Publications
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Eruptive history of northern Harrat Rahat—Volume, timing, and composition of volcanism over the past 1.2 million years Eruptive history of northern Harrat Rahat—Volume, timing, and composition of volcanism over the past 1.2 million years
Harrat Rahat, one of several large, basalt-dominated volcanic fields in the western part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is a prime example of continental, intraplate volcanism. Excellent exposure makes this an outstanding site to investigate changing volcanic flux and composition through time. We present 93 40Ar/39Ar ages and 6 36Cl surface-exposure ages for volcanic deposits throughout...
Authors
Mark E. Stelten, Drew T. Downs, Duane E. Champion, Hannah R. Dietterich, Andrew T. Calvert, Thomas W. Sisson, Gail A. Mahood, Hani M. Zahran
Eruptive history within the vicinity of Al Madīnah in northern Harrat Rahat, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Eruptive history within the vicinity of Al Madīnah in northern Harrat Rahat, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
The northernmost part of the Harrat Rahat volcanic field contains early Pleistocene to Holocene mafic eruptive products within the vicinity of the city of Al Madīnah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A detailed geologic investigation into the eruptive history of a 570 square kilometer (km2) area covering Al Madīnah and the surrounding area has yielded 33 mapped Quaternary volcanic units...
Authors
Drew T. Downs, Mark E. Stelten, Duane E. Champion, Hannah R. Dietterich, Khalid Hassan, Jamal Shawali
Cenozoic tectonics of the western Arabia Plate related to harrat magmatism near Al Madīnah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Cenozoic tectonics of the western Arabia Plate related to harrat magmatism near Al Madīnah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Sprawling volcanic fields, or harrats, in western Saudi Arabia have been emplaced during the past 30 million years following effusions of flood basalts in Ethiopia and Yemen. Although broadly associated with volcanism in three rift valleys (Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and East African Rift Zone) radiating from the Afar depression, harrat abundance on the Arabian Peninsula indicates that...
Authors
Andrew T. Calvert, Thomas W. Sisson
The Saudi Geological Survey-U.S. Geological Survey northern Harrat Rahat project—Styles, rates, causes, and hazards of volcanism near Al Madīnah al Munawwarah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia The Saudi Geological Survey-U.S. Geological Survey northern Harrat Rahat project—Styles, rates, causes, and hazards of volcanism near Al Madīnah al Munawwarah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Active volcanic systems pose serious hazards to people and property including inundation and incineration by lava, blanketing by tephra (volcanic ash), exposure to noxious volcanic gases, and damage from shallow earthquakes triggered by ascending molten material (magma). To improve understanding of volcanism and associated seismicity on the western Arabia Plate, the Saudi Geological...
Authors
Thomas W. Sisson, Andrew T. Calvert, Walter D. Mooney
Active volcanism on the Arabian Shield—Geology, volcanology, and geophysics of northern Harrat Rahat and vicinity, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Active volcanism on the Arabian Shield—Geology, volcanology, and geophysics of northern Harrat Rahat and vicinity, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Active volcanic systems pose serious hazards to people and property including inundation and incineration by lava, blanketing by tephra (volcanic ash), exposure to noxious volcanic gases, and damage from shallow earthquakes triggered by ascending molten material (magma). To improve understanding of volcanism and associated seismicity on the western Arabia Plate, the Saudi Geological...
Precursors to a continental-arc ignimbrite flare-up: Early central volcanoes of the San Juan Mountains, Colorado, USA Precursors to a continental-arc ignimbrite flare-up: Early central volcanoes of the San Juan Mountains, Colorado, USA
Our newly acquired and recently published map, geochronologic, and compositional data for early intermediate-composition central volcanoes in the northeastern San Juan Mountains provide insights about the broad magmatic precursors to the large continental-arc ignimbrite flare-up in the mid-Cenozoic Southern Rocky Mountain volcanic field (SRMVF). Initial volcanism migrated from central...
Authors
Peter W. Lipman, Matthew J. Zimmerer, Amy K. Gilmer
Dynamics of magma mixing and magma mobilization beneath Mauna Loa – Insights from the 1950 AD Southwest Rift Zone eruption. Dynamics of magma mixing and magma mobilization beneath Mauna Loa – Insights from the 1950 AD Southwest Rift Zone eruption.
Eruptions from Mauna Loa’s Southwest Rift Zone (SWRZ) pose a significant threat to nearby communities due to high eruption rates and steep slopes resulting in little time for evacuation. Despite the large body of research done on Mauna Loa, knowledge of the timing and duration of magma residence and transfer through its internal plumbing system is still poorly constrained. This study...
Authors
Maren Kahl, Daniel J. Morgan, Carl Thornber, Richard Walshaw, Kendra J. Lynn, Frank A. Trusdell
Editorial: Remote sensing of volcanic gas emissions from the ground, air, and space Editorial: Remote sensing of volcanic gas emissions from the ground, air, and space
When magma rises in volcanic systems, volatile species exsolve from the melt and are outgassed to the atmosphere. The melt composition and temperature, depth at which degassing occurs, extent of gas-water-rock interactions, and volume of ascending magma are all factors that determine the composition and rate of gas emissions at the surface. Interpreted in a petrological framework, gas...
Authors
Christoph Kern, Santiago Arellano, Robin Campion, Silvana Hidalgo, Ryunosuke Kazahaya
Understanding the drivers of volcano deformation through geodetic model verification and validation Understanding the drivers of volcano deformation through geodetic model verification and validation
Volcano geodesy often involves the use of models to explain observed surface deformation. A variety of forward models are used, from analytical point sources to numerical simulations that consider complex magma system geometries, topography, and material properties. Various inversion methods can then be used to relate observed volcano data to models. Ideally, forward models should be...
Authors
Joshua Allen Crozier, Leif Karlstrom, Emily K. Montgomery-Brown, Mario Angarita, Valerie Cayol, Mary Grace Bato, Taiyi Wang, Ronni Grapenthin, Tara Shreve, Kyle R. Anderson, Ana Astort, Olivier Bodart, Flavio Cannavò, Gilda Currenti, Farshid Dabaghi, Brittany A. Erickson, Deepak Garg, Matthew Head, Adriana Iozzia, Young Cheol Kim, Hélène Le Mével, Camila Novoa Lizama, Cody Rucker, Francesca Silverii, Yan Zhan
Chemistry and petrography of early 19th century basaltic andesites and basalts from the Kamakaiʻa Hills in the Southwest Rift Zone of Kīlauea volcano, Hawaiʻi Chemistry and petrography of early 19th century basaltic andesites and basalts from the Kamakaiʻa Hills in the Southwest Rift Zone of Kīlauea volcano, Hawaiʻi
Kīlauea is a frequently active, open-system volcano on the Island of Hawaiʻi known for erupting olivine-dominated tholeiitic basalt compositions. On rare occasions it erupts more differentiated magmas (
Authors
Drew T. Downs, May Sas, Richard W. Hazlett
VogCast: A framework for modeling volcanic air pollution and its application to the 2022 eruption of Mauna Loa Volcano, Hawai'i VogCast: A framework for modeling volcanic air pollution and its application to the 2022 eruption of Mauna Loa Volcano, Hawai'i
Volcanic activity and the associated gas emissions into the atmosphere often result in adverse air quality conditions and present a hazard to human health and the environment. Building on a decade-long effort to provide operational surface sulfur dioxide and sulfate aerosol forecasts for the State of Hawai'i, we present an air quality modeling framework called VogCast. VogCast is...
Authors
Nadya Moisseeva, Steven Businger, Tamar Elias
Creating oriented and precisely sectioned mineral mounts for in situ chemical analyses—An example using olivine for diffusion chronometry studies Creating oriented and precisely sectioned mineral mounts for in situ chemical analyses—An example using olivine for diffusion chronometry studies
Diffusion chronometry is now a widely applied methodology for determining the rates and timescales of geologic processes from the chemical zoning observed in minerals. Despite the popularity of the method, several challenges still remain during its application, including: (1) the random sectioning of minerals either in thin sections or grain mounts in which both off-center and oblique...
Authors
Kendra J. Lynn, Liliana G. Desmither