Geology Rocks - Living The Life Of A Volcanologist!!!

Volcano Work - You Wouldn't Understand!!!

One of the main reasons that I am back up here in the big city was because I was starting more volcano work, this time with the University of Auckland. I'm working on a newly launched project called DEVORA (DEtermining VOlcanic Risk in Auckland) which is partly run by the University and partly by the company I was working for before - GNS. DEVORA is a 7 year project aimed at understanding better the Auckland Volcanic Field for future risk situations should another volcano pop up somewhere in the city. You wouldn't think it if you had never been here but Auckland has about 50 volcanoes. Most small bumps within the relatively flat land here are volcanic center's. How it works is that every now and again a small blob of magma rises to the surface and creates a new volcano, then it becomes extinct. The problem is - the next volcano won't be where it has been before - it will just pop up - most likely in someone's backyard. Although the volcanoes are geologically small - when you have a populated city like Auckland - damage and death are still likely to be high. Thats why DEVORA was set up.

In my first week, I did very little. DEVORA was being launched so I got to go to fancy presentations, drink champagne and eat nibbles. The big event was held in the Auckland Museum where they have a volcano exhibition and even a volcano simulator which everyone had a go on of course. Then I started. My main project is to collect borehole data from all sorts of different sources and then use this information to create wonderful 3D maps of essentially - what is beneath our feet, under the city. It hasn't been done before and is like one big detective investigation which will keep me happy for quite a while.

Actually my job has somewhat taken a huge twist. Initially I was just going to work on this project for a month and then that was it - volcano work over. But after spending a day out in the field with a volcanologist from GNS called Graham Leonard and also through talking to my boss of the DEVORA project - Jan Lindsay, I have now been offered permanent on-going work with a contract up to September 2009. I've excepted the job partly because of the money (I currently don't have any) but mostly because this is the exact reason I wanted to come to NZ. I can't refuse it - I'm now a volacnologist!!! The job is ideal. Most of the time I will be working on the DEVORA project but every now and again - Graham will call me and say that this job needs doing here. Essentially I am a volcano handy-man. There are already plans for me to work in the lab down in Wellington, and then they are going to fly me off to Dunedin in the South Island to do some sampling work for a few weeks. Then when thats all done - they will fly me back to Auckland to continue on DEVORA. It's perfect because I get many fingers into many pies and it all looks good for the CV.

I have already done one job for Graham. For two weeks I was out collecting cores from an extinct volcano - the Pukaki Crater. I got my own vehicle (a big off-road beast) which I had to drive (hadn't driven for 9 months) through Auckland to the site. It was so much fun driving again. When we got to the site - the drillers were out. We had basically hired drillers to core down into the crater and bring up whatever was down there. I was the boss on-site and had to make sure the sediment cores came out OK, especially as the drillers were getting paid 30,000 NZ dollars a day to do it. It was great fun, very muddy and I learnt a lot. I did however get the worst hay-fever ever, sun burnt to a cinder (NZ sun is strong - no Ozone) and on my first day I got electrocuted. The crater was once a farm and a cow fence runs around it - but it's not a farm anymore so I assumed resting my arm on the fence wouldn't be such an issue - wrong. It felt like someone had shot me in the foot as I could physically feel the jolt go through my body and then down my left leg to my foot and onwards to the Earth. I didn't do that again. When the drilling was done - I was back in the lab to help cut and prepare the cores that came out. The cores were fantastic. We drilled to about 75m which brought up sediment dated to about 140,000 years. There were some great volcanic ash layers in the cores too. Job well done.

So I'm now back on DEVORA and my career has finally taken off. I'm going to learn a lot this year. It's just a shame it's so far away from home. My life for now - is in Auckland, although - when the occasion calls - there's always time for a road trip. Oh, is that Darren's Birthday I hear calling.......