Cover Picture
Book Review: Volcanoes of the World (second edition)
by
Tom Simkin and Lee Siebert.
Geoscience Press Tucson (AZ) 1994. 349p.
Price - $25

Congratulations! The volcanological community has waited 13 years for the second edition of one of volcanology's most frequently cited reference works. It has been worth waiting, for the new "Volcanoes of the World" (VOTW) by Tom Simkin and Lee Siebert of the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program is a giant step forward from the book's first edition. The most striking progresses besides a vast updating of all known volcano data, are the incorporation of a number of figures (including b/w photos of some notable eruptions and volcanoes) and the stronger emphasis on volcanic hazards, as manifested in particular by a chapter on fatalities caused by volcanic eruptions.

Each region is now preceded by neatly prepared maps showing all volcanoes that are listed in the DIRECTORY part of the book, and brief introductions to some notable facts concerning the region covered. The reference list has grown significantly. The number of volcanoes active during the Holocene listed in the DIRECTORY has grown by about 170, from 1343 to 1511, and the number of known Holocene eruptions has increased by 2322 to 7886, less than 500 of which occurred during the 13 years that have passed between the publication of the first and the second edition.

The authors and their collaborators have done an immense work to arrange the data and introduce the reader to the information hidden within the endless tables that make up the bulk of the book, and to give some interpretations and statistics of the data. Although the book's explanatory section is sometimes a bit difficult to read (e.g., the dating techniques), Simkin and Siebert have succeeded in producing a highly comprehensive reference work on global volcanism during the past 10,000 years. Who does that bit of work to fully understand the information in the tables of the DIRECTORY will find essential data on virtually every volcano known as active during the Holocene and each eruption known - or believed - to have occurred in that period. The book does not intend to give precise descriptions about all volcanoes and eruptions (and in fact, one of its weak points is that, for reasons of space, erupted volumes are given only as orders of magnitudes), and no one could demand this.

It is sold at a fairly low price and it is even a good deal when you order it in a German bookstore; many German textbooks of much lower quality are sold at much higher prices. VOTW, second edition, will remain a highly valuable reference book for a long time, even though many new eruptions, among them some very important, have already added to the record since the end of the period covered in the book (31 December 1993). Nonetheless, there is no other reference that documents global volcanism that completely, and probably this book will be superseded by its third edition only (by the way then, how about a global summary of volcanism through the year 2000 ...?).

Talking about that future edition, here are a few suggestions. They concern solely eruption data, and only a volcano maniac like me is likely to detect so minor errors or omissions. They surely don't change the overall grandeur of the work. On a local scale, they might be of some significance, though.

First, there is Stromboli (Aeolian Islands, Italy), maybe my favorite volcano for a number of reasons. I checked virtually all the references documenting its activity, particularly in this century, including what is generally regarded "gray literature". Some of this is not even known to Italian volcanologists who recently have compiled a list of Stromboli's major eruptions (Barberi et al. 1993). Neither these scientists nor VOTW have a lava flow in April 1924 in their files (Christa 1926), and the same applies to several brief effusive episodes in 1958-1959 (Cavallaro 1970).

Furthermore, VOTW gives the volume of lava emitted during the 4- month eruption of 1967 as only in the range of 1000 cubic meters, a volume that seems far too low to me. Although I know of no reference that gives a figure of the 1967 lava volume, I would suggest that it was at least two orders of magnitude larger. A 3-weeks-eruption in 1975 emitted about 105 cubic meters of lava. An eruption of similar duration as the 1967 one, in 1985- 1986, produced a volume of 2.4 million cubic meters of lava, and I believe that a similar figure would apply for the 1967 lava volume. This speculation is based on the fact that for much of the 1967 effusive period, lava flowed into the sea, thus covering a vertical distance of 800 m which would be about 1 km of overall distance, and assuming an average width of 3 m and an average thickness of 3 m of the flow, this would already amount to 9,000 cubic meters, for a flow running down to the sea in one given moment. Taking into account that lava was running down the slope for a good while, this quantity multiplies.

Still at Stromboli, no mention is made in VOTW of lava effusion during the spring of 1993 which was described in the Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Network Bulletin (v. 18, No. 4).

A similar suggestion concerns a much more notorious volcano, Merapi in Java (Indonesia). Here the authors and their collaborators have somewhat degraded what was probably the volcano's most violent and voluminous eruption of this century, in 1961. In fact, this eruption lasted from April through late November 1961 (not only until 8 May) and had a violent explosive paroxysm on 8 May. This was certainly much in excess of the VEI of 2 attributed to the 1961 eruption in VOTW. The eruption probably was as strong as, if not exceeding, the 1930 eruption, causing heavy tephra falls over a wide area and pyroclastic flows that reached even farther than those of 1930. All in all, more than 20 million cubic meters of tephra and about 13 million cubic meters of lava were produced in the 1961 eruption (Suryo 1981), and the extrusion rate (1.86 million cubic meters per month) is the highest calculated during any of the 20th century eruptions of Merapi (Siswowidjoyo et al. 1995). A VEI of 3 for this eruption appears a more adequate expression of the eruption's magnitude.

Similar issues might concern several other volcanoes worldwide; however, these two should serve as examples. I must underline that errors of this scale, in a wealth of data like that presented in VOTW, make up a vanishingly small proportion.

Another point is worth specifying. Although quite comprehensive in literature that is easily available in the US, the reference list in VOTW lacks a few less-known, but highly informative, references that give classical descriptions of individual volcanoes and their eruptive histories. Maybe the most significant gap of this kind is the lack of Lacroix' (1904) great work on Montagne Pelee (not Mont Pelee, as repeatedly cited in VOTW) - a classic of similar value as the new edition of VOTW. In the light of the recent eruption at Fogo (Cape Verde Islands), the lack of mention of Orlando Ribeiro's (1954) great monograph on that volcano (including a very detailed record of its eruptive history), should be pointed to as well. VOTW's reference list cites a paper (in Spanish) on Villarrica volcano by Gonzalez-Ferran (1972) which is virtually unavailable in Germany; under these circumstances, works like those mentioned should not ignored in the same reference list.

Jumping on such minor issues in such a lengthy way may be considered typical German pedantry. However, it may as well serve to point out that with this criticism I have virtually exhausted the full quantity of weak points that book presents. I find nothing more. Be sure that when aware of these few imperfections, you can handle VOTW as a remarkably complete, and reliable source of volcano information. The great work done by Simkin, Siebert and their collaborators is to be greatly appreciated. VOTW's first edition was a milestone. The second is of at least the same importance, and I recommend that everyone who is interested in volcanism in some way should have this book.

REFERENCES,br> Barberi F, Rosi M & Sodi A (1993) Volcanic hazard assessment at Stromboli based on a review of historical data. Acta Vulcanologica 3: 173-187.

Cavallaro C (1970) Le attivit` dello Stromboli nel triennio 1957-59 e le variazioni morfologiche da esse determinate. Atti del XX Congresso Geografico Italiano (1967): 229-243

Christa E (1926) Beobachtungen am Stromboli Ende April 1924. Zeitschrift fuer Vulkanologie 10: 1-4

Gonzalez-Ferran O (1972) Distribucion del volcanismo activo de Chile y la reciente erupcion del Volcan Villarrica. Instituto Geografico Militar Chile O/T 3491

Lacroix A (1904) La Montagne Pelee et ses eruptions. Masson & Cie Paris: 1-662

Ribeiro O (1954) A Ilha do Fogo e as suas erupcoes. Junta de Investigacoes do Ultramar, Memorias (Serie Geografica)1: 1-319 (reprinted in 1960)

Siswowidjoyo S, Suryo I & Yokoyama I (1995) Magma eruption rates of Merapi volcano, Central Java, Indonesia, during one century (1890- 1992). Bull Volcanol 57: 111-116

Suryo I (1981) Bulletin of the Volcanological Survey of Indonesia No. 104 (1961-1963): 9-28

Review by:
Boris Behncke, GEOMAR Research Center for Marine
Geosciences, Kiel
(bbehncke@geomar.de)
 


To Previous Review     To Reviews Index





 To Volcano Info. HyperExchange              To VolcanoWorld