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Erik Klemetti

Volcanologist, Denison University

I write the Eruptions blog on Big Think.  I've been mesmerized with volcanoes (and geology) all my life. It helps that part of my family comes from the shadow of Nevado del Ruiz in Colombia, where I could see first hand the deadly effects of volcanic eruptions. Since then, I've taken a bit of a winding path to become a volcanologist. I started as a history major at Williams College, almost went into radio, but ended up migrating to geology, including an undergraduate thesis on Vinalhaven Island, Maine. I followed this up by changing coast to get my Ph.D. from Oregon State University. Then I ran a MC-ICP-MS lab at University of Washington for a spell (and wrote for an indie rock website). I spent three years as a postdoctoral scholar at University of California - Davis studying the inner workings of magmatic systems. I am now an assistant professor at Denison University and have projects in New Zealand, Chile and Oregon.

I am fascinated by volcanoes, their eruptions and how those eruptions interact with the people who live around the volcanoes. I started this blog after getting frustrated with the news reports of volcanic eruptions. Most of them get the information wrong and/or are just sensationalistic. I will try to summarize eruptions as they occur, translate some of the volcanic processes that are happening and comment on the reports themselves.

And no matter what people tell you, I definitely do not have a cat named Tephra. (OK, I do).

You can find out more about my research by visiting my website. If you have any comments, questions or information, feel free to contact me at eruptionsblog at gmail dot com.


Just a quick update if you haven’t been following the discussion: Kasatochi volcano in the Aleutians is now listed in “Red Alert” as it is erupting (see image above). Not […]
nn nn Not much news in the world of volcanoes this week so far. Must be the mid-summer lull in activity as the northern hemisphere heats up (just kidding!) Anyway, […]
nn I’ve hit the 100th post mark on Eruptions, which isn’t too bad for a few months on the blog. nn If anyone has any suggestions of what they would […]
nn I’m always pleased to see more countries setting up volcanic monitoring networks. Well, I suppose I’m pleased when it is a volcanically-active country, I mean, Switzerland setting up one […]
So, August rolls in and who would have thought in early May we’d still be talking about the Chaiten eruption with such intensity. Jorge Munoz of the SERNAGEOMIN is wondering […]
I have a few bits of news about one (of the three) volcanoes erupting in Ecuador. Reports from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of Ecuador says the volcano is still […]
Ecuador’s Geophysical Institute is reporting that Reventador is currently erupting ash. Apparently, there is no threat to nearby Quito or any pipelines near the volcano. The volcano last erupted in […]
I suppose this is more “unnews” than “news”, but workers at Ruapehu in New Zealand report that seismicity has decreased, gas emissions have returned to background and the crater lake […]
It is always fun to try to comprehend the sorts of numbers that geological processes produce. I mean, how much is 125 million cubic yard exactly? Well, the Cascades Volcano […]
nn I’m back from my conference and will hopefully be getting back to a regular schedule!  nn In the meantime, the biggest news is still the eruption of Okmok Caldera […]
nn Sorry about the delay with updates, I am actually at a meeting filled with volcanologists (of all things), so updates might be a little sporadic. nnA lot of news […]
Sorry about the brevity of this update, but I’m exhausted. From the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO): At this time, based on AVO analysis of satellite data, ash is continuing to […]
Just a brief note that the USGS has officially pronounced the eruption that started in 2004 at Mt. Saint Helens over. They lowered the alert level to “normal” after months […]