Colin Wilson is a Professor at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and is an expert in the reconstruction of large explosive volcanic eruptions and their huge sub-surface magmatic systems. He visited the University of Bristol in October-November 2023 on a Bristol Benjamin Meaker Distinguished Visiting Professorship to bring together a range of new perspectives in volcanology.
Thanks to support from the Bristol Benjamin Meaker Distinguished Visiting Professorship Programme and my host, Professor Juliet Biggs, School of Earth Sciences, I visited the University of Bristol and the city of Bristol in October-November 2023. I was a post-doctoral fellow here in 1990, and have since then maintained intermittent links with Bristol staff in the School of Earth Sciences (particularly Prof. Sir Stephen Sparks) due to shared experiences and ideas. My experience in studying large-scale volcanic systems is of direct relevance to understanding of explosive eruption processes, subsurface magmatic processes and the interface between modern geophysical monitoring techniques and geological knowledge of past eruptive events. The visit enabled me to learn more about multiple projects currently active within the School of Earth Sciences, and use my long experience to offer some new perspectives on topics across a range of disciplines within the School .
During the visit, I presented a series of talks, starting with an open seminar on ‘The Life and Times of Supervolcanoes’ designed for non-specialists. It was fantastic to see such a large and diverse audience and receive broad interest and lively discussion. On a more specialised level, I presented three 2-hour master classes, each on a globally iconic supereruption (Oruanui, New Zealand; Bishop Tuff, California; Huckleberry Ridge Tuff, Yellowstone). These were well attended by the community from students on the MSc Volcanology programme, PhD students and postdoctoral researchers and staff and provided an opportunity for in-depth discussion of a wide range of methods brought together to provide new insights into large magmatic systems. One of the aspects of modern volcanology that I have seen grow is the development of models for eruptive and magmatic processes. My talks were aimed at showing that the field study of these vast supereruptions, although time-consuming and not easily funded, represents a rich field of un-tapped observations that present many challenges for the state of our current models. I hope that the students understood that there are still many aspects of volcanism that are amenable to or demand quality field studies.
Interactions occurred with key staff within the School of Earth Sciences enabled me to build a proposal around developing new understanding of the processes involved in unrest and eruption at reawakening silicic volcanoes. This proposal, if successful, would provide a unique link between researchers in geophysics, geochemistry, volcanology (including the newly appointed Axa Chair) and hazards and risk, with connections to existing research (e.g. the ERC project MAST – Imaging Magmatic Systems using Strain). Although unsuccessful in its original funding target (the Leverhulme International Professorship), discussions are continuing around the possibility of re-shaping the proposal as an ERC Grant.
Overall, the Bristol Benjamin Meaker Distinguished Visiting Professorship represents a wonderful arrangement that permits people like me (who cannot get away for a full-blown sabbatical) to interact with colleagues in the best volcano-related group at one of the best Earth Science schools in the country. The chance to think about new possibilities in volcanological research and interact with graduate students was much appreciated. The arrangements with accommodation were excellent and just what was needed for a visit of this length. Many thanks to all involved.
Professor Colin Wilson
