2014 participants
Olivia Butters
Earthquakes and volcanic events have been proposed as examples of natural phenomena exhibiting 'Self-Organised Criticality' (SOC). The analysis of earthquakes in these terms is well established, with much modelling having been done using cellular automata: systems of discrete elements evolving under simple rules. In contrast, the application of SOC to volcanism remains under-developed. A simple cellular automata model for volcanic eruptions was recently introduced, however, which successfully reproduces aspects of the statistics of eruptions. This project will study this model, reproducing and extending the original work, and analysing the sequences of modelled eruptions for signatures of SOC.
Funding Source: Newcastle University