Publications

Most volcanic activity is taking place in the oceans. Depending on water depth, eruption recurrence times and volumes, a new island can form. The power of erosional forces, the type of erupted material and the efficiency of secondary processes determine the island’s lifetime. Since the famous eruption of Surtsey (Iceland) in 1963, at least another 23 volcanic islands have appeared. Some...

Pyroclastic density currents represent one of the deadliest hazards posed by active volcanoes. Analysis of their deposits provides valuable insights into their internal dynamics and informs numerical simulations of pyroclastic density currents which underpin many volcanic hazard assessments. We present PDCD-DAT, a global database of pyroclastic density current deposit characteristics...

On November 27, 2022, Mauna Loa erupted for the first time in 38 years, threatening a major highway on the Island of Hawaiʻi. The opening phases of the eruption were focused at the volcano’s summit, before magma propagated into the upper Northeast Rift Zone to erupt at four fissure segments that localized at fissure 3 by December 2. This fissure produced a braided ʻaʻā flow that...

Advances in near-real-time forecasts of lava flow advance rates, final travel distance, and areal coverage are transforming hazard response, particularly in locations such as Hawaiʻi that experience frequent lava flow activity. The most severe threats are posed by rapidly advancing channelized ʻaʻā flows, such as those that characterized the November–December 2022 eruption of Mauna Loa...

The iconic Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park, USA, has attracted a significant amount of research because of the relative regularity and impressive size of its eruptions. Numerous studies have included observations, measurements, and analyses that informed models of geyser eruptions. However, fundamental quantities, including the associated mass and heat discharged, remain...

Cenozoic volcanic rocks of the Arabia Plate cover about 140,000 square kilometers across a distance of about 3,000 kilometers from southern Yemen to southeastern Turkey. The majority of volcanic products are alkali basalts that erupted in restricted areas, commonly over periods of a million or more years, building mafic lava fields, each known in Arabic as a “harrat.” Harrat volcanism...

The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) monitors volcanic and hydrothermal activity associated with the Yellowstone magmatic system, carries out research into magmatic processes occurring beneath Yellowstone Caldera, and issues timely warnings and guidance related to potential future geologic hazards. YVO is a collaborative consortium that includes the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)...

Differentiated magmas stored in the rift zones of Kīlauea have received more attention in recent years following eruption of andesite during the early phase of 2018 lower East Rift Zone activity. Despite this growing interest, some of the most voluminous eruptions of differentiated rift zone magmas remain poorly studied. One such eruption, and the most voluminous exposed differentiated...

Over the past two centuries, eruptions of Mauna Loa volcano have damaged infrastructure and destroyed several communities on the Island of Hawaiʻi. Future eruptions will impact existing population centers and critical infrastructure, which continue to grow each year. The U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory has developed and practiced methods to promote eruption...

The Determining Volcanic Risk in Auckland (DEVORA) Research Programme was launched in 2008 to address the challenges associated with monogenetic volcanism in an urban setting and to enhance volcanic risk management in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland in Aotearoa New Zealand. It is a multi-agency, increasingly transdisciplinary (defined here as research that transcends traditional disciplinary...

Precipitation is one of the dominant drivers of landscape erosion and evolution; however, the effects of typical rainfall compared with less frequent, high-magnitude precipitation events on erosion remain unclear. Volcanic islands are ideal locations to study such phenomena due to their simple geometries, nontectonic construction, and strong spatiotemporal rainfall gradients. However...