Ronni Grapenthin   email:

New Mexico Tech Earth and Environmental Science ERTH 456 / GEOL 556 - Volcanology

ERTH 456 / GEOL 556 - Volcanology

Syllabus

Overview:

Roughly the first 2/3 of the class give an overview of volcanic processes roughly from magma chamber to plume. This involves the investigation of magma storage genesis, conduit dynamics, effusive and explosive eruption processes, and exceptionally large, caldera forming eruptions. The last 1/3 of the course will look into tools for volcano monitoring and analysis. This will be paired with several case studies that require very active student participation. In lieu of homework assignments, the students can expect to be required to read assigned papers particularly for the case studies.

Pre-requesites:

Upper division earth sciences

Required Text:

No textbook required, but required readings will be posted on the class website.

Course Requirements:

There will be no graded homework assignments, but the students will be expected to have thoroughly read assigned texts before lectures.

Graduate students will prepare a term project including an in-class presentation and an expository term paper of roughly 10-12 pages (NSF Formatting). The topic of this project should be related to the course content and objectives and should involve some data analysis, modeling and interpretation. Your topic must be approved by the instructor before you begin to work on it. You might apply techniques from the course to process, analyze and interpret data that you have gathered in your research, or you might choose one of the provided projects. If you choose thesis related work, it must be a new aspect; recycling of existing work is not permitted. In-class presentations are scheduled for the last week of classes. Note that the first term paper due date will be used to grade for completeness; the second term paper due date will grade on completeness and correctness.

Grading:

ERTH456 Labs: 50%, Field Trip Reports 30%, Class & Case study participation: 20%.
GEOL556 Labs: 40%, Term Project 50%, Class & Case Study participation: 10%.

Grades will be assigned for each lab based upon assignment completeness and accuracy. Details for field trip reports will be made available before the trip. Unless otherwise noted, assignments will be due one week after they are assigned - they must be submitted prior to the beginning of subsequent lab period. Assignments are due both electronically (submit via email) and in print and must be the work of individual students. Assignments will not be accepted late! There are no exams in this class.

Tentative Schedule: (subject to modification)

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Week 1	Aug 20	Lecture 1	RG	Introduction, logistics, Examples [pdf]
	Aug 22	Lecture 2	RG	Volcano Distribution & Magma [pdf]
	Aug 22	LAB 1	RG	viscosity
Week 2	Aug 27	Lecture 3	RG	Types of Volcanism and Development of Storage Systems [pdf]
	Aug 29	Reading 1	RG	Cashman & Sparks (2013), How do volcanoes work?
	Aug 29	no lab, reading!
Week 3	Sep 03	Labor Day, no class
	Sep 05	Reading 2	RG	van Wyk de Vries (2018), Tectonics and Plumbing systems
	Sep 05	no lab, reading!
Week 4	Sep 10	Lecture 4	MZ	Caldera Introduction
	Sep 12	Lecture 5	MZ	Caldera Forming Eruptions
	Sep 12	Reading 03	RG	Sigmundsson et al. (2018), Magma Movements in Volcanic Plumbing Systems
	Sep 15	Field Trip I: Jemez
Week 5	Sep 17	Lecture 6	RG	Paper Discussions
	Sep 19	Lecture 7	RG	Paper Discussions
	Sep 19	Lab 2	RG	Calderas; reading: Lipman, 2000
Week 6	Sep 24	Lecture 8	RG	Conduits
	Sep 26	Lecture 9	RG	Conduits cont'd Magma Chemistry
	Sep 26	Lab 2	RG	Conduit Formation
Week 7	Oct 01	Lecture 10	NI	Volatiles
	Oct 03	Lecture 11	RG	effusive eruptions
	Oct 03	Lab 4	RG	Magma Chamber Experiments 2
Week 8	Oct 08	Lecture 12	RG	explosive eruptions
	Oct 10	Lecture 13	RG	volcanic plumes
	Oct 10	Lab 5	RG	Grain Size Distribution
Week 9	Oct 15	Lecture 14	MZ	New Mexico Volcanism
	Oct 17	Lecture 15	MZ	Volcanic Hazards
	Oct 17	Lab 6	LF	Rock ID
Week 10	Oct 22	Lecture 16	RG	volcanic plumes 2
	Oct 24	Lecture 17	NI	Tephra & Tephrachronology
	Oct 24	Lab 7	RG	Volcanic Plume Modeling
Week 11	Oct 29	Lecture 18	RG	Volcanoes from Bottom to Deposit
	Oct 31	Lecture 19	RG	Volcano Monitoring: Volcano Geodesy
	Oct 31	Lab 8	RG	Tephra Fallout Modeling