GMPV
Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology

Magma

Paper focus: Plumbing the depths of magma crystallization by Hugo Moreira and co-authors

April 5, 2023
Paper focus: Plumbing the depths of magma crystallization by Hugo Moreira and co-authors
Secular variation in the mean depth of zircon-bearing magmas (Figure 4 featured in Moreira et al., 2023, in Geology).

Do you know when you stumble upon a very interesting paper, with a captivating title and you wish you could talk to the author(s)? Well, I did just that. It happens that I know the first author quite well, so I had no shame in contacting him and ask about it. One of his latest papers was published in Geology with the title “Plumbing the depths of magma crystallization using 176Lu/177Hf in zi ...[Read More]

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]