By Times Staff
A young woman has used the volcanoes of the Wells Gray-Clearwater Volcanic Field to complete her Master’s thesis at UBC.
Erica Massey’s master’s research examined the textures, mineralogy, and elemental composition of palagonite – the first stable product of altered volcanic glass, formed when eruptions occur under glaciers.
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Palagonite is primarily found in Iceland and British Columbia, and her research was specific to the Wells Gray-Clearwater Volcanic Field and a subglacial ridge in Iceland.
“I completed my MSc thesis defense at the end of April after two and a half years of interesting geochemical-textural study on the glacio-volcanic deposits at Wells Gray and Iceland,” she reported. “The specific sites were Second Canyon in Wells Gray, and Helgafell ridge on the Reykjanes peninsula of Iceland.”
She noted that there was media interest at UBC around my research on Wells Gray and Iceland and how it linked to planetary (Mars) science and NASA since these geological materials are analogue materials for similar deposits on Mars.
“I’d say my research was a success!” she said. “After graduating in June, I participated as the only Canadian geoscientist in a seafloor volcano drilling project on Surtsey island off the south coast of Iceland this summer. I worked with international geoscientists and geomicrobiologists in a core processing lab and drilling operations. This is exciting research, eruptions in marine and glacial environments produce similar geological deposits where the palagonitization process converts sideromelane (basaltic glass) to secondary minerals and ‘palagonite’ in an alteration process.”
Last April, Massey led a three-day field trip to Wells Gray with UBC-Okanagan graduate students (the first ever fully funded trip through the Earth and Environmental Sciences Graduate Society formed in 2016) to showcase the area’s geology, lichens, and environment.
“It was extraordinary! Trevor Goward participated in one evening talk/interpretive walk, and a UBC professor joined along with some undergraduate students and family members,” she said.
