Professor of Earth Sciences and University Lecturer in Igneous Processes
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford
Tutorial Fellow, St Anne's College, Oxford.
More on studying Earth Sciences at St Anne's, and in Oxford.
Undergraduate teaching links and Postgraduate research opportunities.
Telephone: +44 (0) 1865 272048
FAX: +44 (0) 1865 272072
E-mail: David.Pyle at earth.ox.ac.uk
Thanks to everyone who came to the Volcanic and Magmatic Studies Group winter meeting in January; the abstract volume is available as a pdf (2 Mb) here.
Highlights of recent work include the first modern measurements of mercury in volcanic emissions (work led by Mel Witt, Tamsin Mather and Sandro Aiuppa); the discovery that hot volcanic vents act as high temperature reaction sites for atmospheric gases (work with Rob Martin and Tamsin Mather), and the recognition of glacially-modulated volcanism in Europe (with David Nowell and Chris Jones).
We have also recently compiled a database of all known large volcanic eruptions; specifically explosive events of more than about 400 cubic kilometres of magma. The IAVCEI volcanic eruption database can be found here. Other recent work includes a new digital elevation model for the Kameni islands, Santorini, and studies of some its fabulous glassy enclaves (with Vikki Martin, John Elliott and Marian Holness); and a synthesis of volcanic emissions from the Central American arc.
Afar Consortium: How the Earth's crust forms at divergent plate margins. A NERC funded project with Ethiopian, UK and US collaborators; 2007-2012.
Emissions of mercury (Hg) and other heavy metals from volcanoes. A NERC funded project from 2005-2008.
A global volcanic emissions inventory, funded by the Leverhulme Trust from 2004-2007.
SPIDER network: Science and Policy Interfaces for Disaster Reduction.
Neanderthal climate preferences and tolerances. A NERC funded project and part of the 'EFCHED' program, with Rupert Housley (Univ. Glasgow) and others.
Tamsin Mather, Royal Society (Dorothy Hodgkin) Research Fellow and RCUK Fellow
Melanie Witt, Post-doctoral Research Associate (volcanic trace metals and rainwater chemistry)
Simon Blockley, RCUK Fellow, Research Lab for Archaeology and the History of AR, Oxford
Andrew McGonigle,DTI Academic Fellow, University of Sheffield
Clive Oppenheimer, Reader in Volcanology and Remote Sensing, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge
Recent 4th year (M.EarthSc) project students:
2007/8: Mari Tomos (Tephra in lake Titicaca); Nicola Meheran (Aerosol in Oxford); Richard Matthewman (Submarine pumice)
2006/7: Toby Hopkins (Crystal-rich pumices from Santorini)
Current post-graduate research students:
David Ferguson (NERC DPhil student, University of Oxford), Volcanism in the Afar, Ethiopia.
Naomi Matthews (Woolf-Fischer Scholarship; DPhil student, University of Oxford), Ignimbrites in New Zealand.
Sebastian Watt (NERC DPhil student, University of Oxford), Post-glacial volcanism in Chile: the southern volcanic zone from Hornopiren to Chaiten.
Sarah Collins (NERC PhD student, University of Cambridge), Degassing of trace metals from volcanoes.
Tom Wright (NERC escience PhD student, University of Cambridge), Tomography of volcanic plumes.
Oli Bazeley (NERC PhD student, Dept of Geography, Cambridge), Paleoclimate of the Black Sea region.
PhD students who have recently completed or submitted their theses include:
Rob Martin (Formation of volcanic aerosol; Cambridge, 2007); Carol Hunt (Volcanism in the Aegean; UEA, 2007); Thomas Christopher (Volcanism on Etna; Cambridge, 2007);Vikki Martin (Recent volcanism on Santorini; Cambridge, 2005); Sarah Colclough (INSAR of Central African Volcanoes, Cambridge, 2006) and Ben Mason (Large explosive eruptions, Cambridge, 2005).
Press releases:
Volcanoes, mercury and nano-particles, June 2008
Volcanoes and ozone depletion, November 2006
Volcanic nitrogen and early life, October 2004
Seasonal volcanic eruptions, April 2004
Geological Society report on Supereruptions
Press reports: The Guardian April 26, 2004; May 6, 2004; September 2, 2004; March 10, 2005; New Scientist October 2004
Return to Oxford Earth Sciences home page
Updated October 2008
David.Pyle at earth.ox.ac.uk, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Parks Road, OX1 3PR, UK