GMPV
Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology

Magma

I asked ChatGPT to write a blog about lava lakes: here’s what happened

March 8, 2023
The lava lake of Halemaʻumaʻu at Kilauea, Hawaii
The lava lake of Halemaʻumaʻu at Kilauea, Hawaiʻi (by Ivan Petrovich Vtorov - own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

If you’ve not been living under a rock you’ve probably heard of ChatGPT, the AI text generator wowing the internet and striking fear into the heart of exam co-ordinators worldwide. I’ve been meaning to write a blog about lava lakes for a while now, ever since rewatching Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer’s excellent documentary Into the Inferno. But with deadlines looming and lab work and admin c ...[Read More]

Fagradalsfjall 2021 versus 2022: similarity and differences

October 19, 2022
Fagradalsfjall 2021 versus 2022: similarity and differences
Fagradalsfjall 2022. Photo by Emanuele Caruso

The Icelandic eruptions of 2021 and 2022 originated in the Reykjanes peninsula, characterized by the Krýsuvík-Trölladyngja system, one of the five volcanic systems present along the peninsula. This peninsula is a leaky transform fault, characterized by episodic rifts and associated volcanism. The last two years have brought about some of the most momentous volcanic eruptions in recent history. The ...[Read More]

5 things I learnt from 2 months at sea with the International Ocean Discovery Program

July 13, 2022
Photo of sunset behind the drilling vessel JOIDES resolution
Sunset over the South Atlantic behind the research vessel JOIDES Resolution during our transit back to port

This year I was lucky enough to be part of International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 390 – South Atlantic Transect I – aboard the research vessel JOIDES Resolution which spent two months, from April to June, out in the South Atlantic, drilling into and sampling the upper oceanic crust and sediments. I sailed as a petrologist and was responsible for describing how the basa ...[Read More]

Can human curiosity affect dynamic risk?

and June 1, 2022
Can human curiosity affect dynamic risk?
The photo shows the ancient beach and the ancient shores of the city of Herculaneum, in which the bodies of the inhabitants of Herculaneum were found trying to take refuge (Photo by Elisabetta Billotta).

In simple words, the volcanic risk (R) can be defined as R = Value × Vulnerability × Hazard. The value is a figure that varies according to the total number of population and / or infrastructures at risk during a volcanic eruption, vulnerability is the percentage of value at risk for a given volcanic event and the hazard is the probability that a certain place may be affected by a determined hazar ...[Read More]