Dissertation project: Bubbling basalts: vesiculation in the 1918 eruption of Katla, Iceland Supervised by Dr Hugh Tuffen, Dr Mike James and Dr Jacqueline Owen
Katla volcano in Southern Icelend has been highly restless since its neighbouring volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupted in 2010. By studying the behaviour of bubbles in basaltic melt it may be possible to constrain time scales of vesiculation, therefore determining the mechanism of fragmentation in a future event at Katla. In order to achieve this, my dissertation project used Hotstage microscopy to directly observe the vesiculation of basaltic melt from Katla's 1918 eruption. Below (right) is some photographs from my project, hover over the photos for comments. Also below (left) is a video of a small wafer of basalt being heated to 1150 °C where it begins to vesiculate, the wafer is then cooled and crystallisation can be seen taking place.
This is me coming second place in the LEC Masters poster competition for my dissertation work
Volcanic Processes Field Course: Mount Etna
A highlight of my MSc was the annual trip to Sicily, Italy to analyse lava flow fields at Monte Etna. The trip was guided by Mike James (Lancaster University) and officials from the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) and included hikes up the volcano and tours through lava tubes. You can see a slide show of some photos with captions below. Typically around a week after we flew back to Lancaster Mount Etna erupted...