The Spanish National Research Council, through Geosciences Barcelona (GEO3BCN-CSIC), has recognised as an associated Research, Development and Innovation (R+D+I) unit the Volcanic Chemical Petrology research group of the Faculty of Earth Sciences of the University of Barcelona. The new unit, with the participation of Professor Meritxell Aulinas, from the UB's Department of Mineralogy, Petrology and Applied Geology, will promote multidisciplinary research of volcanically active areas to more accurately assess potential volcanic hazards and the likelihood of future eruptions.
"With the creation of this associated unit we consolidate a very close collaboration - both in research and scientific dissemination - of volcanic systems that we have been carrying out for years", says Meritxell Aulinas, a member of the Geological, Crystalline and Sustainable Materials (GEOCiS) research group and the UB's Consolidated Teaching Innovation Group on Geochemistry and Igneous, Metamorphic and Sedimentary Rocks (G-GRIMS).
The Geosciences Barcelona team is made up of Adelina Geyer, Dario Pedrazzi, Xavier de Bolós, Aranau Folch and Stéphanie Barde-Cabusson. "The spirit of the requested associated unit is to formalise existing collaborations and ensure their continuity over time", explains Adelina Geyer, researcher and member of the GEO3BCN-CSIC Applied Volcanology working team. "In this sense - she continues -, it will provide a framework for existing lines of work, and will allow a more fluid and agile interaction between the groups when it comes to launching projects".
The collaboration between the two institutions began more than five years ago. Since then, the UB team has offered its knowledge of geochemistry and petrology in volcanic systems to the research work in volcanically active areas carried out by the Applied Volcanology team at Geosciences Barcelona. They also work together in the development and maintenance of the Laboratory of Numerical and Analogue Modelling of Volcanic Processes, part of the Laboratory of Simulation of Geological Processes, coordinated by both groups.
Studying volcanism in La Garrotxa and Antarctica
The projects on which GEO3BCN-CSIC and the UB's Faculty of Earth Sciences are working focus especially on the volcanism of the Catalan volcanic area. The study of this area allows progress to be made in the characterisation of the most recent volcanic edifices and thus a more precise understanding of the associated magmatic processes, their dynamics and evolution over time.
The team is also studying active volcanism in polar areas, with Deception Island (Antarctica) as an initial site. "The main objective of this line of research is to better understand the magmatic evolution of this active volcanic complex in order to improve the assessment of the associated volcanic hazard and risk", Geyer concludes.
