Emma Watts

Following the #HayliGubbi eruption, our paper on the Erta Ale dike of Jun-Jul is finally out. InSAR, optical data and seismicity showed the temporal evolution of the intrusion and the interaction of magmatic sources, including a sill inflation in Hayli Gubbi. @earth-science.bsky.social #geoscience

Frontiers | Segmented dike intrusion linked to multi-level magma storage during and before the 2025 eruption at Erta Ale (East Africa) IntroductionDike intrusions can assist continental rifting and plate divergence. However, our understanding of the magma dynamics during diking and the archi...

@alarosa.bsky.social new paper of dike intrusion at Erta Ale in July 2025 now out
www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.... @sorcerinsar.bsky.social @sasbrune.bsky.social @wattsvolcanology.bsky.social

An explosive #eruption of Hayli Gubbi #volcano, located SE of Erta'Ale in the Afar Rift (Ethiopia), began at ~08:30 UTC on Nov 23. Eruption onset was fortuitously captured by a @planet.com overpass at 08:31 UTC. Hayli Gubbi has no record of Holocene eruptions. Toulouse VAAC reporting ash to ~15 km.

There was a significant volcanic eruption in the Afar region of Ethiopia near the Erta Ale volcano today. METEOSAT-IODC weather satellite picked up imagery of the ash cloud moving east over the Red Sea and Yemen.

Advert and application information for PhD on magma production and evolution during continental rifting @unisouthampton.bsky.social @sorcerinsar.bsky.social @wattsvolcanology.bsky.social
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

👇 A great collaboration with @gernon.bsky.social, Thea Hincks, Martin Palmer (all @unisouthampton.bsky.social), Chris Spencer (Queen’s University), @wattsvolcanology.bsky.social (Swansea University) and Anne Glerum (@gfz.bsky.social) 👇

Frontiers | Melt generation and evolution in the Adda’do rift segment of the Afar rift from trace elements and petrography Along-rift variations in the stage of continental separation are observed in the northern East African Rift System (EARS), from magma-assisted continental ri...

Congrats to Rhiannon Rees on publication of her trace element study from Ayelu, Abida and Gabilema volcanoes in the Ethiopian rift
www.frontiersin.org/journals/ear... @sorcerinsar.bsky.social @gernon.bsky.social @wattsvolcanology.bsky.social

The ADD-ON project has contributed to understanding the recent eruptive activity at Erta Ale volcano in Afar. See the activity report at
comet.nerc.ac.uk/wp-content/u...
@sorcerinsar.bsky.social @derekkeir.bsky.social @alarosa.bsky.social

We're back for a third season! And now with a new logo and 10 new episodes coming each week over the next few months.

@volcaknowledge.bsky.social has just joined #BlueSky So please give a share and a follow to help us spread the good 🌋 word!

Tomorrow we take you to country FULL of great geology!

WELCOME TO VOLCAKNOWLEDGE!

The podcast exploring how volcanoes interact with nature culture and society, featuring new guests every episode. Hosted by @smitchellscience.bsky.social

Season 3 is JUST around the corner!! 🌋 So stay tuned for an exciting first episode with some VERY famous geology...

Sunset over a polar seascape with icebergs floating on calm water. The sun is low on the horizon, casting warm hues of orange and pink across the sky and creating a vivid reflection on the water's surface. Dark clouds partially obscure parts of the sunset.

Our researchers have discovered an unexpected change in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica.

Since 2015, it has lost sea ice equal to the size of Greenland. They found surface waters are becoming saltier, causing more melting.

Find out more 👉 tr.ee/gyaW0b

@sotonoceanearth.bsky.social @esa.int

If you want to know more about my latest paper on the Afar plume (www.nature.com/articles/s41...) I'm presenting it as a poster today at the IAVCEI conference.
Come chat in the poster session (#147) or just come say hello if you see me about! #iavcei2025

Thanks Ali! Hope you're well!

How a plume of magma threatens to one day rip east Africa apart Scientists believe a 3,200-mile crack running from Ethopia to Mozambique will develop over several million years, creating a new ocean and vast island

Delighted to see Emma Watts' cool new Nature Geoscience study (with myself, @derekkeir.bsky.social and others) on the Afar plume featured so prominently in @thetimes.com today:

www.thetimes.com/uk/science/a...

@unisouthampton.bsky.social @sotonoceanearth.bsky.social

Magma "heartbeat" is tearing continent apart, geologists discover "The plume is pulsing," said Earth Science professor Tom Gernon of the University of Southampton.

for a nice summary of the work on the pulsing Afar plume by @wattsvolcanology.bsky.social see this article in @newsweek.com
www.newsweek.com/geology-plat...
@gernon.bsky.social @sorcerinsar.bsky.social

Finally I'd like to draw attention that this study was the hard work of everyone involved and that it couldn't have happened without each and every one of them!
Thanks everyone! Diolch yn fawr iawn!

@gernon.bsky.social @derekkeir.bsky.social @echambersgeo.bsky.social
and others!

To see if these were then linked we did K-means cluster analysis and principle component analysis showing that not only are the rifts linked, but we see a repeating pattern of pulses spreading down both rifts! Due to the different rifting rates in both, the flow from the upwelling is different.

We tested these models on our large dataset using two-deep cross validation of linear and spline models. We found that a singular upwelling that is independent across each rift (Main Ethiopian Rift, Red Sea Rift, and Gulf of Aden Rift) fit best

Following this we combined the geochemical data with geophysics data using statistical methods.

Then we tested previously published models of what the Afar plume looks like in the upper 120 km of the Earth. This included testing for a singular upwelling, plumelets and heterogeneous upwelling(s).

Our study started by gathering new geochemical data from >130 volcanic rocks across the Afar triangle, improving the spatial resolution of data.

Some of these rocks were collected during fieldwork and others were obtained from the Afar Repository at the University of Pisa @sorcerinsar.bsky.social

Mantle upwelling at Afar triple junction shaped by overriding plate dynamics - Nature Geoscience The mantle upwelling beneath the Afar rift may be influenced by tectonic processes in the overriding lithospheric plates that shape the distribution of both the compositional heterogeneities and abund...

New paper alert🚨

In this new article in @natgeosci.nature.com we use a multidisciplinary approach (geochemistry, geophysics and mathematically modelling) to see pulsing in the mantle plume beneath Afar and how the flow varies along the rift See the 🧵 below:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

In this new paper in @natgeosci.nature.com by @wattsvolcanology.bsky.social, she uses analysis of seismic and geochemical data to see pulsing of a mantle plume and how it flows along the rift
@wattsvolcanology.bsky.social @sorcerinsar.bsky.social @gernon.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...