In the Company of Volcanoes

Guest Blogger Jazmin Scarlett Follow her on Twitter: @scarlett_jazmin Jazmin shares more of her adventures on her own blog: Phdvolcanology.wordpress.com My name is Jazmin Scarlett, I am a PhD student in volcanology and I am not trained in geology, geophysics or geochemistry. I am trained in understanding hazardous processes and how humans interact with them. I am, therefore, a weird mix of physical and social scientist. I understand the processes behind volcanic activity, but I mainly understand the many characteristics of volcanic hazardous phenomena. I understand how they impact on the natural and built environment and in turn, I understand how humans respond, mitigate and prepare against them. However, the interactions between hazard and person is more often than not more complicated than just hazard + human = impact. As well as understanding the volcano and its hazards, what is around the volcano is just as important. Infrastructure, settlements, topography, climate and ...

-Alison Since I spend a lot of time thinking about holes in the ground, from the ones I make with dynamite , to volcanic craters, I have to spend some time thinking about other mechanisms, both human and natural, that make similar looking holes in the ground. If I want to say anything about volcanic holes in the ground, such as maar volcanoes , I need to know what makes them unique. If I want to recognize just one type of hole in the ground remotely on Earth, or other planets, I need to know more about holes in the ground in general. Google Earth Image of Hole in the Ground Maar (left) and its neighbor Big Hole (right), these maars are located in Western Oregon. Let's start with the largest holes in the solar system, impact craters. One of the most important processes for changing the surface of a planet, or any planetary body (moons, asteroids, etc.) is meteorite impact. There is a lot of junk flying around in space. This junk (rock, dust, ice) runs into other junk an...