Geoscientists will share results of their research as well as their perspectives on changes at South Sister at the Geological Society of America Cordilleran Section meeting this week at Oregon State University in Corvallis. The session titled “Hazards and Risks from Cascade Volcanoes” takes place Wednesday morning, May 15.
About a year ago, scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) detected a bulge in the Earth's crust near the base of South Sister volcano. Using high-precision radar data from satellites, Charles Wicks (Menlo Park, CA) and colleagues found that the ground west of South Sister swelled about 4 inches since 1996. Wicks will discuss how this swelling has continued at a rate of about 1 inch every year.
In addition to the ground swelling, Terry Gerlach and his colleagues at the USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, WA, measured the chemistry of gasses in the air and springs around the bulging area. This chemistry shows that small amounts of gas from molten rock are showing up in some spring waters around the bulge.
The swelling near South Sister could be caused by the slow accumulation of molten rock around 4 miles beneath this area. William Evans and his coworkers in Menlo Park and at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, CA, will present models that combine the geochemical and satellite data. These models suggest that molten rock is now accumulating beneath South Sister at a faster rate than in the past.
Using information from these studies and new geologic dates for South Sister’s eruptive history by Andrew Calvert and Wes Hildreth, William Scott will discuss how the U.S. Geological Survey is responding to these changes at South Sister volcano. Additional investigations are planned and ongoing to help determine if the crustal bulge indicates an eruption could occur anytime soon.
Geological Society of America
Cordilleran Section Meeting
May 13-15, 2002
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
For information and assistance during the meeting, please call the GSA registration desk at 541-737-6453.
To view a list of all presentations in this session and to access abstracts of presentations described above visit http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2002CD/finalprogram/session_1963.htm
To view all sessions and presentations go to http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2002CD/finalprogram
Additional Contact Information:
Patricia Jorgenson, Public Information Officer
U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA
pjorgenson@usgs.gov
650-329-4011
Charles W. Wicks
Menlo Park, CA
cwicks@usgs.gov
650-329-4874
Terrence M. Gerlach
Vancouver, WA
tgerlach@usgs.gov
360-993-8916
William C. Evans
Menlo Park, CA
wcevans@usgs.gov
650-329-4514
William E. Scott
Vancouver, WA
wescott@usgs.gov
360-993-8942