Three different research projects are summarized here, with links to the resulting publications.
Please note my research is all published under my former names Allison Austin (Erickson)
Please note my research is all published under my former names Allison Austin (Erickson)
(1) My M.Sc. research (2004-2007) was in physical volcanology at Northern Arizona University. I studied a small, extinct but young volcano in Mexico to investigate the poorly understood fragmentation process of very viscous magma (rhyolite) during water:magma interactions (termed "phreatomagmatic"). These highly explosive eruptions result in deep craters surrounded by a tuff ring, and occur when rising magma encounters shallow groundwater. My project involved extensive field mapping and stratigraphy in remote terrain, and subsequent bulk rock and ash analyses in the laboratory. Based on the results, a new theory of fragmentation was hypothesized, which was tested during a year-long Fulbright grant at an experimental volcanology facility in Germany, in collaboration with an international team.
This work resulted in two well-received peer-reviewed publications:
The first manuscript reviews the field and lab analyses.
The second manuscript summarizes our experimental findings.
(2) From 2016 - 2018, I worked towards a Ph.D. in volcano geophysics from the University of California at Santa Barbara. For my first project, I was able to quantify volcanic shock waves using innovative digital imaging processing. Essentially "visible sound", these luminous flashing arcs were recorded on high-definition video during a coordinated, international field campaign to Yasur volcano in Vanuatu, whose approachability and regularity of explosions make it an ideal location to study strombolian eruptive mechanisms. For this work, I developed codes using Matlab to process digital videos for luminance differencing and velocity profiles.
The draft manuscript of this project can be found here.
(3) As a resident of Mount Shasta, California From 2014 - 2016, I became involved in a citizen-led movement to better quantify groundwater resources in response to concern surrounding large-scale commercial water extraction near Spring Hill. Extensive literature review and field work, as well as multi-parameter primary and secondary hydrologic and geologic analyses resulted in a peer-reviewed manuscript, which was written for both general and scientific audiences.
An additional two statistical analyses (with Matlab coding) revealed further groundwater patterns.