Event

Broadcast - Cutting Edge: The nature and origin of large explosive eruptions

Tuesday, August 7, 2012 19:00to20:00

The Cutting Edge lectures are organized to foster communication between scientists in different disciplines as well as between scientists and the public.

Presented by John Stix, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at McGill University

This lecture addresses the nature and causes of episodic eruptions which can cause local, regional and even global devastation.  A key parameter is the trigger, such as an earthquake, which initiates the eruption. Because we  haven’t experienced such an eruption in historic time, understand the types of precursory activity which lead to them is a challenge for volcanologists, who must draw on clues from smaller events. The lecture concludes with a discussion of the probable consequences such eruptions would have on our society.

 

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