Worlds on Fire: Volcanoes on the Earth, the Moon, Mars, Venus and Io

by Charles Frankel

• ISBN13: 9780521803939
• ISBN10: 0521803934
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-10-31
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Worlds on Fire takes the reader on a fascinating tour of the mightiest volcanoes in the Solar System. From Kilauea volcano in Hawaii and Mount Etna in Sicily, it leaps to the lava fields and rilles of the Moon, retraces the historic footsteps of the Apollo astronauts and describes new volcanic provinces to explore. The three largest volcanoes of Mars - Olympus Mons, Alba Patera and Arsia Mons - are profiled, amongst others. The strange world of Venus, revealed by radar, opens our perspective of volcanism to features never seen before: pancake domes of puffed-up lava, and gigantic fault rings sitting over buried magma chambers. The tour of the Solar System ends with the only current eruptions outside Earth: the spectacular volcanoes of Io - Jupiter's fiery moon. This highly readable book, illustrated with the most recent imagery from spacecraft, will appeal to general readers, and students of Earth and planetary sciences.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(3)
Volcanism on Earth	4	(29)
Why is the Earth hot?	4	(3)
Core, mantle and crust	7	(4)
Hot spots	11	(1)
Plate tectonics	12	(3)
Under the volcano	15	(3)
The role of gas	18	(3)
Eruption!	21	(3)
Volcanoes and climate	24	(2)
Volcanoes and death	26	(4)
Volcanoes and life	30	(3)
A tour of terrestrial volcanoes	33	(31)
Krafla (Iceland)	33	(7)
Kilauea (Hawaii)	40	(6)
Etna (Sicily)	46	(8)
Ol Doinyo Lengai (Tanzania)	54	(5)
Mount Pelee (Martinique)	59	(5)
Volcanism on the Moon	64	(33)
First impressions	64	(2)
Close-up views of the Moon	66	(1)
Apollo 11: touchdown in a lava field	67	(3)
Apollo 12: the Ocean of Storms	70	(2)
Apollo 15: excursion to Hadley Rille	72	(4)
Apollo 17: a geologist on the Moon	76	(3)
Lava fountains on the Moon	79	(3)
Treasures of Apollo	82	(3)
Remote-sensing: the big picture	85	(4)
The magma ocean	89	(3)
Mare volcanism	92	(2)
Looking for volcanoes	94	(3)
A tour of lunar volcanoes	97	(30)
Hadley Rille	97	(7)
Taurus-Littrow valley	104	(6)
The Marius Hills	110	(6)
The Gruithuisen domes	116	(4)
The Aristarchus plateau and Schroeter's valley	120	(7)
Volcanism on Mars	127	(47)
The discovery of Mars	129	(3)
Giant volcanoes	132	(2)
Tharsis and Alba Patera	134	(2)
Elysium and Hellas	136	(2)
Eruptions on Mars	138	(5)
Landfall on Mars: the Viking missions	143	(2)
Martian minerals	145	(3)
Pathfinder and the andesite mystery	148	(2)
Mars Global Surveyor	150	(1)
Spirit and Opportunity	151	(3)
Meteorites from Mars	154	(4)
Young lava	158	(3)
Hydrothermal activity and life on Mars	161	(4)
Plate tectonics on Mars	165	(2)
Volcanoes and the Martian climate	167	(3)
Exploring Mars	170	(4)
A tour of Martian volcanoes	174	(33)
Olympus Mons	174	(10)
Arsia Mons	184	(6)
Alba Patera	190	(6)
Hecates Tholus	196	(6)
Hadriaca Patera	202	(5)
Volcanism on Venus	207	(35)
An original planet	207	(2)
Descent into hell	209	(1)
The basalts of Venus	210	(3)
Volcanic gases	213	(2)
Venus drops her veil	215	(2)
In search of plate tectonics	217	(2)
Magellan explores Venus	219	(2)
Large volcanoes on Venus	221	(3)
Spiders and crowns	224	(3)
Pancakes and ticks	227	(2)
Lava flows on Venus	229	(3)
Eruptions on Venus	232	(2)
Spatial distribution of volcanoes	234	(2)
The life and times of Venus	236	(3)
Melting the surface	239	(3)
A tour of Venusian volcanoes	242	(29)
Theia Mons (Beta Regio)	242	(6)
Sapas Mons	248	(7)
Gula Mons and Idem-Kuva Corona	255	(5)
Pancake domes (Alpha Regio)	260	(5)
Ammavaru and Mylitta Fluctus	265	(6)
Volcanism on Io	271	(34)
Eruptions on Io	272	(3)
The power of tides	275	(1)
Persistent hot spots	276	(3)
Calderas on Io	279	(2)
The color of sulfur	281	(4)
The heat rises	285	(2)
Galileo at Jupiter: lo revisited	287	(2)
The Pillan eruption	289	(3)
Global Io	292	(3)
The I-24 flyby: Pele's lava lake revealed	295	(2)
The I-25 flyby: Tvashtar's curtain of fire	297	(1)
The I-27 flyby: calderas and lava flows	298	(4)
The 2001 flybys	302	(2)
Farewell to Io	304	(1)
A tour of Ionian volcanoes	305	(26)
Pele	305	(7)
Loki	312	(5)
Prometheus	317	(5)
Ra Patera	322	(4)
Emakong Patera	326	(5)
Bibliography (and websites)	331	(6)
Glossary	337	(9)
Index	346