The new President, Jan Lindsay, will be touring the branches in the first half of 2010. The purpose of the tour, early in the term of office, is to promote better communication within the Society, particularly between the National Committee and the branches.

Volcanoes in the big smoke: hazard and risk in the Auckland Volcanic Field

Abstract: The potentially active Auckland Volcanic Field (AVF) comprises ca. 50 basaltic ‘monogenetic' volcanic centres and is coincident with our largest city, Auckland. Earliest activity may have occurred 250 ka ago, and the most recent eruption that formed Rangitoto Island 600 years ago was witnessed by early Maori. Although the volcanoes in Auckland are small and their eruptions infrequent, the risk associated with future activity is high given the high physical and economic vulnerability of Auckland. Distributed volcanic fields such as the AVF pose unique problems for hazard mitigation as the next vent location is not known. Furthermore, modelled magma ascent rates in the AVF lead to travel times of just a few days to weeks from the 80-km-deep source to the surface.

This talk will summarise the present state of knowledge of the hazard and risk in the AVF, and discuss the exciting new research being carried out in the DEVORA project, which is an integrated, multi-disciplinary, multi-agency research programme with the ultimate aim of DEtermining VOlcanic Risk in Auckland.

At the beginning of the talk Jan will also give an update on Society news, in particular the amalgamation with the Geophysical Society and implications for our members!

The Itinerary TBA