Reviews - Volcanic Worlds: Exploring the Solar System Volcanoes
by Dr. Rosaly Lopes (with Tracy Gregg)

Peter J. Mouginis-Mark - University of Hawaii
Volcanic Worlds: Exploring the Solar System Volcanoes (with Tracy Gregg)
November 23, 2004
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The study of volcanoes throughout the Solar System is an exciting subject in part because of the dynamic nature of volcanoes on Earth, and in part because of the wonder in exploring alien worlds only to find variations on a familiar theme. This book goes a long way to demonstrate to the non-specialist reader that studying volcanoes, be they on the earth's ocean floor, in the wilds of Earth's polar regions, or on other planets, is indeed fun. It also shows that understanding the diversity of planetary volcanism provides critical insights into the internal workings of planets throughout the history of the Solar System.



Excerpt from Book Review from New Scientist, vol. 184, issue 2475, 27 November 2004
Volcanic Worlds: Exploring the Solar System Volcanoes (with Tracy Gregg)
Catch up on astronomy - David Hughes reveals a stellar diversity
November 27, 2004
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One of the great surprises of the exploration of the solar system was that volcanic activity seems to be ubiquitous. Geologists have much to share with astronomers. Volcanoes were commonplace on Mars and Venus. Io was pumping volcanic sulphurous gases into space when Voyager 1 passed in 1979. Cryovolcanism, in which internal heating drives water, gases, and even solid fragments to the surface, modified the surfaces of Ganymede and Triton. Ancient basaltic lava flows reshaped many lunar craters.

All these topics are covered with insight, even cheerfully, in Volcanic Worlds, by Rosaly Lopes and Tracy Gregg. Unusually, given the preponderance of male scientists, each of its 11 chapters is the work of an active female researcher, and each is enlivened with scientific reminiscences, career notes and numerous illustrations.

Blowin' Up Around the Solar System, January 13, 2006 For amazon.com
Reviewer: doomsdayer520 (State College, PA)

Despite being presented for the community of professional astronomers, this book is fascinating and essential for anyone interested in geologic phenomena around our solar system. Thanks to recent discoveries by the various spacecrafts that have been sent to the furthest reaches of the solar system, plus steadily improving earthbound observations, we can see that volcanoes are very common on other worlds and also offer a great amount of variety in their structures and behaviors. This book is composed of chapters written by various planetary geologists, starting out with volcanoes right here on Earth, in order to establish basic knowledge on volcanic processes. We then learn about the volcanoes of Venus and Mars, plus several of the solid moons of the giant outer planets. Most interesting are two of Jupiter's moons, the hot-headed sulfur-spitting Io, and the watery and possibly life-supporting Europa. For the interested layperson, note that there are some readability issues with this book. It was written by scientists for scientists, so the prose is not exactly compelling, and a glossary (or at least better explanations of the many obscure scientific terms and jargon) sure would be helpful. Meanwhile, there is a vague feminist slant to this book because all of the chapters were submitted by women scientists, but fortunately this only applies to some of the introductions, and in any case this concept can be dismissed as inconsequential. That's because anyone is capable of teaching us about these fascinating aspects of nearby worlds.

***** A beautiful book on a fascinating subject, March 9, 2006
Reviewer: A reader For Amazon.co.uk

The breathtaking discoveries of volcanoes on the inner rocky planets and on the icy moons of the outer planets are the subject of this lively and engaging book. The biographies, first-person narrative and use of poetry are peculiar to begin with, but persevere.

The introduction defines a volcano as ‘a place on the solid surface of a planet where relatively hot material from the planet’s interior comes out’. Oddly this would include Geysers on Earth, but it does allow consideration of the landforms on the ice worlds of Europa and Triton. The initial chapters sensibly start with an overview of subaerial and submarine terrestrial volcanism, grounding the reader in the fundamentals of terrestrial volcanology.

Venusian, Lunar and Martian volcanism are then covered in some detail. The latest data from Mars Odyssey, Pathfinder and Global Surveyor spacecraft are included, but the Mars Rovers landed too late to have their discoveries described. Some might have sniffed at the term ‘robotic geologist’, but these tools have added greatly to our geological understanding of Mars.

The most exciting writing covers volcanism on Jupiter and Saturn’s moons, seen by the Galileo and Voyager 2 spacecraft. Io’s eruptions, particularly their disputed composition, are discussed in fascinating detail. Voyager identified sulphur in volcanic plumes, low eruption temperatures and vivid surface colours, leading to the conclusion that sulphur magmas were the norm. Later observations from Galileo showed eruptions at 1500 deg C, too hot for sulphur, and above the terrestrial silicate range. Debate still rages.

The gender make-up of the contributors is intriguing, comprising as it does two female editors, eleven female writers and one female astronaut foreword-writer – surely a first in Planetary Geology. It is part review and part prospectus for young planetary geologists. It is an easy read and the illustrations are dramatic, colourful and often beautiful, but it is already dated. A new cryovolcano has just been identified on Titan (Nature, 6 June 2005), and more quirks can be expected with every new space probe. I highly recommend this book to laypeople and geologists interested in this rapidly advancing subject, and look forward to forthcoming updated editions.

Review by Jill Malter (jillmalter@aol.com) For amazon.com
Volcanic Worlds: Exploring the Solar System Volcanoes (with Tracy Gregg)
March 23, 2005


Can ladies do science?

Of course.

As Sally Ride says in the Foreword, this is the first edited book on planetary geology written solely by women. Let's hear it for Rosaly Lopes, Tracy Gregg, Katherine Cashman, Ellen Stofan, Lisa Gaddis, Susan Sakimoto, Joy Crisp, Louise Prockter, Mary Chapman, Gudrun Larsen, and Susan Kieffer! These ladies were the logical authorities to be chosen to write their respective chapters. And they did a great job.

Cashman leads off with a discussion of hot spot volcanism and subduction zone volcanism. The part on hot spots deals mostly with volcanoes in Hawaii, but the Laki volcano in Iceland is chosen as the most dramatic example of "the deleterious effects of volcanic gases." The section on subduction zone volcanism includes topics such as silicic lava flows and lava domes as well as caldera collapse. And there's plenty about the hazards associated with such volcanism, including a speculation that the eruption of Toba, Sumatra (74,000 years ago) may have reduced the human population to less than 100,000 back then.

Gregg talks about the exploration of volcanoes hidden at the sea floor on mid-ocean ridges. This includes some discussion of hydrothermal venting there, which can raise the ocean water temperature near a vent to over 400 degrees Celsius. And, of course, it is mentioned that there is speculation about similar volcanism (and even life) on the Jovian moon Europa.

What about "Earth's evil twin," as Stofan appropriately calls Venus? Thousands of volcanoes have been identified on Venus. We learn about lava flows there as well as long sinuous channels. Some of the lava flows there are much longer than were predicted. Hopefully, we'll learn from them how to better predict how far lava flows will travel on our own planet!

Gaddis tells us about lunar volcanoes. She shows a picture of a sinuous rille on the Moon. A few decades ago, some people speculated that such rilles were produced by water, but Gaddis explains that they are now known to have been carved by lava. And she says that volcanoes on the Moon range from about 4.3 billion years old (since the formation of the lunar crust) to 3 billion years old. There hasn't been any volcanic activity on the moon in the past billion years or so.

Sakamoto and Crisp then have sections on Martian volcanoes. Besides an overview, we get a detailed discussion of what Mars Pathfinder discovered from the Martian surface.

Lopes (who is almost literally the girl from Ipanema) has a fascinating section on the Io volcanoes observed by the Voyager and Galileo missions. She is now working on the Cassini Mission, where she is getting a chance to investigate calderas and cryovolcanism on Titan. I think we'll need a new edition to tell us about this!

Procter's section is on ice volcanism. She shows us evidence of cryoclastic eruptions on Europa and on other moons of major planets. The most interesting part is the discussion of the "cantaloupe terrain" of Triton.

Well, what do volcanoes produce? Um, ash! And Chapman and Larsen tell us plenty about it. Larsen is an expert in tephrachronology, and she knows all about the varied ages and types of ash deposits in Iceland. This detailed knowledge is used by the authors to draw conclusions about volcanic deposits on Mars (Chapman's specialty).

The book concludes with a chapter by Kieffer. She begins with the Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park. She contrasts these geyser eruptions with volcanic plumes on Mars, Io, and Mount Saint Helens. And from here, she makes analogies with volcanism on Triton and Titan.

Volcanoes are very interesting. But one can see that it takes hard work and talent to do work in this field. In my opinion, there is one other requirement, namely courage. Volcanoes are dangerous! In any case, let me express my sincere admiration for all the authors in producing this fine book.

Books by Dr. Rosaly Lopes:

The Volcano Adventure Guide - Buy it Today by clicking Here!


Volcanic Worlds: Exploring the Solar System Volcanoes (with Tracy Gregg) - Buy it Today by clicking Here!

Io After Galileo (with John Spencer) - Buy it Today by clicking Here

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Coming soon:

Alien Volcanos: Johns Hopkins Press 2006 (Pre-Order)

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