Volcanoes in Human History

Jelle Zeilinga de Boer is the Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science at Wesleyan University. His publications include work on the geodynamic evolution of the Appalachians, Costa Rica, Greece, Panama, and the Philippines. Donald Theodore Sanders has worked as a petroleum geologist, a science editor for encyclopedias, and an editor of corporate scientific publications. Before retiring from IBM, he created and edited that company's award-winning academic magazine "Perspectives in Computing". Zeilinga de Boer and Sanders are also the coauthors of "Earthquakes in Human History "(Princeton).

• Foreword by Robert D. Ballard ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xv Table of Conversion xvii Chapter 1: Volcanism: Origins and Consequences 1 SIDEBAR: DATING OF VOLCANIC EVENTS Chapter 2: The Hawaiian Islands and the Legacy of Pelee the Fire Goddess 22 Chapter 3: The Bronze Age Eruption of Thera: Destroyer of Atlantis and Minoan Crete? 47 Chapter 4: The Eruption of Vesuvius in 79 C.E.: Cultural Reverberations through the Ages 74 Chapter 5: Iceland: Coming Apart at the Seams 108 Chapter 6: The Eruption of Tambora in 1815 and "the Year without a Summer" 138 SIDEBAR: MOUNT TOBA: BIGGER THAN TAMBORA Chapter 7: Krakatu, 1883: Devastation, Death, and Ecologic Revival 157 SIDEBAR: THE GHOSTS OF MERAPI Chapter 8: The 1902 Eruption of Mount Pelee: A Geological Catastrophe with Political Overtones 186 SIDEBAR: MOUNT PELEE AND THE PANAMA CANAL Chapter 9: Tristan da Cunba in 1961: Exile to the Twentieth Century 209 Chapter 10: Mount St. Helens in 1980: Catastrophe in the Cascades 228 Afterword 250 Glossary 251 Notes and References 261 Selected Bibliography 279 Index 281

"Does the world need another book about volcanic eruptions and the havoc they wreak? The answer, for this book, is an emphatic 'yes,' especially for the general reader. [B]esides being interesting to read, Volcanoes in Human History clearly demonstrates that volcanism, and geology as a whole, should not be of concern only to geologists and that history is important."--Sally Newcomb, Isis "The authors have applied their geologic knowledge and experience, along with solid research, to produce an accessible book on volcanoes."--Library Journal "In clear prose aimed to include general readers, the authors make the case for the social consequences set in motion by large volcanic eruptions as both wide-ranging and long-lived."--Choice "A detailed and vivid account of the fiery relationship between the Earth and its surface dwellers."--The Guardian