NSF Award
2423102
One of the most devastating hazards on Earth are volcanic eruptions. The United States alone has experienced more than 50 volcanic eruptions in the past 30 years. Therefore, there is a growing need to better prepare and respond to future eruptions. This project will study the Goat Rocks Volcanic Complex in Washington state to address the following questions: 1) What needs to happen in a magma chamber below a volcano for an eruption to happen? 2) How does the crust in which the magma chambers are stored influence eruption style? 3) How does the Goat Rocks Volcanic Complex compare to other active volcanoes globally? The proposed research benefits society specifically related to volcanic hazards and eruption response. This project will support two early-career female scientists. Students will also be mentored in research activities and as part of the Kulshan Summer Institute. Each step of this research will be available for viewing on YouTube via Nick Zentner’s Washington geology series which receive tens of thousands of views per video.<br/><br/>This proposal addresses fundamental questions in volcano science outlined by the ERUPT Report (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2017) related to obtaining better chronologies and rates of volcanic processes and synthesizing a broad range of observations from the subsurface, and to interpret unrest and forecast eruption size, style, and duration. It provides an integrated approach combining proven petrologic techniques (i.e., mineral chemistry and textures, thermobarometry) with methodologies that are breaking new ground (i.e., diffusion chronometry, thermodynamic modeling) to reconstruct the architecture of magma storage in arc crust as well as the influence of the arc crust on magmatism and volcanism. It will also quantify the timing of magma storage and ascent–key factors required for eruption event trees and therefore hazard mitigation plans implemented by the Cascades Volcano Observatory. Additionally, Goat Rocks lavas and tephras provide a unique sample set ideal for this study due to the rare exposure of the earliest stages of volcanism at a Cascade arc volcano. This work provides the opportunity to test how transcrustal magmatic systems are born and evolve through time and potentially what an active arc volcano may look like in the future. Three main project objectives include: 1) Characterize magmatic conditions and processes in the early stages of the Goat Rocks, 2) characterize the relationship between pre-existing crustal rocks and magmatic processes, and 3) compare Goat Rocks to other arc volcanoes to develop a broader understanding of the relationships between underlying crust and volcano characteristics and behavior. This project will support two early-career female scientists. Students will also be mentored in research activities and as part of the Kulshan Summer Institute. Each step of this research will be available for viewing on YouTube via Nick Zentner’s Washington geology series which receive tens of thousands of views per video.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
