Volcanoes of the Solar System

Charles Frankel

Cambridge University Press, 1996 - Science - 232 pages

Space age lunar and planetary missions offer a new and enlarged perspective on volcanism, extending our experience to features discovered beyond this planet. Starting with Earth, Volcanoes of the Solar System takes the reader on a guided tour of the terrestrial planets and moons and their volcanic features. Lunar lava fields are seen through the eyes of the Apollo astronauts, and we are taken on an imaginary hike up the Martian slopes of Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano of the Solar System. This comprehensive and lucid account of volcanoes includes over 150 photographs. The text describes the most recent data on the unique and varied volcanic features of Venus and updates our knowledge on the prodigiously active volcanoes of Io. This book is accessible to the general reader, yet includes enough detail to serve as an introduction for earth sciences students.

Contents

• The Earth as a model: 1
• Distribution of volcanoes on Earth: 3
• The discovery of underwater volcanoes: 5
• The origin of heat: 6
• Accretional heat: 7
• Radioactive heating: 8
• Getting rid of the heat: 9
• Convection currents: 11
• The ascent of magma: 12
• Magma chambers: 13
• The eruptive process: 16
• Volcanoes of Earth: 19
• Underwater volcanism: 20
• Spreading rates: 23
• Exploring the rift: 24
• Rifts above water: 26
• The great African rift: 27
• Flood basalts: 30
• Plains volcanism: 31
• Oceanic hot spots: 32
• The Hawaiian hot spot: 34
• Subduction and island arcs: 36
• Subduction volcanism: 37
• Cordillera volcanism: 38
• Ignimbrites and calderas: 39
• Resurgent calderas: 41
• The pace of eruptions on Earth: 42
• Volcanic regime of planet Earth: 45
• An astronauts view of the Moon: 46
• Voyage to the Moon: 48
• In lunar orbit: 49
• touchdown in a lava field: 51
• The lunar receiving laboratory: 53
• The Ocean of Storms: 54
• Lunar flood basalts: 55
• Cross section of the lunar maria: 57
• Excursion to Hadley Rille: 58
• A driedup lava bed: 59
• Lava channels and lava tubes: 62
• The origin of Hadley Rille: 64
• Volcanic history of the Hadley site: 65
• Looking for volcanoes: 66
• A geologist on the Moon: 67
• Discovery of the orange soil: 70
• Mystery in the lab: 73
• Lunar volcanism: 75
• A capsule history of the Moon: 76
• Sampling strategies: 78
• The chemistry of the lunar lava: 80
• The europium mystery: 82
• the evasive lavas: 84
• Early volcanism and impact melts: 87
• Mare volcanism: 89
• Moonwide trends: 91
• Lava flows on the Moon: 93
• The flooding of the basins: 94
• In search of volcanoes: 95
• Shields and domes on the Moon: 96
• Hints of recent volcanism on the Moon: 99
• The discovery of Mars: 100
• The Mariners odyssey: 101
• A guided tour of planet Mars: 103
• Crossing the Tharsis uplift: 104
• Grand canyon on Mars: 105
• Volcanoes of Elysium: 106
• New types of volcanoes: 107
• A field trip to Olympus Mons: 110
• The road to the top: 113
• On the rim of the caldera: 114
• Shield building on Mars: 116
• Volcanic marathons: 117
• Martian volcanism in space and time: 119
• Plains volcanism on Mars: 122
• Erosion on Mars: 123
• Meteorites from Mars: 125
• In the heart of the mantle: 127
• Melting scenarios: 128
• Volatile content of martian magma: 129
• A history of martian volcanism: 131
• Plate tectonics on Mars: 133
• From basins to shields: 134
• Alba the great: 136
• Venus unveiled: 139
• Decent into hell: 141
• Venus drops her veil: 143
• A twist of sulfur: 144
• The basalts of Venus: 145
• Calderas and coronae: 148
• Dating the volcanoes: 149
• In search of a model: 150
• Magellan explores Venus: 153
• Small volcanoes on Venus: 154
• Large volcanoes: 156
• A family portrait: 157
• Pancakes and ticks: 159
• Lava flows on Venus: 160
• Lava fields and channels: 163
• Lava cooling on Venus: 164
• Lava suites on Venus: 166
• Eruptions under pressure: 167
• Eruption styles on Venus: 168
• The rate of volcanism on Venus: 170
• Steady state and catastrophism: 171
• Organized volcanics on Venus: 172
• Hot spot growth on Venus: 174
• Io and the outer moons: 176
• Eruptions on Io: 177
• Tidal energy: 179
• Io and Europa: 181
• Calderas on Io: 182
• Volatiles on Io: 184
• The color of sulfur: 185
• Sulfurous magmas: 186
• A perilous field trip: 187
• Crustal structure of Io: 188
• The geysers of Io: 189
• Duration of eruptions: 190
• Hot spots on Io: 191
• Crustal recycling on Io: 193
• Cryovolcanism: 194
• The moons of Saturn: 195
• The moons of Uranus: 196
• The geysers of Triton: 198
• Volcanism a planetary perspective: 202
• Volcanism on asteroids: 203
• a comparative study: 205
• The time factor: 207
• Global asymmetries: 208
• Convection patterns: 210
• The shaping of a volcano: 212
• Volcano height: 213
• The gravity factor: 214
• Volcanoes and atmospheres: 215
• Volcanoes and climate: 217
• Trap eruptions and volcanic winters: 218
• The rains of Mars: 219
• BIBLIOGRAPHY: 221
• INDEX: 227

Bibliographic information

• Title: Volcanoes of the Solar System; Volcanoes of the Solar System, Charles Frankel
• Author: Charles Frankel
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1996
• ISBN: 0521477700, 9780521477703
• Length: 232 pages
• Subjects: Science / Earth Sciences / General; Science / General; Science / Space Science / Astronomy