Valbone Memeti
California State University-Fullerton, CA·Earth & Environmental Science
Hundreds of millions of people live near active volcanoes. Yet basic questions remain open: how magma builds up underground, how long it stays molten, and what decides whether it erupts or cools into plutons, large bodies of solidified rock deep in the crust.
- Fields
Earth & Environmental Science
Chemistry
- Topics
magma storage
plutons
batholith
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Mar 2027
What they work on
- Determine when Tuolumne magmas cooled and how long magma was present, using uranium–lead dating of zircon and titanite inclusions inside K-feldspar megacrysts from the Half Dome and Cathedral Peak units.
- Reconstruct magma storage temperatures and melt compositions using Ti-in-zircon and Zr-in-titanite thermometry plus plagioclase and hornblende chemistry measured by electron microprobe and laser ablation ICP-MS.
- Image K-feldspar crystal textures and chemical zoning in 3D with CT scans and cathodoluminescence to track when, where and how much magma was stored.
- Test whether the Tuolumne intrusive complex matured thermally into large interconnected magma bodies capable of flow, mixing and eruption ("hot" storage) or stayed as small near-solid mushes ("cold" storage).
More about the research
Ancient plutons now exposed at the surface record this history. In Yosemite National Park, the Tuolumne intrusive complex offers a window into a magma system that was active about 95 to 85.5 million years ago.
Why it matters
Knowing how long magma stays molten and eruptible, and how large connected magma bodies become, can sharpen understanding of volcanic systems and the hazards they pose to people living near volcanoes. Results will also update a Yosemite audiotour app, inform park rangers, and feed into volcanic hazard outreach at southern California public events.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Alison Graettinger
University of Missouri-Kansas City, MO·Earth & Environmental Science
Determine at what depths silica-rich and basaltic magmas build up beneath Askja and how often magma is refilled, using plagioclase and clinopyroxene mineral analyses and gabbro xenoliths, chunks of deep rock carried up by eruptions.
Elizabeth Bell
University of California-Los Angeles, CA·Earth & Environmental Science
Separate the effects of magma depth from those of fractionation, the chemical evolution of magma during crystallization, on trace element ratios in zircon, using zircons from magmas of known melting depth.
Jessica Larsen
University of Alaska Fairbanks, AK·Earth & Environmental Science
Estimate magma storage depths beneath Mt. Edgecumbe by combining experimental petrology and melt inclusion analyses of rock samples with InSAR satellite measurements of ground deformation.
The school
California State University-Fullerton: 2 labs on PI Pages, $34M a year on research, 39 research doctorates a year.
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