“Ég kem alveg af fjöllum”        Icelandic saying: “I just came from the mountains”
Text Box: PhD Information: Topic: Subglacial volcanism: Growth, processes and products of Askja Volcano, Iceland University of Pittsburgh, Department of Geology and Planetary Science Expected date of completion: 2012 Main Advisor: Dr. Ian Skilling

Sampling lava in Hawai’i while volunteering at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, 2009.

Visiting White Sands, New Mexico, 2008.

My trusty duck takes a break on Tongariro before Climbing to the summit of Ngurahoe, 1 am 2008.

Visiting the lava flows in the eastern rift zone, Kilauea, 2009.

PhD Topic:

My work focuses on volcanic deposits formed during an eruption under thick glaciers during the Pleistocene. My field area is Dyngjufjöll volcanic complex, more commonly referred to as Askja, after the center’s largest caldera.

The major goals of the project are to focus on the subglacial deposits including stratigraphy, lithofacies, textural variation and post-emplacement alteration. The deposits are disrupted by a combination of Mid-Atlantic Ridge fractures, caldera-related ring fractures, and eruptive features. The relationship between the deposits and these structures may reveal insights in the eruptive pathways of the subglacial deposits, and post-emplacement collapse.

 

Field Experience:

Whenever I find the time and the money I am off on field adventures.

Askja (University of Pittsburgh)

Mt. Ruapehu (GNS Science, Wairakei New Zealand)

Volcan de Colima (University of Colima, Mexico)

Kilauea (Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, National Park HI)

Masaya Volcano, Nicaragua  (Simon Fraser University, BC Canada)

Sveiflhaus, Iceland (University of Pittsburgh)

Paleontological dig Montana (Museum of the Rockies)

Geological field camp, western US (University of Nevada Reno)

 

Education

MSc (First class honours) 2008

· University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

· Thesis: Depositional record of historic lahars in the upper Whangaehu Valley, Mt. Ruapehu, New Zealand

 

BSc 2005

· University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA, USA

· Thesis: Quartz grain microtextural analysis through new digital image processing: Application to Pleistocene Puget Basin sediments

 

Career Goals

After completing my PhD (2012) I would like to do a postdoc in volcanology, specifically volcano water/ice interactions. I hope to have the opportunity to continue to work internationally. Eventually I would like to work at a research focused university where I can combine teaching and my own research in an intellectually stimulating environment.

Fully embracing my field work (including this pillow breccia) at Askja, central Iceland August, 2010.

Curriculum Vitae: click here