Volcanology, Fall, 2004
Instructors:
Dennis Geist (U of I; Mines 322; 885-6491; dgeist@uidaho.edu)
Office Hours: Wed. 8:30-11:30 or by appointment
John Wolff (WSU, 825 Physical Sciences, 335-2825, jawolff@mail.wsu.edu
Office Hours: Open door or by appointment
Course materials will be placed on www.uidaho.edu/~dgeist/
Course Objectives
Volcanology is the study of volcanoes, eruptive processes, and the deposits produced by eruptions. It is especially important that you realize that volcanology is not simply a subdiscipline of igneous petrology. We really donıt study rocks (what petrology is all about) very much in volcanology so much as we study deposits and observable processes. Experience in Physics and Sedimentology are the best preparation for this class and are probably more important than Igneous Petrology.
Modern volcanology is balanced between the descriptive and quantitative, and both of these aspects of the science will be emphasized in this course. We have set three basic goals for this class: first, we want to understand how volcanoes work the process part; second, we want to be able to reconstruct unseen volcanic eruptions from the deposits they leave in the field; and, third, we will want to know as much about some of the worlds' volcanoes as possible.
Instructors
John and Dennis are equally responsible for all aspects of the class for all students (both WSU and UI), although we usually take turns running class and grading. The best way to get ahold of us is by email. Also, we will communicate as a class by email, including essential logistic information and discussions, so you need to be familiar with the system right away and check your email regularly.
Class and Readings
This class is joint between WSU and UI. Consequently, we meet for half the sessions in Pullman and the other half in Moscow. On Thursdays, we will meet at whichever campus is hosting the departmental seminar. On Tuesdays, we meet at the other campus. If there is no seminar scheduled that week, the default condition will be Tuesdays at UI, Thursdays at WSU. Reading assignments are from Francis and Oppenheimerıs Volcanoes: a Planetary Perspective (2nd edition). Our lectures come from both that text and the primary literature.
You are expected to attend and participate in each class. Unexcused absences will be penalized by lowering your grade. Email or visit us with a good excuse if you are going to miss class.
Graduate Students
Graduate students taking the class as
Geology 567 will be given an extra assignment, in the form of a small (GSA
student grant style) proposal to do research in some area of volcanology that
is directly relevant to hazards assessment. This will be due during finals week at the end of
semester, The grant form may
be viewed at:
http://www.geosociety.org/grants/grantApp.pdf
or send an email request to Dennis who can send it to you.
Field Trip
There will be a 5-day field trip to central Oregon starting
Thursday, September 23rd. This stands to be a terrific trip. Make
sure you have a warm sleeping bag- we will be camping at altitude pretty late
in the year, and it is likely to be around 20o. Details will be discussed in class.
Keeping Up
Everyone in the class should sign up for the VOLCANO Listserver, which is maintained by Arizona State University. The Listserver provide a means for rapid communication among members of the volcanology community and other interested people. It is used for announcements or inquiries about any aspect of volcanology. As a moderated list, all subscription requests and postings must first be approved by the moderator.
To join the list: Send
the message: "SUBSCRIBE VOLCANO <your_full_name>" to listserv@asu.edu
You will get notification that you have joined if you did it correctly, in the form of an email from the listserver.
Do
not submit basic research questions to the Listserver! It is NOT a suitable
means for a literature/web search.
Work
You will have four different types of work in this class:
1. Problem sets are designed to give you experience in quantitative techniques in volcanological study; they will be assigned roughly weekly.
2. There will be a midterm and a final exam.
3. Analogue demonstration: In teams of two or three, you will be responsible for designing an analogue demonstration to illustrate a fundamental volcanological concept. We will discuss ideas in class, but some examples are: the relation between viscosity and explosivity; models of eruption types; caldera model, effect of viscosity on flow morphology; how gases control eruption mechanisms; how crystals affect magma behavior; cooling and crystallization of lava lakes; how lava tubes and tunnels are formed; how volcanic plumes behave in various atmospheric conditions; and deposition from density currents, just to name a few. The idea is that you want to reproduce or find a good analogue for showing how one aspect of volcanoes works, either as a demonstration or as a hands-on activity for your audience. No traditional presentations (drawings, overheads, pictures) will be considered valid, but they can be used to enhance the description of your physical demonstration. You will present your work as a brief oral presentation, but it must include an actual real-time demonstration of your activity/idea; we will do this during an extra class in the evening on Wednesday, December 1. A one-page abstract describing your intentions is due on Thursday, October 14th. We will help you get necessary materials as much as we can, but some ingenuity and initiative on your own is expected.
4. Your
volcano: Send to Dennis via email your
first, second, and third choices from the list of recently active volcanoes
below. You will monitor your
volcano throughout the term and it will be the focus of your final
project. Throughout the term, you
are responsible for keeping the class up to date on the activity of your
volcano and regional issues associated with your volcano. This means that you must keep us up to
date on the behavior of your volcano; if something happens (seismic event,
volcanic plume, eruption, political debate) you are responsible for letting the
rest of the class know whatıs going on at your volcano, as close to the actual
events as possible. This means
checking up on your volcano on a very regular basis.
You will write a paper and give a 12-minute talk about your volcano during class Thursday November 4th and Tuesday November 9th. Most papers should be between 8 and 15 pages long and include illustrations. Make sure your references are thorough and complete: as you gather information keep exceptionally careful track of your sources and include each and every one of them in the bibliography, with a citation right AT the information, regardless of what it is (do not just cite direct quotes, you must cite every concept, datapoint, image, drawing, you name it, that you did not come up with on your own). The first drafts will be due on the day of your presentation. John or Dennis will edit your paper, then you will revise it and resubmit on the date of the final exam.
The web is a good place to start, but it is essential to hit the primary literature as well.
The topics you should cover are as follows:
I. Basic stats
A. Geographic and tectonic setting
B. Form and dimensions of the volcano
II. Eruptions
A. Eruptive history
B. Descriptions of observed eruptions
C. Descriptions of the vents, craters, and calderas
D. Volcanic hazards and benefits
III. Rocks and gases
A. Descriptions of the volcanic deposits
B. Geochemistry and petrology
C. Hydrothermal activity
IV. Geophysical monitoring of the volcano
V. Interpretations