p. 193
Benefits of volcanoes	p. 194
Volcanic hazards and volcanic risk	p. 197
Warnings and crisis management	p. 198
Getting it right	p. 203
Disasters in the making?	p. 212
Tectonic earthquakes	p. 215
Faults and earthquakes	p. 216
Focus, epicentre and seismic waves	p. 221
Measuring earthquakes	p. 223
Global seismic monitoring	p. 228
Prediction and warning	p. 229
Preventing earthquakes?	p. 233
Living with earthquakes	p. 235
Notable earthquakes	p. 236
Fatalities from earthquakes and volcanic eruptions compared	p. 248
Earthquake proofing	p. 249
Earthquake preparedness	p. 253
Tsunamis	p. 256
What is a tsunami?	p. 257
Seismogenic tsunamis	p. 257
Historic seismogenic tsunamis	p. 261
Tsunami warning systems	p. 270
Tsunami risk mitigation	p. 272
Landslide tsunamis	p. 272
Impact tsunamis	p. 273
Taking it further	p. 278
Volcanoes	p. 278
Earthquakes	p. 278
Tsunamis	p. 279
Glossary	p. 280
Index	p. 290
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