The Earth's Roller Coaster

Magma intrusion in the Earth's crust, and the extrusion of this material on its surface, represent a natural hazard; however, these processes can also result in the formation of economic quantities of hydrocarbons. However, volcanoes are hot, loud and scary, thus we know little of their internal structure or underlying 'plumbing systems', which typically comprise a complex network of igneous dykes and sills. In this talk I will show how 3D seismic reflection data (essentially a tool that provides x-rays of the Earth) can illuminate the structure and emplacement mechanics of these 'hot rocks'.

How are Earth’s spectacular landscapes generated? We know that some combination of water, gravity, geological processes and time (from seconds to millions of years) is responsible for creating Earth’s landscapes. However, despite more than 100 years of study it is perhaps surprisingly that the relative importance of these processes is still debated. We will show how modern satellite data, combined with chemistry and new computational techniques are allowing us to read the history of Earth’s surface encoded in its landscapes.