Geological Sciences Seminar: Kara Brugman, Carnegie Institution for Science

Clinopyroxene geothermometry & diffusion chronometry of the Scaup Lake Rhyolite, Yellowstone 

In order to construct models for volcanic eruption forecasting, the timescales of events leading up to eruption must be accurately quantified. In the field of igneous petrology, the timing of these events (e.g., periods of magma formation, duration of recharge events) and their influence on eruptive timescales are still poorly constrained. In this talk I will discuss how the new tools and methods I have developed are helping to improve our understanding of these magmatic events. I use my new diffusion chronometry technique to compare the timescales recorded by different minerals from the same Yellowstone lava flow, the Scaup Lake rhyolite. My new geothermometer for high-silica system clinopyroxene lowers calculated temperatures by an average of over 80°C relative to prior assessments and improves error by more than half. Together, these tools allow us to paint a more accurate picture of the conditions and tempo of events inside a magma body in the millennia to months leading up to eruption. 

Kara Brugman is an experimental petrologist who is interested in what happens inside and underneath volcanoes. In addition to developing tools to study pre-eruptive timescales at large, high-silica magmatic systems such as Yellowstone, Kara conducts high-temperature and -pressure experiments to prepare for future exoplanet mission data return. Dr. Brugman is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Carnegie Earth and Planets Lab. 

Email Kelly Wells, kcwells7@stanford.edu, for Zoom link and password.