Latest RIFTVOLC News

News Articles and Press Releases from RIFTVOLC.

  • PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS PROJECT FINISHED ON 31 DECEMBER 2021 AND THE WEBSITE IS NO LONGER UPDATED OR MAINTAINED.

  • The AGU will present the 2021 International Award to our colleague Professor Atalay Ayele of the Institute of Geophysics, Space Science and Astronomy (IGSSA), Addis Ababa University. The AGU describe the award as a "prestigious award and an outstanding achievement".

  • The achievements of three of our RiftVolc investigators have been recognised in a recent spate of prizes!

    Juliet Biggs
  • Tamsin Mather, RiftVolc WP leader at the University of Oxford, is the co-author of two papers accepted for publication in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research.

  • RiftVolc researchers Karen Fontijn, Tim Greenfield, Yelebe Amere, Juliane Hübert and PhD student Jon Hunt attended the GeoPrisms ‘Theoretical and Experimental Institute of Rift Initiation and Evolution’ in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.

    Juliet Biggs, RiftVolc Co-Investigator, was present as both convener and committee member. 

  • Juliet Biggs , Co-Investigator on the RiftVolc project, has been awarded the  BGA Bullerwell lecture  for 2017. This is a prestigious prize awarded for outstanding contribution to Geophysics by a British scientist or a foreigner working in Britain. It has been presented each year since 1981 and is one of the principal events in the British Geophysical Association calendar. The Bullerwell lecture, named after the first Chief Geophysicist of the British Geological Survey, is a renowned event that has been given by many of those UK geophysicists who are major international Earth Scientists, receiving honours from a wide range of learned societies, academic and governmental institutions.

  • Friedemann Samrock from ETH Zurich visited Aluto volcano in May 2016 and sent some astonishing pictures of a crater lake forming during the rainy season. RiftVolc related field work so far has mainly been carried out in the dry season (Oct-Feb), so we were very curious to see this drastic seasonal change in the landscape. The presence of a lake could have implications for the hydrothermal system underneath Aluto regarding the interaction between water and magma.

  • Fentale (8.975ºN, 39.93ºE) is a large stratovolcano located in south Afar (Figure 1). The latest eruption is known to occur in 1820 where basaltic lava flows were extruded onto the rift floor. A colossal seismic activity occurred in January and February 1981 while another moderate earthquake activity occurred in June 1989. Both swarms were recorded by the AAE which was the analog WWSSN station.