Note: Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- 1 Fire and brimstone: how volcanoes work -- 1.1 Origins of volcanoes: the mantle -- 1.2 Magma -- 1.3 Eruption parameters -- 1.3.1 Explosive and effusive volcanism -- 1.3.2 Magnitude -- 1.3.3 Intensity -- 1.4 Summary -- 2 Eruption styles, hazards and ecosystem impacts -- 2.1 Eruption clouds -- 2.1.1 Hazards -- 2.2 Tephra falls -- 2.2.1 Hazards -- 2.2.2 Ash fertilisation -- 2.3 Pyroclastic currents & -- caldera formation -- 2.3.1 Hazards -- 2.4 Lava flows and domes -- 2.4.1 Hazards -- 2.5 Rock avalanches and mudflows -- 2.5.1 Hazards -- 2.6 Tsunami -- 2.6.1 Hazards -- 2.7 Earthquakes -- 2.7.1 Hazards -- 2.8 Volcanic gas emissions -- 2.8.1 Hazards -- 2.9 Recovery of ecosystems -- 2.10 Volcanic disasters -- 2.11 Summary -- 3 Volcanoes and global climate change -- 3.1 Pinatubo's global cloud -- 3.1.1 Optical illusions -- 3.2 Atmospheric and climatic change -- 3.2.1 Effects on light and heat radiation -- 3.2.2 Summer cooling, winter warming -- 3.2.3 Oceanic response -- 3.2.4 Biological feedbacks -- 3.2.5 Stratospheric ozone depletion -- 3.3 Recipe for a climate-forcing eruption -- 3.3.1 Sulphur content and eruption magnitude -- 3.3.2 Eruption intensity and style -- 3.3.3 Eruption location -- 3.3.4 Eruption timing -- 3.4 Summary -- 4 Forensic volcanology -- 4.1 Reading the rocks -- 4.1.1 Characteristics of tephra deposits -- 4.1.2 Estimating eruption parameters -- Eruption magnitude -- Eruption intensity -- 4.1.3 Dating eruptions -- Potassium and argon -- Radiocarbon -- Fission tracks -- 4.1.4 Tephrochronology -- 4.1.5 Volatile yields -- 4.2 Ice cores -- 4.2.1 Geochemical fingerprinting -- 4.2.2 Volatile yields -- 4.3 Tree rings -- 4.4 Summary -- 5 Relics, myths and chronicles -- 5.1 Archaeological perspectives -- 5.1.1 El Salvador's 'Pompeii'. , 5.1.2 Arenal volcano, Costa Rica -- 5.1.3 Papua New Guinea -- 5.2 Oral traditions -- 5.2.1 Mt Pinatubo 1991: an eruption foretold -- 5.2.2 Kīlauea -- 5.2.3 Mt Mazama -- 5.3 Crepuscular lights, cannonades and chronicles -- 5.3.1 Visual arts -- 5.4 Volcano forensics: a case study -- 5.4.1 The 1861 eruption of Dubbi volcano -- 5.5 Summary -- 6 Killer plumes -- 6.1 Mass extinctions -- 6.2 More about LIPs -- 6.3 LIP origins -- 6.4 LIPs, bolides and extinctions: the coincidences -- 6.4.1 The end of the dinosaurs -- 6.4.2 Is the Earth's mantle a serial killer? -- 6.5 Kill mechanisms -- 6.6 Hot LIPS and cold SLIPS -- 6.6.1 LIPs, 'volcanic winters' and 'snowball Earth' -- 6.7 Summary -- 7 Human origins -- 7.1 The East African Rift Valley -- 7.2 The first humans -- 7.3 The Middle Stone Age and modern humans -- 7.3.1 Human migrations: push and pull -- 7.3.2 Out of Africa (again) -- 7.4 Summary -- 8 The ash giant/sulphur dwarf -- 8.1 The eruption -- 8.1.1 When did it happen? -- 8.1.2 What was it like? -- 8.2 Sulphur yield of the eruption -- 8.3 Climate change -- 8.3.1 Climate models -- 8.3.2 Palaeoenvironmental evidence -- 8.4 The human story -- 8.4.1 Counter-arguments -- 8.5 Focus on India -- 8.6 Summary -- 9 European volcanism in prehistory -- 9.1 The Campanian eruption and the human revolution in Palaeolithic Europe -- 9.1.1 Climate impact -- 9.1.2 Human impact -- 9.2 'Cultural devolution' and the Laacher See eruption -- 9.2.1 Climate impact -- 9.2.2 Human impact -- Tasmania -- 9.3 Eruption of Santorini and decline of the Minoan civilisation -- 9.3.1 The Minoan world -- 9.3.2 The eruption -- 9.3.3 Dating the eruption -- 9.3.4 Tsunami and human impact -- 9.4 Summary -- 10 The rise of Teotihuacán -- 10.1 Popocatepetl -- 10.2 The Ilopango eruption -- 10.3 Summary -- 11 Dark Ages: dark nature? -- 11.1 The Mystery Cloud of 536 CE. , 11.1.1 The aerosol veil in contemporary literature -- 11.1.2 Plague -- 11.1.3 Consequences for the Empire -- 11.2 Veils and whips -- 11.2.1 Ice cores -- 11.2.2 Identifying the mystery eruption -- 11.2.3 Machine-gun volcanism and the Little Ice Age -- 11.2.4 Religious fervour and regime change -- 11.3 Summary -- 12 The haze famine -- 12.1 The eruption -- 12.2 Gas emissions and aerosol veil -- 12.2.1 Spread of the volcanic cloud -- 12.3 Weather and climate -- 12.4 The haze famine -- 12.5 Long reach of the eruption -- 12.5.1 Mortality crisis in England -- 12.5.2 Africa and Asia -- 12.5.3 The French Revolution -- 12.6 Summary -- 13 The last great subsistence crisis in the Western world -- 13.1 Sumbawa before the disaster -- 13.2 The eruption -- 13.2.1 Initial blasts -- 13.2.2 Cataclysmic eruption -- 13.2.3 Darkness at noon -- 13.2.4 Tsunami -- 13.2.5 Pumice rafts -- 13.3 Atmospheric and climate impacts -- 13.4 Human tragedy -- 13.5 Global reach of the eruption -- 13.5.1 Disease, demography, economics and politics -- 13.6 Summary -- 14 Volcanic catastrophe risk -- 14.1 Three catastrophe scenarios -- 14.1.1 Explosive eruption near a major city -- 14.1.2 Volcanogenic pollution crisis -- 14.1.3 'Super-eruption' scenario -- 14.2 Risk control -- 14.2.1 Vulnerability versus resilience -- 14.2.2 Risk analysis and the problem of extremes -- 14.2.3 Preparation and response -- Preparing for emergency evacuation -- International frameworks -- 14.3 Global warming: fake volcanoes and real eruptions -- 14.3.1 Stratospheric geo-engineering -- 14.3.2 Could climate change trigger eruptions? -- 14.4 Shaken but not stirred -- Appendix A: Large eruptions -- Appendix B: Further reading and data sources -- Chapter 1 -- Chapter 2 -- Chapter 3 -- Chapter 4 -- Data sources -- Chapter 5 -- Chapter 6 -- Chapter 7 -- Chapter 8 -- Chapter 9 -- Chapter 10 -- Chapter 11 -- Chapter 12. , Chapter 13 -- Chapter 14 -- References -- Index.