Peter Kokelaar

Last updated
B. Peter Kokelaar
Alma materUniversity of Wales (BSc, PhD)
University of Oxford (MSc)
Awards Murchison Medal (2013)
Scientific career
FieldsVolcanology
Institutions Ulster University
University of Liverpool
Thesis The igneous history of the Rhobell Fawr area, Merioneth, North Wales.  (1977)

Peter Kokelaar is a British volcanologist, known for his field studies of volcanoes and volcanic processes ancient and modern. He was awarded the Murchison Medal of the Geological Society of London in 2013.

Contents

Early life and education

Kokelaar was born on the Gower Peninsula, Wales, and went to Penclawdd Junior School, Gowerton Grammar School and then at Llandaff Technical College, Cardiff. Kokelaar studied geology at Aberystwyth University, gaining a BSc, and then studied for an MSc in geochemistry at the University of Oxford. He subsequently returned to Aberystwyth University, where he completed a PhD on the Ordovician volcanic rocks of the Harlech dome, Snowdonia. Kokelaar worked at Ulster University for ten years, before moving to the University of Liverpool as Reader in Geology. He was later appointed the George Herdman Professor of Geology. Kokelaar retired in 2014. [1]

Career

Kokelaar is known for his field studies of volcanic deposits and volcanic processes, in both ancient geological settings and geologically-young volcanoes. He has studied aspects of submarine volcanism, and submarine deposition of volcanic rocks. He has worked extensively on the mechanisms of caldera collapse, both at the ancient volcanoes of Glencoe [2] and in the British Lake District. [3] [4] In the late 1990s, Kokelaar was involved in the formal assessment of the UK government's response to the eruption of the Soufriere Hills volcano, on the eastern Caribbean island of Montserrat. [5] [6]

In 1996, Kokelaar presented a case on behalf of the Friends of the Earth to the Sellafield public planning enquiry, laying out the complexity of the bedrock conditions in the Borrowdale Volcanic Group, and presenting the case against the then plans by UK NIREX Ltd to construct a rock characterisation facility as a part of a plan for an underground repository for the radioactive waste disposal. [7] [8] Plans for the waste disposal facility were not approved. [9]

In 2013, Kokelaar was awarded the Murchison Medal by the Geological Society of London in recognition of his contributions to volcanology. [10] [11]

In retirement, Kokelaar continues to research and write. He published a book on the landscape and water resources of the Gower peninsula, All our own water in 2021. [12]

Selected bibliography

Related Research Articles

A caldera is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the structural integrity of such a chamber, greatly diminishing its capacity to support its own roof, and any substrate or rock resting above. The ground surface then collapses into the emptied or partially emptied magma chamber, leaving a large depression at the surface. Although sometimes described as a crater, the feature is actually a type of sinkhole, as it is formed through subsidence and collapse rather than an explosion or impact. Compared to the thousands of volcanic eruptions that occur over the course of a century, the formation of a caldera is a rare event, occurring only a few times within a given window of 100 years. Only eight caldera-forming collapses are known to have occurred between 1911 and 2018, with a caldera collapse at Kīlauea, Hawaii in 2018. Volcanoes that have formed a caldera are sometimes described as "caldera volcanoes".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supervolcano</span> Volcano that has had an eruption with a volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 8

A supervolcano is a volcano that has had an eruption with a volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 8, the largest recorded value on the index. This means the volume of deposits for such an eruption is greater than 1,000 cubic kilometers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyroclastic flow</span> Fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter that moves away from a volcano

A pyroclastic flow is a fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter that flows along the ground away from a volcano at average speeds of 100 km/h but is capable of reaching speeds up to 700 km/h. The gases and tephra can reach temperatures of about 1,000 °C (1,800 °F).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soufrière Hills</span> Volcano on Montserrat in the Caribbean

The Soufrière Hills is an active, complex stratovolcano with many lava domes forming its summit on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. After a long period of dormancy, the Soufrière Hills volcano became active in 1995 and continued to erupt through 2010. Its last eruption was in 2013. Its eruptions have rendered more than half of Montserrat uninhabitable, destroying the capital city, Plymouth, and causing widespread evacuations: about two-thirds of the population have left the island. Chances Peak in the Soufrière Hills was the highest summit on Montserrat until the mid-1990s, but it has since been eclipsed by various rising and falling volcanic domes during the recent volcanic activity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vulcanian eruption</span> Volcanic eruption with dense ash clouds

A Vulcanian eruption is a type of volcanic eruption characterized by a dense cloud of ash-laden gas exploding from the crater and rising high above the peak. They usually commence with phreatomagmatic eruptions which can be extremely noisy due to the rising magma heating water in the ground. This is usually followed by the explosive clearing of the vent and the eruption column is dirty grey to black as old weathered rocks are blasted out of the vent. As the vent clears, further ash clouds become grey-white and creamy in colour, with convolutions of the ash similar to those of Plinian eruptions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chances Peak</span> Summit on Montserrat

Chances Peak is a summit of the active complex stratovolcano named Soufrière Hills, the youngest volcanic complex on the island of Montserrat, a British overseas territory located in the Caribbean Sea. It was the highest point on the island until the mid-1990s, when fluctuating volcanic domes during the 1995–1999 Soufrière Hills eruptions eclipsed the peak in height. The Soufriere Hills volcano is on a destructive plate margin, and is part of the Eastern Caribbean Volcanic Arc. This volcanic arc lies on the Caribbean plate, and has formed by subduction of the North American Plate beneath it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of volcanism on Earth</span>

This timeline of volcanism on Earth includes a list of major volcanic eruptions of approximately at least magnitude 6 on the Volcanic explosivity index (VEI) or equivalent sulfur dioxide emission during the Quaternary period. Other volcanic eruptions are also listed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santorini caldera</span> Submerged caldera in the Aegean Sea

Santorini caldera is a large, mostly submerged caldera, located in the southern Aegean Sea, 120 kilometers north of Crete in Greece. Visible above water is the circular Santorini island group, consisting of Santorini, the main island, Therasia and Aspronisi at the periphery, and the Kameni islands at the center. It has been designated a Decade Volcano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montserrat Volcano Observatory</span> Volcano observatory located on the Caribbean island of Montserrat

The Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO) is a volcano observatory which is located on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, where the Soufrière Hills volcano (SHV) has been actively erupting since 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barry Voight</span> American geologist (born 1937)

Barry Voight is an American geologist, volcanologist, author, and engineer. After earning his Ph.D. at Columbia University, Voight worked as a professor of geology at several universities, including Pennsylvania State University, where he taught from 1964 until his retirement in 2005. He remains an emeritus professor there and still conducts research, focusing on rock mechanics, plate tectonics, disaster prevention, and geotechnical engineering.

The St. Patrick's Church is a religious building of the Catholic Church which is located in the town of Lookout on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, part of the Lesser Antilles and a British overseas territory.

Marie Edmonds is a Professor of volcanology and Earth Sciences at the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge whose research focuses on the physics and chemistry of volcanic eruptions and magmatism and understanding volatile cycling in the solid Earth as mediated by plate tectonics. She is interested in the social and economic impacts of natural hazards; and the sustainable use of Earth's mineral and energy resources. Professor Edmonds is the Vice President and Ron Oxburgh Fellow in Earth Sciences at Queens' College, Cambridge. In 2024 she became Head of the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, having previously been Deputy Head of Department and Director of Research for that Department.

Professor Jenni Barclay is the AXA Chair in Volcanology at the University of Bristol. She works on ways to mitigate volcanic risks, the interactions between rainfall and volcanic activity and the communication of volcanic hazards in the Caribbean. Barclay leads the NERC-ESRC funded Strengthening Resilience to Volcanic Hazards (STREVA) research project as well as a Leverhulme Trust programme looking at the volcanic history of the Ascension Islands.

Richard E. A. Robertson is a Professor of Geology and past Director of the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre. He studied Geology and Volcanology at Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies in Jamaica and Leeds University, United Kingdom.

Thomas Mylius Savage English was a British naturalist, who is notable for having identified the volcanic crater of the Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat now known as English's Crater.

Susan Loughlin MBE is a British volcanologist. She was Director of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory from 2004-2006, and has been Head of Volcanology for the British Geological Survey since 2008.

Geoff Wadge is a British volcanologist, best known for his work on the remote sensing of volcanoes and volcanic eruptions, and for his 1987 work anticipating the hazards of a future eruption of the Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat. Wadge was awarded the Murchison Medal of the Geological Society of London in 2015.

References

  1. "About the Author". August 21, 2021.
  2. Kokelaar, B. P.; Moore, I.D. (2006). Glencoe Caldera Volcano, Scotland. (Classical Areas of British Geology Guides). British Geological Survey. ISBN   0852725256.
  3. Oldroyd, David R. (2002). "Chapter 16 Collaborating on the Borrowdale Volcanics and the granites". Geological Society Memoir. 25: 211–230.
  4. "It's time for the rock n roll show". Whitehaven News. March 10, 2010.
  5. Clay, Edward; Barrow, Christine; Benson, Charlotte; Dempster, Jim; Kokelaar, Peter; Pillai, Nita; Seaman, John (1 December 1999). "An Evaluation of HMG's Response to the Montserrat Volcanic Emergency Volume I (ev635)" (PDF). Department for International Development.
  6. "Montserrat evacuation remembered". bbc.co.uk. 12 September 2005.
  7. Kokelaar, P; Smythe, D.K. (1996). "The Borrowdale Volcanic Group Supplementary proof of evidence. United Kingdom: University of Glasgow".
  8. Oldroyd, David R. (2002). "Chapter 20 Nirex and the great denouement". Geological Society Memoir. 25: 271–288.
  9. "UK Nuclear waste: a decent burial?". BBC News. 25 March 1999.
  10. "Murchison medal for academic" via University of Liverpool.
  11. "The Geological Society of London - 2013 Awards Citations replies". www.geolsoc.org.uk.
  12. Kokelaar, Peter. All Our Own Water: Landscape evolution, caves and hydrogeology of Gower. ISBN   9781399903356.