Overview

Diana Roman's research straddles the boundary between volcanology and seismology, with a dual focus on understanding the nature of magma ascent and eruption and of volcanic microearthquake swarms. Specifically, Roman works to understand, from a mechanical perspective, the formation, evolution, and dynamics of crustal magmatic systems and the source mechanisms and causes of microearthquake swarms occurring in the vicinity of active volcanoes.

These two lines of research are tied together through the development of conceptual and numerical models of the interaction of tectonic and volcanic processes.

Roman's primary research efforts have been aimed at identifying, documenting, and understanding systematic patterns in precursory volcano-tectonic (VT) earthquake swarms and crustal stress field orientations during episodes of magma ascent and at exploring the potential of volcanic stress field analysis as an eruption forecasting technique.

A major result has been the recognition, through a detailed analysis of precursory VT swarms and split S-wave polarizations, that changes in the orientation of local maximum compression precede many eruptions by weeks to months and that these changes are caused by the dilation of the volcanic conduit system during magma influx.

Research

CV

Timeline