Using photographs taken by astronauts from 200 miles abovethe Earth’s surface, geologist Patricia Dickerson visits majorsites that are in the shadow of active volcanoes and powerfulfaults. She begins with Rome, a megalopolis ringed by activevolcanoes, one of which devastated Pompeii in 79 A.D. Next isthe temple of the Oracle at Delphi, which sits astride an earthquake-producing fault where the oracle breathed gases thatrose in the fissure. Then she goes to Istanbul, center of theByzantine Empire for 1,000 years, which occupies the tectonicnexus of Europe, Asia, and Arabia.
Along the way,Dickerson portrays thetectonic context of theseand other cities. She alsolooks at eruption andquake predictions,drawing on aerial viewsand satellite images, archaeologicalrecords andhistorical accounts, andfield studies and instrumentalmonitoring. The itinerary includes San Francisco,Tokyo, Lima,Manila, Reykjavik,Mexico City, and Anchorage.
Dickerson serves on the Planetary Science Subcommittee ofthe NASA Advisory Council and is a research fellow with theAmerican Geological Institute.
CODE: 1W0-476
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