I'm Rachel Spinti. And I love to be outside. I am a senior at BASIS Flagstaff. Here I will be chronicling my Senior Research Project (SRP).
Last year, I took a Geology class that was offered to juniors. I liked that it actually applied science to the physical world and didn't involve too much previous knowledge of the field. It was more intuitive to me than the other science courses I had taken. After talking to geologists and learning more about the field, I became interested in studying geology in college. Thus, for my SRP I wanted to do something related to geology to give me more of a flavor for the field and the type of research that goes on.
I am being advised by two geologists, Mrs. Alicia Vaughan and Dr. R. Greg Vaughan. Mrs. Vaughan is my in-school advisor, while Dr. Vaughan is my on-site advisor. He works for the Flagstaff, Arizona section of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) as a volcanologist. He measures thermal emissions from volcanoes to calibrate satellites to make the same measurements.
I discussed my interests with Dr. and Mrs. Vaughan and my SRP sprang to life from these conversations. I wanted to learn more about volcanoes and the type of research that volcanologists collect from them. I was intrigued by Flagstaff itself because it is a relatively young volcanic field. I plan to answer the following question with my SRP: based on the techniques used to monitor currently active volcanoes, what would be the best monitoring techniques and methods for Flagstaff if there was ever renewed volcanism?
Basically, I will be researching the techniques and methods used to monitor active volcanoes at the volcanic observatories in Alaska and Hawaii. Then, I will be applying what I have learned to the San Francisco Volcanic Field (SFVF) because despite the seemingly innocent nature of the Flagstaff Peaks, they are classified as active volcanoes...
Best,
Rachel
