Volcanoes and Earthquakes

My interest in volcanoes and earthquakes forms a subset of my general interest in catastrophism. Volcanoes can effect global climate changes through injection of large quantities of ash into the atmosphere. These dust veils can lead to lower temperatures and dimmer days, which in turn lead to crop failures, which in turn lead to starvation and migration, which in turn lead to war, the spread of disease, the fall of old civilizations, and the birth of new ones. Extensive, prolonged vulcanism may play a part in mass extinctions as well. See catastrophism and mass extinctions for more information.

Similar "nuclear winter" consequences can also arise from energetic impact events of the super-Tunguska class. See Clube and Napier's book Cosmic Winter for details.

• Alaska Volcano Observatory is a cooperative program of the United States Geological Survey, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, and the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys. Offers information on current volcanic activity in Alaska and Kamchatka.
• American Rescue Team was founded in 1985 to save lives, reduce suffering and to assist in the reduction of the devastating aftermath caused by catastrophic events such as earthquakes.
• Arenal Volcano discusses this volcano which lies about ten miles from Monteverde in Costa Rica.
• British Antarctic Survey seeks "to undertake a programme of first class science through which an active and influential role can be sustained in the Antarctic region, giving the UK an authoritative voice in Antarctic affairs. BAS research covers all aspects of science and exploits the unique natural laboratory conditions in the Antarctic to address problems of global and regional relevance. BAS also discharges the UK's responsibilities for complying with the Antarctic Treaty and administers the British Antarctic Territory."
• Cascades Volcano Observatory , located in Vancouver, Washington, USA, "strives to serve the public interest by helping people to live knowledgeably and safely with volcanoes and other natural hazards including earthquakes, landslides, and debris flows, in the western United States and elsewhere in the world." Site includes information on Mount St. Helens among other volcanos, hydrologic information, monitoring techniques, education outreach programs, and more.
• CoAxial Home Page
• Compiled Volcanology Data CD-ROMs
• Costa Rica-ARENAL Volcano Gallery
• Current seismicity (USGS)
• Deborah K. Smith's Volcanic Topography at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge discusses seafloor volcanic features and offers high resolution side-scan sonar images of the axial zone of the slow-spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
• Decade volcanoes
• Earth System Science Resource Center
• Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo
• Earthquakes: Most destructive, etc.
• EPIX: Emergency Preparedness Information Exchange (Gopher)
• Eruptions of Mount Spurr Volcano, Alaska, Photographs of the 1992 Eruptions
• Geological Information Servers (Gopher)
• Gifford Pinchot National Forest offers information on Mount St. Helens Volcanic Monument and includes a volcanocam which presents live pictures of the volcano, updated every ten minutes of so, from Johnston Ridge Observatory.
• Hakone is an active volcano located 30 km southeast of Mt. Fuji. The latest eruption took place about 3,000 B.P. This site also offers links to many other volcano resources, including home pages of Japanese individuals interested in volcanos.
• Hawaiian Volcano Observatory "Volcano Watch" from the University of Hawaii provides a weekly newsletter written by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. "Article topics may range from volcanic features on the Big Island, volcanic hazards, informational topics of Long Island, Montserrat, or Alaska, to topics about the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory."
• InterRidge Home Page
• Lamb's Dust Veil Index offers H. H. Lamb's database of "dust veil indices (DVI) for the period 1500 A.D. to 1983 A.D. along with estimates for the eruptions of Santorin in 1470 B.C., Vesuvius in 79 A.D., and Oraefajokull in 1362 A.D. Lamb's Dust Veil Index (DVI) is a numerical index that quantifies the impact of a particular volcanic eruption's release of dust and aerosols over the years following the event, especially the impact on the Earth's energy balance. The methods used to calculate the DVI have been intercalibrated to give a DVI of 1000 for the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883. The DVI for any volcanic eruption is based on a review of the observational, empirical, and theoretical studies of the possible impact on climate of volcanic dust veils. The DVI allows one to compare volcanic eruptions by a single numerical index. The data base includes the name of the erupting volcano, year of eruption, volcano latitude and longitude, maximum extent of the dust veil, veil duration, DVI for the entire globe, DVI for the Northern Hemisphere, and DVI for the Southern Hemisphere. The data are in one file (22.6 kB)."
• Long Valley Caldera
• Michigan Tech Univ. Volcanoes Page , sponsored by the Keweenaw Volcano Observatory, offers information on current global volcanic activity, research in remote sensing of volcanoes and their eruptive products, hazard mitigation, "Decade Volcanoes", links to government agencies and research institutions, and even some volcano humor.
• NASA, EOS IDS Volcanology Team
• Natural Hazards Databases at National Geophysical Data Center
• Natural Hazards Mitigation Group, University of Geneva at the University of Geneva (Switzerland) provides information about natural hazards research programs and offers a catalog of volcano pictures from around the world.
• Piton de la Fournaise Slide Set was compiled by Pete Mouginis-Mark of the University of Hawaii. La Fournaise is a volcano located on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean.
• Pompeii Forum Project by John J. Dobbins "is a collaborative venture that focuses on the urban center of Pompeii...There are three components to the project: documentation of standing remains; archaeological analysis; and urban study that seeks a) to interpret the developments at Pompeii in the broader context of urban history and b) to identify at Pompeii recurring patterns of urban evolution that can be applied to contemporary issues in American urbanism." Pompeii was buried by eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.
• Sakurajima Volcano is located in Japan. About 7,000 people live at the foot of the volcano. The city of Kagoshima, with a population of about half a million, lies 10 km to the west.
• San Francisco History -- Earthquakes from The Museum of the City of San Francisco offers information on the many earthquakes suffered by San Francisco from 1769 to the present.
• Santorini bibliography
• Seismo-surfing the Internet
• Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC), founded in 1991, "is a Science and Technology Center of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and is also funded by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). SCEC brings scientists together for joint research and problem solving to reduce earthquake hazard in Southern California. The formal mission of the Center is to promote earthquake hazard reduction by estimating when and where future damaging earthquakes will occur, calculating the expected ground motion, and disseminating that information to the public."
• Stromboli project at the Universitadegli Studi di Udine discusses research about Stromboli volcano, one of the Aeolian islands, located north of Sicily. Stromboli has a permanent activity which has been reported for thousands of years. This activity results, from the seismic point of view, in a considerable number of explosion-quakes (several per hour) and in a persistent volcanic tremor. Site includes information on the seismic station located near the summit of the volcano, photos of Stromboli and other volcanos, and a bibliography of scientific papers about Stromboli.
• Surface and Atmospheric Effects of the 1991 Eruption of Mount Pinatubo by Pete Mouginis-Mark provides a slide set and discussion.
• Tatsuro CHIBA's page offers information on current and recent eruptions as well as photographs of volcanos.
• Teide photos offers several nice images of this volcano located in the Canary Islands.
• United States Geological Survey is the largest earth science research and information agenvy in the United States. "The USGS, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Interior, was established to provide a permanent Federal agency to conduct the systematic and scientific 'classification of the public lands and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain.' The mission of the USGS is to provide geologic, topographic, and hydrologic information that contributes to the wise management of the Nation's natural resources and that promotes the health, safety, and well-being of the people. This information consists of maps, databases, and descriptions and analyses of the water, energy, and mineral resources, land surface, underlying geologic structure, natural hazards, and dynamic processes of the earth."
• United States Global Change Regional Information Office (GCRIO) "provides access to data and information on global change research, adaptation/mitigation strategies and technologies, and global change related educational resources on behalf the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) and its participating Federal Agencies and Organizations. GCRIO is implemented by The Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN)."
• Principal fields of research at the University of Alaska Geophysical Institute include space physics, aeronomy, meteorology, climatology, seismology, volcanology, glaciology, geology, and geophysics.
• University of Tokyo Volcano Research Center (VRC) "conducts various scientific researches on magmatic processes and volcano dynamics, which will help to improve prediction of volcanic eruptions. Some of these researches are made in cooperation with other domestic and overseas institutions. Some geophysical data are available from permanent stations set at Asama, Kirishima, Izu-Oshima, Kusatsu-Shirane, and Fuji volcanoes to study volcanic phenomena. One of current major subjects is to reveal features of magma plumbing systems, based on the study of crustal structure below active volcanoes. Other subjects include analysis of various data on volcanoes and characterization of eruptive processes."
• Volcanic Ash Forecast Transport And Dispersion (VAFTAD) by Nick Heffter offers an example of real-time display of dispersion models for volcanic ash.
• Volcano Information Center by Richard V. Fisher seeks to inform "about general features of volcanoes, volcanic eruptions and volcanic hazards in a simplified way." Includes information on volcanic hazards, volcaniclastic names, volcanic eruptions, hydrovolcanic processes, volcano forms, pyroclastic flows and fallout, lahars, debris-flow avalanches, and volcaniclastic sedimentation and facies.
• Volcanoes by Robert I. Tilling offers an introduction to the subject, including the nature and types of volcanoes, volcanic environments, monitoring volcanoes, effects on people, and more.
• Volcanological Society of Japan was established in 1932. There were 1,200 members as of 1996. The Society publishes a quarterly bulletin. Indices are available at this site.
• Welcome to Tsunami! from the Department of Geophysics at the University of Washington offers an online interactive tsunami resource. Tsunamis are often associated with both volcanic eruptions and earthquakes as well as cosmic impacts. Includes information on the physics of tsunamis, links to related web sites, a survey of great tsunamis of the past, discussions of tsunami hazard mitigation, and more.
• World-Wide Earthquake Locator from the Department of Geography at the University of Edinburgh provides basic information about earthquakes within hours of their occurrence, using data from the National Earthquake Information Center of the USGS. Also provides general information about earthquakes.
• Yellowstone National Park in the state of Wyoming, USA lies atop a hot spot in the Earth's mantle. Yellowstone has been the site of extensive volcanic eruptions over the past 17 million years. The most recent caldera forming eruption of 650,000 years ago produced a caldera 53x28 miles in size, and dispersed ash, pumice, and gases over an area of more than 3,000 square miles. Today it continues to offer a variety of geothermal phenomena including geysers, hot springs, steam vents, and mud pots.

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Last modified by pib on July 17, 2010.