class participation

Just a reminder ... Etna erupting in November 2002. If you have any questions for Dr. Boris Behncke, who runs Italy's Volcanoes along with the volcanology page for the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Catania, please send them in to me at . I've got some good question so far!
The first Q&A with Dr. Jonathan Castro was such a success, I'm going to try to make this a regular feature. On that note, Eruptions reader Dr. Boris Behncke has volunteered to be the second geologist to take the plunge. Here is a little about Boris and his work: I've studied geology first in Bochum, Germany, then finished my Master's in Kiel, Germany (in 1996), before hopping south to Catania, where I did my Ph.D. in 2001. I live in Sicily since early 1997, but first visited the Italian volcanoes in 1989, and happen to be at Etna when it produced a spectacular eruption just on schedule.…
Just got back from GSA 2009 and Portland ... so, to tide everyone over until I get my act back together, enjoy Mystery Volcano #10. Coming soon: the answers to the questions posed to Dr. Jon Castro. The current standings: volcanista - 1 Elizabeth - 1 Ralph - 1 gijs - 1 Anne - 1 Cam - 1 gg - 1 The Bobs - 1 Boris Behncke - 1 Good luck!
Busy Monday with Dr. Steven Squyres, the Principle Investigator of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission (MER; otherwise known as the plucky Spirit and Opportunity) is at Denison to give a talk and meet with students. On that note, here is Mystery Volcano Photo #9. And if you have any more questions for me to consider to ask Dr. Jonathan Castro, email them to me soon at Good luck!
I mentioned this at the end of the post on recent Nature paper by Castro and Dindwell on the speed of rhyolite magma ascent at Chaiten, but I'll break it out to get your attention: >Do you have a burning question about the Chaiten magma you'd love to be able to ask Dr. Castro? He has kindly offered to answer some questions about Chaiten and his research for Eruptions readers. Send me your questions at and I'll choose some of them for Dr. Castro to answer. I'll post the interview and the answers to your questions here on the blog. So do it! Send me your questions for Dr. Castro!
The last MVP was decidely (and unintentionally) way too easy ... but congratulations to gg for getting it on the first guess. To make up for that "gimme", here is a bit more of a puzzler. MVP Standings volcanista - 1 Elizabeth - 1 Ralph - 1 gijs - 1 Anne - 1 Cam - 1 gg - 1
Today's a busy Monday with not much volcano news, so here's a new Mystery Volcano Photo. MVP Standings: volcanista - 1 Elizabeth - 1 Ralph - 1 Cam - 1 Gijs - 1 Anne - 1 Good luck!
The current Mystery Volcano Photo standings: volcanista - 1 Elizabeth - 1 Ralph - 1 Cam - 1 Anne - 1 It is a tight race! Here's MVP #6 ... give it your best shot.
I've never been very good about asking for donations for anything, mostly because I know that for many of us, money can be tight. However, when it comes down to it, there are almost always people less fortunate than those of us who can spend our time blogging - or reading blogs - on the interweb. October is Donors Choose Month here on ScienceBlogs and us geobloggers - Kim at All My Faults are Stress-Related and Anne at Highly Allochthonous have joined forces to get donations for geo-related charities/projects - for example, helping an inner-city class in Chicago get a set of rocks for the…
So far, Eruptions readers have nailed every one of the Mystery Volcano Photos posted, usually within the first two guess. That leaves our standings as: volcanista - 1 Elizabeth - 1 Ralph - 1 Cam - 1 The field - 0 Here's a MVP for you to identify. Good luck!
I'll be off in the mountains of Virginia until Monday, so no updates for the rest of the week. I'll leave you all with a new Mystery Volcano Photo sent in by a friend (I don't want to give any clues away just yet) ... hopefully one that might be a bit more challenging. Enjoy the weekend! Mystery Volcano Photo #4
OK, well, apparently MVP #2 was waaay too easy because Elizabeth got it on the first try - it was indeed Villarrica in Chile - I'll post something on Villarrica later this weekend. Anyway, for the weekend, I'll leave you with this photo. Hopefully it won't be so easy ... but then again, you all seem to be pretty good at this. Scoreboard volcanista - 1 Elizabeth - 1 all the rest of you - 0 The new photo: Good luck.
The first Mystery Volcano Photo worked out so well, I thought I'd try a second one, this time culled from my personal collection. I'll try to figure out a way to post the scoreboard on the blog so you can keep track of your standing as MVP continues. Take your best guess! Enjoy the weekend.
I'm going to start a little feature on these slow volcano days ... Introducing the "Mystery Volcano Photo"! I'll post a picture of a volcano and feel free to take a whack at identifying the volcano. I'll follow up with information on the volcano ... right now you can play for community honor, but who knows, maybe I'll get some prizes to give away. So, without further ado, Mystery Volcano #1 (9/8/2009). Make your guess(es) in the comments. Good luck!
Starting sometime later this fall, readers on ScienceBlogs will be able to register with SB to create user profiles, keep track of stories and all that good stuff that social networking has created. In an effort to make it something useful to the readers, the head honchos at SB have set up a poll for readers concerning the new features. Why not wander over there and take the poll to make sure Eruptions readers get their voices heard.
Does anyone else feel like this has been a rather quiet summer, volcano-wise? Maybe I've been too preoccupied by my move to Ohio, but I feel like beyond a few relatively minor events (Shiveluch comes to mind), the volcano news has been pretty slow compared to the spring of this year. Go figure. The sulfur dioxide plume from the 2008 eruption of Kasatochi spreading over the northern Pacific Ocean. Anyway, a few tidbits to tide us over: Over eighteen years after the eruption, Mt. Pinatubo is still causing fatalities from the copious amounts of tephra deposited during the 1991 event. Five people…
Time to vote for the next Volcano Profile. Feel free to leave any comments or suggestions after answering the poll! What should be the next volcano for the "Volcano Profile" series?(surveys)
If you have any questions about volcanoes, pictures of erupting (or not) volcanoes you'd like to share with me for Eruptions or have any general comments, please email me at . I'd love to hear from you and maybe your question can make it into my next mailbag post (which should hopefully be coming soon.) While you're at it, feel free to digg, slashdot, technorati or reddit anything you find interesting on Eruptions. You can also follow me on Facebook by clicking the link at the bottom left-hand side of this page (but sorry folks, no Twitter for Eruptions). Broken Top, near Three Sisters, in…
The NASA Earth Observatory has posted some excellent images of Matua Island in the Kurils that show the before and after of the Sarychev Peak eruption of June 2009. There are some impressive changes ... so lets see if you can spot them! Post your comments on whats changed and why and I'll chime in periodically with what I've noticed. BEFORE: Matua Island and Sarychev Peak in May 2007 (big version) AFTER: Matua Island and Sarychev Peak in late June 2009 (big version)