A Dangerous World Laboratory

Amanda Clarke is a professor whose research focuses on the physics of volcanic eruptions. Her group conducts field work to investigate deposits of recent volcanic eruptions and to make quantitative measurements at erupting volcanoes.  She also invests in developing and using numerical models and laboratory experiments to understand volcanic systems.  She and her group interpret volcanic rocks on Earth and Mars, investigate highly-explosive basaltic volcanism, post-caldera activity, eruption triggering, and interactions between geologic processes (e.g., earthquake-triggered volcanic activity and the interaction between volcanic plumes and Earth’s atmosphere). Key aims include reducing volcanic risk to human populations and infrastructure, as well as understanding the role volcanic eruptions have played in planetary evolution.