Chapter 1: Introduction to Calderas Special Issue Peter W. Lipman, Stephen Self, and Grant Heiken
Chapter 2: Some numerical experiments on the withdrawal of magma from crustal reservoirs Frank J. Spera 
Chapter 3: Volatile oversaturation during the evolution of silicic magma chambers as an eruption triggerStephen Blake
Chapter 4: On the mechanics of caldera resurgence Bruce D. Marsh
Chapter 5: Laboratory studies of volcanic jets Susan Werner Keiffer and Bradford Sturtevant

Chapter 6: Hydrodynamic aspects of caldera-forming eruptions: Numerical models K. H. Wohletz, T. R. McGetchin, M. T. Sandford II, and E. M. Jones 

This book was inspired when I began to teach California geology at the college level and found there were no books suitable for such a course. All the books on the market either were grossly out of date or didn’t discuss the modern understanding of California tectonics. California has one of the most amazing and complex histories of any state in the United States, and so the simplistic approaches of the books currently on the market do not do it justice.

It is over 20 years since this book first appeared and numerous reprints and several foreign language editions are a measure of its success. The colour plates that were specially commissioned for the First Edition have been retained, although presented in a slightly different way, and are supplemented by 17 new plates. There have been significant advances in the geological sciences over the past two decades and the text has been thoroughly revised so as to take account of them. In particular we have tried to ensure that mineral names, chemical formulae and structural data accord to current international practice as recommended by the International Mineralogical Association (IMA).

Carbon in Earth’s fluid envelopes—the atmosphere and hydrosphere—plays a fundamental role in our planet’s climate system. It is also essential for the origin and evolution of life, for a large fraction of the energy we use, and for the multitude of carbon‐based materials so essential to the modern world. Yet the source and original quantity of carbon in our planet is uncertain (Marty et al., 2013), as are the identities and relative importance of early chemical processes associated with planetary differentiation (e.g., the moon‐forming impact, core formation, the onset of plate tectonics). Numerous lines of evidence point to the early and continuing exchange of substantial carbon between Earth’s surface and its interior (Dasgupta, 2013), such as information carried by subducted carbon trapped in diamonds, mantle‐derived magmas rich in carbon, carbonate‐bearing rocks found in fossil subduction zones, and springs carrying deeply sourced carbon‐bearing gases (Burton et al., 2013; Jones et al., 2013; Ni & Keppler, 2013; Shirey et al., 2013). Although quantifying the input and output fluxes is challenging, there is little doubt that a substantial amount of carbon resides in our planet’s interior (Dasgupta and Hirschmann, 2010, Kelemen & Manning, 2015).