First day in the field!

Today was my first day being a Volcanologist! It was GREAT! OK, to be fair I spent the whole day following other volcanologists around and taking notes, but after 2 and a half years of an office job it was brilliant to be in the field again!

Armenia is a very tectonically active country and actually sits on the junction of 3 plates - the country has experienced devastating earthquakes and every hill or mountain to be seen is a volcanic vent of some sort. Every elongated hill is a lava flow, and every plain in between is a tuff or pyroclastic flow deposit. Although geologically speaking these volcanoes are active, they are not currently erupting or have done in the past 10 000 years. They are considered active geologically speaking because any one of them could re-awaken and give the locals (and volcanologists worldwide) something to really worry about!!

Ivan is working here along with an excellent team of volcanologists from all over the world and Armenia on a volcanic hazards project. The government want to build a Nuclear Power Plant, and they need to know what the volcanic risks are, i.e. whether there will be an eruption, and if so what are the risks of being wiped out by a pyroclastic flow, or a lava flow or ash blocking the vents and so on.

So today we went to look at tephra fallout deposits (ash and pumice - very light and airy volcanic glass which fall from a large eruption column) and collect some samples for analysis. Chuck Connor, a big burley American volcanologist led us around - he's basically a world class volcanologist who has worked all over the world on Tephra deposits, so for this, he's the man. And I was writing in my notebook like a maniac! I learnt so much today!

I have to mention lunch because it was so amazing! I'm used to sitting on a rock somewhere and pulling out a squashed sandwich, and bruised banana and a bottle of water (sometimes I go all out and have juice!). Not today. A tarp was spread out and on it, a feast! All sorts of fresh cheeses, and meats, tomatoes, peppers, herbs, fresh bread... and a bottle of wine!! First of all we toasted volcanologists, and Chuck raised his glass again and toasted the next generation of volcanologists (that's me!!!!)