Volcanoes - Geological and Geophysical Setting, Theoretical Aspects and Numerical Modeling, Applications to Industry and Their Impact on the Human Health

This book contains twelve chapters dealing with the studies on volcanoes, their geological and geophysical setting, the theoretical aspects and the numerical modeling on volcanoes, the applications of volcanoes to industry and the impact of volcanoes on the human health, in different geological settings and using several techniques and methods, including the volcanology, the seismology, the statistical methods to assess the correlation between seismic and volcanic activity (modified Ripley's K-function to regional seismicity), the field geological survey of volcanic successions, the analytical methods for petrologic analysis, the petrography of the volcanic rocks with the individuation of the modal compositions of volcanic rocks and their comparison with major elements and trace elements in variation diagrams and the argon isotopic measurements performed through the peak height comparison (unspiked) method. The oceanographic methods have also been applied to case studies of submarine volcanic edifices located in the Canary Islands (Atlantic Ocean), including the sampling of the water column with a conductivity-temperature-depth sensor (CTD) rosette with 24 Niskin bottles, in order to determinate key physical and chemical parameters, such as the total-scale pH, the total dissolved inorganic carbon (C), the total alkalinity (A), the total dissolved inorganic carbon (C), the total alkalinity (A), the temperature, the salinity and the dissolved oxygen. Problems of volcanic risk mitigation have also been treated, regarding the eruption disasters in Indonesia, a country where a high number of people lives next to the volcanoes and characterized by the lacking of a public awareness of the eruption disasters. Petrographic methods have been successfully applied to the study of the Cretaceous magmatism of the layered gabbroids of the Chukotka region (Pekulney Ridge, Russia) and geodynamic implications have been successfully established through geological and petrographic studies. The relationships between the mantle wedge, the convective heat and mass transfer, the infiltration metasomatism, the zoning and the mathematical models have been applied to the comprehension of complex volcanic areas through the theoretical aspects of volcanic studies on magmatic chambers coupled with numerical modeling, including FEMs (Finite Element Models) in the individuation of volcanic deformations. Book chapters are separated into five main sections: (i) introduction, (ii) geological and geophysical setting of volcanoes, (iii) theoretical aspects and numerical modeling of volcanoes, (iv) applications of volcanoes to industry and (v) impact of volcanoes on the human health. There is one chapter in the first section on the Introduction, the Introductory Chapter. In the second section there are five chapters, dealing with the correlation between seismic and volcanic activity at the Vesuvius volcano, with the exploration of the base of the Zao stratovolcano in the north-eastern Japan, with the volcanic emissions of the Tagoro submarine volcano in the Canary Islands and their impact on the physical and chemical properties of the oceanic waters, with the characteristics of the volcanic eruptions in Indonesia and the problems of risk mitigation of volcanic disasters, and finally, with the geologic and petrographic study of Cretaceous volcanites of the Pekulney Ridge (Russia) and corresponding geodynamic implications. In the third section there are three chapters, the first one dealing with the dynamics of convective heating of the mantle and crustal rocks in the seismic focal zone of the Kamchatka region and the genetically-related volcanic arcs, characterized by the occurrence of compressive stresses and by the compaction of the heterophase medium, the second one regarding the numerical methods of volcanic deformation through InSAR methods, showing a systematic approach to the quantitative simulation of geodetic data with finite element models (FEMs) in the general framework of a protocol for the modeling of deformations in volcanic areas and the third one showing the mechanics of the magmatic chambers under the volcanoes, referring to the Yellowstone caldera, which, due to its large volume, owes the critical overpressure necessary to start the volcanic eruption, requiring large volumes of magmas and fluids. In the fourth section there are two chapters, the first one dealing with the use of volcanic scoriae in the cement replacement, a common practice in the construction industry, as concrete mixes, showing the chemical and mineralogical composition of the scoria samples coming from 36 different countries and calculating some equations of estimated depending on the analyzed data and the second one regarding the use of volcanic glasses or obsidians as absorbents, highlighting that the volcanic glasses represent amorphous phyllosilicates formed through a rapid magmatic cooling and that the macroporosit. y of the volcanic glasses allows to host biomolecules, tensioactives and dyes.