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Student Bios/Sample Projects

Angela Marie Larson

Ph D Structural Seismology Candidate
Pennsylvania State University

I am from Texas and am now finishing my second year as a PhD structural seismology candidate at Penn State. My primary focus is under the west African country of Cameroon. The Cameroon Volcanic Line (CVL) is one of many unusual features on the African continent in that there is no age progression of the rocks as should occur in a traditional hotspot-generated volcanic line. Although the oldest volcanic rocks date back 30 million years, the active volcanism is found in the center of the oceanic and continental line at Mount Cameroon, which has erupted as recently as 2000. Many hypotheses exist to attempt to explain the CVL, but a detailed regional seismological study needs to be completed to visualize at a finer detail that is not available in world-wide or even continent-wide seismological models.

I was involved in the installation of 32 broadband seismometers across Cameroon in January of 2005 and 2006. These stations will remain operation until January of 2007. With this data as well as other Africa data, I plan on imaging the upper mantle beneath the CVL using both body and surface wave tomography to improve resolution by utilizing the strengths of both methods. This research is done in cooperation with the University of Yaounde I, the Cameroon Ministry of Mining and Geological Research, and Washington University in St. Louis, USA.