Fib, I don't know anything about it sadly
I did find this which seems to have some useful links in it, though you might find it a bit patronising. Maybe it will help
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpedi ... uakes.html
and this, which is a report from the discovery channel. That is a tv thing but I cannot vouch for its reliability
Why we choose volcanoes as neighbours
If volcanoes are so dangerous, why, one might ask, do so many people live near them? The answer lies in the soil. Over thousands to millions of years, volcanic materials break down to form some of the most fertile soil on Earth, the cultivation of which has produced abundant food and fostered civilizations. In tropical, rainy regions, the process can take as few as a hundred years. And, given enough rainfall, areas buried with new lava recover quickly enough that re-vegetation can begin less than a year after eruption.
Some of the earliest civilizations – Greek, Etruscan, Roman – settled on the rich, fertile soil in the Mediterranean-Aegean region. In Indonesia, some of the best rice-growing regions are in the shadows of active volcanoes. And in the western United States, many prime agricultural areas have soil that is wholly, or largely, of volcanic origin.
In fact, the Earth's crust, on which we live and depend, is in large part the product of millions of once-active volcanoes, and magma that didn't erupt but cooled below the surface instead.
Volcanic eruptions also give us minerals. Most of the metallic minerals mined in the world – copper, gold, silver, lead and zinc – are associated with magmas found deep within the roots of extinct volcanoes located above subduction zones. Magma provides a ready supply of heat that circulates ore-bearing fluids. These fluids can re-deposit metals in concentrated amounts under the right temperature and pressure conditions.
Volcanoes, each with their own personalities and patterns of behaviour, may pose catastrophic dangers, but they also have some valuable qualities to share with their human neighbours.
[/QUOTE]
