Zoltan Taracsak

I’m a currently a 1^st year PhD student in the EAO NERC DTP at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester. My project is igneous petrology/geochemistry related: “Melt generation, mixing and degassing at El Hierro, Canary Islands” and will involve studying basaltic samples from the island. The aim of my research is to better understand the magmatic processes and to estimate the volatile (e.g. H₂O CO₂, SO₂) budget of the magmas that erupt on El Hierro through the analysis of melt inclusions (small droplets of melt trapped in crystals during magma crystallisation).

Previously I studied Earth Sciences and Geology (at BSc and MSc level, respectively) at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary. My MSc thesis focused on modelling melt generation processes in the mantle and its effect on the chemical composition of basaltic melts. Hence my present project is somewhat related to my previous work.

During my PhD, I’m going to use several measurement techniques (including EPMA, mirco-Raman and SIMS) to gather data on the major, trace and volatile element concentrations in the melt inclusions. I hope that during my 3 and half years as a PhD student I will have the chance to get familiar with other analytical techniques as well, and to attend as many useful training courses as possible.