April, 2006 - Three WWU graduate students, Troy Baggerman,  Brendan Hodge, and Angie Diefenbach, each received the $1000 Kleinman fellowship from the US Geological Survey and the Cascades Volcano Observatory. Only five were awarded.

The following five students have been awarded 2006 Kleinman Grants for Volcano Research. Jack Kleinman was a USGS employee at the David. A. Johnston Cascades Volcano Observatory who died in a kayaking accident in 1994. By supporting field-oriented research projects in volcanology, the Kleinman Grants memorialize Jack's exuberance for fieldwork, volcanoes, and the natural world in general. During the past 12 years, the program has helped dozens of aspiring volcanologists who seek to learn more about volcanoes and how they work.

Troy Baggerman is an M.S. candidate in the Department of Geology at Western Washington University. His thesis topic is "Geochemistry and generation of andesite volcanic flows on Mount Baker, Washington." Troy will collect and analyze a suite of samples from selected basaltic through rhyodacitic lava flows at Mount Baker. At other volcanoes, various processes have been invoked to explain the generation of andesitic magmas. These include basalt fractionation, episodic basalt replenishment, and magma mixing. This study is aimed at distinguishing among these alternatives at Mount Baker, with possible implications for other Cascade volcanoes.

Angela Diefenbach is an M.S. student in the Department of Geology at Western Washington University. Her thesis topic is "Quantitative photogrammetric analysis of current dome-building eruption at Mount St. Helens, Washington." Angela will use terrestrial photogrammetry to analyze stereo photographs of the growing lava dome at Mount St. Helens. She hopes to document any short-term (hours to days) variations in the extrusion rate for comparison to other datasets, including seismicity, ground tilt, and digital elevation models (DEMs). The latter are being produced every 1-2 months to document the geomorphic evolution of the dome and to calculate the volume of extrusion as a function of time.

Brendan Hodge is an M.S. student in the Department of Geology at Western Washington University. His thesis topic is "Using GPS to characterize surface deformation over a 20-year period on an active volcano: Mt. Baker, Washington." Brendan will make GPS observations at an array of benchmarks first surveyed by the U.S. Geological Survey in the 1970s and 1980s. The measurements will assess whether increasing degassing of the volcano since 1975 has been accompanied by ground deformation. A preliminary study found that the length of one surveyed line shortened significantly between 1983 and 2004, which suggest that degassing is accompanied by subsidence of the volcano owing to mass loss. Additional measurements will help to confirm or refute this idea.