Author: Peg Kehret
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0671009680
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
A story about a boy who teleported back in time and faced a volcano eruption.

Author: Jelle Zeilinga de Boer
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400842859
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
When the volcano Tambora erupted in Indonesia in 1815, as many as 100,000 people perished as a result of the blast and an ensuing famine caused by the destruction of rice fields on Sumbawa and neighboring islands. Gases and dust particles ejected into the atmosphere changed weather patterns around the world, resulting in the infamous ''year without a summer'' in North America, food riots in Europe, and a widespread cholera epidemic. And the gloomy weather inspired Mary Shelley to write the gothic novel Frankenstein. This book tells the story of nine such epic volcanic events, explaining the related geology for the general reader and exploring the myriad ways in which the earth's volcanism has affected human history. Zeilinga de Boer and Sanders describe in depth how volcanic activity has had long-lasting effects on societies, cultures, and the environment. After introducing the origins and mechanisms of volcanism, the authors draw on ancient as well as modern accounts--from folklore to poetry and from philosophy to literature. Beginning with the Bronze Age eruption that caused the demise of Minoan Crete, the book tells the human and geological stories of eruptions of such volcanoes as Vesuvius, Krakatau, Mount Pelée, and Tristan da Cunha. Along the way, it shows how volcanism shaped religion in Hawaii, permeated Icelandic mythology and literature, caused widespread population migrations, and spurred scientific discovery. From the prodigious eruption of Thera more than 3,600 years ago to the relative burp of Mount St. Helens in 1980, the results of volcanism attest to the enduring connections between geology and human destiny. Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.

Author: Victoria Bruce
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062011685
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
On January 14, 1993, a team of scientists descended into the crater of Galeras, a restless Andean volcano in southern Colombia, for a day of field research. As the group slowly moved across the rocky moonscape of the caldera near the heart of the volcano, Galeras erupted, its crater exploding in a barrage of burning rocks and glowing shrapnel. Nine men died instantly, their bodies torn apart by the blast. While others watched helplessly from the rim, Colombian geologist Marta Calvache raced into the rumbling crater, praying to find survivors. This was Calvache's second volcanic disaster in less than a decade. In 1985 Calvache was part of a group of Colombia's brightest young scientists that had been studying activity at Nevado del Ruiz, a volcano three hundred miles north of Galeras. They had warned of the dire consequences of an eruption for months, but their fledgling coalition lacked the resources and muscle to implement a plan of action or sway public opinion. When Nevado del Ruiz erupted suddenly in November 1985, it wiped the city of Armero off the face of the earth and killed more than twenty-three thousand people -- one of the worst natural disasters of the twentieth century. No Apparent Danger links the characters and events of these two eruptions to tell a riveting story of scientific tragedy and human heroism. In the aftermath of Nevado del Ruiz, volcanologists from all over the world came to Galeras -- some to ensure that such horrors would never be repeated, some to conduct cutting-edge research, and some for personal gain. Seismologists, gas chemists, geologists, and geophysicists hoped to combine their separate areas of expertise to better understand and predict the behavior of monumental forces at work deep within the earth. And yet, despite such expertise, experience, and training, crucial data were ignored or overlooked, essential safety precautions were bypassed, and fifteen people descended into a death trap at Galeras. Incredibly, expedition leader Stanley Williams was one of five who survived, aided bravely by Marta Calvache and her colleagues. But nine others were not so lucky. Expertly detailing the turbulent history of Colombia and the geology of its snow-peaked volcanoes, Victoria Bruce weaves together the stories of the heroes, victims, survivors, and bystanders, evoking with great sensitivity what it means to live in the shadow of a volcano, a hair's-breadth away from unthinkable natural calamity, and shows how clashing cultures and scientific arrogance resulted in tragic and unnecessary loss of life.

Author: Clive Oppenheimer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139496395
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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Book Description
What does it take for a volcanic eruption to really shake the world? Did volcanic eruptions extinguish the dinosaurs, or help humans to evolve, only to decimate their populations with a super-eruption 73,000 years ago? Did they contribute to the ebb and flow of ancient empires, the French Revolution and the rise of fascism in Europe in the 19th century? These are some of the claims made for volcanic cataclysm. Volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer explores rich geological, historical, archaeological and palaeoenvironmental records (such as ice cores and tree rings) to tell the stories behind some of the greatest volcanic events of the past quarter of a billion years. He shows how a forensic approach to volcanology reveals the richness and complexity behind cause and effect, and argues that important lessons for future catastrophe risk management can be drawn from understanding events that took place even at the dawn of human origins.

Author: Steve Olson
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393242803
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
A riveting history of the Mount St. Helens eruption that will "long stand as a classic of descriptive narrative" (Simon Winchester). For months in early 1980, scientists, journalists, sightseers, and nearby residents listened anxiously to rumblings in Mount St. Helens, part of the chain of western volcanoes fueled by the 700-mile-long Cascadia fault. Still, no one was prepared when an immense eruption took the top off of the mountain and laid waste to hundreds of square miles of verdant forests in southwestern Washington State. The eruption was one of the largest in human history, deposited ash in eleven U.S. states and five Canadian providences, and caused more than one billion dollars in damage. It killed fifty-seven people, some as far as thirteen miles away from the volcano’s summit. Shedding new light on the cataclysm, author Steve Olson interweaves the history and science behind this event with page-turning accounts of what happened to those who lived and those who died. Powerful economic and historical forces influenced the fates of those around the volcano that sunny Sunday morning, including the construction of the nation’s railroads, the harvest of a continent’s vast forests, and the protection of America’s treasured public lands. The eruption of Mount St. Helens revealed how the past is constantly present in the lives of us all. At the same time, it transformed volcanic science, the study of environmental resilience, and, ultimately, our perceptions of what it will take to survive on an increasingly dangerous planet. Rich with vivid personal stories of lumber tycoons, loggers, volcanologists, and conservationists, Eruption delivers a spellbinding narrative built from the testimonies of those closest to the disaster, and an epic tale of our fraught relationship with the natural world.

Author: Stanley Williams
Publisher: Time Warner Books UK
ISBN: 9780349113678
Category : Galeras Volcano (Colombia)
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
In 1993 Stanley Williams, an eminent volcanologist, was standing on top of a Colombian volcano called Galeras when it erupted, incinerating several of his colleagues instantly. As Williams tried to escape the mountain's fury, the volcano pelted him with white-hot projectiles travelling literally faster than speeding bullets. Within minutes he was cut down, his skull fractured, his right leg almost severed, his backpack aflame. Williams lay helpless and near death on Galeras' flank as volcanic bombs continued to rain down on him until two brave women - friends and fellow volcanologists - mounted an astonishing rescue effort to carry him safely off the mountain.The tale of how Williams survived Galeras becomes the framework for this fascinating book about the tiny group of scientists who risk their own lives to save others. It is also an absorbing account of volcanoes, and their physical and cultural impact: Vesuvius' famous explosion in AD 79; the Laki eruptions in Iceland in 1793; and the subsequent 'haze famine' which killed one fifth of the population; and Tamboura, which, in 1815, plunged an area of 300 miles into darkness for two days.

Author: Michael Woods
Publisher: Lerner Publications
ISBN: 0822547155
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 68

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Book Description
This book describes the geology of volcanoes, and how some of them have erupted throughout history.

Author: Elizabeth Rusch
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0544210727
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 85

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Book Description
“At 11:35 p.m., as Radio Armero played cheerful music, a towering wave of mud and rocks bulldozed through the village, roaring like a squadron of fighter jets.” Twenty-three thousand people died in the 1985 eruption of Colombia’s Nevado del Ruiz. Today, more than one billion people worldwide live in volcanic danger zones. In this riveting nonfiction book—filled with spectacular photographs and sidebars—Rusch reveals the perilous, adrenaline-fueled, life-saving work of an international volcano crisis team (VDAP) and the sleeping giants they study, from Colombia to the Philippines, from Chile to Indonesia.

Author: Marlane Kennedy
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 054553299X
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 77

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Book Description
When disaster strikes, the only thing you can count on is yourself! Noah and Emma Burton have traded the sand and surf of their Hawaiian home for a chilly stay in Alaska, and Noah isn't happy about it. His father may be a volcano expert, but why did they have to travel to the coldest, grayest place on earth when there are millions of volcanoes near Honolulu? Noah thinks he's in for the most boring vacation of his life.He couldn't have been more wrong! A day trip to a remote island turns deadly when a once-dormant volcano suddenly sputters to life in an eruption of epic proportions. Now Noah, Emma, and their new neighbor Alex must fight to survive rivers of molten lava and clouds of toxic ash if they want to make it off the island alive....

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309454158
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 135

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Book Description
Volcanic eruptions are common, with more than 50 volcanic eruptions in the United States alone in the past 31 years. These eruptions can have devastating economic and social consequences, even at great distances from the volcano. Fortunately many eruptions are preceded by unrest that can be detected using ground, airborne, and spaceborne instruments. Data from these instruments, combined with basic understanding of how volcanoes work, form the basis for forecasting eruptionsâ€"where, when, how big, how long, and the consequences. Accurate forecasts of the likelihood and magnitude of an eruption in a specified timeframe are rooted in a scientific understanding of the processes that govern the storage, ascent, and eruption of magma. Yet our understanding of volcanic systems is incomplete and biased by the limited number of volcanoes and eruption styles observed with advanced instrumentation. Volcanic Eruptions and Their Repose, Unrest, Precursors, and Timing identifies key science questions, research and observation priorities, and approaches for building a volcano science community capable of tackling them. This report presents goals for making major advances in volcano science.