Geology Department Postgraduate Web Pages
Name: Vitor Azevedo
Contact Details
Email: azevedov@tcd.ie
Title of Project
Testing volcanic-climatic linkages across the caldera cycle: a case study from Campi Felgrei
Project details
Explosive volcanic eruptions have significant global impacts, including atmospheric cooling and rainfall perturbations, as well as posing a direct a risk to the one billion people currently living on or near active volcanoes. In the last decade, it has been recognised that many volcanic systems exhibit remarkable cyclic behaviour. Each cycle is characterised by a period of minor eruptions that culminate in a cataclysmic caldera forming event, after which a new cycle starts.
The relationship between volcano size and duration of the caldera cycle implies an internal forcing mechanism controlled by rates of crystallisation and volatile saturation within the magma reservoir. Cyclic variations with periods of 104-105 years, however, are within the range of orbitally forced climatic variations (Milankovitch cycles). Indeed, layers of volcanic ash (tephra) in sediment cores document an increase in the frequency of volcanic eruptions following deglaciation. Increases in volcanism are generally attributed to crustal and lithospheric unloading associated with ice volume fluctuations and related sea level changes.
This project will test the hypothesis that the timing and tempo of volcanism at Campi Flegrei is controlled by climatic variations. We will identify different stages of the caldera cycle, determine the magmatic process(s) taking place during each stage of the caldera cycle, and test whether there are correlations between the timing of transitions within the magmatic system and orbitally-forced climatic oscillations.
Name of supervisors
Dr Emma Tomlinson, Dr Andrew Parnell (co-advisor, Maynooth University)
Project Start Date
March 2021
Funding
Provost’s PhD Project Award
Other relevant information
Publications, including conference abstracts
Novello, V.F., da Cruz, F.W., Vuille, M., Campos, J.L.P.S., Stríkis, N.M., Apaéstegui, J., Moquet, J.S., Azevedo, V., Ampuero, A., Utida, G., Wang, X., Paula-Santos, G.M., Jaqueto, P., Pessenda, L.C.R., Breecker, D.O., Karmann, I., 2021. Investigating δ13C values in stalagmites from tropical South America for the last two millennia. Quaternary Science Reviews, 255, p.106822.
Ampuero, A., Stríkis, N.M., Apaéstegui, J., Vuille, M., Novello, V.F., Espinoza, J.C., Cruz, F.W., Vonhof, H., Mayta, V.C., Martins, V.T.S., Cordeiro, R.C., Azevedo, V., Siffedine, A. 2020. The forest effects on the isotopic composition of rainfall in the northwestern Amazon Basin. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 125(4), doi: 10.1029/2019JD031445
Azevedo, V., Stríkis, N.M., Santos, R.A., de Souza, J.G., Ampuero, A., Cruz, F.W., de Oliveira, P., Iriarte, J., Stumpf, C.F., Vuille, M. and Mendes, V.R., 2019. Medieval Climate Variability in the eastern Amazon-Cerrado regions and its archeological implications. Scientific reports, 9(1), pp.1-10. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-56852-7
Azevedo Alves, V., Buynevich, I.V., Hembree, D.I., Smith, J.J., and Platt, B.F., 2015. Signal polarity trends in georadar images of mammal burrow networks in a heterogeneous mountain slope regolith. GSA Abstracts with Programs, Baltimore, MD, v. 47, p. 343.