Volcanism of the Northern Red Sea

This project is in the Volcanology Igneous Petrology and Geochemistry group of Prof. Froukje van der Zwan. The Red Sea is formed by spreading of two plates, whereby the Red Sea axis respresents the mid-ocean ridge spreading center. Where the southern Red Sea the mid-ocean ridge is well exposed, in the northern Red Sea it is partially covered by salt flows, and therefore much less is known about the formation of the mid-ocean ridge and about the volcanism that builds it. The student will work with basalt samples recovered in previous expeditions from the northern (and central) Red Sea and do petrological evaluations under a microscope and perform geochemical analyses such as XRF and ICPMS, including the preparation of the samples for these analyses. Using geochemical data, aim is to understand the source of the magma, magmatic processes and the volcanic expressions of the magmatism.

Major and trace element analyses and evaluated data of rock samples. Report and short presentation of the project at the end.