Living mountains - Christine Laverne

Santorini, a volcanic island in the Aegean Sea, exploded violently in 1500 BC, wiping out the Minoan civilization. A crater collapsed in Nyiragongo (Zaire) in 1977, releasing a lava flow moving at 70 km per hour, killing 70 people. A mudslide rich in volcanic ash hurtled down the slopes of Nevado del Ruiz in 1985, killing 23,000 people in Colombia. Both oral and written histories are filled with tales of volcanic calamities, but why do volcanoes exist and how do they work?

From its core at 4000°C to the crust of the Earth's surface, Jacques Kornprobst and Christine Laverne explain all aspects of vulcanology in Living Mountains: How and Why Volcanoes Erupt. Thanks to Kornprobst's clear prose and Laverne's forty-six watercolours, the reader can see and understand the functioning of the oceanic subduction and expansion zones, how different lavas originate by partial melting of the Earth's rocks and why some volcanoes produce fluid lava type aa' while others explode giving incandescent lava bombs and ash clouds rising up to 9 km. Living Mountains gives the reader a deep understanding of one of the most powerful manifestations man has ever witnessed.

Excerpts: page 6 and 7 – page 24 and 25

FEATURES

Author: Jacques KORNPROBST and Christine LAVERNE
Paperback: 102 pages
Format: 19 x 24 cm (7.5 x 9.5 inches)
Publisher: Mountain Press Publishing Company
Edition: 1st (January 2006)
Language: English
ISBN 0-87842-513-6

Price: 18 U.S. dollars

Santorini, a volcanic island in the Aegean Sea, exploded violently around 1500 BC, wiping out the entire Minoan civilization. A crater collapsed in Nyiragongo, Zaire, in 1977, unleashing a 40-mile-per-hour lava flow that killed 70 people. A mudflow rich in volcanic ash swept down the slopes of Nevado del Ruiz in 1985, killing 23,000 people in Colombia. Oral and written histories are filled with vivid tales of volcanic calamities, but why do volcanoes occur and how do they work?

From the 7,200-degree-Fahrenheit core to the fragmented crust of the earth's surface, Jacques Kornprobst and Christine Laverne explain all aspects of vulcanology in Living Mountains: How and Why Volcanoes Erupt. With Kornprobst's lucid prose and Laverne's forty-six vivid watercolors, readers can see and understand the workings of subduction zones and seafloor spreading, how different lavas form through the partial melting of the earth's various rocks, and why some volcanoes ooze fluid 'a'a lavas while others explode 30,000-foot clouds of ash and incendiary lava bombs. Written for a general audience, Living Mountains gives readers a deeper understanding of some of the most powerful forces humans have ever witnessed.

Extract: page 6 and 7 – page 24 and 25

FEATURES:

Author: Jacques KORNPROBST and Christine LAVERNE
Paperback: 102 pages
Size: 19 x 24 cm (7.5 x 9.5 inches)
Publisher : Mountain Press Publishing Company
Edition: 1st (January 2006)
Language : English
ISBN 0-87842-513-6

Price: 18 U.S. dollars