Notes from Mineralogy lecture on the chemistry and structure of various minerals (pyroxenes and amphiboles) that could crystallize from slowly cooling ers of lava flows and ash flows basalt magma. The different that built up the mountain. minerals reflect the changing In the regions exposed by conditions (temperature and erosion of these half-million- composition) in a magma chamber deep in the earth's year-old volcanoes, Dr. Wulff is crust. able to sample the lavas that poured out of the vents and built up the volcano, flow upon flow. “Sampling each flow allows us to evaluate the separate cycles of eruptive activity. By looking at the mineral compositions and whole- rock chemistry of the ancient PHOTO BY RYAN FILLOON Andrew Wulff and several undergraduate students take a break from sampling lavas, we can tell something about lava flows to plan the next traverse, under the imposing edifice of Volcan Cerro how the volcano has behaved over Azul in the Chilean Andes. time. This means we can make more accurate predictions of what will happen in the future,” he said. Two of his WKU undergraduate students are working with Chilean lava samples to determine whether SITTING ON TOP the volcanic complex is currently in a period of rapid growth or slower growth. “By compiling all these eruptive events into a composite OF THE WORLD history, we can get a good idea of how this complex behaves, and we can model individual eruptive B Y T O M M Y N E W T O N episodes. That’s a different approach from what most others are doing.” SOMEHOW IT SEEMS FITTING THAT Dr. Wulff expects to complete MINERALOGIST ANDREW WULFF WOULD PHOTO BY RYAN FILLOON research at the DGCA complex in two His work has focused on Wulff poses on the edge of the vent at Volcan Quizapu, site of two of the largest his- BE SITTING IN AN OFFICE ON TOP OF THE torical eruptions in South America. The volcano Descabezado Grande looms behind. to three years then continue his work unraveling the eruptive history of a little farther to the north in the HILL. AFTER ALL, THE WELL-TRAVELED several large volcanic complexes in Andes. VOLCANO RESEARCHER HAS SPENT MUCH the Andes Mountains in Chile, but he “Traditionally volcanologists have OF HIS CAREER SITTING ON TOP OF THE also conducts research on volcanoes The Descabezado Grande-Cerro minutes, an eruption could knock it thought that every volcano was a WORLD. in Java along with his numerous other ON Azul (DGCA) volcanic complex in the out.” separate entity and they weren’t geologic interests. Dr. Wulff, an assistant professor in Chilean Andes was the site of two of That’s where Dr. Wulff’s research related in any way. This is unsatisfy- Dr. Wulff seeks projects that can NNA HARM NNA Western Kentucky University’s Depart- the largest eruptions in South Ameri- has an impact for the government, ing because it suggests that there are involve undergraduate students to ment of Geography and Geology, has can history, the last one in the 1930s, geologists, and people of Chile. no large-scale controls on volcanic teach them research skills and to been studying volcanoes since work- but a billion-dollar hydroelectric plant “When we’re looking at volcanoes behavior,” he said. “We’re finding out ing at Crater Lake National Park after expose them to different cultures. PHOTO BY LADO BY PHOTO is being built within ten kilometers of in the Andes, we have a rare opportu- that the comprehensive sampling “That kind of involvement is what his sophomore year in college. His the volcanoes. nity because the rates of both uplift we’re doing is reaping benefits in makes the academic experience spe- doctoral work at the University of “That seems foolish and it is,” and erosion are quite high, exposing terms of identifying some of these Wulff uses a polarizing microscope to identify different cial,” he said. “Once students leave minerals and textures in lava samples from the Chilean Massachusetts gave him necessary Dr. Wulff said. “They didn’t make any parts of volcanoes that normally you controls and by allowing us to com- here, unless they get an extraordinary Andes. Digital photomicrographs can then be used as analytical training and experience, exceptions for the fact they were can’t see,” said Dr. Wulff, who pare eruptive histories.” "maps" for further investigations using the SEM and job, they’re not going to have the and he continued that research at building the plant under these big received his bachelor’s degree at The area where he conducted his electron microprobe. time or the resources to explore a Whittier College in California, where volcanoes — simply because the last Oberlin College and his master’s at doctoral research is about twenty new part of the world in this way, he served as chairman of the Geology big eruptions were sixty years ago. the University of Maryland. For kilometers from his current research with the same measure of freedom.” Department, and at the University of This hydroelectric plant is projected example, one large sector collapse site and he’s finding similar lavas and Or to make a difference in the Iowa before coming to Western in the to be responsible for one-quarter of (landslide) removed the south side of results. “We’re starting to think that lives of people living in the shadow of fall of 2002. Chile’s electrical power, and in five Volcan Cerro Azul, revealing the lay- every volcano is not a mountain unto a volcano. 12 The Western Scholar | Spring 2004 Western Kentucky University 13 He’s also bringing his itself. There really are larger scale tectonic expertise on volcanoes factors that may similarly influence entire and other geologic issues segments of a volcanic arc,” he said. After — mineralogy, petrology, we identify these large-scale factors, we can and medical geology — study them closely and then consider other into the classroom. areas that might be influenced by the same Wulff’s geology back- factors.” ground includes working That means the research under way in with a urologist to study ON Chile may provide clues to volcanic activity the mineralogical ARM in the Cascade Mountains of the northwest composition of kidney United States where Mount St. Helens stones, studying sedi- erupted two decades ago. “If there are long- ments in Chesapeake term, large-scale factors that control TO BY LADONNA H LADONNA BY TO Bay, studying the PHO eruptions, our work in the Andes may pro- distribution and health vide us with a predictive tool for volcanic effects of radon in activity in other regions, such as the Maryland and Samples of lava flows from a volcanic complex in Chile are cut into slabs and Cascades. Perhaps Mount St. Helens was Pennsylvania, and made into thin sections for microscope investigations. Portions of each sample telling us that the entire region is very active, working for the are crushed, powdered, and melted for analysis of major and trace element com- position, for isotope analysis, and age determinations. and that we need to monitor the other volca- Maryland Geological noes closely also,” he said. Survey and for a gold A recent increase in large geyser exploration firm in eruptions and in the temperature of soils and Utah and Idaho. “They didn’t make any exceptions groundwater in Yellowstone National Park He is continuing A minor eruption of Villarrica volcano shows lava flowing down the snow-covered slope. could even be related to what’s happening in his research of radon, PHOTO BY ANDREW WOLFF for the fact they were building the the Cascades, Dr. Wulff said. an issue for Southcentral plant under these big volcanoes -- “The idea is, if we can figure out what’s Kentucky’s karst region; the happening in the Andes where everything is medical implications of breathing air- simply because the last big remarkably well-exposed, then we can take borne mineral and chemical “Western’s Department of Geogra- The scientific method, he said, is those models and bring them home to the phy and Geology is well-positioned to eruptions were sixty years ago.” particulates; the connection between designed to train people to make Cascades, Alaska, Japan, and other geology and archaeology, a key have a significant impact on research sense of the unknown. “When you subduction-related volcanic regions.” feature of his research on human and on student achievement,” he get a science degree, you should be migration in Java; and his work on said. Undergraduate students have equipped in a different way to the geochemistry of chert and obsid- the opportunity to work alongside handle something entirely unknown ian artifacts, which reveal clues about faculty mentors, to participate in to you,” he said. “You should have A view into the crater of Villarrica volcano in migration patterns and trading routes regional and national conferences discovered a discipline that allows Southern Chile shows a pool of lava. of Native Americans. and to operate analytical equipment you to systematically explore the “That’s what is fun for me, where like a scanning electron microscope unfamiliar and the familiar in the geology impacts all these other or an X-ray diffractometer. For world around you. The analytical things,” he said. “The idea is that we example, two geology majors just and observational skills that stu- can get students here to understand presented their research at a national dents develop working on these that geology really has a global meeting of the Geological Society of types of projects will make them impact on other subjects of study.