Earthquakes, Volcanoes and other Natural Disasters

Furious Earth

From the Back Cover
The Science Behind the Earth's Most Catastrophic Phenomena. If our planet is a sleeping giant, it slumbers fitfully and awakens in powerful starts. Our familiar landscape bears the scars f hidden forces at work deep beneath it. Furious Earth contains the latest science on these forces and the cataclysmic phenomena they produce - earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis. Now, hard-won knowledge of these phenomena, gained often in the aftermath of disaster or through dangerous research efforts, is presented here by scientist Ellen Prager with the following experts: Stanley Willaims, Ph.D. Professor of Volcanology, Arizona State University, on volcanoes; Kate Hutton, Ph.D., Seismologist, California State Institute of Technology, on earthquakes; Costas Synolakis, Ph.D., Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Southern California, on tsunamis. Furious Earth sheds light on the life-threatening power and magnitude of nature's mighty trio. With the latest reseach findings from top scientists in the field, as well as insider's information from The U.S. Geological Survey, this is a comprehensive and fascinating guide to the world of earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis. Rich in information, packed with expert knowledge, and brimming with illustrations, Furious Earth is a must for anyone interested in truly understanding nature's powerful forces...and what the future may hold.

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Furious Earth

Volcanoes in Human History

From Library Journal
After an introductory chapter on volcanism, this volume by geologists Zeilinga de Boer and Sanders shifts its focus to particular volcanic events (e.g., Vesuvius, Mt. Pel‚e, Krakatau) and areas of volcanic activity (e.g., the Hawaiian Islands and Iceland). The events themselves are described, but the emphasis is on the long-term effects of volcanic activity. The authors make it clear that those effects extend beyond the location of the volcano; there are widespread repercussions that influence everything from literature and religion to population migrations and global weather patterns. The authors have applied their geologic knowledge and experience, along with solid research, to produce an accessible book on volcanoes.

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Volcanoes in Human History: The  Far-Reaching Effects of Major Eruptions

The Last Days of St. Pierre: 

From Library Journal
On May 8, 1902, Mont Pelee on the island of Martinique exploded. A vast cloud of superheated steam, ash, rocks, and debris descended on the port city of St. Pierre. In three or four minutes the entire population of the city, including many refugees from the surrounding countryside, died. The disaster attracted worldwide attention because it occurred in a prosperous French colony and was swiftly reported via telegraph. Numerous contemporary accounts, many ludicrously off the mark, attempted to describe the causes and effects of the eruption, but only with advances in volcanology over the last century have the real reasons for the explosion been largely explained. 

Mont Pelee was the first example of a pyroclastic surge to be examined by modern science, and observations there greatly assisted geologists in understanding volcanoes. 

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The Last Days of St. Pierre: 

Not by Fire but by Ice: 

Editorial Reviews
Book Description
Forget global warming. The next ice age could begin any day. Beginning with the dinosaur extinction of 65 million years ago, Not by Fire but by Ice explores the relationship between mass extinctions, ice ages, and geomagnetic reversals (times when compasses would have pointed south instead of north).

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Not by Fire but by Ice: 

Mass Extinctions and Their Aftermath

From Book News, Inc.
Complements the many popular and often sensational accounts, multi-author volumes, and studies on a particular mass extinction with a focuses scientific investigation of all the known mass extinctions with sufficient technical detail to excite geologists and paleontologists. Discusses the Big Five, one late in each of the Ordovician, Devonian, Permian, Triassic, and the famous Cretaceous that saw the end of the Dinosaurs; and minor mass extinctions from the early Cambrian the Cenozoic. Also examines the current paleontological, geological, and sedimentological evidence of environmental change; and sets out the cases for causes by climate change, marine regressions, asteroid or comet impact, anoxia, and volcanic eruptions.

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Mass Extinctions and Their Aftermath

 Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck?

From Library Journal
Scientists have directed a good deal of attention to the topic of extinction in recent years. In this book, Raup, a mathematically oriented paleontologist, discusses the role of extinction in evolution, attempting to differentiate the effects of natural selection ("bad genes") and extraterrestrial causes ("bad luck"). It is a nicely done work written for the layperson, much in the vein of his previous book, The Nemesis Affair ( LJ 8/86), which covers some of the same territory and which also favors extraterrestrial causes. This book should serve as a complement to the relatively few other recent works on extinction for the nonspecialist, notably Steven M. Stanley's Extinction (Scientific American Lib., 1987), which offers an alternative viewpoint.
 

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  Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck?

 Night Comes to the Cretaceous: 

Excerpt From Library Journal
Powell is the director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, and taught geology at Oberlin College for 20 years. In 1980, a physicist father and his geologist son rocked the scientific world by their proposed theory that dinosaurs became extinct because of an impact by an asteroid or comet. Powell recounts the bitter debates over Luis and Walter Alvarez's idea and years of intense research that followed, culminating in the discovery of a gigantic crater deeply buried in the Yucatan Peninsula, which seemed to prove the probability that science and evolution are punctuated by random events. The author's presentation of the dramatic events surrounding the controversy, the bitter refutations, and, finally, acceptance of the Alvarez theory is fascinating by itself. But Powell also examines the equally interesting factors that inhibit science from making paradigm shifts. Some formulas and terminology are designed for specialists in the field, but the overall content here is geared to general readers and is utterly engrossing. [Interested readers may also want Walter Alvarez's own account, T. Rex and the Crater of Doom, Gloria Maxwell, Kansas City P.L., M.

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  Night Comes to the Cretaceous: Comets, Craters, Controversy, and the Last Days of the Dinosaurs