Cooling the Lava

John McPhee, The Control of Nature, Part 2

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John McPhee, The Control of Nature, Part 2

Reminders

The Mars Show is presented every Friday night at 8 p.m. If you can't make this regular evening time then let me know whether you could make it Monday April 13 from 10:00 to 10:45 a.m.

For the upcoming optional movie night (date to be announced) we may watch any two movies of geological, meteorological, or planetary interest. I had originally thought of Twister and Dante's Peak, but have now decided to open it up for your nominations. The following movies have been nominated: Twister, Dante's Peak, Jurassic Park, Contact, and Bringing up Baby (starring Cary Grant as a palaeontologist). Email additional nominations to me this week and then next week we'll take a vote to get the top two.

 

McPhee Focus Questions

Read the entire Part 2 of McPhee's The Control of Nature. Then go back and review by focusing your attention on the following questions for discussion. (Page numbers in parentheses are approximate; most questions are discussed in many places throughout the reading.)

  1.  
  2. Heimaey, the largest town on the island of Vestmannaeyjar, supported which critical export industry for Iceland? (97)
  3. 350 houses were lost, many of which are described or sketched following page 121. Were Heimaey and its harbor utterly destroyed in 1973, or were the Icelanders able to control the course of events and save them? (172)
  4. What was Thorbjorn's training? (104)
    1. How may local conditions shape the interests and views of a geologist?
  5. Describe the phenomena associated with volcanic ash. (99, 106, 111-112)
  6. What is tephra? (108)
  7. Why did they wear helmets? (103)
  8. Compare and contrast the eruption of 1973 with the ancient eruption of Vesuvius that killed Pliny and buried the town of Pompeii. (118)
  9. What was the "Hardship of the Blue Cloud" in 1783? (162)
  10. Who was Pele? (145)
  11. How did Thorbjorn, "Patton," and others divert the lava flows? (107, 178, etc.)
  12. Why is it oftentimes difficult to obtain expert consensus to predict a specific geological event? (110-111)
  13. Why is Iceland "full of adjustments, like a settling stomach"?
    1. What is a "spreading center"?
    2. What is in the town of Geysir? (160 ff)
  14. The famous Icelandic volcano Mount Hekla was the fictional entrance to subterranean worlds taken by the characters in Jules Verne's tale Journey to the Center of the Earth. Contrast the products of the Hekla and Katla volcanos. (114)
  15. What is a stratovolcano?
  16. Why do earthquakes often accompany volcanic eruptions? (115, etc.)
  17. McPhee refers to a sequence of 4 events on p. 136. Identify these four events, and list them in chronological order.
    1.  
    2.  
    3.  
    4.  
  18. What political and legal problems might result from attempts to divert lava flows elsewhere in the world? (Catania, 144; Hawaii, 150)