Includes bibliographical references and index.

Fire and Brimstone: How Volcanoes Work. Origins of volcanoes: the mantle ; Magma ; Eruption parameters -- Eruption Styles, Hazards, and Ecosystem Impacts. Eruption clouds ; Tephra falls ; Pyroclastic currents & caldera formation ; Lava flows and domes ; Rock avalanches and mudflows ; Tsunami ; Earthquakes ; Volcanic gas emissions ; Recovery of ecosystems ; Volcanic disasters -- Volcanoes and Global Climate Change. Pinatubo's global cloud ; Atmospheric and climatic change ; Recipe for a climate-forcing eruption -- Forensic Volcanology. Reading the rocks ; Ice cores ; Tree rings -- Relics, Myths, and Chronicles. Archaeological perspectives ; Oral traditions ; Crepuscular lights, cannonades, and chronicles ; Volcano forensics: a case study -- Killer Plumes. Mass extinctions ; More about LIPs ; LIP origins ; LIPs, bolides, and extinctions: the coincidences ; Kill mechanisms ; Hot LIPs and cold SLIPs -- Human Origins. The East African Rift Valley ; The first humans ; The Middle Stone Age and modern humans -- The Ash-Giant/Sulphur-Dwarf. The eruption ; Sulphur yield of the eruption ; Climate change ; The human story ; Focus on India -- European Volcanism in Prehistory. The Campanian eruption and the human revolution in Palaeolithic Europe ; 'Cultural devolution' and the Laacher See eruption ; Eruption of Santorini and the decline of the Minoan civilisation -- The Rise of Teotihuacán. Popocatépetl ; The Ilopango eruption -- Dark Ages: Dark Nature? The mystery cloud of 536 CE ; Veils and whips -- The Haze Famine. The eruption ; Gas emissions and aerosol veil ; Weather and climate ; The haze famine ; Long reach of the eruption -- The Last Great Subsistence Crisis in the Western World. Sumbawa before the disaster ; The eruption ; Atmospheric and climate impacts ; Human tragedy ; Global reach of the eruption -- Volcanic Catastrophe Risk. Three catastrophe scenarios ; Risk control ; Global warming: fake volcanoes and real eruptions ; Shaken but not stirred -- Large Eruptions. The twenty-five largest documented Holocene eruptions.

Machine generated contents note: Preface; 1. Fire and brimstone: how volcanoes work; 2. Eruption styles, hazards and ecosystem impacts; 3. Volcanoes and global climate change; 4. Forensic volcanology; 5. Relics, myths and chronicles; 6. Killer plumes; 7. Human origins; 8. The ash-giant/sulphur-dwarf; 9. European volcanism in prehistory; 10. The rise of Teotihuacán; 11. Dark Ages: dark nature?; 12. The Haze famine; 13. The last great subsistence crisis in the western world; 14. Volcanic catastrophe risk; Appendix A. Volcano trumps: notable eruptions of the past 10,000 years; Appendix B. Further reading; Index.