BOOK REVIEW

J.C. Carracedo and V.R. Troll (eds.): Teide volcano – Geologyand eruptions of a highly differentiated oceanic stratovolcanoSpringer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013, Active Volcanoes of the World XIV. Hardcover279 pages, ISBN 978-3-642-25892-3

Károly Németh

Accepted: 9 September 2013 /Published online: 8 October 2013# Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013

Two new book series in volcanology were launched re-cently by Springer-Verlag: Advances in Volcanology andActive Volcanoes of the World. Both book series have beenendorsed by the International Association of Volcanology andChemistry of the Earth’s Interior (IAVCEI), and are officialbook series of IAVCEI. While the Advances in Volcanologyseries is expected to offer research-driven books in cutting-

edge areas of volcanology, the Active Volcanoes of the Worldbook series intends to offer modern summaries of volcanoesthat are considered to be active or have at least shown someactivity in the Quaternary and are suspected to be still active.Since 2010, numerous book proposals have been submitted tothe series and many projects with leading experts are under-way. In 2013, the first book has been published and is avail-able for the volcanological community and for generalreaders. The book is about Teide Volcano in the CanaryIslands, Spain. Being first in a new book series, it carries ahigh responsibility and could largely determine the long-termsuccess of the series. Here, I provide a few points I haveidentified by reading through the first book available in theActive Volcanoes of the World book series.

The newly launched Active Volcanoes of the World bookseries is reborn following an earlier project that was supportedby IAVCEI, entitled Catalogue of the Active Volcanoes of theWorld, Including Solfatara Fields. This early book series wasa monumental work, listing every volcano known to havebeen active in the past 10,000 years, on every continent (butnot the seafloor). Individual books of this series listed the basicvolcanic geomorphology and eruption style, and gave descrip-tions of major eruptions, geographical location, and the mostsignificant volcanic features of the described volcanoes. Natu-rally, a reference work like the Catalogue of the Active Volca-noes of the World needs to be updated from time to time withthe latest research and analytical results and concepts. Since theCatalogue of the Active Volcanoes of the World was publishedfrom the late 1960s through the 1970s, volcanology has evolvedenormously and our knowledge of even the well-studied andwell-known volcanoes has expanded greatly. In their new se-ries, Springer intends, with the official support and endorsementof IAVCEI, to update this important reference work by system-atically summarizing the latest research results and most up-to-date knowledge on the active volcanoes of the world.

Editorial responsibility: J.D.L. White

K. Németh (*)Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealande-mail: k.nemeth@massey.ac.nz

Bull Volcanol (2013) 75:759DOI 10.1007/s00445-013-0759-5

I can now report that the first volume of the Active Volcanoesof the World series provides a truly modern version of the mostfundamental and relevant knowledge needed for anyone to un-derstand one of the most complex and geochemically differenti-ated oceanic island volcanoes: Teide, part of the Canary Islandsin Spain. The book is a very attractive hard cover publicationwith the high standards of printing and binding that we associatewith Springer. The visually balanced cover, lettering and theabundant colour images make the book attractive not only forspecialists but also for the general reader interested in the volca-nic features of Teide, which is a common tourist destination inthe mid-Atlantic. The book consists of 14 chapters that arelogically linked together and internally well-structured by shortand easy to follow paragraphs. Each chapter can be read as astand-alone story, and has a fully referenced citation list of themostmodern, as well asmany historic and not sowell known butsignificant, publications. In this respect, each chapter could beviewed as a complete peer-reviewed scientific review article.Each of the chapters is relatively short and, therefore, each isrelatively easy to read for anyone with a general earth sciencesbackground, or even for geotourists who intend to explore thevolcano. Each chapter contains numerous high-quality attractivecolour figures that are easy to understand and make the chaptersmore reader friendly. Many of the figures are original anddesigned specifically for this book. I particularly liked the ideaof having each chapter consist of relatively short paragraphs.This makes the individual chapters easy to follow and lets thereader explore with ease the scientific information listed in thechapters. I found the 14 chapters excellently designed and linkedtogether. The first chapter is particularly interesting and impor-tant; it summarizes the volcano’s scientific history using interest-ing facts and data, of which many of us will not be aware. Thecolour illustrations and reprints from old maps, for instance, arean eye-catching way to make the reader go deeper in understand-ing the Teide Volcano. The next two chapters provide fundamen-tal general geological information regarding Teide’s geodynamicsituation. These two chapters are illustrated with numerous 3Dcartoons that help significantly in allowing readers to envisionthe main geodynamic processes that governed the formation ofthe volcanoes comprising the Canary Islands. The fourth andfifth chapters provide a short but comprehensive summary of thevolcanic stratigraphy, which must be known to fully take advan-tage of detailed descriptions of the most recent activity of Teidevolcano. In addition, in the fifth chapter, we can find informationon the largely overlooked pre-Teide volcanism, which nicelyframes the information on the volcanic geology of Teide volcanoitself. The sixth chapter provides a detailed summary of datingtechniques that have been applied to gain an understanding of thevolcanic evolution of Teide. This chapter, in addition to outliningthe geochronology of eruptive events of Teide, also providessome background information on dating techniques and theirlimitations. The seventh and eighth chapters deal with the de-tailed volcanic stratigraphy of modern Teide, separating its

eruptive history into the early stages and a post-2 ka period,developing gradually for the reader the links between observa-tional volcanology and volcanic stratigraphy. The 9th, 10th and11th chapters are compact summaries of the geochemical andvolcanic petrological information gained over the past decadesfrom Teide volcano. The well-known studies on magma differ-entiation and magma mixing, which are key processes in forma-tion of the highly differentiated and highly diverse magmaticsuites associated with Teide volcano, are summarised in twochapters, giving comprehensive yet simple guidelines for thereader to understand the link between the data and the interpre-tations, which have provided fundamental new ideas for ourunderstanding of these petrological processes globally. I particu-larly liked these chapters since they are compact, concise, writtenin plain language and also provide detailed citation lists to theoriginal data sources in top mainstream journals. The 12th chap-ter is dedicated to describing the main eruptive styles document-ed in association with the volcanic history of Teide volcano. Thischapter has been separated into sections on effusive, magmaticexplosive and phreatomagmatic explosive processes as the maineruption styles associated with Teide volcano. Beside the techni-cal descriptions, this chapter also provides some detail, or at leastpoints to the original studies in its citation list, of the mainvolcanic eruptions of Teide volcano. The 13th chapter is acomprehensive summary of the knowledge derived from variousgeophysical studies on Teide volcano. Along with standarddescriptions, the chapter provides a little bit of critical informa-tion on the validity of applying various geophysical methods tovolcanoes such as Teide and, in addition, provides a full pictureof how complex geological information can drive our under-standing of a volcanic system from source to surface. The 14thchapter may be the most interesting for a general reader becauseit provides an up-to-date summary of the volcanic hazardsknown from the Teide volcano. This chapter is a relatively easyread, and provides the reader with some key informationabout how volcanic hazards can be studied. The variousvolcanic hazards have been separated by paragraph, andare presented in a very focused manner. While I findthis information valuable, some extra information could havebeen a good addition to the chapter, such as detailed informa-tion on how lava flow inundation maps were created. While Iunderstand that this might be a small detail given the purposeof the book, I think with a little care such information couldhave been included here.

Overall, I think the first book of the Active Volca-noes of the World series, Teide Volcano, is an excellentwork that is detailed enough to be a reference book onthe shelf of any volcanologist. The easy to understandstyle of the book means that it could equally be ageneral guidebook for a geotourist wishing to plan atrip to Teide. I can recommend this book to anyonewith a reasonably good earth science background anda general interest in volcanic geology.

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