Book
Natalie Starkey
SINCE the dawn of its formation, the surface of Earth has been moulded and reshaped by volcanoes. We know them as fiery, magma-filled peaks spewing lava and billowing clouds of ash. Yet beyond our own planet, volcanoes come in many shapes and sizes, not all of which are hot. Understanding their mysterious ways could provide key clues in the hunt for alien life.
Fire and Ice, by science communicator and writer Natalie Starkey, delves into the intriguing topic of volcanoes in space and ponders what they can tell us about different worlds and, indeed, about our own.
Starkey sets the scene by explaining how Earth’s volcanoes can bring about devastating hazards – such as ash clouds extending tens of kilometres into the air and mudflows (known as lahars) that engulf everything in their path. Yet they also lead to the construction or regeneration of terrain, sometimes even forming new islands.
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She also provides a fundamental science lesson on why volcanoes exist – they are a way for a planetary body to release the heat stored in its core – as well as how they form, the different types that exist and their various features.
From there, the book forces the reader to rethink what they thought they knew about volcanoes by probing the diverse volcanic lives of planets, moons and asteroids at the furthest reaches of the solar system.
It gets particularly interesting when Starkey links the volcanic events on Earth to those on other worlds, drawing on the findings of space missions and observations to paint a comprehensive picture of what alien volcanoes are doing, such as those on Io, one of Jupiter’s moons and the most volcanically active place in the solar system.
As the book’s title suggests, in space, volcanoes can be cold as well as hot. Cryovolcanoes, with magma made from ice, are the norm for planets and moons beyond Mars, and, like all volcanoes, can play key roles in shaping their worlds. Cryovolcanoes on Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons, for example, replenish the planet’s biggest ring with icy particles and gas. Volcanoes also help us to unravel the history of the solar system, raising the possibility, for example, that Venus might once have contained liquid water.
This is just one way in which uncovering the workings of volcanoes elsewhere in our solar system raises the exciting prospect of life in outer space. The volcanic activity of a planetary body, past or otherwise, indicates the presence of a warm core needed to maintain a magnetic field. This, in turn, would protect any life forms from the sun’s radiation. And since “it seems that we can find evidence for volcanoes, whether made of fire or ice, in every corner of the Solar System”, writes Starkey, it makes sense to cast our net wide in the search for life.
Starkey’s background in geology and cosmochemistry perfectly equips her to take us on this journey. She leaves no rock unturned as she boils down everything from how magma forms to plate tectonics, responsible for forming many of Earth’s volcanoes, and thought to be unique to Earth. She also covers the weird and wonderful processes that occur on other planets.
Volcanoes aside, it is fascinating to be immersed in the weird and wonderful landscapes of different planets and moons, including those, like Pluto, that were once wrongly written off as being too cold or inert to support any volcanic activity.
Fire and Ice is an assured, essential read on everything you could hope to know about volcanoes on both our world and others. It captures the intrigue, mystery and wonder of space, and underscores just how much we have to thank volcanoes for on Earth.
