San Antonio College Library

Chronicles humankind's attempt to understand why volcanoes errupt, and looks at how our conception of volcanoes has changed.

For centuries, volcanic eruptions have captured our imaginations. Whether as signposts to an underworld, beacons to ancient mariners, or as an extraordinary manifestation of the natural world, volcanoes have intrigued many people, who have left records of their encounters in letters, reports and diaries and through sketches and illustrations. This book tells the stories of volcanic eruptions around the world, using original illustrations and first-hand...

Documents the human experience of the cataclysmic late-18th-century eruption of Iceland's largest volcano to illuminate how its fallout of disease, famine and revolution changed the course of history.

Pompeii, the lost Roman city buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. has long been a source of fascination to archaeologists. Its sister city Herculaneum, buried in the same eruption but to a much greater depth, reveals an even more complete picture of Roman life. The high temperature of gases that engulfed Herculaneum perfectly preserved much of the ancient city. This film tells of the scientific advances in our knowledge of the two cities....

This program tells the story of the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa, from its birth approximately 2 million years ago to 1883 - the year it erupted so violently that it blew itself out of existence.

For months in early 1980, scientists, journalists, sightseers, and nearby residents listened anxiously to rumblings in Mount St. Helens, part of the chain of western volcanoes fueled by the 700-mile-long Cascadia fault. Still, no one was prepared when an immense eruption took the top off of the mountain and laid waste to hundreds of square miles of verdant forests in southwestern Washington State. The eruption was one of the largest in human history,...

Mt. Vesuvius - regarded as one of Earth's most dangerous volcanoes - is the most densely populated volcanic region in the world. This program explores the history of Vesuvius and the effects a new eruption could have on nearby Naples.

"Fire in the Sea blends the thrill of scientific discovery with a popular presentation of the geology, archaeology, history, peoples, and environmental setting of Santorini. Walter Friedrich has worked for many years on the Minoan eruption of the island. He discusses the latest scientific results and combines natural history and archaeology to provide a comprehensive overview of the volcanic island and its past. He discusses Plato's legend of Atlantis,...