'Volcanoes from fuming vents to extinction events' Prof Tamsin Mather
Channel: Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow
Date: 2020-10-11

Volcanoes are spectacular natural phenomena. Earth has experienced volcanism since its beginnings and observing a volcanic eruption is a truly primeval experience. Volcanoes have shaped our planet and have been key in creating and maintaining its habitability. However, they can also be deadly natural hazards and are implicated in some of the greatest environment crises in Earth’s history, such as mass extinction events.
In this talk, volcanologist Professor Tamsin Mather will explore the environmental impacts of some of the different types of volcanic activity that we see on our present-day planet and have seen over our its geological history. She will reveal how lessons learnt sitting on the edge of an active volcano today can give us insights into some of the most profound environmental changes in geological history including mass extinction events.
BIOGRAPHY 
Tamsin Mather is Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford. Her research largely centres around volcanoes motivated by understanding the hazards, but also the resources, they present and their impacts on our environment, both positive and negative over our planet’s long geological history.