Our Guest Speaker

Professor Jan Lindsay

Volcanologist in the School of Environment at Waipapa Taumata Rau the University of Auckland

Preparing for a future eruption in the Auckland Volcanic Field

The potentially active Auckland Volcanic Field is an area of distributed volcanism characterised by 53 small volcanoes in the form of scoria cones, craters, and a small shield volcano (Rangitoto) that have formed over the past 193,000 years. The field lies beneath Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, and disruption due to a volcanic eruption would be nationally significant. In this presentation, Professor Jan Lindsay will provide an overview of the volcanic history of the Auckland Volcanic field and summarise recent research that underscores the challenges associated with managing risk in this iconic volcanic field.

Jan is a volcanologist in the School of Environment at Waipapa Taumata Rau the University of Auckland. She has an MSc in Geology from the University of Auckland, and a PhD in Geosciences from the University of Giessen in Germany. She has held positions at GNS Science in Taupō; the GeoResearch Centre (GFZ) in Potsdam, Germany; and the University of the West Indies in Trinidad. She is a Past President of the Geoscience Society of New Zealand and a past Vice President of the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI). She has worked on projects in the broad area of volcanic geology, hazard and risk in Aotearoa New Zealand, Chile, the Lesser Antilles, Hawai’i and Saudi Arabia and co-leads the long-standing Determining Volcanic Risk in Auckland (DEVORA) research programme, funded by Auckland Council and the Natural Hazards Commission (formerly EQC).