Speaker: Associate Professor Christian Huber Brown Unversity

Title: "From magma chambers to icy satellites..." 

: I am going to present ongoing projects aimed at gaining a better understanding of the structure and evolution of magma reservoirs in the crust. Through this overview, I will discuss (1) the conditions favorable for the growth of eruptible magma reservoirs and its role on caldera cycles, (2) the reasons why these magma reservoirs have a tendency to emplace and grow at pressures of about 2kbar, (3) the processes that control the internal dynamics of magma reservoirs and the rate of melt-crystal extraction. If time allows, I will also discuss how laboratory experiments on the dynamics of icy satellites is also proving to be eerily similar to magma reservoir dynamics.

Short Bio: 

: I grew up in the French speaking part of Switzerland. There I studied Earth Sciences and obtained a BSc in 1998, then a MSc in 2001. I realized then that my goals were to conduct research and specifically within the realms of understanding the dynamical processes that shape Earth and other Planetary bodies. As I was ill-equipped to handle these challenges, I decided to start a new academic adventure and obtained a BSc in Physics (focus on theoretical physics) in 2004. In 2005, I moved to UC Berkeley to start a PhD under the guidance of M. Manga, focusing on multiscale and multiphase physical processes in magmas. After my PhD, I moved to Georgia Tech, initially for a postdoc, but became faculty there until 2016. In the summer 2016, I moved to Brown University, where I now hold an appointment of Associate Professor in Geophysics.