PUBLISHED REVIEW
Do you want to be `encouraged to take an active, informed interest in some of the most sublime and fascinating features in the natural world and, especially, to go and see them'. This is the mission of Volcanoes of Europe. On the European plate, there has been volcanic activity during the last 10,000 years in a variety of locations: the Azores, Iceland, Canary Islands, southern Italy and the Aegean Sea, together with the Auvergne in France and the Eifel in Germany. These in turn are related to a wide variety of plate tectonic settings: the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, hotspots and rifting, collision and subduction and some rather enigmatic. All are catalogued, together with comprehensive, up-to-date individual bibiliographies, plentiful maps and diagrams, and colour and B&W photographs. A real whet to the appetite! Journal of the Open University Geological Society
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The volcanoes of Europe provide a fascinating array of features and processes
for student, amateur and professional Earth scientists alike. Made increasingly
accessible by the growth of international travel facilities, they offer
dramatic landscapes, intriguing geological and geographical characteristics,
and compelling histories of their interaction with those who have chosen
to live on and near them from ancient times to the present day. Volcanoes
of Europe captures this wealth of material in a comprehensive, clearly
written, fully illustrated and thoroughly researched introductory treatment.
The book is divided into regional chapters reflecting both the variety of the volcanic structures, forms and eruptions, and the stimulus to the prolific research that they have inspired over the centuries. In each chapter, the causes, initiation and growth of the volcanoes are outlined to present an explanatory background to more detailed considerations of their recent and contemporary activity. Special attention is drawn to highlights of their behaviour and their impact on the peoples around them.
Like the study of volcanoes themselves, Volcanoes of Europe begins with the analysis of Mediterranean activity. The volcanic areas of southern Italy – Campania, Sicily, and the Aeolian Islands – have well merited their 2000 years of notoriety, but intensive studies have yet to solve all the complex problems presented by Vesuvius, Etna, Stromboli, Vulcano and their lesser-known companions. Analysis of the Greek volcanoes concentrates on the Hellenic volcanic arc, where the violent outbursts of Santoríni culminated in the Bronze Age eruption that has been (wrongly) accused of obliterating a whole civilization.
The second major zone of European volcanic activity lies in the Atlantic Ocean, where it is dominated by plate divergence and hotspots, and thus often differs markedly from the Mediterranean area. None of the caldera-forming eruptions in the Canary Islands and the Azores occurred during historical times, and human witnesses have thus had to content themselves with smaller and more benign eruptions that have nevertheless destroyed parts of settlements. Iceland is well known as the home of fissure and subglacial eruptions, but it has also given vent to more violent outbursts, notably from Hekla. The birth of Surtsey provided an unrivalled opportunity to study the growth of a small volcanic island, and the reaction to the eruption on Heimaey was a landmark in limiting volcanic destruction.
The final chapters in the book are devoted to the recent volcanoes of France and Germany, where cinder cones, domes and maars dominate the volcanic scenery. The docile appearance of these landscapes today belies the fact that they were active as recently as 10000 years ago – barely a blink of the eye in terms of the geological timescale.
Throughout the book, the human dimension is brought out in many engaging ways. From Pliny the Younger’s description of the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 to contemporary reports of many other eruptions, the reader is able to appreciate the reality of the events from the human point of view as well as their volcanological characteristics and significance. The constant outpourings from Stromboli and the frequent eruptions of Etna are salutary and relatively harmless reminders of the latent threat of catastrophic eruptions in other areas, not least the Bay of Naples, where another eruption of Vesuvius is anticipated with increasing vigilance.
Volcanoes of Europe features a glossary of the more technical terms that could not be avoided in the text and a vocabulary of volcanic terms used in the local languages. At the end of each chapter is a remarkably comprehensive and up-to-date bibliography, which reflects the authors’ command of an extensive range of sources in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The bibliographic references include many classic texts as well as contemporary works that have made use of the most recent research based on the most modern techniques available.
Volcanoes of Europe thus provides an invaluable foundation for all who are drawn to one of the most vivid and spectacular aspects of the often tense relationships between the Earth and its inhabitants.
Preface; Acknowledgements
Campania; Vesuvius; The Phlegraean Fields; Ischia; Aeolian Islands – Stromboli; Lipari; Alicudi; Filicudi; Salina; Seamounts; Vulcano; Sicily; Etna; Pantelleria; Graham Bank and Foerstner Bank; Bibliography
Santorini; Milos; Kos; Methana; Nisyros; Bibliography
Tenerife; Lanzarote; Fuerteventura; Gran Canaria; El Hierro; La Palma; La Gomera; Bibliography
São Miguel; Santa Maria; Terceira; Graciosa; São Jorge; Pico; Faial; Flores and Corvo; Bibliography
The northern active volcanic zone; Shield volcanoes; Plinian eruptions in Iceland; Subglacial volcanoes; Hydrothermal eruptions; Island volcanoes; Bibliography
Bibliography
The Chain of Puys; Bibliography
East Eifel; West Eifel; Bibliography
Glossary; Vocabulary; Eruptions in Europe in historical times; Index of places and features; Index of topics and themes
246×175mm 256pp.
ISBN: 1-903544-03-3 PB £24.95
ISBN-13: 978-1-903544-03-7
Published in 2001
A Terra original publication
Available in North America from Oxford University Press
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