Earlier this summer IGPP Associate Professor Kerry Key, in collaboration with USGS, Alaska Volcano Observatory, and University of Wisconsin Madison colleagues, traveled to Umnak Island to commence study of the magma—how it’s formed, where it’s stored—beneath Okmok Volcano. The study “Magnetotelluric and Seismic Investigation of Okmok Volcano," is part of in NSF-funded GeoPRISMS (Geodynamic Processes at Rifting and Subducting Margins) program—"designed to investigate the architecture, mechanics and plumbing of continental margins at subduction zones and continental rifts, including what controls geohazards such as earthquakes and volcanoes,” specifically in the Aleutian Arc.
The newly installed array of seismic and magnetotelluric sensors across Okmok will allow Key and his colleagues to image the volcano’s magma “plumbing system.” To learn more about the installation process and objectives, follow the team’s Okmok blog: okmok.ucsd.edu. The NSF has posted a press release which nicely explains the the GeoPRISMS program, introducing its participants and objectives: www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=135851&org=NSF.