E L E M E N T S FEBRUARY 20089

Olivier Bachmann isan assistant professor ofvolcanology and igneouspetrology at the Universityof Washington, Seattle.Although a native of avolcano-free country(Switzerland), he has always

been attracted to these natural objects. He hasstudied volcanic deposits in many areas aroundthe world, including supervolcanic units inGreece, Chile, and the United States. Recently,he has focused his research on the dynamicsof volcanic systems (both in the magmachamber and in the atmosphere), trying tomerge data from geochemistry, geophysics,and image analysis.

George Bergantz is aprofessor at the Universityof Washington. His interestsare in the quantitativetreatment of geologicaltransport processes at variousscales and in a variety ofsettings. His physical

petrology group has as its main emphasis thephysics of magmas, metamorphism, anderuption processes. To this end, the group isworking on tying together the process of meltgeneration and transport in the deep crust andmantle, the ascent and hybridization of magmasin the mid-crust, and the assembly and lifecycles of volcanic systems. The group hasdeveloped a diverse suite of tools integratingnumerical modeling and laboratory experimentswith geological and geophysical measurements.

Stephen Blake is agraduate of St Andrews andLancaster universities. Heheld post-doctoral appoint-ments at the AustralianNational University and theUniversity of Aucklandbefore returning to the UK

to join the Open University where he is asenior lecturer. His research is aimed principallyat understanding the physical processescontrolling all aspects of magma evolutionand eruption. This work uses the petrology ofigneous rocks, fluid dynamics, and physicalvolcanology and ranges from small basalticmonogenetic fields to the largest rhyoliticsupereruptions.

Shaul Hurwitz is aresearch hydrologist withthe U.S. Geological Surveyin Menlo Park, California.His research interests arethe coupling betweengroundwater flow, heattransfer, and mass transport

with various geological processes. His currentemphasis is to characterize the spatial andtemporal patterns in volcano-hydrothermal

systems and their relation to magmatic andvolcanic activity. He has developed and applieda variety of techniques to quantify the dynamicsof hydrothermal systems and their relationto various volcanic hazards. He is currentlyinvolved in studies at Yellowstone, Long ValleyCaldera, Kilauea, and the Cascade Range.

David A. John is a researchgeologist with the U.S.Geological Survey’s MineralResources Program. For hisPhD research at StanfordUniversity, he studied thevariations of magmatic–hydrothermal fluids and

related mineral deposits as a function ofpaleodepth in mid-Tertiary intrusions in theWasatch Mountains, Utah. His research focuseson hydrothermal systems and mineral depositsin volcanic rocks. He has studied severaldismembered Tertiary supervolcanoes in Nevada,and currently he is studying active hydrothermalsystems on Cascades volcanoes in the PacificNorthwest and mineral deposits in the ancestralCascades arc in the western Great Basin.

Jacob B. Lowensternis a research geologist withthe U.S. Geological Surveyin Menlo Park, California.He serves as scientist-in-charge of the YellowstoneVolcano Observatory, apartnership among the

USGS, the University of Utah, and YellowstoneNational Park. To study the interaction ofmagmas and their overlying hydrothermalsystems, he applies techniques such as gasand isotope geochemistry, igneous petrology,and U–Th–Pb geochronology. A 1986 graduateof Dartmouth College, he earned a PhD atStanford University in 1992. In 2000, hereceived the Lindgren Award from the Societyof Economic Geologists and in 2006 was anAAPG Distinguished Lecturer.

Calvin F. Miller, whoteaches at VanderbiltUniversity (Nashville,Tennessee), has spent hiscareer studying igneousprocesses, moving upwardover the years to shallowerand shallower levels of the

crust. In recent years he has investigateddynamic processes in ancient magma chambersnow exposed as shallow plutons, zircon asa tracer of timescales, transport processes,evolving environments within chambers, andconnections between plutons and volcanism.He was particularly inspired by the 2001 PenroseConference on the longevity and dynamics ofrhyolitic magma systems. This conference,held at Long Valley caldera, site of a well-studiedsupereruption, was attended by most of theauthors of this issue.

Mary R. Reid’s interestin crystal-scale magmaticprocesses began while shewas a PhD student at theMassachusetts Institute ofTechnology. Her researchgroups at UCLA andNorthern Arizona Univer-

sity have developed new analytical andtheoretical approaches to quantifying themagmatic record of young volcanic systems,including in situ analyses of U–Th disequilib-rium in minerals. In addition to exploringsupervolcanoes in the western United Statesand Indonesia, she addresses the origin andevolution of the continental lithosphere.She is now a professor and the current chairof the Geology Department at NorthernArizona University.

Stephen Self is Professorof Volcanology at the OpenUniversity in the UK. He hasstudied volcanic activityand volcanic rocks in manyparts of the world, concen-trating on explosiveeruptions, large (flood) lava

effusions, and the impact of volcanism on theatmosphere. He has written over 170 articlesand reviews in the scientific press, for books,and in other science magazines. He is a Fellowof the Geological Society of America and theGeological Society of London, and a memberof the American Geophysical Union, theInternational Association of Volcanology, theMineralogical Society, and the InternationalAssociation of Sedimentology.

David A. Wark studiedoceanography as aMichigan undergrad, butshifted his attention tolarge-volume eruptionproducts while a graduatestudent at the Universityof Texas at Austin. He

continued to study volcanic rocks, but afterjoining the research faculty at the RensselaerPolytechnic Institute focused increasinglyon experimental geochemistry. This led tothe development (with RPI colleagues) andapplication of new trace-element geother-mometers that have strong potential to helpunravel the complex thermal histories inmany igneous systems. In 2007 he changedpaths again, however, and now applies hisscientific and analytical skills to the develop-ment of new technologies at GE’s GlobalResearch Center. He continues to study rocksin his spare time.

Meet the Authors

cont’d on page 10

E L E M E N T S FEBRUARY 200810

Meet the Authors cont’d from page 9

Colin J.N. Wilson is aprofessor of volcanology atthe University of Auckland,New Zealand. He studiedat Imperial College, London,with George Walker andhas worked extensively inNew Zealand, as well as in

the western United States and Alaska. Hestudies large explosive eruptions, particularlythose that generate ignimbrites, in order tounderstand eruption processes on variousscales. He also does research on the genera-tion of magmas at large silicic volcanoes(Taupo, Long Valley) and the dynamics oflarge silicic caldera volcanoes, integratinglaboratory work with detailed field studies.

Zhengjiu Xu is a researchassociate in the Departmentof Geological Sciences atthe University of Michigan.She obtained her BS andMS in chemistry fromPeking University, and herMPhil and PhD in

chemistry from City University of New York.Later she switched to geochemistry and

experimental petrology. Her research focuseson infrared and experimental studies ofsilicate melts. She has also contributed tobasic chemistry, in fields such as the atomicradii of the noble gas elements and thekinetics of chemical reactions.

Youxue Zhang is aprofessor of geologicalsciences at the Universityof Michigan. He waseducated at PekingUniversity (BS in geology)and Columbia University(MA, MPhil, and PhD in

geology). Then he worked as a postdoctoralfellow at Caltech. He received the Clarke Medalfrom the Geochemical Society and the YoungInvestigator Award from the National ScienceFoundation. He is a Fellow of the GSA and theAAAS. He served on the board of the Geo-chemical Society. He uses experimental andtheoretical approaches to study geochemicalkinetics, magma properties, the evolution ofvolatiles in the Earth, and the mechanismsand dynamics of various gas-driven eruptions,including explosive volcanic eruptions, lakeeruptions, and possible ocean eruptions.

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