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19 March 2010
The Santiaguito Volcano Observatory
It’s Friday! Which means picture day, because pictures are easy and fun. I thought – as a lead-in to a fundraising project I’m starting, and which I’ll talk about in the next post – that I’d give you all a tour of the Santiaguito Volcano Observatory. I’ve been there twice, on my last trip to Guatemala and for a couple of days on this year’s trip. After five days of …
15 March 2010
Looking backward: Past eruptions at Volcán Santa Maria
On our way to visit the Santiaguito Volcano Observatory, Gustavo Chigna of INSIVUMEH (the Guatemalan equivalent of the USGS) was kind enough to take an afternoon off and show us some of the older deposits near Santiaguito. Our first stops were at an exposure of the air-fall deposit from the October 24, 1902 eruption of Volcán Santa Maria. This eruption was a devastating one, stripping the land for more than …
9 March 2010
A Guatemalan Lago Como: Lago de Atitlán and its volcanoes
Aldous Huxley described Lake Atitlán as “Como with the additional embellishment of several immense volcanoes. It really is too much of a good thing.” I completely disagree on the “too much” part, because Atitlan is stunning (and, in my opinion, the addition of volcanoes gives it a leg up on Lago Como!) At the end of our field work, and after a brief trip to the Santiaguito Volcano Observatory (more …
5 March 2010
Watch your step: Field work on lava domes
I suppose I’ve left you all hanging long enough, so now it’s time to show off the first batch of photos from Guatemala. The trip started out in Guatemala City, where we loaded up our rental car and drove to Quetzaltenango (known as Xela or Xelaju to most people). From Xela we drove to a finca, or farm/plantation, and then spent three hours hiking through jungle, over landslide scars and …
1 March 2010
Back in los Estados Unidos
Just a quick note to let you all know that I’m finally back from Guatemala with samples in hand and only a bit of surface damage. (Much better than last time.) It was a really successful trip, minus the bits where we had to deal with driving around Guatemala, and I’m really happy that the field work went as well as it did.I’m still in the process of unpacking and making …
Jessica Ball is a volcanologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, researching volcanic hydrothermal systems and stability, and doing science communication for the California Volcano Observatory. She previously worked at the Geological Society of America's Washington DC Policy Office, learning about the intersection of Earth science and legislative affairs. Her Mendenhall postdoc and PhD focused on how water affects the stability of volcanoes, and involved both field investigations and numerical modeling applications. Her blogging covers a range of topics, from her experiences in academic geosciences to science outreach and communication to her field and lab work in volcanology.