October 2016 – Excited to be back on island for Field Season 3!

On 16^th– 28^th October, Katie Rich and Charlotte (with little Sebastian and baby bump Arianna) were on island for the 3^rd field season of the project. The aim of the field season was to put into place the remaining pieces of the geology jigsaw, mainly focussing on the rocks in the centre and east of the island, formed during past explosive eruptions. We explored remote nooks and crannies on the island (including a scramble down the infamous Spire Beach track and an acrophobia-inducing walk out to Boatswain Bird View!) and found evidence for even more eruptions than we previously knew about! We were also happy to be able to correlate some volcanic deposits to eruptions that we have documented in previous field seasons. We took even more rock samples to do further ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating, particularly focused on better resolving the timings of young explosive eruptions. The team also had several meetings with decision makers on the island to discuss how our scientific data will be useful to islanders. We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone on Ascension Island for your amazing hospitality and for making our visit run smoothly and enjoyable as always!