幸运飞艇计划

鈥淢y team and I are very excited to see our work appear in a highly visible journal like Nature Communications. It is a testament to the success of our collaboration鈥�, says Willem Godert Maria van der Bilt.听

The Earth Scientist received the in 2021. Shortly after, he began studying the invisible traces of geohazards like volcanic eruptions in geological data. Through his research, he found CT scanning to be the most promising tool to help improve volcanic hazard assessments.

鈥淰olcanic eruptions rank among the most destructive geohazards that affect human society. A greater understanding of the magnitude and frequency of the largest and most dangerous events will significantly improve our ability to calculate the risk of such catastrophes in the future. The nuts and bolts of doing so with CT scans ties in well with many of the methods I use for other purposes in my TMS-funded project鈥�, says van der Bilt.

Out of the box

CT scanning is not usually associated with studies of volcanic eruptions, is it?

鈥淣o, it鈥檚 certainly a bit out of the box鈥�, says van der Bilt.听

Computed tomography (CT) is widely known as a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body.听

Although the CT scan is typically used by medical professionals to detect injuries such as bone fractures, van der Bilt and his colleagues have demonstrated that it is highly suitable for characterizing geological features as well. With a special CT scanner from 幸运飞艇计划's听Earthlab at The Department of Earth Science, they have, for instance, managed to successfully and detect invisible volcanic ash markers based on the unique density of these materials.

Van der Bilt explains how a CT scan can allow more accurate estimates of the size of volcanic eruptions:

鈥淔undamentally, a CT scan visualizes density differences. For example, between bone material and a fracture. In a vulcanological context, we are measuring the density difference between volcanic rocks and the air (pore space) between these particles. In the past, these empty spaces were added to the volume estimate of eruptions because researchers didn鈥檛 really have the possibility to quantify them properly. That led to many erroneous and inflated volume estimates. CT scans can visualize these spaces in 3D and derive information about density differences at scales invisible to the human eye. This allows us to estimate the size of past eruptions with much greater confidence.鈥�

Approached by GEOMAR

Having heard of the impactful CT-derived findings by van der Bilt and his colleagues, researchers at GEOMAR in Kiel, Germany reached out with an offer to collaborate.听

鈥淐olleagues at GEOMAR approached me and asked whether it would be possible to use the CT approaches developed by myself and colleagues on pores instead of particles to better constrain the poorly quantified magnitude of past volcanic eruptions. We started working together last year and the answer to his question turned out to be a resounding yes. The fruits of this labor are now published in Nature Communications鈥�, says van der Bilt.

The study was led by Dr. Jens Karstens from GEOMAR.听

鈥淛ens is an expert in seismic data interpretation and has previously used such information to calculate the volume of volcanic eruptions. For this study, he was eager to provide an independent estimate based on geological information, namely volcanic deposits in sediment cores. This was the primary focus for the work carried out with the CT scanner at 幸运飞艇计划 GEO, which was led by me鈥�, says van der Bilt.

History鈥檚 most famous volcanic disaster

In the study, Karstens and van der Bilt chose to investigate one of the most famous volcanic disasters in human history.

We want to reach everyone interested in volcanic hazards 鈥� from historians to economists to geologists.

鈥淲e applied our new CT-based approach to recalculate the magnitude of the Minoan eruption, which destroyed the island of Santorini, created a tsunami that flooded coastal settlements throughout the eastern Mediterranean, and gave rise to the myth of Atlantis鈥�, says van der Bilt.

He hopes their findings will reach a broad audience.听

鈥淣ature Communications is a highly regarded journal with a broad inter-disciplinary readership. Therefore, we stand a good chance to connect with the largest possible audience, so that our study has more impact. We want to reach everyone interested in volcanic hazards 鈥� from historians to economists to geologists. All these disciplines have a part to play to safeguard society.鈥�

May redefine volcanic hazard assessments

鈥淭his has been a collaborative effort by a large group of people who have been approaching the same problem from many different angles with a range of methods. The study would not have been possible without the contributions from Earthlab engineer Jan Magne Cederstr酶m, who performed all the scans, my group鈥檚 former Erasmus intern, Bolkar Kili莽, and everyone else involved鈥�, says van der Bilt.

He does not intend to solely focus on famous volcanic disasters like the Minoan eruption in his future research.

鈥淭here are many more catastrophic eruptions from the past, whose size can be better constrained using our CT-based approach. I look forward to doing so in the foreseeable future, and I hope this work will redefine volcanic hazard assessments鈥�, he says.