VolcanoCamp 2024
Undergraduate student programme
In this 8-day course, led by Dr Katy Chamberlain, a lecturer in geoscience at Liverpool University, UK, you will be introduced to the volcanic systems of Tenerife. We will visit historic and prehistoric eruptions on the islands to observe the huge diversity of eruptions that have led to the construction of these unique ocean islands. Throughout the course, you will be in contact with those on the ground during the 2021 Cumbre Vieja eruption to learn more about volcanic monitoring and the subsequent impact of the eruption on the community.
Through VolcanoCamp 2024 you will receive:
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The opportunity to discuss and ask questions with volcanologists, members of IGN, and staff of GeoTenerife about their role during the 2021 Tajogaite eruption
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Virtual attendance to the III International VulcanaSypmposium where you will have the opportunity to hear and speak to leading scientists and researchers from a range of institutions.
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Field trips to key volcanological sites across Tenerife.
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Learn how to: create a geological sketch and observation skills, infer eruption dynamics, and draw conclusions about eruptive style where the eruptions were not witnessed.
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A short course in Science Communication with lectures, assignments, and feedback to improve the understanding of your research with Dr Hannah Little, of the University of Liverpool.
The cost of this 9-day-long course is £650, which includes accommodation, liability insurance (GeoTenerife is a member of ABTA, the UK Travel Association), teaching, field and technical visits, transfers to/from the airport, daily transport, and ferry transfer between Tenerife and la Palma. We can liaise with your home university for credits for participation in this programme. This price does NOT include food or your flight to/from Tenerife which is your responsibility to organise and pay for. Please note that accommodation is provided for the specific days of the course, if you need to arrive early, you can book an extra night’s accommodation at our field trip centre at an additional cost of £40 per night.
To apply please send a covering letter and CV to enquiries@geotenerife.com
GeoTenerife will offer ONE scholarship for VolcanoCamp, which will cover the cost of the programme in full (which includes accommodation and transfers but NOT flights to/from Tenerife), and includes a stipend of 300 euros towards your food costs and other necessities. To apply for a scholarship we will require a cover letter from you explaining your interest in the programme, what you hope to gain from it and how you will benefit from it. We are specifically looking for a candidate who would directly benefit from participation in their academic or professional progression and would not be able to participate without financial support.
Extension Programme
Applications are invited from Master’s or PhD students affiliated with a home university to work with us and IGN, the Spanish Geographic Institute, for their research project. They will take part in the first portion of VolcanoCamp before spending the rest of the month researching and working closely with the team at IGN, with the aim of completing their Masters research project with co-supervision with their home university for full publication on successful completion.
Masters or PhD students looking for a research project for publication are also invited to apply to the programme in order to work in collaboration with the Oceanographic Institute on the same basis during the same period on a range of research projects – please contact enquiries@geotenerife.
The cost of the Masters Project extension programme is £1,450 which includes accommodation, teaching, field and technical visits, transfers to/from the airport, liability insurance, and daily transport.
Please note this does NOT include food or your flight to/from Tenerife which is your responsibility to pay for and book.
To apply please send a covering letter and CV to enquiries@geotenerife.com
Why study volcanology with us in the Canary Islands?
The Canary Islands, originating from a hot spot or mantle plume, are a fascinating example of volcanic activity caused by anomalously hot mantle material intruding into the African plate. The archipelago consists of seven major islands, with La Palma and El Hierro being the youngest in the southwest, and Lanzarote and Fuerteventura the oldest in the northeast. This age distribution illustrates the Canary hotspot track.
Only four of the islands—Tenerife, La Palma, El Hierro, and Lanzarote—have experienced volcanic eruptions in the last 600 years. VolcanoCamp will focus on Tenerife and La Palma, two islands with distinct, yet both active, volcanic environments.
Tenerife, located in the central-western part of the archipelago, is the largest island and hosts the third-largest volcanic structure on Earth. It has seen numerous highly explosive felsic eruptions, which form calderas and pyroclastic density currents, as well as effusive mafic eruptions at its rift zones. In contrast, La Palma is still in its formative stage, with the 2021 eruption creating basaltic lava deltas that expanded the island’s coastline into the Atlantic Ocean.
The magmatic plumbing system of the Canary Islands features diverse geochemistry, leading to a variety of volcanic phenomena including both explosive and effusive eruptions, and producing felsic and mafic volcanic products. This diversity results in a range of volcanic features such as lava flows, lava deltas, lava tubes, ignimbrites, calderas, stratovolcanoes, shield volcanoes, and pyroclastic cones. VolcanoCamp leverages this geological diversity to provide students from around the world with an intensive, hands-on volcanology course in the Canary Islands.
Teaching Staff
Dr Katy Chamberlain, Volcanologist, Liverpool University, UK
Dr Katy Chamberlain has collaborated with GeoTenerife in the organisation, teaching and research of our 2022 VolcanoCamp and GeoIntern programmes. In collaboration with colleagues both in the Canary Islands and the UK, Katy has facilitated the start of systematic vegetation surveys around La Palma, with a particular focus on the areas of historical eruptions and the areas affected by the eruption in 2021.
She is a volcanologist and petrologist who studies how crystals can tell us about the pre-and-syn-eruptive magmatic processes that lead to eruptions of magma. By combining detailed study of the composition and textures of crystals erupted in volcanic events with detailed observations of the deposits we can couple eruptive changes with subsurface magma system dynamics.
She was PI of a NERC-funded urgency grant working on the petrology of the 2021 Cumbre Vieja eruption on La Palma, where they are investigating how the magmas erupted and evolved throughout the 3-month-long eruption.
Dr Hannah Little, Lecturer in Communication and Media, University of Liverpool, UK
Hannah began co-leading GeoTenerife’s science communication training in 2021 and draws on her wealth of experience and innate enthusiasm for the topic to deliver captivating lectures to our students. The science communication training with Hannah and Andy hope to prepare students for any future science communication challenges and hopes to ensure that the students have the best strategies for clearly communicating scientific concepts, whether that is in industry, teaching, academia or elsewhere.
Her research interests are digital communication, linguistic and cultural evolution, experimental methods and data analysis. Before going into academia, Hannah worked in science communication professionally. She worked full time co-ordinating the STEM Ambassador programme and the Nuffield Research Placements in the North East of England. Since then, she has facilitated science communication training with many organisations including the British Council, the UK Environment Agency and “I’m a scientist, get me out of here!”