Gail Mahood, Stanford University
Professor
Stanford, California
mahood@stanford.edu
Office:
(650) 723-1429
Bio/Research
I am interested in understanding the processes that assemble and occur in the bodies of silicic magma that give rise to huge, explosive eruptions that spread ash continent-wide. My students and I study young volcanoes to determine how large and how explosive future eruptions might be, how frequen...
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Bio/Research
I am interested in understanding the processes that assemble and occur in the bodies of silicic magma that give rise to huge, explosive eruptions that spread ash continent-wide. My students and I study young volcanoes to determine how large and how explosive future eruptions might be, how frequently they are likely to occur, and what mechanisms trigger eruptions. We also do field-based studies in mountainous areas where plutons and the guts of volcanoes are well-exposed, mapping them and then analyzing their products in the laboratory, in order to reconstruct the life histories of these systems. To these ends we make extension use of 40-39Ar geochronology and use the Stanford-USGS ion probe to determine U-Pb and U-series ages. The main foci of our current research are (1) widespread Mid-Miocene silicic volcanism and calderas associated with the Columbia River flood basalts; (2) controls on the pre-eruptive concentrations of energy-critical elements in silicic magmas as evidenced by melt inclusions; (3) petrologic evidence for volcanic hazards in the Long Valley--Mammoth Mountain--Mono Craters--Mono Basin region; and (4) volcanic hazards of western Saudi Arabia at Harrat Rahat and petrologic study of the origin of trachytes associated with young basaltic lavas. I also have an interest in geoarchaeology, especially in the application of petrologic and geochemical techniques to determining the provenance of obsidian and ceramics.
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