Heather M. Wright
I work for the Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (VDAP), a cooperative partnership between the USGS and USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. In my current role, I conduct international training courses, participate in volcanic crisis response efforts, and perform fundamental scientific research on volcanic processes.
My research integrates fieldwork with quantitative textural and chemical characterization of volcanic clasts, in order to produce conceptual models of the relevant geologic processes and better understand processes of shallow magma storage, ascent, and eruption. I use a variety of observation strategies and tools, including geologic mapping and stratigraphy; optical, electron and x-ray microscopy; and tools to measure pore fraction and geometry. I increasingly also work on methods of eruption forecasting and crisis communication for volcanic risk reduction.
I enjoy the multidisciplinary nature of my job. And, I am fortunate to work with an amazing group of colleagues at the USGS and at our partner agencies around the world.
Professional Experience
2013-present: Volcano Disaster Assistance Program, Cascades Volcano Observatory, USGS
2012-2013: California Volcano Observatory, USGS
2010-2012: Mendenhall postdoctoral appointment, USGS Menlo Park, CA. Project title "Using crystal and glass compositions from eruptive products of Mt. Mazama (Crater Lake) volcano to examine magma chamber evolution processes; modelling this evolution through time using an integrated geochemical and thermodynamic approach."
2006-2009: Research fellow, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. Project title "Physical volcanology and petrology of the Cerro Galan caldera complex, northern Argentina"
2006: Ph.D. (Geological Sciences) University of Oregon. Thesis title: Physical and chemical signatures of degassing in volcanic systems
1999-2001: Earth Science Intern, ECO, US Geological Survey
1999: Student Intern, USRA, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Education and Certifications
PhD, Geological Sciences, University of Oregon
BA, Geology Minors in Spanish and Astronomy, Whitman College
Affiliations and Memberships*
American Geophysical Union
Geological Society of America
Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science
International Association of Volcanology and Geochemistry of the Earth's Interior
Honors and Awards
Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their i
George P. L. Walker award of the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, given every two years to an early career scientist in the fields encompassed by IAVCEI,
University of Oregon Doctoral Research Fellowship, awarded to the most outstanding doctoral applicant in any UO PhD program by a faculty selection committee, 2005
National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship Honorable Mention, 2003
University of Oregon Staples Fellowship, 2002
Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi National Honorary Science Fraternities, 1999
Graduated Magna Cum Laude with Honors in Major, 1999
Leeds Prize for Excellence in Geology, 1999
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 33
Characteristics of volcanic ash reveal changes in fragmentation and eruption dynamics at Poás volcano, Costa Rica, 2016–2019
Determining whether fresh magma has reached the surface during a volcanic eruption can provide important information for forecasts of future activity, especially in the early stages of an eruption. However, identifying fresh, juvenile pyroclasts in tephra fall deposits can be challenging and inconclusive. We studied the products of explosions at Poás volcano, Costa Rica, in 2016–2019, a...
Authors
Monserrat Cascante, Thomas Giachetti, Heather M. Wright, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Geoffroy Avard
Lessons learned from the 2022 CONVERSE Monogenetic Volcanism Response Scenario exercise
When volcanic unrest occurs, the scientific community can advance fundamental understanding of volcanic systems, but only with coordination before, during, and after the event across academic and governmental agencies. To develop a coordinated response plan, the Community Network for Volcanic Eruption Response (CONVERSE) orchestrated a scenario exercise centered around a hypothetical...
Authors
Yolanda C Lin, Einat Lev, Ria Mukerji, Tobias P. Fischer, Charles B. Connor, Wendy K. Stovall, Michael P. Poland, Alexandra M. Iezzi, Christelle Wauthier, Judit Gonzalez-Santana, Heather Wright, Samantha Wolf, Tobi Kasali
The diversity of volcanic hazard maps around the world: Insights from map makers
The IAVCEI Working Group on Hazard Mapping has been active since 2014 and has facilitated several activities to enable sharing of experiences of how volcanic hazard maps are developed and used around the world. One key activity was a global survey of 90 map makers and practitioners to collect data about official, published volcanic hazard maps and how they were developed. The survey...
Authors
Jan Lindsay, Danielle Charlton, Mary Ann T. Clive, Daniel Bertin, Sarah E. Ogburn, Heather Wright, John W. Ewert, Eliza S. Calder, Bastian Steinke
Development of a volcanic risk management system at Mount St. Helens—1980 to present
Here, we review volcanic risk management at Mount St. Helens from the perspective of the US Geological Survey’s (USGS) experience over the four decades since its 18 May 1980 climactic eruption. Prior to 1980, volcano monitoring, multidisciplinary eruption forecasting, and interagency coordination for eruption response were new to the Cascade Range. A Mount St. Helens volcano hazards...
Authors
Heather Wright, Carolyn L. Driedger, John S. Pallister, Christopher G. Newhall, Michael A. Clynne, John W. Ewert
Pre-eruptive outgassing and pressurization, and post-fragmentation bubble nucleation, recorded by vesicles in breadcrust bombs from vulcanian activity at Guagua Pichincha Volcano, Ecuador
Breadcrust bombs formed during Vulcanian eruptions are assumed to originate from the shallow plug or dome. Their rim to core texture reflects the competition between cooling and degassing timescales, which results in a dense crust with isolated vesicles contrasting with a highly vesicular vesicle network in the interior. Due to relatively fast quenching, the crust can shed light on pre-...
Authors
Mathieu Colombier, Michael Manga, Heather Wright, Benjamin Bernard, Rebecca deGraffenried, Francisco Caceres, Pablo Samaniego, Jeremie Vasseur, K Jakata, Paul J. Cook, Donald Bruce Dingwell
Editorial: Volcanic forecasting, crisis management, and risk communication
Volcanic eruptions intermittently punctuate periods of repose at volcanic centers and fields. Forecasting the timing, style, distribution, and magnitude of these eruptions is difficult, because eruptive activity varies over time, commonly in an irregular way. Furthermore, the impacts of eruptions can include loss of lives, property damage, and social and economic disturbance, where every...
Authors
Supriyati Andreastuti, Heather Wright, Karen Fontijn, Victoria Miller
The Volcanic Hazard Maps Database: An initiative of the IAVCEI Commission on Volcanic Hazards and Risk
In this work we present the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior (IAVCEI) Commission on Volcanic Hazards and Risk (CVHR) Volcanic Hazard Maps Database and the accompanying volcanichazardmaps.org website. Using input from a series of IAVCEI CVHR Working Group on Hazard Mapping workshops, we developed a classification scheme and terminology...
Authors
Sarah E. Ogburn, Danielle Charlton, Diana Norgaard, Heather Wright, Eliza S. Calder, Jan Lindsay, John W. Ewert, Shinji Takarada, Yasuhisa Tajima
Decompression and degassing, repressurization, and regassing during cyclic eruptions at Guagua Pichincha volcano, Ecuador, 1999–2001
In 1999–2001, Guagua Pichincha volcano, Ecuador, produced a series of cyclic explosive and effusive eruptions. Rock samples, including dense blocks and pumiceous clasts collected during the eruption sequence, and ballistic bombs later collected from the crater floor, provide information about magma storage, ascent, decompression, degassing, repressurization, and regassing prior to...
Authors
Heather Wright, Raffaello Cioni, Katharine Cashman, Patricia A. Mothes, Mauro Rosi
Conduit processes in crystal-rich dacitic magma and implications for eruptive cycles at Guagua Pichincha volcano, Ecuador
Stratovolcanoes are commonly characterised by cyclic eruptive activity marked by transitions between dome-forming, Vulcanian, Subplinian and Plinian eruptions. Guagua Pichincha volcano (Ecuador) has been a location of such cyclicity for the past ~ 2000 years, with Plinian eruptions in the first and tenth centuries AD (Anno Domini/after Christ), and CE (Common Era) 1660, which were...
Authors
Mathieu Colombier, Benjamin Bernard, Heather Wright, Jean-Luc Le Pennec, Francisco Caceres, Corrado Cimarelli, Michael J. Heap, Pablo Samaniego, Jeremie Vasseur, Donald Bruce Dingwell
The products of primary magma fragmentation finally revealed by pumice agglomerates
Following rapid decompression in the conduit of a volcano, magma breaks into ash- to block-sized fragments, powering explosive sub-Plinian and Plinian eruptions that may generate destructive pyroclastic falls and flows. It is thus crucial to assess how magma breaks up into fragments. This task is difficult, however, because of the subterranean nature of the entire process and because the...
Authors
Thomas Giachetti, Kathy Trafton, Joshua Wiejaczka, James V. Geological Survey (U.S.) Gardner, James M. Watkins, Tom Shea, Heather Wright
Eruption of compositionally heterogeneous andesites from a complex storage region during the 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano
Despite the common occurrence of heterogeneous andesitic eruptions, few studies have investigated the compositional effects on microlite crystallization and vesiculation in co-erupted natural samples. In 2006, Augustine Volcano erupted compositionally heterogeneous andesites that range from 56.4 to 63.3 wt% SiO2 and include two endmember lithologic groups: low-silica andesite (LSA) and...
Authors
Mary Catherine Benage, Heather Wright, Michelle L. Coombs
Opal-A in glassy pumice, acid alteration, and the 1817 phreatomagmatic eruption at Kawah Ijen (Java), Indonesia
At Kawah Ijen (Indonesia), vigorous SO2 and HCl degassing sustains a hyperacid lake (pH ~0) and intensely alters the subsurface, producing widespread residual silica and advanced argillic alteration products. In 1817, a VEI 2 phreatomagmatic eruption evacuated the lake, depositing a widespread layer of muddy ash fall, and sending lahars down river drainages. We discovered multiple types...
Authors
Jacob B. Lowenstern, Vincent van Hinsberg, Kim Berlo, Moritz Liesegang, Kayla Iacovino, Ilya N. Bindeman, Heather Wright
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 33
Characteristics of volcanic ash reveal changes in fragmentation and eruption dynamics at Poás volcano, Costa Rica, 2016–2019
Determining whether fresh magma has reached the surface during a volcanic eruption can provide important information for forecasts of future activity, especially in the early stages of an eruption. However, identifying fresh, juvenile pyroclasts in tephra fall deposits can be challenging and inconclusive. We studied the products of explosions at Poás volcano, Costa Rica, in 2016–2019, a...
Authors
Monserrat Cascante, Thomas Giachetti, Heather M. Wright, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Geoffroy Avard
Lessons learned from the 2022 CONVERSE Monogenetic Volcanism Response Scenario exercise
When volcanic unrest occurs, the scientific community can advance fundamental understanding of volcanic systems, but only with coordination before, during, and after the event across academic and governmental agencies. To develop a coordinated response plan, the Community Network for Volcanic Eruption Response (CONVERSE) orchestrated a scenario exercise centered around a hypothetical...
Authors
Yolanda C Lin, Einat Lev, Ria Mukerji, Tobias P. Fischer, Charles B. Connor, Wendy K. Stovall, Michael P. Poland, Alexandra M. Iezzi, Christelle Wauthier, Judit Gonzalez-Santana, Heather Wright, Samantha Wolf, Tobi Kasali
The diversity of volcanic hazard maps around the world: Insights from map makers
The IAVCEI Working Group on Hazard Mapping has been active since 2014 and has facilitated several activities to enable sharing of experiences of how volcanic hazard maps are developed and used around the world. One key activity was a global survey of 90 map makers and practitioners to collect data about official, published volcanic hazard maps and how they were developed. The survey...
Authors
Jan Lindsay, Danielle Charlton, Mary Ann T. Clive, Daniel Bertin, Sarah E. Ogburn, Heather Wright, John W. Ewert, Eliza S. Calder, Bastian Steinke
Development of a volcanic risk management system at Mount St. Helens—1980 to present
Here, we review volcanic risk management at Mount St. Helens from the perspective of the US Geological Survey’s (USGS) experience over the four decades since its 18 May 1980 climactic eruption. Prior to 1980, volcano monitoring, multidisciplinary eruption forecasting, and interagency coordination for eruption response were new to the Cascade Range. A Mount St. Helens volcano hazards...
Authors
Heather Wright, Carolyn L. Driedger, John S. Pallister, Christopher G. Newhall, Michael A. Clynne, John W. Ewert
Pre-eruptive outgassing and pressurization, and post-fragmentation bubble nucleation, recorded by vesicles in breadcrust bombs from vulcanian activity at Guagua Pichincha Volcano, Ecuador
Breadcrust bombs formed during Vulcanian eruptions are assumed to originate from the shallow plug or dome. Their rim to core texture reflects the competition between cooling and degassing timescales, which results in a dense crust with isolated vesicles contrasting with a highly vesicular vesicle network in the interior. Due to relatively fast quenching, the crust can shed light on pre-...
Authors
Mathieu Colombier, Michael Manga, Heather Wright, Benjamin Bernard, Rebecca deGraffenried, Francisco Caceres, Pablo Samaniego, Jeremie Vasseur, K Jakata, Paul J. Cook, Donald Bruce Dingwell
Editorial: Volcanic forecasting, crisis management, and risk communication
Volcanic eruptions intermittently punctuate periods of repose at volcanic centers and fields. Forecasting the timing, style, distribution, and magnitude of these eruptions is difficult, because eruptive activity varies over time, commonly in an irregular way. Furthermore, the impacts of eruptions can include loss of lives, property damage, and social and economic disturbance, where every...
Authors
Supriyati Andreastuti, Heather Wright, Karen Fontijn, Victoria Miller
The Volcanic Hazard Maps Database: An initiative of the IAVCEI Commission on Volcanic Hazards and Risk
In this work we present the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior (IAVCEI) Commission on Volcanic Hazards and Risk (CVHR) Volcanic Hazard Maps Database and the accompanying volcanichazardmaps.org website. Using input from a series of IAVCEI CVHR Working Group on Hazard Mapping workshops, we developed a classification scheme and terminology...
Authors
Sarah E. Ogburn, Danielle Charlton, Diana Norgaard, Heather Wright, Eliza S. Calder, Jan Lindsay, John W. Ewert, Shinji Takarada, Yasuhisa Tajima
Decompression and degassing, repressurization, and regassing during cyclic eruptions at Guagua Pichincha volcano, Ecuador, 1999–2001
In 1999–2001, Guagua Pichincha volcano, Ecuador, produced a series of cyclic explosive and effusive eruptions. Rock samples, including dense blocks and pumiceous clasts collected during the eruption sequence, and ballistic bombs later collected from the crater floor, provide information about magma storage, ascent, decompression, degassing, repressurization, and regassing prior to...
Authors
Heather Wright, Raffaello Cioni, Katharine Cashman, Patricia A. Mothes, Mauro Rosi
Conduit processes in crystal-rich dacitic magma and implications for eruptive cycles at Guagua Pichincha volcano, Ecuador
Stratovolcanoes are commonly characterised by cyclic eruptive activity marked by transitions between dome-forming, Vulcanian, Subplinian and Plinian eruptions. Guagua Pichincha volcano (Ecuador) has been a location of such cyclicity for the past ~ 2000 years, with Plinian eruptions in the first and tenth centuries AD (Anno Domini/after Christ), and CE (Common Era) 1660, which were...
Authors
Mathieu Colombier, Benjamin Bernard, Heather Wright, Jean-Luc Le Pennec, Francisco Caceres, Corrado Cimarelli, Michael J. Heap, Pablo Samaniego, Jeremie Vasseur, Donald Bruce Dingwell
The products of primary magma fragmentation finally revealed by pumice agglomerates
Following rapid decompression in the conduit of a volcano, magma breaks into ash- to block-sized fragments, powering explosive sub-Plinian and Plinian eruptions that may generate destructive pyroclastic falls and flows. It is thus crucial to assess how magma breaks up into fragments. This task is difficult, however, because of the subterranean nature of the entire process and because the...
Authors
Thomas Giachetti, Kathy Trafton, Joshua Wiejaczka, James V. Geological Survey (U.S.) Gardner, James M. Watkins, Tom Shea, Heather Wright
Eruption of compositionally heterogeneous andesites from a complex storage region during the 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano
Despite the common occurrence of heterogeneous andesitic eruptions, few studies have investigated the compositional effects on microlite crystallization and vesiculation in co-erupted natural samples. In 2006, Augustine Volcano erupted compositionally heterogeneous andesites that range from 56.4 to 63.3 wt% SiO2 and include two endmember lithologic groups: low-silica andesite (LSA) and...
Authors
Mary Catherine Benage, Heather Wright, Michelle L. Coombs
Opal-A in glassy pumice, acid alteration, and the 1817 phreatomagmatic eruption at Kawah Ijen (Java), Indonesia
At Kawah Ijen (Indonesia), vigorous SO2 and HCl degassing sustains a hyperacid lake (pH ~0) and intensely alters the subsurface, producing widespread residual silica and advanced argillic alteration products. In 1817, a VEI 2 phreatomagmatic eruption evacuated the lake, depositing a widespread layer of muddy ash fall, and sending lahars down river drainages. We discovered multiple types...
Authors
Jacob B. Lowenstern, Vincent van Hinsberg, Kim Berlo, Moritz Liesegang, Kayla Iacovino, Ilya N. Bindeman, Heather Wright
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government