The late Dr Peter Francis was Professor of Volcanology in the Department of Earth sciences at the Open University. Dr Clive Oppenheimer is a University Lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of Cambridge.

'Oppenheimer does not shy away from difficult concepts, and as part of a more modern treatment of magma vesiculation (bubble formation) he presents a skilful precis of Yuri Siezin's catastrophe theory model, whereby a slight change in the pressure driving up a conduit can trigger an enormous change in magma ascent velocity.' Times Higher Education Supplement, April 2004.

• 1. The Basics: isotopes and green cheese ; 2. Keeping planets cool: volcanoes, hot-spots, and plate tectonics ; 3. Four classic eruptions ; 4. Magma - the hot stuff ; 5. Types of volcanic activity ; 6. Lava Flows ; 7. Pyroclastic eruptions: bubbles, bangs, columns, and currents ; 8. What goes up must come down: pyroclastic fall deposits ; 9. Pyroclastic currents from collapsing domes and transient eruptions ; 10. Pyroclastic currents and ignimbrites associated with plinian eruptions ; 11. Super-eruptions, super-volcanoes and calderas ; 12. Debris avalanches and flows: magic carpets and muck ; 13. Volcanoes as landscape forms ; 14. Submarine volcanism ; 15. Extraterrestrial volcanoes ; 16. Eruptions and climate ; 17. Volcano monitoring ; 18. Reducing volcanic risks

The late Dr Peter Francis was Professor of Volcanology in the Department of Earth sciences at the Open University. Dr Clive Oppenheimer is a University Lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of Cambridge.

'Oppenheimer does not shy away from difficult concepts, and as part of a more modern treatment of magma vesiculation (bubble formation) he presents a skilful precis of Yuri Siezin's catastrophe theory model, whereby a slight change in the pressure driving up a conduit can trigger an enormous change in magma ascent velocity.' Times Higher Education Supplement, April 2004.

• 1. The Basics: isotopes and green cheese ; 2. Keeping planets cool: volcanoes, hot-spots, and plate tectonics ; 3. Four classic eruptions ; 4. Magma - the hot stuff ; 5. Types of volcanic activity ; 6. Lava Flows ; 7. Pyroclastic eruptions: bubbles, bangs, columns, and currents ; 8. What goes up must come down: pyroclastic fall deposits ; 9. Pyroclastic currents from collapsing domes and transient eruptions ; 10. Pyroclastic currents and ignimbrites associated with plinian eruptions ; 11. Super-eruptions, super-volcanoes and calderas ; 12. Debris avalanches and flows: magic carpets and muck ; 13. Volcanoes as landscape forms ; 14. Submarine volcanism ; 15. Extraterrestrial volcanoes ; 16. Eruptions and climate ; 17. Volcano monitoring ; 18. Reducing volcanic risks

The late Dr Peter Francis was Professor of Volcanology in the Department of Earth sciences at the Open University. Dr Clive Oppenheimer is a University Lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of Cambridge.

'Oppenheimer does not shy away from difficult concepts, and as part of a more modern treatment of magma vesiculation (bubble formation) he presents a skilful precis of Yuri Siezin's catastrophe theory model, whereby a slight change in the pressure driving up a conduit can trigger an enormous change in magma ascent velocity.' Times Higher Education Supplement, April 2004.

• 1. The Basics: isotopes and green cheese ; 2. Keeping planets cool: volcanoes, hot-spots, and plate tectonics ; 3. Four classic eruptions ; 4. Magma - the hot stuff ; 5. Types of volcanic activity ; 6. Lava Flows ; 7. Pyroclastic eruptions: bubbles, bangs, columns, and currents ; 8. What goes up must come down: pyroclastic fall deposits ; 9. Pyroclastic currents from collapsing domes and transient eruptions ; 10. Pyroclastic currents and ignimbrites associated with plinian eruptions ; 11. Super-eruptions, super-volcanoes and calderas ; 12. Debris avalanches and flows: magic carpets and muck ; 13. Volcanoes as landscape forms ; 14. Submarine volcanism ; 15. Extraterrestrial volcanoes ; 16. Eruptions and climate ; 17. Volcano monitoring ; 18. Reducing volcanic risks