The Birth of a Volcano [antikvár]

Oj^HH H3 nepBMx Hccjie^oBaTejieii KaMiaxuH, HSBecTHbifi nyxeiuecTBeHHiiK aKaaeiviHK CxenaH IleTpoBHH KpameHHHimKOB, naSjiioaaH b 1737 roay Byji-KaHHHecKHe nsBepiKeHiiH, nHcaji: «Ben ropa Kaaajiacb pacKajieniiUM KaMHeivi. IIJiaMH, KOTopoe BHyxpH ee CKBoab pacm,ejiHHW 5biJio bhhhmo, ycTpeMjiHJiocb HHor^a BHII3, KaK orHCHHwe pcKH, c yasacHbiM myMOM. B rope cjibimen 5biJi rpoM, xpecK H Syaxo CHJibHbiMH MCxaMH paagyBaHHe, ox Koxoporo Bce 5jihjk-HHe Mecxa apoajajiH. OcoSjihbwh cxpax 5biJi SKHxejiHM b hohhoc BpeMH: h6o B xcMHOxe Bce cjibiuiiiee h BHAHee 5biJio». One of the first explorers to set foot on Kamchatka, the famous traveller and academician Stepan Krasheninnikov, witnessed a volcanic eruption in 1737: "The whole mountain seemed to be made of red-hot stone. The flame which could be seen inside it through the fissures was sometimes sucked downwards, like rivers of fire, with a terrible roar. Inside the mountain one could hear thunder and crashing, the sound of titanic bellows from which the whole place shuddered. The greatest fears of the local population were at night, for in the darkness it was all the more visible and audible". There has been volcanic activity at some time or another in every region of the USSR, but today active volcanoes are to be found only in the easternmost parts of the country, on Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands. The Volcanology Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences' Far-Eastern Centre takes charge of all the studies made of these volcanoes. It is supplied with the latest instruments to forecast and monitor volcanic eruptions. The development of our scientific knowledge of the Earth is inconceivable without detailed volcanological research. Of outstanding scientific interest was the eruption of the volcano Tolbachik in 1975—1976. This eruption was monitored by Soviet scientists with the aid of an exceptionally varied arsenal of instruments and re-search-methods, and provided scientific data of the first importance, data which is still in the process of being interpreted. Volcanoes are beginning to play an increasingly significant part in the life of humanity, and it is important that we be fully aware of all the ways in which this is so. It is volcanoes that created the continents and all the islands in the oceans; the water on the surface of the earth and the atmosphere took hundreds of millions of years to form, freed from the body of the earth thanks to volcanoes and hot springs. It has been established that the greatest density of agricultural population is to be found where there have been eruptions of ash, and that the majority of arable land on the earth's surface gained its fertility from this ash. Volcanoes are a powerful source of thermal energy, enormous energy reserves for the future. A few decades ago the idea of using a volcano as a steam-boiler for a power-station would have seemed the wildest fantasy. Today the capture of volcanic energy which is wasted by nature is one of the tasks that are now facing scientists. The day is not far off when the reserves of energy inside each volcano will be calculated like our reserves of oil and coal. As science and technology progress the points of contact between volcanoes and men grow ever more frequent. To come face to face with an active volcano means to touch upon a wide variety of scientific, philosophical and aesthetic problems. One of the hardest things for the observer to convey is the effect upon him of witnessing the fiery magic of an eruption. It is not a question of mere curiosity—wild and uncontrolled elements are on the way to being tamed, the day is coming when we will "domesticate" the volcanoes, and it is time that people became used to these fiery "monsters". The purpose of this album is to make clear for those whose lives are far from volcanoes just what a volcanic eruption looks like. Of course, the most important part of the book in this respect is the visual images, which it is no easy task to convey in all their fullness. This album contains an organized series of photographs showing all the stages in the birth of a volcano, starting with the fissures with which the volcanic outburst started, and ending with the effusion of lava-streams which transformed into a stony desert the wooded foothills of the volcano Tolbachik. Vadim Gippenreiter, the author of "The Birth of a Volcano", besides having outstanding artistic taste, is distinguished by the perseverance of a true seeker after unusual situations. He comes right up to the glowing river of lava, stands in the rain of volcanic bombs flying from a great height, and leans over the volcanic orifice to become the first witness of the birth of a fiery whirlwind. Many times it has been only his great self-control and sportsman's training that have saved Vadim from a direct shot by a red-hot volcanic cannon-ball that dug a meter-wide crater at his very feet. But there are often losses—in the rain of bombs cameras have blown to pieces, and clothing spotted by the acids in the clouds of ash washed down by rain has crumbled at a touch—however the selfless photographer always gets a perfect shot of events that are often witnessed by him alone. Gippenreiter is a unique historiographer of the activity of volcanoes in our country—he does not miss a single eruption. Thanks to his great experience in observing volcanoes Vadim is well versed in their ways and knows all that needs to be known by a popularizing scientist. The scientific and artistic significance of this album is indisputable, as we can see from the constant interest expressed by many different people—hikers, scientists, and artists—in those unique artistic documents, the photographs, which emerge from Gippenreiter's darkroom. A. Svyatlovsky Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences