Natural Disasters That Changed the World

by Castleden, Rodney

• ISBN13: 9780785822288
• ISBN10: 0785822283
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-05-20
• Publisher: Book Sales

Summary

Over 100 natural disasters are described in this book, including some first-hand accounts of eyewitnesses and survivors: their causes, their impact on people and landscape, their significance for our developing understanding of the world around us.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 11
The Ancient World
The Permian mass extinction (251 million BC)	p. 20
The Cretaceous mass extinction (65 million BC)	p. 24
The Pleistocene Ice Age (2.6 million BC)	p. 30
The eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano (638,000 BC)	p. 35
The Atitlan eruption (82,000 BC)	p. 38
The Toba eruption (73,000 BC)	p. 40
The Phlegraean Fields caldera eruption (37,000 BC)	p. 43
Rising sea level (13,500 BC)	p. 45
The Missoula superfloods (11,150 BC)	p. 48
The Mississippi superflood (10,500-9500 BC)	p. 50
Global warming (8300 BC)	p. 51
The emptying of Lake Agassiz into the North Atlantic (6200 BC)	p. 53
The Storegga landslide (6100 BC)	p. 56
The Black Sea flood (5550 BC)	p. 59
The Mount Mazama caldera eruption (4860 BC)	p. 61
Meteorite swarm (3100 BC)	p. 63
The Thera eruption (1520 BC)	p. 67
The destruction of the Knossos Labyrinth (1380 BC)	p. 72
The eruption of Vesuvius (AD 79)	p. 77
Anthrax epidemic sweeps through the Roman Empire (AD 80)	p. 82
The Medieval and Renaissance World
The silting of European harbours (beginning in 400)	p. 84
The Justinian Plague (541)	p. 86
The Millennium calamity (1000)	p. 88
Supernova in Taurus (1054)	p. 94
The appearance of Halley's Comet (1066)	p. 96
The sinking of the White Ship (1120)	p. 99
Floods in the Netherlands (1163)	p. 103
The Zuyder Zee flood (1228)	p. 105
Typhoons destroy Kublai Khan's fleet (1274 and 1281)	p. 107
The Black Death (1333 onwards)	p. 111
The Little Ice Age (beginning in 1450)	p. 115
The sinking of the Mary Rose (1545)	p. 118
The Shensi earthquake (1556)	p. 123
The Dover Straits earthquake (1580)	p. 125
The Enlightened World
The sinking of the Vasa (1628)	p. 130
Plague in Europe (1663)	p. 134
The Great Storm in England (1703)	p. 140
The Edo earthquake and fire (1703)	p. 144
The wreck of the Association (1707)	p. 146
The Calcutta disaster (1737)	p. 150
The Lisbon earthquake (1755)	p. 155
The Nineteenth-Century World
The New Madrid earthquakes (1811-12)	p. 162
The eruption of Tambora (1815)	p. 167
The Huskar colliery disaster (1838)	p. 174
Landslide in Dorset (1839)	p. 179
The Maelstrom (1841)	p. 182
The Irish potato famine (1845)	p. 185
The wreck of the Birkenhead (1852)	p. 192
Storm on the Sun (1859)	p. 196
The wreck of the London (1866)	p. 200
The Peshtigo firestorm (1871)	p. 205
The wreck of the Atlantic (1873)	p. 210
The Tay Bridge disaster (1879)	p. 215
The eruption of Krakatoa (1883)	p. 221
The Charleston earthquake (1886)	p. 225
The Yellow River changes its course again (1887)	p. 229
The Johnstown flood (1889)	p. 231
The Galveston hurricane (1900)	p. 235
The Modern World
The eruption of Mont Pelee (1902)	p. 244
The Heppner flood (1903)	p. 247
The Waimangu geyser disaster (1903)	p. 252
The San Francisco earthquake (1906)	p. 256
The Tunguska fireball (1908)	p. 264
The Yangtze flood (1911)	p. 274
The sinking of the Titanic (1912)	p. 276
The Mount Katmai eruption (1912)	p. 285
The Spanish flu pandemic (1918)	p. 290
The Haig Pit disaster (1922)	p. 295
The Great Kanto earthquake (1923)	p. 299
The Tri-state Tornado (1925)	p. 303
The Gros Ventre landslide (1925)	p. 308
The eruption of Mauna Loa (1926)	p. 310
The Mississippi floods (1927)	p. 313
The collapse of the San Francis Dam (1928)	p. 316
The Okeechobee hurricane (1928)	p. 321
The Newfoundland submarine landslide (1929)	p. 324
The R101 disaster (1930)	p. 328
The Yellow River flood (1931)	p. 337
The Sanriku earthquake and tsunami (1933)	p. 339
The Dust Bowl drought (1934, 1936 and 1939)	p. 341
The loss of the Hindenburg (1937)	p. 347
The Paricutin eruption (1943)	p. 353
The Aleutian earthquake (1946)	p. 357
The eruption of Mount Hekla (1947)	p. 359
The Mississippi flood (1947)	p. 361
The River Thames flood (1947)	p. 363
Desertification in Africa (1950- )	p. 365
Avalanches in the Alps (1951)	p. 368
Flooding in northern Italy (1951)	p. 372
The Lynmouth flood disaster (1952)	p. 374
Sea floods on the East Coast of England (1953)	p. 380
Sea floods in the Netherlands (1953)	p. 384
The Malpasset Dam disaster (1959)	p. 389
Earthquake in Chile (1960)	p. 392
The Hubbards Hill landslips (1962)	p. 396
The Vajont Dam disaster (1963)	p. 399
The Anchorage earthquake and tsunami (1964)	p. 403
The Aberfan disaster (1966)	p. 407
The Arno flood (1966)	p. 410
The Torrey Canyon oil spill (1967)	p. 412
The Peru earthquake (1970)	p. 414
The Bhola cyclone (1970)	p. 416
The Heimaey eruption (1973)	p. 418
The Indus flood (1973)	p. 421
Cyclone Tracy (1974)	p. 423
US tornado swarm (1974)	p. 425
Hurricane Fifi (1974)	p. 427
The Shoepac Lake sinkholes (1976)	p. 429
The Waurika tornado (1976)	p. 433
The Tangshan earthquake (1976)	p. 435
The Big Thompson Canyon flash flood (1976)	p. 438
The Izu earthquake (1978)	p. 440
The Amoco Cadiz oil spill (1978)	p. 442
The eruption of Mount St Helens (1980)	p. 444
The Penlee lifeboat disaster (1981)	p. 448
The AIDS epidemic (1981)	p. 451
Bush fires in Australia (1983)	p. 453
The Lake Monoun disaster (1984)	p. 456
The Mexico City earthquake (1985)	p. 458
The Lake Nyos disaster (1986)	p. 460
The Nevado del Ruiz eruption (1985)	p. 464
The Herald of Free Enterprise (1987)	p. 466
Drought in the United States (1987-89)	p. 469
The Armenian earthquake (1988)	p. 471
The Exxon Valdez disaster (1989)	p. 473
The eruption of Mount Pinatubo (1991)	p. 475
Typhoon Thelma (1991)	p. 478
Hurricane Andrew (1992)	p. 480
The Mississippi River flood (1993)	p. 484
The sinking of the Estonia (1994)	p. 486
The Kobe earthquake (1995)	p. 495
The Vatnajokull ice-cap eruption (1996)	p. 499
Ten-year drought in Australia (1996-)	p. 501
El Nino (1997-98)	p. 504
The Sarno mudslide (1998)	p. 507
Hurricane Mitch (1998)	p. 510
The Izmit earthquake (1999)	p. 516
The Moore tornado (1999)	p. 519
Forest fire in Alaska (1999)	p. 522
The Caracas flood (1999)	p. 524
The Mozambique flood (2000)	p. 526
The Peru earthquake and tsunami (2001)	p. 528
The European heatwave (2003)	p. 530
The destruction of Mount Stromlo Observatory (2003)	p. 533
The Elk Creek flood (2004)	p. 536
The Boscastle flood (2004)	p. 539
The Boxing Day tsunami (2004)	p. 541
Hurricane Katrina (2005)	p. 547
The earthquake in Kashmir (2005)	p. 554
Typhoon Bilis in North Korea (2006)	p. 558
Drought in China (2006)	p. 560
Typhoon Durian (2006)	p. 561
Global warming (2007-)	p. 563
The Seventy Worst Natural Disasters	p. 574
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