Volcanology Commons^™

A Bayesian Inversion For Emissions And Export Productivity Across The End-Cretaceous Boundary, Alexander A. Cox

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

The end-Cretaceous mass extinction was marked by both the Chicxulub impact and the ongoing emplacement of the Deccan Traps flood basalt province. Both of these events perturbed the environment by the emission of climate-active volatiles, primarily CO2 and SO2. To understand the mechanism of extinction, we must disentangle the timing, duration, and intensity of volcanic and meteoritic environmental forcings. In this thesis, we used a parallel Markov chain Monte Carlo approach to invert for the aforementioned volatile emissions, export productivity, and remineralization from 67 to 65 million years ago using the LOSCAR (Long-term Ocean-atmosphere-Sediment CArbon cycle Reservoir) model. The parallel …

Characterizing Silicate Materials Via Raman Spectroscopy And Machine Learning: Implications For Novel Approaches To Studying Melt Dynamics, Blake O. Ladouceur

Doctoral Dissertations

Silicate melt characteristics impose dramatic influence over igneous processes that operate, or have operated on, differentiated bodies: such as the Earth and Mars. Current understanding of these melt properties, such as composition, primarily comes from investigations on their volcanic byproducts. Therefore, it is imperative to innovate on modalities capable of constraining melt information in environments where a reliance on laboratory methods is severed. Recent investigations have turned to Raman Spectroscopy and amorphous volcanics as a suitable pairing for exploring these ideas. Silicate glasses are a proxy for igneous melts; and Raman spectroscopy is a robust analytical technique capable of operating …

Volcanic Diffuse Volatile Emissions Tracked By Plant Responses Detectable From Space, Robert R. Bogue, Peter M. J. Douglas, Joshua B. Fisher, John Stix

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Volcanic volatile emissions provide information about volcanic unrest but are difficult to detect with satellites. Volcanic degassing affects plants by elevating local CO2 and H2O concentrations, which may increase photosynthesis. Satellites can detect plant health, or a reaction to photosynthesis, through a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). This can act as a potential proxy for detecting changes in volcanic volatile emissions from space. We tested this method by analyzing 185 Landsat 5 and 8 images of the Tern Lake thermal area (TLTA) in northeast Yellowstone caldera from 1984 to 2022. We compared the NDVI values of the thermal area with …

Metagenomic Investigation Of Microbial Dark Carbon Fixation, Viral Interactions, And Horizonal Gene Transfer Within A Convergent Margin Subsurface Ecosystem, Timothy Joseph Rogers

Doctoral Dissertations

Convergent margins are geological regions where two or more tectonic plates collide, and the denser “subducting slab” is pushed beneath the less dense overriding plate. As the slab descends, it devolatilizes under higher temperatures and pressures, allowing dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and redox active volatile rich fluids to cycle between the upper crust and Earth’s mantle. These fluids migrate through cracks and fissures in the upper mantle and crust, fueling chemolithoautotrophy-based microbial ecosystems in the subsurface before they are expelled on the surface in the form of hydrothermal seeps and springs. Chemolithoautotrophic ecosystems, such as those in the Costa Rican …

Seismic Shadow Zone Investigation In The Upper Magma Reservoir Of The Yellowstone Caldera, Sarah Nolt-Caraway

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

This study investigates whether the Yellowstone Caldera has enough melt to mute S-waves, creating a seismic shadow zone. Using a dense nodal deployment of ~650 stations, 7-9 earthquakes during the nodal deployment, and 21 broadband stations with 3,000-4,000 events per station; amplitude and noise maps, seismograms, and automatic phase picks probabilities from a deep learning model were analyzed to assess the potential role of melt, crustal attenuation, and noise in affecting body waves, particularly S-phases. The results are inconclusive, with unclear evidence whether observed amplitude decay is normal signal decay due to distance, noise-related, melt, or from scattering and intrinsic …

Rift-Induced Disruption Of Cratonic Keels Drives Kimberlite Volcanism, Thomas M. Gernon, Stephen M. Jones, Sascha Brune, Thea K. Hincks, Martin Palmer, John C. Schumacher, Rebecca M. Primiceri, Matthew Field, William L. Griffin, Suzanne Y. O'Reilly, Derek Keir, Christopher J. Spencer, Andrew S. Merdith, Anne Glerum

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Kimberlites are volatile-rich, occasionally diamond-bearing magmas that have erupted explosively at Earth’s surface in the geologic past^1,2,3. These enigmatic magmas, originating from depths exceeding 150 km in Earth’s mantle¹, occur in stable cratons and in pulses broadly synchronous with supercontinent cyclicity⁴. Whether their mobilization is driven by mantle plumes⁵ or by mechanical weakening of cratonic lithosphere^4,6 remains unclear. Here we show that most kimberlites spanning the past billion years erupted about 30 million years (Myr) after continental breakup, suggesting an association with rifting processes. Our dynamical …

Untangling The Nature And Timescales Of Magmatic Processes Driving Eruptions At Quiescent Volcanoes: Examples From Momotombo, Nicaragua, And Cumbre Vieja, Canary Islands, Samantha Tramontano

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Across all scales of human relationships (i.e. person-to-person, country-to-country, etc.), qualms can take the form of long-standing wars, quick and intense bouts, or petty exchanges. While our understanding of human behavior is ever increasing, reactions and behaviors of self and others may still come as a surprise. Expressions of disagreement can occur suddenly or following years to centuries of accumulated grievances. The solid earth is also a system that behaves (like human emotion) predictably at times and unpredictably at other times. Some volcanoes, a tangible surface expression of solid earth processes, exhibit precursory signals prior to eruption (e.g. the bulging …

Large-Scale Volcanism On The Terrestrial Planets, Keenan Ben Golder

Doctoral Dissertations

Evidence for mafic volcanism has been found on each planet in the inner Solar System. Lava flows on these planets range in size from 10s to 1000s of kilometers in extent. I investigated large-scale lava flows on Mercury, Earth, and Mars throughout the chapters in this dissertation. Each of these lava flows provides an avenue to study the emplacement and evolution of lava on various planets and under differing conditions, the factors that affect their overall extent, and potential source areas.

Chapter One investigates large-scale lava flows in the Cerberus region on Mars, specifically to understand their emplacement history, material …

Modeled Uranium Series Disequilibria In A Heterogeneous Mantle Underlying Iceland, Dana Andersen

Honors Theses

Regional lithologic heterogeneities in Earth’s mantle may significantly contribute to variations in magma productivity and crustal generation. Such heterogeneities may be a key factor in the anomalously high rates of magmatism and thickened crust of Iceland, which are not fully explained by the presence of a mantle plume. However, the exact lithologic composition of the mantle underlying Iceland is largely unknown. Recent trace element modeling has suggested a two-component melt source beneath Iceland, consisting of a typical upper mantle peridotite mixing with one of several compositions of pyroxenitic material. This study further investigates these potential melt sources by calculating U-series …

Deformation At Uturuncu Volcano, Bolivia: Modeling The Effect Of Volatile Movement In The Hydrothermal System, Karissa Rosenberger

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Deformation at volcanos is often a precursor to an eruption, but sometimes volcanos experience uplift without actually erupting. Determining the mechanisms behind this deformation and whether it will lead to an eruption is an important part of understanding volcanic systems. Uturuncu volcano in Bolivia has been experiencing deformation for decades, but the last time it erupted was 250,000 years ago. The reason behind this deformation is unknown, but one possible cause is volatiles moving into the hydrothermal system and getting trapped, causing the volume to increase and the surface to uplift. To test this hypothesis, the current volume change of …

Hydrological Patterns Of The Chimborazo Reserve: Streamflow, Climate, And Glacier Recession Data Show A Loss Of Glacial Influence On The Southwestern Aspect Of The Chimborazo Volcano, Ecuador., William F. M. Patrick

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Chimborazo volcano of the central Ecuadorian Andean Cordillera (6310 m) has been shown to currently be undergoing extreme glacial recession due to climate change. For this reason, this study sought to analyze climate and glacier recession data in conjunction with streamflow from kryal (glacial-fed), rhithral (non-glacial-fed), and intermediate streams to not only evaluate the current health of Chimborazo’s glaciers, but also determine how hydrology in the region will respond to future climate change. The rate of glacial recession on the volcano was determined using satellite imagery between 1965 and 2019. Measurements of stream elevation, pH, water temperature, width, depth, …

Picture Gorge Basalt: Internal Stratigraphy, Eruptive Patterns, And Its Importance For Understanding Columbia River Basalt Group Magmatism, Emily Bogdan Cahoon, Martin J. Streck, Anthony A.P. Koppers

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Picture Gorge Basalt (PGB) of the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) has been previously thought to be limited in its eruptive volume (<3000 >km³) and thought to not extend far from its type locality. At present, PGB represents only 1.1 vol% of the CRBG with a relatively limited spatial distribution of ~10,000 km². New age data illustrate that the PGB is the earliest and longest eruptive unit compared to other main-phase CRBG formations and that some dated basaltic flows reach far (~100 km) beyond the previously mapped extent. This study focuses on extensive outcrops of …

Extreme Differentiation Along Multiple Liquid Lines Of Descent In Strongly Peralkaline Magma Series At Pantelleria (Italy), John C. White, Ray Macdonald, Bogusław Bagiński, Katarzyna M. Liszewska

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The liquid line of descent from trachyte to pantellerite is controlled primarily by fractional crystallization of alkali feldspar, with whole rock compositions following a fractionation path along the ‘thermal valley’ in the peralkaline haplogranite system Qz-Ab-Or-Ac-Ns and terminating at a minimum on the feldspar-quartz cotectic. Although whole-rock compositions for different pantelleritic suites follow nearly identical paths in a Qz-Ab-Or projection that terminate near the experimental minimum (Qz40.5Or34.5Ab25 at 100 MPa, projected from Ac-Ns), matrix glass from samples with near-minimum compositions record extreme differentiation and form a ‘cotectic delta’ beyond the terminus of the ‘thermal valley’. Although each glass trend shows …

An Investigation Of Microseismicity During The 2018 Kilauea Caldera Collapse, Isabella S. Metts

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The 2018 Kīlauea volcano eruption and incremental caldera collapse was accompanied by more than 60,000 seismic events cataloged by the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory as well as 62 caldera collapse events that occurred roughly once per day. The majority of seismicity occurred on the eastern side of the caldera between daily collapses. However, the majority of caldera subsidence occurred to the west. To understand the collapse mechanics behind this variance in subsidence and seismicity across the caldera region, repetitive waveforms and source properties can be studied.

Repeating seismic events suggest a common source that is not moving or destroyed. At Kīlauea, …

Magmatic Evolution Of The Chasca Orkho Lava Series And Its Magmatic Enclaves, Volcán Ollagüe, Central Andes, Nathaniel W. Lenhard

MSU Graduate Theses

Magma mixing is a common factor in the creation of intermediate composition magmas and a potential instigator of a volcanic eruption. Magmatic enclaves, physical evidence of magma mixing within a volcanic system, are a phenomenon whose mechanisms remain unclear and debated. Common hypotheses explaining the occurrence of magmatic enclaves within a host lava range from the repeated injection of a new magma into a shallow reservoir to the disruption of equilibrium within a stratified magma chamber. Within the Andean Central Volcanic Zone (CVZ), the occurrence of magmatic enclaves yields similar geochemical compositions to their respective host rocks, bringing more difficulty …

Information Use And Decision-Making For Evacuation At Fuego Volcano, Guatemala, Beth A. Bartel

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

For populations living with risk to rapid-onset environmental hazards, an effective early warning system (EWS) may be the most viable short- to mid-term solution for risk reduction. At Fuego volcano, Guatemala, more than 60,000 people distributed between more than 30 small communities live within the identified hazard zones for pyroclastic density currents (PDCS), highly lethal hot avalanches and surges of volcanic gases, rock, and ash. Despite ongoing risk reduction efforts by scientific and civil protection authorities, more than 400 people died during a paroxysmal eruption on 3 June 2018 when PDCs reached populated areas. A high-end resort, La Reunión, evacuated …

Dynamics And Timescales Of Magmatic Processes At Cerro Uturuncu, Bolivia, Sarah Jane Rasor

MSU Graduate Theses

Between 12-25°S latitude there is prolific volcanism fueled by the Altiplano-Puna Magmatic Body (APMB), a mid-crustal magma body above the 30° angle subduction of the Nazca plate and within 60-70 km thick South American crust. Cerro Uturuncu, a stratovolcano constructed above the center of the APMB, can provide insight to the evolution of the APMB over time. Previous research suggests that the APMB is more homogenous near its center as opposed to its edges. However, the processes that led to greater homogenization as well as the structure of the magma body below Cerro Uturuncu remain unknown. This research contributes greater …

Investigation Of Cryptotephra In Polar Ice Cores, Meredith Helmick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Volcanic ash (tephra) present within polar ice cores greatly supplements our understanding of past volcanism and its impacts on society and the state of the climate system. This thesis investigates the utility and limitations of ice core tephrochronology in answering questions related to volcanic source identification of ice core glaciochemical signals, tephrostratigraphy of an Antarctic ice core, and the timing of major and climate forcing eruptions. This thesis explores the efficacy of SEM-EDS measurements on ultra-fine (µm) volcanic particles for the purpose of geochemically characterizing a non-visible ice-embedded tephra and the subsequent identification of the volcanic source. In combination with …

Natural, Experimental, And Educational Explorations Of The Interiors Of Terrestrial Planetary Bodies, Nadine L. Grambling

Doctoral Dissertations

Planetary interiors are enigmatic, inaccessible, and vital to the processes that have formed the rocks we see on the surface of bodies in the inner Solar System today. Based on geophysical explorations of the Moon and Earth, along with information gleaned from rocks at the surface today, there is understanding of the basic structure and processes at depth. Using a combination of natural samples and experimental studies, we attempt to learn more about the physical conditions beneath the surface, and their effect on material properties and tectonics processes in the mantle.

On Earth, mid-ocean ridge processes have long been debated, …

Geochemical Analysis Of Recent Volcanic Ash Blanketing Barbados And Constraints On Magma Composition (V32e-0112), Nazrul I. Khandaker, Krishna Mahabir, Surendranauth Mahabir, Lloyd Kiefer, Juan C. Campo, Andrew M. Singh

Publications and Research

Preliminary field and geochemical investigations were conducted on ash samples from Barbados to chemically characterize and decipher magma chemistry associated with a recent volcanic event. A thick plume of volcanic ash from the La Soufriere Volcano in St Vincent, which erupted on April 9, 2021, caused lower visibility due to ash clouds which engulfed the region for some time. Three authors from the research team visited Barbados during the summer subsequent and completed a reconnaissance investigation on recent ashfall. St Vincent is a small volcanic island in the Eastern Caribbean and lies in the southern part of the Lesser Antilles …

Sulfur Behavior In The 1257 Ce Samalas Magma (Lombok, Indonesia) As Revealed By Volcanic Apatite, Yasmin Jackson

Earth Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Explosive volcanic eruptions can inject massive amounts of volatiles, including SO₂ and H₂S, into the stratosphere, inducing drastic tropospheric cooling via sulfate aerosols. Greenland and Antarctic ice cores record evidence of these substantial releases of SO₂ and H₂S, including the massive release during the ultraplinian 1257 CE Samalas eruption. The 1257 CE Samalas eruption is estimated to have released ~158 Tg of SO₂, making it the largest volcanogenic release of SO₂ within the last 2000 years. Vidal et al. (2016) propose that most of this sulfur (S) was hosted in a …

A Transformer-Based Classification System For Volcanic Seismic Signals, Anthony P. Rinaldi, Cindy Mora Stock, Cristián Bravo Roman, Alexander Hemming

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Monitoring volcanic events as they occur is a task that, to this day, requires significant human capital. The current process requires geologists to monitor seismographs around the clock, making it extremely labour-intensive and inefficient. The ability to automatically classify volcanic events as they happen in real-time would allow for quicker responses to these events by the surrounding communities. Timely knowledge of the type of event that is occurring can allow these surrounding communities to prepare or evacuate sooner depending on the magnitude of the event. Up until recently, not much research has been conducted regarding the potential for machine learning …

Provenance, Composition And Transport Processes Of Pleistocene-Recent Turbidite Sediments Of The Se Nazca Plate, Odp Site 1232, Kimberly D. Beck

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A 300 meter sequence of Pleistocene turbidite deposits was recovered on the Nazca Plate at the subducting edge of the Peru-Chile Trench at ODP Site 1232. Analysis of the coarsest particles in the turbidite sequences implies sediment was supplied in some proportion by terrestrial erosion and originated in the coastal, central, and Andean volcanic/magmatic belt which parallels the Southern Chilean coast, and the predominant material type is volcanic. Petrographic and geochemical analyses show that samples from 3 - 140 mbsf contain >43% fresh, angular glass. New calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy brackets the sediment ages of the upper 288 m of cored …

Differentiating Fissure-Fed Lava Flow Types And Facies Using Radar And Lidar: An Example From The 2014–2015 Holuhraun Lava Flow-Field, Gavin Douglas Tolometti, Catherine D. Neish, Christopher W. Hamilton, Gordon R. Osinski, Antero Kukko, Joana R.C. Voigt

Earth Sciences Publications

Distinguishing between lava types and facies using remote sensing data is important for interpreting the emplacement history of lava flow-fields on Earth and other planetary bodies. Lava facies typically include a mixture of lava types and record the collective emplacement history of material preserved at a particular location. We seek to determine if lava facies in the 2014–2015 Holuhraun lava flow-field are discernible using radar roughness analysis. Furthermore, we also seek to distinguish between lava types using high resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data. We extracted circular polarization ratios (CPR) from the Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar and …

Geochronological And Geochemical Investigation Into Rhyolite Volcanism Of The High Lava Plains And Columbia River Basalt Group Provinces Of Eastern Oregon, Usa, Vanessa Marie Swenton

Dissertations and Theses

Voluminous and widespread bimodal volcanism has significantly impacted the Pacific Northwest, USA, throughout the Miocene to present day. The two primary volcanic provinces of eastern Oregon include the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) province and the High Lava Plains (HLP) trend. The magmatic and tectonic processes responsible for generating bimodal volcanism, and particularly rhyolites of the ~17-15 Ma CRBG and 12-0 Ma HLP provinces has recently been a popular topic of debate. Rhyolite volcanism of the HLP province has been ascribed to either buoyancy-driven westward plume spreading or to slab rollback and mantle convection spanning from southeast Oregon to Newberry …

Pre-Eruptive Magma Configurations And Petrogenetic Relationships Of The Rattlesnake Tuff, Oregon–Insights From Spectacularly Banded High-Silica Rhyolite Pumices, Vanessa M. Swenton, Martin J. Streck

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The 7.1Ma Rattlesnake Tuff (RST) of eastern Oregon is a widespread and voluminous (>300 km3) ignimbrite composed of 99% crystal poor (≤1%) high-silica rhyolite (HSR) and

Characterization Of The Initial Explosive Phases Of The 2021 Eruption At La Soufriere, St. Vincent, Sydney Walters

Honors Theses

The Soufriere Volcano on St. Vincent Island, in the Lesser Antilles volcanic arc, is one of the most active subaerial volcanos in the Caribbean, erupting both explosively and effusively at least 7 times in the last 500 years. In December of 2020, the volcano began erupting effusively, showing no evidence of degassing and on April 9^th of 2021, it transitioned to an explosive eruption that continued until April 22, with more than 30 eruptions classified as Vulcanian and sub-Plinian. Scoria samples from three units (U1-U3) erupted in the first 48-72 hours of the explosive eruptive phase were analyzed in …

Understanding Hydrogen Variations In Silicate Glasses As A Result Of Degassing: Fire-Fountaining On The Moon And Earth, Erin M. Recchuiti

Masters Theses

Volatiles, particularly hydrogen, play a key role in volcanic eruptions, especially explosive eruptions like fire-fountaining [e.g., Saal et al. 2002; Dixon 1997; Arndt & von Engelhardt 1987; Yoder 1976]. Discerning volatile abundance and behavior during ascent and eruption can aid in understanding the source melt and primary volatile content of planetary interiors. Volcanic glasses are samples closest to the primary melt, as they quench quickly enough to limit fractionation or crystallization. This is paramount for volatile studies, especially pertaining to water as its constituents are oxygen and hydrogen. Hydrogen is the most volatile element and one of the first to …

Contrasting Styles Of Inter-Caldera Volcanism In A Peralkaline System: Case Studies From Pantelleria (Sicily Channel, Italy), Pierangelo Romano, John C. White, Silvio G. Rotolo, Nina J. Jordan, Rosolino Cirrincione, Giovanni De Giorgio, Patrizia Fiannacca, Epifanio Vaccaro

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The recent (<190 ka) volcanic history of Pantelleria is characterized by the eruption of nine peralkaline ignimbrites, ranging in composition from comenditic trachyte to comendite to pantellerite. The ~46 ka Green Tuff (GT) was the last of these ignimbrites, which was followed by many effusive and explosive low-volume eruptions of pantellerite from vents within the caldera moat and along the caldera rim. Although recent studies have shed additional light on the age, petrochemistry, and volcanology of the older ignimbrites, there is very little knowledge of magmatism that occurred between these older ignimbrites, primarily due to the very scarce exposures. In this paper, we present new field descriptions and geochemical data for three local peralkaline centers never studied before, two pre-GT and one post-GT, which share a similar setting with respect to the caldera scarps but differ in terms of their age, composition, and eruptive style. These centers include: (i) the older (~125 ka) Giache center (comenditic trachyte), (ii) the ~67 ka Attalora center (comendite, pantellerite), and (iii) the younger (~14 ka) Patite center (pantellerite).

Structural And Petrologic Insights Into The Emplacement Of Effusive Silicic Lavas: Inyo Domes, California, Shelby L. Isom

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The Long Valley volcanic region, eastern California, USA is most famous for the caldera-forming eruption which produced the Bishop Tuff ~760,000 years ago. Over the last 3,000 years volcanism has been focused in the western margin of the region through punctuated eruptions of silicic lavas and domes. Three simultaneous effusive silicic eruptions, ~600 years ago, generated three lava domes: Obsidian Dome; Glass Creek Dome; and Deadman Dome which erupted onto vastly different topographies. These domes are exceptionally unique as they erupted variable amounts of two textural and chemical endmember lavas (crystal-rich and crystal-poor) that intimately mixed. The overarching goal of …