New & Events

Latest news from the Kelley Group:

Janine Goes to Sea

Monday, December 9, 2019

Janine went to the Aleutians on board the R/V Sikuliaq, to help the EMAGE project with their EM deployment. Learn more about the expedition.


2015 Aleutians Cruise Report

Friday, July 28, 2017

We have finally completed the cruise report for our 2015 cruise to the western Aleutians! Access a PDF of the report here.


fO2RTE Mission Complete!

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Welcome home, Team Tephra! After three long weeks in the western Aleutians, our team has finally come into port in Adak, loaded with tephra and lava samples! Our group visited eight volcanoes in this remote region (see map above, which shows Liz’s daily “tracks” broadcast by her inReach device), including one that has not been visited since the original geologic reconnaissance in the 1950’s (Segula), and the western-most emergent volcano in the Aleutians (Buldir). Our work will involve characterizing the bulk composition, volatile contents, and oxidation conditions of these magmas, to test hypotheses about how subduction zones manufacture continental crust.

Interested in working on these rocks? Let me know!


fO2RTE Team in Adak

Friday, September 4, 2015

From left, Michelle Coombs, Liz Cottrell, Elizabeth Grant, Mattia Pistone, and Katherine Sheppard are geared up for a test flight in the Bell 407 helicopter before leaving port in Adak. (Photo credits: Christie Haupert)

Our team is sailing on board the R/V Maritime Maid (pictured below), and will spend 21 days using helicopter support (also pictured) to sample volcanic deposits on the western Aleutian islands of Buldir, Kiska, Segula, Little Sitkin, Semisopochnoi, Gareloi, Tanaga, and Kanaga.


Off to the Aleutians!

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Our research group (Liz Cottrell, Michelle Coombs, Mattia Pistone, Elizabeth Grant, and Katherine Sheppard) is off today to the western Aleutians to sample tephra from calc-alkaline volcanoes! Follow Liz’s Twitter feed or check back here to keep informed on their progress.


Graduate Student Opportunity!

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Interested in becoming a part of our group? We have an opening for a new PhD student at GSO starting in Fall 2015! Read more here:

We are seeking candidates to join our research team and work collaboratively on an NSF-GeoPRISMS funded project to explore the influences of water, oxygen fugacity, and composition on calc-alkaline differentiation, with a focus on the Alaska-Aleutian Arc:

Graduate Research Fellowship in Geochemistry. We are currently seeking a PhD student to participate in a multi-disciplinary study of magmatic oxidation state and its relationship to calc-alkaline differentiation and formation of continental crust in the Aleutian arc, with emphasis on the records preserved by natural lavas and melt inclusions. Funding is available for a minimum of three years of study toward a PhD in oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, Graduate School of Oceanography, with joint work to be done at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution.  The student will be jointly mentored by Drs. Katherine Kelley (URI/GSO) and Elizabeth Cottrell (NMNH/Smithsonian). The student will have the opportunity to develop skills and new techniques in microanalytics (XANES, LAICPMS, EMP, FTIR), providing a broad education and research base in petrology/geochemistry. Graduate applications for URI/GSO are on-line at http://www.gso.uri.edu/academics/apply and applicants are encouraged to submit their applications by 15 January, 2015. Applicants attending AGU in 2014 are encouraged to contact Dr. Kelley at kelley@uri.edu to arrange an in-person interview.


Subduction Cake

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

When I defended by PhD thesis in 2003, the incomparable Jenn Wade made me this amazing cake in the form of a 3-D subduction zone, complete with erupting arc volcanoes, a magma chamber within the upper plate crust, and a yellow frosting layer of subducting sediments atop the descending slab. No detail was forgotten. Just thought it should be shared with the world. Thanks again to Jenn, 10 years later, for her relentless attention to detail and fun!


FTIR Installation

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

The new FTIR is finally here!

Thanks to the EAR Instrumentation and Facilities Program for funding this new instrument. Thermo installation engineer Charles Gagnon completed our installation on Sept. 11-12, 2013. Everything appears to be running smoothly so far, and we are ready to collect some amazing data. If you are interested in learning more about the FTIR, or scheduling analytical time, please visit the lab pages to get the latest info.


Goldschmidt 2013, Florence, Italy

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Our group will be presenting exciting results from our current research at Goldschmidt! Plan to attend presentations by:

Katie Kelley, Maryjo Brounce, Liz Cottrell, Stephanie Grocke, Julia Ribeiro, and Ken Rubin


The Cover of Science!

Friday, June 14, 2013

Check out this week’s issue of Science Magazine, which includes an article by Liz Cottrell and Katie Kelley discussing the relationship of mantle carbon content to the oxidation state of Fe in MORBs. Link to the article here.