Geological and Mining Engineering and Science News

A geologist with the University of Kerala has collaborated with a U.S.-based geological engineer to prepare the Landslide Atlas of Kerala. The atlas, co-authored by K.S. Sajinkumar, Assistant Professor, Department of Geology, University of Kerala, and Thomas Oommen, Associate Professor, Michigan Technological University, U.S., depicts the spatial and temporal distribution of landslips and potentially hazardous locations in the Western Ghats.

The atlas, prepared after an extensive mapping process that lasted for a year, has used the latest tools of Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Public Works Minister G. Sudhakaran will formally launch the Landslide Atlas of Kerala at the Department of Geology on the Karyavattom campus of the university on September 19, 2017. The Geological Society of India is the publisher of the atlas.

Read more at Nyoooz.

Snehamoy Chatterjee (GMES/EPSSI) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $127,810 research and development grant from NASA. Thomas Oommen (GMES) is the Co-PI on the project “Minerals and Rock Type Mapping Using Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer-Next Generation (AVIRIS-NG) Data.” This is a one and a half year project.

By Sponsored Programs.

Dulcinea Avouris’s, who was advised by Simon Carn (GMES), lead research published in the journal Geology and was highlighted in a Focus article along with a news brief in EARTH Magazine.

What effects do earthquakes have on volcanoes?

The interaction between earthquakes and volcanoes intrigues the public and provides a complex and cascading hazard that challenges scientists across a spectrum of disciplines. The key to understanding earthquake-volcano interactions is the response of gas and magma to earthquake-imposed stresses.

Read more at GeoScienceWorld Geology, by Ben Kennedy.

Mark Kulie (GMES/GLRC) is attending the American Meteorological Society 38th Conference on Radar Meteorology this week (August 28 to September 1, 2017) in Chicago.

He will present a talk entitled “Seasonal Variability of Shallow Cumuliform Snowfall: A CloudSat Perspective” in the “Moving Platforms. Vehicle, Airborne, Shipborne and Spaceborne: Satellite” session. He is also co-chairing the “Cloud Studies Using Radars” conference session.

Founded in 1919, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) is the nation’s premier scientific and professional organization promoting and disseminating information about the atmospheric, oceanic, hydrologic sciences.

Mark Kulie (GMES/EPSSI) is the principal investigator on a project that has received an $86,255 research and development grant from the NASA. The project is entitled “Snowfall in the GPM Era: Assessing GPM Snowfall and Ice Microphysical Retrievals Using Independent Spaceborne and Ground-Based Observations.” This is the first year of a potential two-year project totaling $186,255.

Chad Deering (GMES/EPSSI), is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $250,718 research and develop grant from the National Science Foundation.

The project is titled “Assessing Changes in the State of a Magma Storage System Over Caldera-Forming Eruption Cycles, a Case Study at Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand.”

This is the first year of a potential three-year project which could total $349,665.

By Sponsored Programs.

ABSTRACT

The largest volcanic eruptions are rare events but can represent a global catastrophe. Smaller eruptions may still have significant (billions of dollars) economic impacts and may affect the lives and livelihoods of large numbers of people, even in places distant from the erupting volcano (e.g., the relatively small eruption in Iceland in 2010). This project focuses on the Taupo Volcanic Zone (TVZ) in New Zealand as a case study of a large and very active volcanic system, and will focus on developing a better understanding of how the temperature and mobility of a magma body below the surface changes before, during, and after a major eruption. This study will contribute to our understanding of the volcanoes that produce such large eruptions (for example, Yellowstone volcanic system in the US), and will provide critical context for interpretation of real-time hazard monitoring at these and other active volcanoes. In addition, the project will include research experience for a K-12 teacher and development of new standard-based physics, chemistry and mathematics curriculum that will be disseminated broadly.

Read more at NSF GeoPRISMS.