I read chapter 1 of the Fundamentals of Physical Volcanology last night. Beer in hand, of course (what kind of geologist would I be if I didn't have a beer on a Friday!?). It was just chapter 1, so the overview. Now it is morning and I am blogging with coffee in hand and cat on leg.
A little bit about where/when/why I got this text book. In grad school I took a 600 level physical volcanology class; that was a few years ago, (already!) and I very much enjoyed the more in depth approach of this class. But, like all classes, it was too short and we did not get to cover nearly enough. I think the fact that this book was for a graduate level class, shows a little bit in the introduction. It assumes a basic knowledge about geology, and does not (like a lot of my text books) have the following image in chapter 1.
Yeah, the structure of the earth. I mean, I know it is good to just keep seeing it over and over and over so it sticks but... in grad school I was getting a little sick of the "hokay so here is the earth" and my reaction was always FOR FUCKS SAKE I KNOW! STOP WASTING TIME!!!
So I was happy it wasn't there. Now, on to what was there! I felt like the groundwork was set well for a discussion that goes beyond the basic "this is a volcano and this is what it does". I have read this book before so I know what some of the issues are that it brings up. I liked that it included an introduction to the idea that there are problems with the different ways eruptions are classified and that it can be a little fuzzy in the gray area between the well defined types. But I am not here to review text books.
This chapter made me excited. Why? Well after you have taken a few volcanology classes I feel like you spend enough time with the classic eruptions that you start to develop relationships with them. I see that wonderful painting of Mount Vesuvius next to a blurb about Pliny the Younger and it makes me smile. It is like seeing an old friend.
Also there was a sense of excitement because, unlike most classes, I do not have a time limit for reading this book. I don't have to cut anything short for the sake of the end of the semester. I always have felt that because, classes get behind with good discussions, things like diatremes, large igneous provinces and M.O.R. eruptions get less time than they deserve. Now I can go through the book and give them equal time.
So welcome to this crazy journey of a scatter brain to discover things I should have remembered but didn't as I reread my text book. (Volcanology edition)
