- Emeritus Professor
Biography
Dr. Wolff works on the products of big volcanic eruptions, using the investigative methods of petrology and geochemistry. He teaches courses in igneous petrology and volcanology at the undergraduate and graduate levels. For most of his research career he has studied the genesis, evolution, and emplacement mechanisms of Cenozoic volcanic rocks in the Canary Islands (Spain), New Mexico, and the inland Northwestern U.S. (Washington, Oregon, and Idaho). To this end, he and his graduate students employ the entire range of instrumentation available in the GeoAnalytical Lab, of which he is Director. He is particularly interested in the application of in-situ trace element and isotope ratio microanalysis to petrologic problems. Recent and current projects include, but are not limited to:
- Generation, storage and eruption of Columbia River flood basalt magmas
- Origin of voluminous 18O-depleted rhyolites, Snake River Plain, Idaho
- Timescales of magmatic processes leading to eruption of high-silica rhyolite, Valles caldera, New Mexico
- Magma generation beneath the Las Cañadas caldera, Tenerife, Canary Islands
Dr. Wolff’s research is funded by the National Science Foundation.