CAREER: Stable Isotope Insights into Large-Volume Volcanic Eruptions

University Of Oregon Eugene, Eugene OR

Investigators

Abstract

Large volume volcanism represents a significant hazard to mankind that crosses political and state boundaries. Isotopic studies provide important insights into the causes of volcanism and its aftermaths. Collaboration with scientists and students from different disciplines and in different countries is required. Volcanism is truly an inspirational topic in Geoscience education and outreach activities. This proposal uses microanalytical stable isotope techniques to study volcanic processes. The first two planned research activities address the origin of large-volume eruption of silicic and basaltic magmas with emphasis on Yellowstone and Iceland using oxygen isotope analysis to unravel the genesis and assembly of magma bodies that contain significant proportion of oxygen derived from meteoric waters. The research plan incorporates the novel approach of examining single-crystal oxygen isotopic heterogeneity and zoning of crystals in products of large-volume volcanic eruptions to infer the origin of crystals and magmas. The third research topic to be pursued deals with the climatic impacts of these eruptions by using rare isotopes of oxygen and sulfur in sulfate from volcanic eruptions. The research will be conducted in the newly constructed state-of-the-art stable isotope laboratory built by the PI at the University of Oregon that serves as a center for intellectual exchange and discovery between graduate, undergraduate, and postdoctoral students, as well as international visitors. The education components are closely intertwined with the research goals above and include training of graduate and undergraduate students in the course of lab-based learning, participation of summer research undergraduates and community college students, development of new courses, and promotion of exchanges and collaboration among graduate and undergraduate students and scientists in the USA, Russia, France, and Iceland. International exchange will involve collaborative lab visits, joint fieldwork, and international student hiring. The PI has assembled a diverse research group consisting of graduate and undergraduate students, a postdoctoral fellow, a lab technician, and has developed a network of domestic and international collaborators. This proposal will provide long-term support to maintain analytical infrastructure of the lab and its members, contribute to education and mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students, support women in geosciences, foster meaningful international collaborations. Additionally the proposal will serve as a firm foundation for the PI's development as scientist and educator, involve geoscientists from regional teaching colleges into research, support ongoing outreach activities of the PI, and will lead to new publications and discoveries on several key unanswered questions about volcanism, its origin, and impact on the environment.