5264REPR6Y
Ivana Catharina Post
10410481
Master Earth Sciences –
Major Education
Supervisor: Dr. K.F. Rijsdijk
Co-Assessor: Dr. A.C. Seijmonsbergen
Ext. Supervisor: Dr. V. Soler
Table of content
1a. Details of Proposal...3
1b. Field of Research...3
1c. Details of Applicant...3
1f. Application...3
2a. Composition of Research Group...3
2b. Top 5 Publications Related to the Proposed Research...4
6. Scientific Embedding of the Proposed Research...4
3a. Scientific Summary...4
3c. Summary for the general public...4
4. Description of the Research...5
Introduction...5
Research Aim...7
Research Questions...7
Societal and Scientific Relevance...8
Theoretical Framework...9 Methods...11 Expected results...12 References...13 5. Timetable...15 8. Budget...16 7. Knowledge utilization...17
1a. Details of Proposal
Title
Analysis of volcanic unrest processes in the Canary Islands.
From historical records to geophysical observations of the 2011 submarine eruption in El Hierro.
Area
Plate tectonics, Volcanology
1b. Field of Research
Main field of research
Code: 15.30.00 Description: Tectonics, volcanism
1c. Details of Applicant
Name: Ivana Catharina Post
Gender: Female
Date of Birth: 09 January 1993
Address: Meernhof 143
1106 LJ Amsterdam
Telephone number: + 31 6 49046072 Email address: i.vana@live.nl MSc study start date: February 2017
Institution: University of Amsterdam
Position: Student
Student number: 10410481
Research school: Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED)
1f. Application
This application is written for a Master thesis of 33EC.
2a. Composition of Research Group
Name and Title Specialization Institution Involvement
Dr. K.F. Rijsdijk Computational Geo-Ecology IBED Supervisor Dr. A.C. Seijmonsbergen Computational Geo-Ecology IBED Co-Assessor
Dr. V. Soler-Javaloyes Volcanology Instituto de Productos Naturales y
Agrobiología (IPNA)
External-Supervisor
2b. Top 5 Publications Related to the Proposed Research
1. Carracedo, J.C., & Troll, V.T., (2016) The Geology of the Canary Islands, Elsevier.
2. López, C. et al., (2017) Early signs of geodynamic activity before the 2011–2012 El Hierro eruption, Journal of Geodynamics.
3. Tuzo Wilson, J. (1963) A Possible Origin of the Hawaiian Islands, Canadian Journal of Physics. 4. Dragoni, M. (2005) The brittle-ductile transition in tectonic boundary zones. Annali di Geofysica. 5. Marín, B., (2011) How not to handle a volcanic eruption, El País.
6. Scientific Embedding of the Proposed Research
This research is collaboration with the University of Amsterdam (IBED) and the University of La Laguna (IPNA).
3a. Scientific Summary
In 2011-2012 the volcanic island El Hierro, located approximately 100 kilometers west of the coast of Morocco, underwent a period of volcanic unrest. During this time several seismic unrest periods were recorded. However these multiple unrest periods were only adjoined by a single event of submarine volcanic eruption. The main goal of this research is to obtain in depth knowledge on the geophysical processes underlying the volcanic and seismic activity beneath the surface of the Canary Islands (El Hierro). The unrest period in 2011-2012 in El Hierro was the first highly monitored eruption in this area. Therefore, it is of great value to analyze the acquired data in order to obtain knowledge on geophysical processes that led to seismic and volcanic activity underneath the surface of the Canaries. The aims of the research will be: Firstly, the geophysical processes that led to volcanic and seismic activity during the unrest periods will be determined. Secondly, the lithosphere beneath El Hierro will be observed with a seismic dataset. The depth of brittle/ductile transformation zone will be established and the spatial distribution of the seismic events will be visualized and analyzed. Thirdly, the temporal evolution of energy release post-eruption until present day will be determined. And lastly, the unrest period will be compared with historical records, to provide a more grounded statistical background for volcanism in the Canary Islands. Most of the research will be part of an elaborate literature study. However, the seismic data will be handled with ESRI’s ArcGIS program to calculate statistics on depth, magnitude and
distribution, to visualize the spatial distribution of seismic events and to visualize brittle/ductile limit and the transition zone from brittle to ductile.
3c. Summary for the general public
Titel: Analyse van de vulkanische onrust processen in de Canarische Eilanden.
Summary: De Canarische Eilanden zijn vulkanisch actief. Onder deze eilanden bevindt zich een hot spot die magma omhoog duwt. De oceaankorst die erover heen schuift breekt waardoor de magma eilanden laat ontstaan. Het eiland El Hierro ligt momenteel op de hot spot en is daarom vulkanisch actief. In 2011 was er een eruptie onder zee in El Hierro. Vulkanisme en aardbevingen gaan vaak gepaard. Doormiddel
van seismische data en literatuur wordt er gekeken naar de processen die de erupties en aardbevingen doen veroorzaken. Daarnaast wordt er gekeken naar de overgang van aardkorst naar de vloeibare mantel, om de vorm van de onderkant van het eiland te bepalen. Dit is van belang voor de verdere groei van het eiland, maar ook voor het bepalen hoe de vorm van het eiland is ontstaan. Met historische referenties wordt gekeken of deze eruptie vergelijkbaar is met eerdere uitbarstingen. Doormiddel van de
kortstondige veranderingen in energie afgifte wordt er gekeken naar de opwaartse stuwing van het eiland. Het eiland is gedurende de onrust periodes omhoog gestuwd en als de energie afgifte in dezelfde orde van grootte ligt als de opwaartse stuwing, kan de stuwing hierdoor verklaard worden. Als deze niet in dezelfde orde van grootte ligt, dan moet er gekeken worden naar andere invloeden die de stuwing op gang gebracht kunnen hebben.
4. Description of the Research
Introduction
The Canary Islands are an archipelago located around 100 kilometers west of the coast of Morocco. The archipelago has a volcanic origin with seven main islands and four smaller islands. The archipelago stretches over around 500 kilometers with a linear curve towards the northeast. The age of the present Canaries ranges from 1.2 Ma (El Hierro) to 22 Ma (Fuerteventura) (Carracedo & Troll, 2016).
The Canaries have formed over the last 60 Ma years onto a very old part of oceanic crust, which has cooled down and is covered by a sedimentary layer ranging from 10 kilometer near continental Africa to less than 1 kilometer of thickness below El Hierro. This part of the Atlantic oceanic crust is approximately between 140 Ma and 170 Ma old. The composition of the basaltic materials of the Mid-Atlantic ridge differs significantly from the basaltic materials where the Canaries have been formed (Carracedo & Troll, 2016). The formation of the Canary Islands and their magmatic activity therefore appears to be unrelated to the Mid-Atlantic ridge. The most likely theory of the formation of the Canary
Figure 1 Above: Canary Islands location Source:
http://www.robinsonlibrary.com/history/spain/spain/province s/canary.htm
Figure 2 Left: Canary Islands age. Source:
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/309294282_fig1_Figure -1-Map-of-the-Canary-Islands-showing-their-geological-age-according-to-Carracedo
Islands is that Canaries were formed due to a stationary mantle hot spot (Carracedo & Troll, 2016). Throughout history the consensus on the origin of the Canary Islands has been different. Even today, it is still a highly debated subject. Over time the consensus on the origin of the Canary Islands has shifted from myths to more scientifically based theories.
The origin of the Canary Islands and therefore its volcanism has been discussed in the last few centuries. During the 19th century the famous naturalists, Alexander von Humboldt, discovered many key concepts of plate tectonics on the Canaries. He was one of the first to propose that the lands bordering the Atlantic Ocean were once joined due to the similarity of the coastal vegetation (Wulf, 2015). The Canaries have a wide variety of volcanic features. On the older islands, such as Fuerteventura, excellent rock exposures occurs, due to the more extensive erosion that has occurred. Also, the mild climate makes the Canaries the ideal location for research throughout the year (Carracedo & Troll, 2016).
The Canary archipelago is a volcanic active region. All the islands show signs of Holocene volcanism with exception of Gomera (Carracedo & Troll, 2016). Lanzarote, Tenerife and La Palma have had eruptions in the last 500 years. The last onshore eruption occurred at La Palma in 1971 (Carracedo & Troll, 2016). The most recent eruption was a submarine eruption that occurred in 2011 in El Hierro. The submarine eruption in El Hierro in 2011-2012 occurred forty years after the last subaerial eruption on La Palma in 1971. El Hierro is the youngest island (1.2 Ma) in the Canary archipelago and also the smallest. El Hierro is thought to be located directly above the magma plume (hot spot/thermal anomaly), which formed the other Canary Islands as well. The shape of El Hierro is controlled by a armed rift system. A three-armed rift system characterizes itself by the formation of a “Mercedes star” geometry. This pattern is common in the Canary Islands. For example, Tenerife has a similar structure as El Hierro (Carracedo & Troll, 2016). The submarine eruption of El Hierro in 2011-2012 is the first eruption in the Canary Islands, which was detailed monitored. Prior the eruption there were months of seismic unrest in El Hierro. This seismic unrest started in July 2011 and was associated with lateral and vertical magma movement. The actual eruption started on October 10th 2011. The eruption lasted until March 2012. After this period
Figure 3 Rock exposure on Fuerteventura (Mirador de las Peñitas)Source:
http://www.hallocanarischeeilanden.com/natuurgebieden/fuerteventura/mirador-de-las-penitas/
several seismic unrest periods were recorded, however this didn’t result in more eruptions (Carracedo & Troll, 2016).
In order to understand the unrest period in El Hierro in 2011-2012 better, the underlying (geophysical) processes (when considering the energy balance) that caused the unrest period in 2011-2012 will be assessed. Not only is mapping of these (geophysical) processes valuable, also the changes in the landscape and the interior of El Hierro formation is key to acquire in-depth knowledge on the
consequences of this unrest period in 2011-2012. Data (acquired from the IGN website www.ign.es/) that is related to the volcanic unrest period in El Hierro in 2011-2012 will help to assess the geometry of the interior and the exterior of the island. This seismic data can give insight in the spatial distribution of the earthquakes as well as to determine the current geometry of the lithosphere beneath El Hierro. The brittle to ductile limit can be determined by reconstructing the geometry of the lithosphere (Dragoni, 1993). This knowledge will help to predict where future earthquakes may occur and thus where the more hazardous areas are located in El Hierro. During this period of volcanic unrest and up until today energy has been released. Not only by the eruption, but also by the thousands of earthquakes. Also, the island has experienced an uplift of approximately 22 cm in the past 6 years (Carracedo et al., 2015). During this research the relationship will be evaluated between the energy release and the uplift of the island. During the past 500 years a historical record has been kept by people living in the Canary Islands on volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Considering this is a very short period of time on the geological timescale, these historic records could give more insight on whether similar events as the volcanic unrest period of 2011-2012 in El Hierro have happened in the past.
Research Aim
In order to give a full scope analysis of the volcanic unrest in the Canary Islands, the subject will be divided into 4 aims:
1. Assessing the underlying (geophysical) processes during the volcanic unrest period (2011-2012) in El Hierro (Canary Islands, Spain).
2. Reconstructing the current geometry of the lithosphere beneath El Hierro (Canary Islands, Spain) based on data related to the volcanic unrest period (2011-2012).
3. Assessment of the energy release during the unrest period (2011-2012), until present day (post-eruption) and assessing how much of this energy release can be related to the magnitude of volcanic uplift since the unrest period (2011-2012).
4. Evaluate based on historical records, whether similar events as the recent unrest period in El Hierro (2011-2012) did occur in the past 500 years.
5.
Research Questions
Geophysical Processes
1.1 What are the most important geophysical processes when considering the energy balance during the volcanic unrest period (2011-2012) in El Hierro?
1.2 Which changes occurred during the volcanic unrest period and which geophysical processes contributed most?
Dynamics of the Lithosphere
2.1 In what way are the earthquakes spatially distributed when looking at the intensity during the volcanic unrest period 2011-2012 in El Hierro?
2.2 How deep and where is the brittle/ductile limit underneath El Hierro currently?
Temporal Evolution
3.1 What are the temporal changes in energy release per month from 2014 (end of the unrest period) until now to determine the relationship between the energy release and the uplift?
Historical References
4.1 Do the historic records of the last 500 years show similar events such as the 2011-2012 submarine eruption in El Hierro?
4.2 Is there a positive correlation between the historical patterns of duration, magnitude and
development of unrest periods in the Canary Islands and the unrest period of 2011-2012 in El Hierro?
Societal and Scientific Relevance
Humankind has always been curious about the Earth and its processes, it is in our nature. And even though researchers have been investigating Earth’s processes for years, little is still known about what happens beneath us in Earth’s interior. For example, approximately 900.000 of insect species have been discovered, named and registered (Sabrosky, 1952) , but we still do not know exactly what happens beneath us. During the 1960’s, a lot of fundamental research has been done on (advanced) plate tectonics by pioneers as John Tuzo-Wilson (with a research on hotspots in 1963), Frederick Vine and Drummond Matthews (with a research on magnetic anomalies over oceanic ridges in 1963) and Dan Mckenzie (with a research on sea floor spreading in 1966). It is important to keep in mind that this subject has only been investigated for roughly 55 years, while the Earth and its processes already exists for roughly 4.5 billion years, therefore some might say that this field of research is still in its infancy stage. The exponential increase of people in the last century has made humankind more vulnerable to natural hazards such as earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. People tend to live where there is fertile soil and water available. More than 50% of the world’s population lives in hazard prone areas, which is approximately 19% of Earth’s surface (Dilley, 2005). The island of El Hierro has approximately 10.000 inhabitants (2003). The island has the lowest population density of the Canary islands with its 38
inhabitants per square kilometer. Even though the island has a low population density, it is still important for the inhabitants of El Hierro as well as the governmental organizations who are developing the hazard management plans, to gain knowledge on the mechanisms underlying the seismic and volcanic events in order to protect themselves and the island. During the 2011-2012 El Hierro submarine eruption the hazard management plan was not effective (Marín, 2011. For example, 600 residents were evacuated from their homes on October 11th 2011. At the 31st of October 2011 (the publishing date of the article of Marín in El País on October 31st) all of the residents were still evacuated. Authorities promised that the residents could go back to their home if there were no signs of worsening of the situation. The situation did not worsen during this 20 day period, however the authorities did not sent people back (Marín,
2011). According to critics this happened because governmental organizations in charge of hazard management, did not have enough background information on what is actually happening on the seabed (Marín, 2011).
Theoretical Framework
From the ancient world up until the 17th century the overall consensus of the origin of the Canary Islands was based on several myths and catastrophic stories. One of the myths was that the Canary Islands had a bearing on the mythical Atlantis. Another common myth in that time was a biblical theory, which stated that the Canary Islands were formed as a consequence of Noah’s flood (Cruz, C.M.G., 2001).
During the scientific era a different understanding on the origin of the Canary Islands were formed. John Tuzo Wilson was the first person who discovered the hotspot theory in 1963. The Canadian geophysicist was also pivotal in advancing plate-tectonic theory and he discovered transform faults. He found out that in some areas such as Hawaii or the Canary Islands, volcanism had existed for a very long time (Geological society, 2017). According to Tuzo Wilson (1963), this could only exist due to an exceptionally stable and enduring hot region below the existing plates (hot spots). These hot regions are believed to provide localized sources of high
heat energy (thermal plumes). Also, these regions are formed in a distinctive linear shape, which is the result of moving of the Pacific plate, in the case of Hawaii, over this so-called hot spot.
During the initial stage of the formation, eruption over eruption will form a seamount on the ocean floor. As time passes by and more eruptions occur, a seamount will arise from the sea one day and form an (subaerial) island. Eventually, plate movement causes the formed island to be disconnected from the magma plume. As one islands moves away from the magma plume and volcano dies out, a new island will form over the same hot spot. This process of growth and death, repeats itself over millions of years and has left the distinctive linear trail of volcanic islands such as Hawaii or the Canary Islands (Tuzo Wilson, 1963).
Several islands such as El Hierro and Tenerife in the Canary Islands have a similar rift structure. A rift structure is a linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart. The Canary Islands are not the only group of islands where rift structures are visible. The structure that occurs in the Canary Islands is called a three armed rift system. It is formed in a classical Mercedes star pattern (Figure 5). In Hawaii for example is this rift system also visible (e.g. Mauna Loa). The rift zones are mainly subaerial structures and do not show in the submarine edifice (Galindo Jiménez et al., 2015).
Figure 4 Simplified view of the hotspot theory Source: http://vikan7science.weebly.com/plate-tectonics.html/
Figure 3:Visualization rifts El Hierro
Source: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/262026318_fig10_Figure-1-Relief-map-of-El-Hierro-Canary-Islands-showing-its-main-structural-features/
Brittle and ductile describe two mechanical behaviors of a solid body when it is subject to stress (Jeager and Cook, 1976). When a material under stress, fails without significant plastic deformation it is a brittle material. If there is a significant amount of plastic deformation a material is classified as ductile. When pressure and temperature exceed certain levels, the brittle crystalline structures will give way to a more ductile behavior. The brittle ductile limit is not a sharp determined line. There is a transition region, in which the shallower parts are dominated by crystalline structures with brittle behavior and in deeper parts crystalline structures are dominated by ductile behavior. The transition range is highly depends on the characteristics of the lithosphere. The limit of the base of the complete ductile region is mostly characterized by the absence of earthquakes (Dragoni, 2005). This limit will we reconstructed to gain knowledge on the geometry of the interior of the island El Hierro. During this research, the depth of the brittle/ductile limit will be determined. This is crucial as the depth of hypocenters are related to the magnitude of earthquakes. To determine the strength of basaltic oceanic crust the following parameters are of importance: Temperature, pressure, fluid chemistry, lithology, melt and volume fraction (Violay et al., 2012).
The temporal evolution of energy release will be used to determine if the uplift of the island El Hierro can be explained by the energy that has been released in the past years, or that there are more underlying processes that caused this uplift. The temporal evolution of energy release will be determined with several parameters. The seismic data (acquired from the IGN website www.ign.es/) is necessary to calculate the amount of energy that is released caused by seismic events. The dataset will be processed to assess the correlation between depth and magnitudes of the seismic events. Only the amount of energy that is released, in (Mega) Joules will be necessary for this research. This will provide answer to the question if the total amount of energy release is in the same order of magnitude as generated by the uplift of El Hierro has experienced. El Hierro has experienced approximately 22cm of uplift during the unrest periods until present day (Carracedo et al., 2015). Also, according to López et al., (2012) the results of from the GPS measurements show that on the 5th of October 2011 the distance from satellite to
ground were shorter than on August 11 2011. Not only seismic data will be used to asses if the amount of energy that has been released is of the same magnitude as the uplift of El Hierro. Also, the amount of magma emitted will be used. For the El Hierro submarine eruption, the total amount of emitted magma was 145*106 m3. This amount of emitted magma was including the newly formed volcanic cone and the associated lava flows. This amount was calculated by comparing bathymetric data of 1998 with the new data (Global Volcanism Program, 2012). Lastly, GPS data will be used to look at the differences in absolute height of the island before and after seismic unrest periods.
The historical references that are used to assess if there have been similar events as the volcanic unrest period in El Hierro in 2011-2012 in the last 500 years. The historic records originate from IGN site
(www.ign.es/). This organization published a list of historical references for the Canary Islands since 1430. These references originate from historical notes taken by humans. These references mention mostly obvious or bigger volcanic events, since they were seen or felt by humans. Submarine eruptions could have happened over the years but if no heavy seismic events were felt on land, it could have passed unnoticed. Therefore this reference base is subjective to human senses.
Methods
This research will consist of comparing existing literature and the historical references to the data acquired from IGN (www.ign.es/). The Canary Islands are a deliberately discussed region. Therefore there is a lot of existing literature from the last decades to consider. Over the last centuries the consensus on the origin of the Canary Islands has shifted from mythical stories to more scientifically grounded theories such as the hotspot theory. For this the historical recordswill be used which originate from the IGN website (www.ign.es/) .The Book Geografíca de Canarias, published in 1984, by Leonicio Afonso et al., will give more insight information (notes that have been kept by people in the past) on what was observed during volcanic activity in the Canary Islands.
During this research ArcGIS software will be used for data processing. For this research a seismic dataset will be used. The dataset is obtained from the IGN website (www.ign.es/).The dataset consists of information about the location (latitude and longitude), magnitude, depth and when the seismic event happened (time, day, month and year). The dataset will come in a .TXT format and needs to be reworked in order to open properly in ArcGIS. With the ArcGIS software 2D and 3D analyses will be made using multiple toolboxes, for example the 3D analyst toolbox (to create a 3D overview of the seismic events), the conversion toolbox (to convert the XYZ dataset into a different format) and the spatial analyst toolbox ( to create an interpolation of the dataset).
The IGN seismic hypocenter dataset that will be used acquired from the IGN (www.ign.es/) is an open source dataset. The seismic events that will be included in the analyses are of magnitude 2.0 or higher. Seismic events with a magnitude of 2.0 or lower are usually not felt and are of too high frequency to be included in this study. The dataset will be made available online after finishing this research for further research or as a reference for the results of this research. The Geoportal of the University of Amsterdam (www.geodata.science.uva.nl:8080/geoportal/) could provide a platform to publish the adjusted dataset created by the researcher.
Expected results
It is expected that the volcanic activity are highly correlated with the seismic activity. The most apparent change that happened during the unrest period is the deformation of the island with the +/- 22 cm uplift. It is expected that the total energy release is in the same order as that of the uplift. Since there was only one period of eruption, the energy released must have gone somewhere else. It is expected that this caused the major uplift.
During this phase of the research, the dataset has been prepared for further adjustments. When assessing the distribution and depth of the seismic events it was found the seismic events occur also below 20 km of depth. The brittle to ductile limit was expected to be between 10-15 km of depth. Below El Hierro it seems to be deeper, however, further in depth analysis is needed.
The historical references, could be hard to interpret. Especially when they are very old they are
unreliable. Since these historical records only provide crude sketches of past events, it is expected that they could only contribute to more insight in how the frequency of seismic events relate to the frequency of volcanic events. However they are probably not suitable to assess how similar they are. Also, it has to be taken into account that seismic/volcanic activity in the last million years could have been significantly different than it has been during the last 500 years.
References
Carracedo, J.C., Troll, V.R., Zaczek, K., Rodriguez-Gonzalez, A., Soler, V. & Deegan, F.M. (2015), The 2011–2012 submarine eruption off El Hierro, Canary Islands: New lessons in oceanic island growth and volcanic crisis management, Earth-Science
Reviews, vol. 150, pp. 168-200.
Cruz, C.M.G. (2001), The Origin of the Canary Islands - A chronology of ideas and related
concepts, from the Antiquity to the end of 20th century. Sydney: INHEGIO
(International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences).
Dilley, M. (2005), Natural disaster hotspots: a global risk analysis, Washington DC, World Bank Publications, Available at:
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/621711468175150317/Natural-disaster-hotspots-A-global-risk-analysis/
Dragoni, M. (1993), ‘The brittle-ductile transition in tectonic boundary zones’, Annals of
Geophysics, vol. 36 (no.2), pp. 37-44.
Galindo Jiménez, I., Becerril Carretero, L., Martí Molist, J. & Gudmundsson, A. (2015), ‘Origin of three-armed rifts in volcanic islands: the case of El Hierro (Canary Islands)’, EGU General Assembly 2015.
Global Volcanism Program (2012), ‘Report on Hierro (Spain)’, Wundermann, R (ed.), vol. 37 (no.3).
Jaeger, J. and Cook, N.G.W (1976), Fundamentals of Rock Mechanics, London: Chapman & Hall, pp. 596.
López, C., Blanco, M.J., Abella, R., Brenes, B., Cabrera Rodríguez, V.M., Casas, B., Domínguez Cerdeña, I., Felpeto, A., Villalta, M., Fernández and Fresno, C., (2012), ‘Monitoring the volcanic unrest of El Hierro (Canary Islands) before the onset of the 2011-2012 submarine eruption’, Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 39 (no. 13). López, C., García-Cañada, L., Marti, J. & Cerdena, I.D. (2017), ‘Early signs of geodynamic
activity before the 2011–2012 El Hierro eruption’, Journal of Geodynamics, vol. 104, pp. 1-14.
Marín, B. (2011), How not to handle a volcanic eruption. Available at:
https://elpais.com/elpais/2011/10/31/inenglish/1320042044_850210.html (Accessed: 25 may 2017).
Sabrosky, C. W. 1952. Insects: The Yearbook of Agriculture. Washington D.C. U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Troll, V.R., and Carracedo, J.C., (2016), The Geology of the Canary Islands, Elsevier, pp. 636.
Tuzo-Wilson, J. 1963, "A possible origin of the Hawaiian Islands", Canadian Journal of
Physics, vol. 41 (no. 6), pp. 863-870.
Violay, M., Gibert, B., Mainprice, D., Evans, B., Pezard, P. A., Flovenz, O. G., &
Asmundsson, R. (2010). The brittle ductile transition in experimentally deformed basalt under oceanic crust conditions: evidence for presence of permeable reservoirs at supercritical temperatures and pressures in the Icelandic crust. In Proceeding World Geothermal Congress, Bali, Indonesia, Vol. 2529.
Wulf, A. 2015, The invention of nature: Alexander von Humboldt's new world, Hodder &
Stoughton, pp. 496.
John Tuzo-Wilson ‘no date’ Available: https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Plate-Tectonics/Chap1-Pioneers-of-Plate-Tectonics/John-Tuzo-Wilson/ (Accessed: 2017, 22 June).
5. Timetable
The research will consist of 2 parts: a research proposal period and a thesis period. This research proposal period will determine the basis of the thesis. During the thesis period the more in-depth research will be done. The total research period will also include parts of the summer vacation, therefore some weeks of vacation have been planned. The concept version of the thesis will be delivered between the 15th and 25th of December and the final version will be delivered around the 15th of January.
8. Budget
Additional funding was required for this research, due to 2 fieldwork periods in Tenerife. The first
fieldwork was during the research proposal period (9-19 May). This fieldwork is necessary to obtain data and literature from the IPNA and to get more acquainted with the subject. The second fieldwork will be in September. This fieldwork will mostly focus on data acquiring and data processing in combination with historical references and knowledge that are present at the IPNA.
Funding was requested at the university fund of the university of Amsterdam. This request is been honored. The amount that will be received is €350.
Figure 7: Budget university fund Source: Post, I (2017)
7. Knowledge utilization
This research will not only benefit the volcanology and plate tectonic disciplines. Other disciplines could benefit from this research as well, such as disciplines involving in economics and hazard management. This research will provide an overview of the main underlying processes that caused the volcanic unrest period in 2011-2012 in El Hierro. Better understanding of the underlying processes will contribute to a better understanding of the volcanic system in El Hierro and can contribute towards a more fitting hazard management plan. During the 2011-2012 El Hierro submarine eruption the hazard management was inefficient (Marín, B., 2011). This had big influences on the economic status of the island. For example, 600 inhabitants were evacuated, those people were not able to work and therefore suffered economic damage. When evaluating the hazard management plan, this measurement was not necessary, at least not for the whole period they were evacuated (Marín, B., 2011). However, the governmental
organizations handling the hazard management plan did not have enough knowledge on the volcanic system in El Hierro to act effective. Therefore, more knowledge about the hazard itself, i.e. the tectonic and volcanic processes beneath El Hierro, will give a better understanding on how to manage a crisis like the El Hierro submarine eruption in 2011-2012 in the future. Therefore, the local and national
governments will benefit from the newly acquired knowledge. For this research the University of Amsterdam department IBED will work together with the IPNA department of the University of La Laguna, researchers and student from both institutes have committed themselves to contribute to this research. Not only will both institutes contribute to this research, they will also be able to use the acquired knowledge on the underlying processes causing the volcanic unrest period in 2011-2012 in further research. It is aimed publish a scientific paper and a text for the general public after finishing the research. The publication will be submitted to the national scientific magazine Geografie by the Koninklijk Nederlands Aardrijkskundig Genootschap, that is widely read by geography teachers and enthusiasts in the field of Earth Sciences. The publication and the text for the general public will both be written before the end of January 2018. No additional costs will be made to write these texts. During this period the daily supervisor and co-assessor of this research will be in the grading phase for this research.
9. Statements by the applicant
YES I endorse and follow the Code Openness Animal Experiments (if applicable). YES I endorse and follow the Code Biosecurity (if applicable).
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DETAILS:
Name: Ivana Catharina Post Place: Amsterdam
