Tulane Researchers Studying Volcanic Eruption on the Galapagos Islands

NEW ORLEANS – Scientists from Tulane University are part of an international team of researchers whose study of the 2018 eruption of the Sierra Negra volcano in the Galápagos Islands provides information about future volcanic activity on the islands. Their most recent research was published this month in the scientific journal Nature Communications, revealing the first detailed description of the 2018 eruption of the Sierra Negra volcano, one of the world’s most active volcanoes.

It offers scientists information about how volcanoes behave and will help them predict the dangers of future eruptions.

The Sierra Negra volcano forms part of Isabela Island, the largest in the Galápagos archipelago. The island has a population of almost 2,000 and hosts countless tourists every year.

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“The Sierra Negra eruption in 2018 was a truly spectacular volcanic event, occurring in the ‘living laboratory’ of the Galápagos Islands,” said Andrew Bell, a volcanologist at the University of Edinburgh, which led the study. “A lot of teamwork and a bit of luck allowed us to capture this unique data set that provides us with a new and important understanding of how these volcanoes behave and how we could better forecast future eruptions.”

The team combined data recorded by ground-based instruments, by satellites and by analysis of the chemical composition of the erupted lava. The data show how the rising magma managed to continuously lift a kind of hinge on the caldera floor, raising the surface and generating tremors.

Tulane researchers worked with scientists from the Instituto Geofísico de la Escuela Politécnica Nacional in Ecuador, Pennsylvania State University and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

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