Publications

Partial melting of mafic intrusions recently emplaced into the lower crust can produce voluminous silicic magmas with isotopic ratios similar to their mafic sources. Low-temperature (825 and 850°C) partial melts synthesized at 700 MPa in biotite-hornblende gabbros from the central Sierra Nevada batholith (Sisson et al. in Contrib Mineral Petrol 148:635–661, 2005) have major-element and...

The February 2001 eruption of Cleveland Volcano, Alaska allowed for comparisons of volcanic ash detection using two‐band thermal infrared (10–12 μm) remote sensing from MODIS, AVHRR, and GOES 10. Results show that high latitude GOES volcanic cloud sensing the range of about 50 to 65°N is significantly enhanced. For the Cleveland volcanic clouds the MODIS and AVHRR data have zenith angles...

Granitic-rhyolitic liquids were produced experimentally from moderately hydrous (1.7-2.3 wt% H2O) medium-to-high K basaltic compositions at 700 MPa and f O2 controlled from Ni-NiO -1.3 to +4. Amount and composition of evolved liquids and coexisting mineral assemblages vary with fO2 and temperature, with melt being more evolved at higher fO2s, where coexisting mineral assemblages are more

Mammoth Mountain, which stands on the southwest rim of Long Valley caldera in eastern California, last erupted ∼57,000 years BP. Episodic volcanic unrest detected beneath the mountain since late 1979, however, emphasizes that the underlying volcanic system is still active and capable of producing future volcanic eruptions. The unrest symptoms include swarms of small (M ≤ 3) earthquakes...

We examine 20-yr data sets of seismic activity from 10 volcanic areas in the western United States for annual periodic signals (seasonality), focusing on large calderas (Long Valley caldera and Yellowstone) and stratovolcanoes (Cascade Range). We apply several statistical methods to test for seasonality in the seismic catalogs. In 4 of the 10 regions, statistically significant seasonal...

A catastrophic lahar began on 30 October 1998, as hurricane precipitation triggered a small flank collapse of Casita volcano, a complex and probably dormant stratovolcano. The initial rockslide‐debris avalanche evolved on the flank to yield a watery debris flood with a sediment concentration less than 60 per cent by volume at the base of the volcano. Within 2·5 km, however, the watery flow...

Rhyodacite tephra and three lavas erupted ∼27 ka, interpreted to be early leaks from the climactic magma chamber of Mount Mazama, contain ubiquitous resorbed crystals (antecrysts) that were recycled from young granodiorite and related plutonic rocks of the same magmatic system. The shallow composite pluton is represented by blocks ejected in the 7.7-ka climactic eruption that formed...

In March 1996, an intense earthquake swarm beneath Akutan Island, Alaska, was accompanied by extensive ground cracking but no eruption of Akutan volcano. Radar interferograms produced from L-band JERS-1 and C-band ERS-1/2 images show uplift associated with the swarm by as much as 60 cm on the western part of the island. The JERS-1 interferogram has greater coherence, especially in areas...

Thermal infrared (TIR) data from the MASTER airborne imaging spectrometer were acquired over Mount St. Helens in Sept and Oct, 2004, before and after the onset of recent eruptive activity. Pre‐eruption data showed no measurable increase in surface temperatures before the first phreatic eruption on Oct 1. MASTER data acquired during the initial eruptive episode on Oct 14 showed maximum...

Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) is a remote sensing technique capable of measuring ground surface deformation with sub-centimeter precision and spatial resolution in tens-of­meters over a large region. This paper describes basics of InSAR and highlights our studies of Alaskan volcanoes with InSAR images acquired from European ERS-l and ERS-2, Canadian Radarsat-l, and...

This report summarizes GPS data and observations collected between 1997 and 2004 on the island of Hawai‘i with static surveying and continuously recording instruments. On Kīlauea, the long-term deformation field is dominated by steady southeastern velocities of more than 6 cm/year and uplift of about 2 cm/yr at stations on the south flank (with respect to a fixed Pacific Plate)...

High-precision 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of selected lavas from Westdahl Volcano places time constraints on several key prehistoric eruptive phases of this large active volcano. A dike cutting old pyroclastic-flow and associated lahar deposits from a precursor volcano yields an age of 1,654+/-11 k.y., dating this precursor volcano as older than early Pleistocene. A total of 11...