International team of volcanologists explore new ground
A Victoria University of Wellington researcher is part of an international team of volcanologists who have recently returned from their second expedition studying volcanoes in South America.
Dr Ian Schipper from Victoria’s School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences travelled with six other researchers to the South American Andes to explore one of the world’s most volcanically-active regions.
The ‘Trail by Fire’ team members have spent five months in total in the region—the first trip to Peru and Chile from November 2015 to March 2016, and the second trip to Ecuador just last month—visiting more than 20 volcanoes.
“We’re researching gas emissions from volcanoes. Volatiles (gases) from the atmosphere are constantly recycled back deep into the Earth at subduction zones—where one tectonic plate sinks under another. During this process, the sinking plate releases volatiles through the volcanoes—essentially, they drive volcanic eruptions,” says Dr Schipper.
“We don’t really know how efficiently these volatiles are recycled. We don’t know what proportion of volatiles are released back into the atmosphere by volcanism and what proportion remains trapped underneath the Earth.
“That’s what our study aims to provide—the first accurate and large-scale estimate of volatiles emitted by volcanoes of the South American Andes.
“It will give us a better understanding of how volatile recycling works and the volatile behaviour at each individual volcano. And, on a bigger scale, the research will help us understand how our atmosphere formed and is evolving.”
The team used state-of-the-art technology to attain its measurements, including infrared cameras, portable isotope spectrometers, and drones, that allowed the researchers to measure hot spots, gas fluxes and compositions on each volcano over short and long distances.
But Dr Schipper says it wasn’t always plain sailing. “Volcanoes are challenging to study, as you’re relying on a lot of elements that are out of your control.
“Some volcanoes just didn’t want to cooperate with us—even volcanoes with a long history of eruptions, like Tungurahua in Ecuador, had very little activity during our visit. We attempted measurements at Cotopaxi, one of the tallest volcanoes in the world, a total of 10 times, and only collected a small portion of the data we would’ve liked.
“Bad weather and broken equipment also made for some setbacks. Despite those disappointments, it was a rich learning experience for the team. Most of the volcanoes we worked on had never been measured before. The age of discovery is not over, and it’s important for scientists and explorers to persevere, despite the risk of failure.”
The team, which is currently processing data collected during the 20,000 kilometre expeditions, is in the planning stages for a third expedition.
Dr Schipper’s team is led by Dr Yves Moussallam (University of Cambridge), and includes Dr Philipson Bani (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, France), Dr Talfan Barnie (The Open University, United Kingdom/University of Iceland), Aaron Curtis (New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology/NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Dr Nial Peters (University of Cambridge) and João Pedro Lages (Università degli Studi di Palermo, Italy).
The work has being carried out with help from a number of sponsors, and in collaboration with colleagues in Chile (Sernageomin), Peru (Observatoria Vulcanológico del INGEMMET), Ecuador (Instituto Geofísico) and France (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement).