Tempo of post-glacial volcanism in southern Chile
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Earth Sciences
Abstract
The only way to understand what volcanoes might do in the future, is to understand how they have behaved in the past. This project focusses on a large area of southern Chile - one of the most volcanically active regions of the world - in order to try and work out how many times the volcanoes of this area have erupted over the past few thousand years. In this part of Chile, historical records of eruptions only go back to about the early 1800's; and even these are unlikely to be complete. So the only way to find out about older eruptions is look for places where ash and pumice from earlier eruptions is stored: and in Chile, this is mainly in lakes. Many of the volcanoes of southern Chile were covered in ice at the time of the last glaciation (about 20,000 years ago). Many of these mountain glaciers fed long tongues of ice which extended onto the plains in front of (or to the west of) these volcanoes; and as the glaciers retreated, they left behind a series of large, naturally dammed lakes. These lakes have been collecting volcanic ash and other sedimentary rocks for the past 18,000 years. Scientists from Belgium have been collecting long cores of mud from these lakes, and have started to use them to read the records of past climate, and past earthquakes, from the stripy layers of mud. The idea of this new project is to collect the layers of volcanic ash from each of these cores. Then we will try and match them to other examples of the same volcanic ash layer which are either found on land (e.g. near the volcanoes; or in road cuttings; or in peat bogs and marshes; or even in some of the remaining glaciers), or in other lake cores. Once we have started to match the layers (using a combination of factors, such as what they look like and what their composition is), then we will be able to put together a time-map for the region of these major eruptions. At the same time, we will date small samples of carbon (charcoal) to get a better idea of when the eruptions happened. When all of the information is put together, we will have a very detailed record of climate, volcanism and earthquakes in southern Chile, from the end of the last glaciation to the present day. The end result will be that we will be able to see exactly how rates of volcanic activity have changed over the past 18,000 years in southern Chile - and this is what we need, to start to think about how volcanic activity might continue into the future.
People |
ORCID iD |
David Pyle (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Ball J
(2015)
Measurements of the complex refractive index of volcanic ash at 450, 546.7, and 650 nm
in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Bertrand S
(2014)
Deposition of the 2011-2012 Cordón Caulle tephra (Chile, 40°S) in lake sediments: Implications for tephrochronology and volcanology Tephra deposition in lake sediments
in Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface
Browning T
(2015)
Volcanic ash supply to the surface oceanâ€"remote sensing of biological responses and their wider biogeochemical significance
in Frontiers in Marine Science
Browning T
(2014)
Strong responses of Southern Ocean phytoplankton communities to volcanic ash
in Geophysical Research Letters
Daggitt M
(2014)
AshCalc-a new tool for the comparison of the exponential, power-law and Weibull models of tephra deposition
in Journal of Applied Volcanology
Fontijn K
(2015)
A 5000-year record of multiple highly explosive mafic eruptions from Gunung Agung (Bali, Indonesia): implications for eruption frequency and volcanic hazards
in Bulletin of Volcanology
Fontijn K
(2016)
Synchronisation of sedimentary records using tephra: A postglacial tephrochronological model for the Chilean Lake District
in Quaternary Science Reviews
Fontijn K
(2014)
Late Quaternary tephrostratigraphy of southern Chile and Argentina
in Quaternary Science Reviews
Lachowycz S
(2015)
Glaciovolcanism at Volcán Sollipulli, southern Chile: Lithofacies analysis and interpretation
in Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research
Moernaut J
(2014)
Lacustrine turbidites as a tool for quantitative earthquake reconstruction: New evidence for a variable rupture mode in south central Chile
in Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
Description | Over the course of three field seasons and extensive follow-up laboratory work, we have identified a number of new volcanic ash deposits in southern Chile, which are the products of previously-unknown eruptions over the past 15,000 years. We have used these data to correlate these deposits, and to establish a regional record of large explosive volcanic eruptions, and their variations in space and time. This work has generated a number of follow-on research projects. |
Exploitation Route | We shared the results of our ongoing work with collaborators in the Chilean Geological Survey (SERNAGEOMIN) and the Argentinian Geological Survey, in order to improve our understanding of the rates of volcanic activity in Patagonia, and of the wider impacts of volcanic eruptions on the region. We are also working closely with academic collaborators in Belgium (Ghent) and Chile (Valdivia) to help to piece together the records of volcanic eruptions in southern Chile over the past few centuries, and beyond. |
Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Environment,Transport |
URL | https://volcanicdegassing.wordpress.com/about/volcanoes-of-southern-chile/ |
Description | This project is complete, and the outcomes are fully realised. Our work on volcanoes and climate in southern Chile attracted quite a lot of attention from a variety of media (news, online, TV) and we often receive requests for commentary and information when Chilean volcanoes are in the news. In recent years we have responded to requests for interviews and other information in the aftermath of two significant eruptions in Chile, in March and April 2015. Our work on the eruption history of these volcanoes has been highlighted for its value to the understanding of Chilean volcanoes by Dr Alvaro Amigo, Head of Volcanology at the Chilean Geological Survey (SERNAGEOMIN) and will feed into future projects on other key volcanoes in the region. |
First Year Of Impact | 2010 |
Sector | Education,Environment |
Impact Types | Societal |
Title | Chilean volcanoes datasets |
Description | Data on volcanic eruption ages, sizes, dispersal areas, and the compositions of eruptive products |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2011 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | We have made our databases freely available, on figshare. |
URL | http://volcanicdegassing.wordpress.com/datasets/ |
Title | AshCalc |
Description | A web tool to allow volcanologists to determine the volume of a volcanic deposit from their own field data |
Type Of Technology | Webtool/Application |
Year Produced | 2014 |
Impact | We have shared this tool on V-hub, the main platform for volcano-related software tools, and made it freely accessible to researchers around the world. |
URL | https://vhub.org/resources/ashcalc |
Description | Blogs and media interest following eruptions of Villarrica and Calbuco, Chile, 2015 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Following violent and highly visible eruptions of two prominent volcanoes in our field research area (Villarrica, in March; Calbuco, in April), I wrote several short blog posts to place the eruptions in context, to make available some accessible background information about the volcanoes (much of it based on our own published work), and to point readers in the appropriate directions for formal updates from the responsible agencies. The posts gained high visibility (with over 5000 visitors to the site in March and April, 2015), and led to requests for interviews from international media including: AlJazeera (TV), France24 (TV), Radio Cooperativa (Chile) and Daily Mail online. The blog posts were widely read, and shared across the world. A short update on 'the Calbuco eruption in numbers' had over 1000 views in the first 24 hours of release. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | https://volcanicdegassing.wordpress.com/?s=erupts&submit=Search |
Description | Field work on volcanoes and wider engagement |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | I have posted a number of blog posts on volcano-related field work in southern Chile, on my dedicated blog at volcanicdegassing.wordpress.com I have posted pieces both from the field, and to accompany the publication of journal articles, which help to place our work in context. The whole site has now received over 19,000 views, and an international audience of readers. I have used these pieces in a variety of outreach and engagement contexts, and as 'go to' places when I receive enquiries from schoolchildren, teachers and others about working on volcanoes. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013,2014 |
URL | https://volcanicdegassing.wordpress.com |
Description | Media coverage of volcanic unrest in Chile |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Live radio interviews with Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio Scotland and World Service following the 'red alert' declared at Volcano Copahue, May 28th, 2013. Radio interviews on Chilean volcanism |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | NERC Summer of Science 2015 Activities |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | For the NERC 'Summer of Science 2015', we went 'on tour' with the London Volcano model that had been created for the NERC/ESRC 'STREVA' project. The model volcano was the focus of activities and events for 14 days over 4 different physical locations, and staffed by a team of 25 volunteers, including undergraduate students, NERC DTP and other graduate students, NERC-funded postdocs, and researchers. Activities were supported by the education and outreach teams of the British Geological Survey, the Diamond Light Source, and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH). Wider audiences were engaged through the London Volcano Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and wordpress (blog) sites. We gave out thousands of postcards, and hundreds of volcano! stickers to visitors. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://londonvolcano.com |
Description | Public engagement: animation of a subduction zone volcano |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | We developed and launched an animation of a subduction zone volcano on YouTube, as part of a wider programme of engagement. This video highlights the contribution of our research work in this area, we also used the video as a platform for developing educational resources targeted to specific Key Stages of the National Curriculum for use in schools. The YouTube animation received 1000 views in the first 48 hours after launch, and at the time of writing has had over 7000 views. It has also been made freely available as a teaching resource on the TES website, which also hosts some other resources we have developed. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2013,2014 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms2ZhSZ4t2o |
Description | Volcanoes - an exhibition |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | I curated a public exhibition to run at Oxford's Weston Library from 10 February 2017 - 21 May 2017. This event attracted a lot of media coverage (print, radio and television), and parallel activities, ranging from workshops to public talks. During the exhibition over 50,000 people visited. Over 100 articles about the exhibition were published in the press, with a notional reach of 200 million potential readers. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/whatson/whats-on/upcoming-events/2017/feb/volcanoes |
Description | Volcanoes Top Trumps |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | We designed and released a new game - Volcanoes Top Trumps - first as a pack of cards, and then as an online game. This has had a huge reach (nearly 20,000 people have visited our website in the past 12 months) and generated a lot of interest, worldwide. We have had considerable engagement and enthusiasm from school groups, and are designing educational materials to extend the use of the game in classroom settings. It has already been used widely in class activities across the UK. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013,2014 |
URL | http://volcanoestoptrumps.org |
Description | Website documenting the Volcanoes of Southern Chile |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A set of web pages describing the context of the project, summarising background informations and images of many of the volcanoes that we are working on, and a regularly updated project bibliography of our own papers, reports, blog posts as well as links to other relevant work and background reading. These pages are hosted on a dedicated site volcanicdegassing.wordpress.com. These posts and pages have had over 1000 page views over the past year |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013,2014 |
URL | http://volcanicdegassing.wordpress.com/about/volcanoes-of-southern-chile/ |