Iceland 2004
Keck Junior Research Project:
Contrasting Tertiary Central Volcanoes in NW Iceland
Iceland
Keck 2004 group:
left to right: Brennan Jordan (Wooster), Keegan
Schmidt (Lewis-Clark), Ross Baldwin (Colorado College),
Lebn Schuyler (Whitman), Lara Kapelanczyk (Smith), Sheena Styger (U. of
the Pacific), Paul Olin (WSU),
Sara Johnson (Beloit), Jerod Randall (Beloit), Char Adzima (Wooster)
Director: Brennan Jordan
(The
College of Wooster)
Keegan Schmidt
(Lewis-Clark State College)
TA: Paul Olin (Washington State University)
Overview:
Seven students representing the Keck
Consortium joined the project faculty on a month-long research
expedition to north-central and northwestern Iceland. The study
focused on two areas. The first half was on the southern Skagi
Peninsula of north-central Iceland, following up on the 2003
Iceland Keck
Project, and the second half was spent in the Westfjords of
northwestern Iceland. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is exposed above sea
level
at Iceland (Fig. 1) due to the
interaction
of the ridge with a hotspot (generally interpreted as a mantle
plume).
Plate motion causes the ridge to migrate westward off of the
hotspot.
The ridge periodically ‘jumps’ to recenter on the hotspot, abandoning
the
old ridge. The last
ridge-segment
to be abandoned goes through the Skagi area and Snæfellsnes
Peninsula;
it was active from 15 to 7 Ma (Fig.
2). The two project areas reflect activity on this rift at
two different times in its history, early in the Westfjords (~14 Ma)
and late at Skagi (8.6-7.0 Ma). In both project areas our
studies were focused on the areas around Tertiary central volcanoes
where diverse arrays of compositions (basalt to rhyolite) could be
studied. Our studies included mapping and sampling in the field
and petrography and
geochemistry (XRF, ICP-MS, and microprobe) back in the lab. A
summary of results can be view in the summary (linked below).
Post-project summary report
(pdf)
Photo Galleries:
