Join us for the S.T. Lee Fellowship Presentation by Leo Pure, a PhD student and volcanologist at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

Talk overview: Stratovolcano lifespans typically encompass multiple glacial and interglacial cycles. Because of this, many Quaternary stratovolcanoes have experienced periods of glaciation, particularly those found at elevated altitudes and high latitudes—which is most stratovolcanoes. The emplacement of eruption deposits is affected by coexisting water, ice and volcanic geomorphology. It follows that volcanic deposits often preserve evidence of glacial conditions at discrete moments in time.

I argue that stratovolcanic deposits are potentially powerful paleoclimatic records: lavas can be radiometrically dated, lava geometries describe the thicknesses of ice masses at particular elevations, and water-supported deposits (e.g., hyaloclastites) describe subglacial ice structures. Although glaciovolcanism is not a new concept, it is underutilised in both stratovolcano mapping and paleoclimate studies. This talk looks beyond the well-known relationships between large volcanic eruptions and climatic response. Instead, I will focus on the complementary study of stratovolcano morphology and paleoclimate, drawing on examples from New Zealand and North America.