Spring 2021
| Speaker: |
John Eichelberger |
| Title: | Drilling for Magma |
| Date: | January 15, 2021 |
| Time: | 11:45am |
| Location: | Contact instructor for details. jemezger@alaska.edu |
About:
John Eichelberger received his education in geology and igneous petrology at MIT and
Stanford University. He is perhaps best known for scientific contributions in understanding
magma mixing and degassing. John’s career spans research laboratories, academia, and
the U.S. Government. He has long had a passion for drilling and international cooperation,
both of which are required to explore the frontier beneath our feet. In 2015, John
received the Soloviev Medal in Natural Hazards from the European Geosciences Union.
This academic year he is one of two Distinguished Lecturers chosen by the Geological
Society of America to excite and inform the research community about Continental Scientific
Drilling.
Abstract:
Many questions about how magma is stored in the crust, evolves, and drives hydrothermal
convection could be answered by drilling the transition from hydrothermal to magmatic
regimes and sampling magma in situ. Although this may seem impossible, it has already happened by accident during geothermal
development in Africa, Hawaii, and Iceland. I will review the quest for magma: what
we have learned from coring lava lakes as a proxy for magma chambers, what we can
glean from the accidental drilling encounters with magma, and what is planned for
an international magma observatory, Krafla Magma Testbed, in Iceland. The benefits
of direct observation of the magmatic environment lie in understanding how planetary
silicate crust evolves, as well as leaps forward in productivity in geothermal energy
and reliability of eruption forecasts.
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