Overview

Volcanoes are intimately tied to the history of humanity, they help forge the Earth's crust and atmosphere, and they are very much an active feature of today. The archaeology of most ancient civilizations of Europe preserves the imprint of spectacular and volcanic phenomena while, in modern times life is still affected by large eruptions from Europe’s active volcanic systems. The eruption of Santorini, some 3600 years ago in the Aegean, probably inspired the Greek fables of Atlantis; the eruptions of Etna on Sicily are the origin of the forges of Cyclops and other myths; and the regular eruptions from Stromboli earned its Roman name, ‘the Lighthouse of the Mediterranean’. Eruptions in Iceland over the past few centuries have shaped more recent European history and highlight the dramatic effects that distant large eruptions can have on our modern way of living. This thoroughly revised and updated edition reflects modern research and is now illustrated in colour throughout. It presents the volcanoes of Europe, as they are today and tells how they have shaped our past. The volcanic systems of the Mediterranean basin, the Atlantic, and of mainland Europe are introduced and described in clear prose with a minimum of technical jargon. Some of Europe’s ancient volcanic systems is also described as these have been fundamental in shaping the science of volcanology. The origins, history and development of Europe’s volcanoes is presented against a background of their environmental aspects and contemporary activity. Special attention is given to the impact of volcanoes on the people who live on or around them. The book is written for student, amateur and professional earth scientists alike. To help guide the reader, a glossary of volcanic terms is included together with a vocabulary of volcanic terms used in European languages.

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9781780460420

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Reviews

'The strength of the book is the clear, crisp language and the plethora of data, both in text and in graphics. Each volcano is characterised according to age, geological setting, types of lava, types of volcanic eruption and the most famous eruptions in historical or recent times. The appendix 'Eruptions in Europe in historical times' lists all known eruptions of all volcanoes covered in this tome, which is an excellent summary of volcanic activities in Europe. The reader can complement his or her knowledge of the most famous volcanoes, but also of lesser-known ones. To sum up, 'Volcanoes of Europe' can be recommended to everyone who is interested in volcanic phenomena. It would certainly be good to have a comparable tome devoted to other parts of the world, written in the same style by the same authors, in the near future.' Geologos'This is thoroughly revised from the first edition and is in full colour throughout. The book is aimed at a wide audience that includes students, amateur and professional geologists... The book is superbly designed with great photographs, maps and diagrams, all in full colour. They are accompanied by text which is easy to read as well as being extremely engaging. Case studies and side stories are given background colour blocks and are a great aid in reading the book in small bite-size chunks. For the first time volcanology can be consumed as bedtime reading! With more than 270 large format pages this book offers excellent value for money'Down to Earth - -

'The strength of the book is the clear, crisp language and the plethora of data, both in text and in graphics. Each volcano is characterised according to age, geological setting, types of lava, types of volcanic eruption and the most famous eruptions in historical or recent times. The appendix 'Eruptions in Europe in historical times' lists all known eruptions of all volcanoes covered in this tome, which is an excellent summary of volcanic activities in Europe. The reader can complement his or her knowledge of the most famous volcanoes, but also of lesser-known ones. To sum up, 'Volcanoes of Europe' can be recommended to everyone who is interested in volcanic phenomena. It would certainly be good to have a comparable tome devoted to other parts of the world, written in the same style by the same authors, in the near future.' Geologos'This highly attractive, superbly illustrated book provides a comprehensive review of 'European' volcanoes that have been active in the past 10 000 years. It includes all active and dormant volcanoes and some that can probably be regarded as extinct. 'Europe' is meant in a political rather than a geographical sense and hence includes oceanic islands of the North Atlantic and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Tectonically, most occurrences do lie on the Eurasian Plate, though the Canary Islands are on the African Plate and half of Iceland and the two most westerly Azores are on the North American Plate.'Edinburgh Geologist - -

Author Information

Dougal Jerram is the director of DougalEARTH Ltd. and a professor II at the University of Oslo. Known as ‘Dr Volcano’ from his appearances on the BBC he has a wide understanding of modern and ancient volcanic systems. An enthusiastic earth science communicator, he has been seen on screen expert for television’s Channel 4, National Geographic, Discovery and History channels.

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