Under The Microscope

FOUNTAINS OF FIRE, THE STORY OF AUCKLAND'S VOLCANOES, by Geoffrey J. Cox; HarperCollins, 1995; 28 pp; $17.95

Reviewed by Vicki Hyde

You mightn't think that a book on volcanoes needs updating, but Geoffrey Cox's new edition brings new knowledge gained in the 12 years since he first looked at the Auckland volcanic landscape.

We can now say reasonably definitely that the city has sported 48 or so volcanoes in the past -- well short of the 93 I was once told, but still an impressively large number. And we are, perhaps, more aware of the possible hazards of volcanic eruption in the future. Cox's painting of Rangitoto in eruption should be enough to give any Aucklander pause!

I appreciated the juxtaposition of present-day photo with painted reconstruction of the volcano at the time of its formation. It's hard to think of Auckland without the Waitemata and Manukau Harbours dominating the landscape, but Cox brings the ancient river valley landscape alive. His writing is nicely complimentary to the illustrations, informative without being didactic. I'll not pass the old Mangere Bridge again without seeing in its humpbacked sway proof of the out-of-character thinness of the basalt layer beneath.

This would make a nicely unusual present for a visitor to the city, well matched with a picnic lunch on top of Mount Eden or One Tree Hill to consider the potentially ephemeral touch of humanity's hand on the landscape....

Vicki Hyde is the editor of New Zealand Science Monthly.