Dr Charlotte Vye-Brown

Dr Charlotte Vye-Brown Volcanologist

Location: Edinburgh

Tel: 0131 6500 269

E-mail Dr Charlotte Vye-Brown

Biography

  •  2010 –present : Visiting Research Fellow, The Open University
  •  2008 –present : Project leader, Afar Rift Mapping, British Geological Survey
  •  2005 –2009 : PhD (The Open University) 'Flow field formation and compositional variations of flood basalt eruptions'
  •  2000 –2005 : Geologist, British Geological Survey
  •  1997 –2000 : BSc (Hons) Geology and Geography, Keele University

Boards and committees

  •  2010 –2013 : Member of Council of the Volcanic and Magmatic Studies Group
  •  2010 –present : Member of the Geological Society of London External Relations Committee
  •  2010 –present : UK representative and member of the Professional Development Working Group of the Young Earth Scientists (YES) Network
  •  2003 –2005 : Member of Council of the Edinburgh Geological Society

Current projects and collaboration

  • Deciphering cryptic crustal contamination in basalts (Oxford University, Durham University)
  • Eruption styles in rift settings — Iceland and East African Rift (Durham University, University of Leeds)
  • Field mapping and associated research in the Afar Rift, Ethiopia in collaboration with the Afar Rift Consortium
  • Flood basalt emplacement and eruption styles (The Open University, Leicester University)
  • Planetary volcanism (The Open University)
  • Supervising MSc students: Mhairi O'Hara, University of Edinburgh - An automated near-real-time lava flow prediction tool: incorporating the MODVOLC algorithm.
  • Supervising PhD students: Peter Fawdon, Open University - Understanding the evolution of the Syrtis Major volcanic comples (Mars) and comparison with volcanoes in the Afar Rift system (Earth). Sarah Medynski, CRNS-CRPG, Nancy, France - Interaction between magmatism and tectonism in the Afar rift segment, Ethiopia. Barbara Hofmann, Leeds - Quantifying crustal strain due to rifting in Afar, Ethiopia.
  • Volcanic hazards in Tanzania

Research interests

  • Climatic and environmental impacts of large volcanic eruptions
  • Communicating science and knowledge exchange
  • Magma transport timescales and plumbing systems
  • Physical volcanology and field studies in combination with geochemistry and laboratory investigation of flood basalt volcanism
  • Volcanic and magmatic evolution of active continental rifts

Skills

  • ArcGIS and digital mapping
  • Geochemistry and igneous petrology
  • Geological mapping of large igneous provinces (LIPs)
  • Remote sensing interpretation of LIPs at the scale of individual eruptions

Published outputs

Key papers

Medynski, S, Pik, R, Burnard, P. Williams, A, Vye-Brown, C, Ferguson, D, Blard, P -H, France, L, Yirgu, G, Seid, J I, Ayalew, D, Calvert, A. 2013. Controls on magmatic cycles and development of rift topography of the Manda Hararo segment (Afar, Ethiopia): Insights from cosmogenic 3He investigation of landscape evolution. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 367:133-145.

Vye-Brown, C, Gannoun, A, Barry, T L, Self, S, Burton, K W. 2013. Osmium isotope variations accompanying the eruption of a single lava flow field in the Columbia River Flood Basalt Province. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 368:183-194.

Vye-Brown, C, Self, S, Barry, T L. 2013. Architecture and emplacement of flood basalt flow fields: case studies from the Columbia River Basalt Group, NW USA. Bulletin of Volcanology, 75:697.

Vye-Brown, C, Smith, K B, Wright, T J. 2013. Active rifting, magmatism and volcanism in the Afar Depression, Ethiopia. Large Igneous Provinces Commission http://www.largeigneousprovinces.org/13jan

VYE, C L, SELF, S, BARRY, T L, BURTON, K W, CHARLIER, B L A, and GANNOUN, A. 2009. The petrogenesis, assembly and plumbing system of a single flood basalt eruption. GSA, Portland.