International Ocean Island workshop on Gran Canaria

2017-05-17

Ocean Island workshop participants at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 24th April 2017. Back row from left: F. Perez-Torrado, P. leRoux, C. Harris, J. Wolff, S. Berg, J. Troch, A. Barker, S. Soccorro. Front row from left: K. Thomaidis, F.M. Deegan, V.R. Troll, J.C. Carracedo, J. Neukampf, C. Hieronymus, B. Ellis, A. Laddenberger. Photo by H. Geiger. 

In April 2017, 17 scientists from five research institutions across three continents came together for a workshop about Ocean Island volcanism on Gran Canaria, Canary Islands. The workshop was facilitated by financial support from the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT; collaboration grant between Dr. F.M. Deegan at Uppsala University, Sweden and Prof. C. Harris at the University of Cape Town, South Africa). 

The research institutions represented at the workshop included: the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; Uppsala Univeristy, Sweden; the University of Cape Town, South Africa; ETH Zürich, Switzerland; and Washington State University, USA.

Prof. F. Perez-Torrado shows the group an outcrop of spectacular uplifted pillow lavas that record interaction between Roque Nublo lavas and marine sediments. Photo by F. Deegan.

Particpants engaged in a day of research seminars and discussions at the University of Las Palmas on Gran Canaria, which was followed by three days of field excursions to visit some of the geological highlights of the island, including the Miocene ignimbrite successions, the Pliocene Roque Nublo volcanics, examples of the interaction between society and recent volcanism, and several archaeological sites.

Prof. V.R. Troll explains the occurrence of hydrothermally altered deposits at the margin of the Tejeda caldera, at Fuente de los Azulejos, to eager onlookers. Photo: F. Deegan.

Topics covered in the seminars ranged from advances in Canary Island magmatic research to the Cape Verdes to Tristan da Cunha and beyond. The workshop was a resounding success in terms of stimulating increased international collaboration on Ocean Island related research and in giving junior researchers a chance to learn from eminent figures in the field. 

At the end of a full day of excursions, the group enjoyed some local specialities, such as Barraquito coffee. The layered appearance of this coffee is due to the differing densities of condensed milk (bottom), coffee liqueur (dark layer), milky coffee (light brown layer), and foamed milk (top). Bonus tip: this serves as a great analogue of a compositionally layered magma chamber. Photo: F. Deegan.

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Last modified: 2022-09-30
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