Education

M.S. George Washington University (1983)
B.S. Western Washington University (1974)

Research Interests

The Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program (GVP) is devoted to documenting, analyzing, and disseminating information about the ~1500 active volcanoes on Earth and their eruptions over the past 10,000 years. In this systematic four-decade-long effort we seek to include both past and present eruptive activity on our planet, the large, destructive, and newsworthy eruptions, as well as the small ones that are easily overlooked and soon forgotten. We take two complementary approaches toward this goal: one that looks backward over the past 10,000 years, and the other that focuses on rapid reporting and dissemination of observations about on-going eruptions, on both monthly and weekly deadlines.

GVP data addresses such fundamental issues as the magnitude and frequency of volcanic eruptions, analysis of the global plate-tectonics context of volcanoes and regional patterns of volcanism, and the human impact of eruptions. Our compiled data are not only utilized internally for research, but are available through the frequently updated GVP website (www.volcano.si.edu) to the global community as well. GVP is the authoritative source for volcano and eruption data used by national and international organizations including the USGS, NOAA, NASA, the US Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, and the United Nations Disaster Program, as well as educational outreach in forums such as Google Earth, The World Almanac, Encyclopedia Britannica, and National Geographic Society.

My field projects focus primarily on large debris-avalanche deposits related to volcanic edifice collapse in locations such as Alaska, Indonesia, México, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Catastrophic volcano collapse, such as occurred at Mount St. Helens in 1980, produces extremely mobile debris avalanches that can travel at very high velocities many tens of kilometers beyond a volcano, inundating vast areas. This process, once considered rare, has now been documented at more than 400 volcanoes world-wide and is recognized to be a common process in the evolution of volcanoes.

Publications

Simkin T, Siebert L, McClelland L, Bridge D, Newhall CG and Latter JH (1981) Volcanoes of the World: a Regional Directory, Gazetteer, and Chronology of Volcanism during the Last 10,000 Years. Stroudsburg, Pa: Hutchinson Ross Publ Co, 240 pp.

 

Siebert L (1983) Mount Adams, Washington. Volcano News, no 14: 1–3.

Simkin T and Siebert L (1984) Explosive eruptions in space and time: duration, intervals, and a comparison of the world’s active volcanic belts. In: Boyd FR (ed) Explosive Volcanism: Inception, Evolution, and Hazards. Geophysics Study Committee, Nat Res Council, Nat Acad Sci Press, Washington, DC, pp. 110–121.

Siebert L (1984) Large volcanic debris avalanches: characteristics of source areas, deposits, and associated eruptions. J Volcanol Geotherm Res, 22: 163–197.

Simkin T and Siebert L (1985) Holocene volcanoes. In: AAPG "Geodynamic map of the Circum–Pacific region", Tulsa, 5 maps at 1:10,000,000.

Siebert L, Glicken H and Ui T (l987). Volcanic hazards of Bezymianny– and Bandai–type eruptions. Bull Volcanology, 49: 435–459.

Siebert L, Glicken H and Kienle J (1988) Debris avalanches, lateral blasts and tsunamis: volcanic hazards at Mount St. Augustine, Alaska. Proc Kagoshima International Conference on Volcanoes, p. 452–455.

Vallance JW, Girón JR, Rose WI, Siebert L and Banks NG (1988) Volcanic edifice collapse and related hazards in Guatemala, preliminary report. INSIVUMEH, Guatemala City, 15 pp.

Siebert L (1988) Structural collapse of volcanoes: large volcanic debris avalanches in North and Central America. Costa Rican Volcanism Workshop, Smithsonian Institution and Skyland, Virginia, November 14–18, 1988, 10 pp.

Siebert L, Glicken H and Kienle J (1989) Debris avalanches and lateral blasts at Mount St. Augustine, Alaska. Nat Geogr Res, 5(2): 232–249.

Moore GW, Bonilla MG, Rapp RH, Rinehart WA, Siebert L, Simkin T, Soller DR and Zoback ML (1990) Geodynamic map of the Circum–Pacific region, Arctic sheet. US Geol Surv Map CP–38.

Lockwood M, Elms JD, Lockridge PA, Smith RH, Moore GW, Nishenko SP, Reinhart WA, Simkin T, Siebert L and Newhall CG (1992) Natural hazards map of the Circum–Pacific Region; Pacific Basin sheet. Circum–Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources, 31 p.

Moore GW, Bogdanov NA, Drummond KJ, Golovchenko X, Larson RL, Pitman WC III, Rinehart WA, Siebert L, Simkin T, Tilman SM and Uyeda S (1992) Plate tectonic map of the Circum–Pacific region; Arctic sheet. Circum–Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources, 20 p.

Siebert L (1992) News and views: Volcano hazards––threats from debris avalanches. Nature, 356: 658–659.

Simkin T and Siebert L (1994) Volcanoes of the World (2nd edition) Tucson: Geoscience Press, 369 pp.

Vallance JW, Siebert L, Rose WI, Girón JR and Banks NL (1995) Edifice collapse and related hazards in Guatemala. In: Ida Y and Voight B, Models of magmatic processes and volcanic eruptions. J Volcanol Geotherm Res, 66: 337–345.

Siebert L, Begét JE and Glicken H (1995) The 1883 and late–prehistoric eruptions of Augustine volcano, Alaska. In: Ida Y and Voight B, Models of magmatic processes and volcanic eruptions. J Volcanol Geotherm Res, 66: 367–395.

Siebert L (1996) Hazards of large volcanic debris avalanches and associated eruptive phenomena. In: Scarpa R and Tilling RI (eds) Monitoring and Mitigation of Volcanic Hazards. Berlin: Springer–Verlag, p. 541–572.

Kimberly P, Siebert L, Luhr JF, Simkin T (1998) Volcanoes of Indonesia, CD–ROM v. 1.0. Smithsonian Inst Global Volc Prog, Digital Inf Ser, GVP–1.

Jones A, Siebert L, Kimberly P, Luhr J F (2000). Earthquakes and Eruptions: Temporal and spatial display of earthquake hypocenters, seismic–wave paths, and volcanic eruptions, v. 1.0 (CD–ROM). Smithsonian Inst, Global Volc Prog, Digital Inf Ser, GVP–2. (version 2.0 in 2002 and 3.0 in 2006).

Simkin T, Siebert L (2000) Earth’s volcanoes and eruptions: an overview. In: Sigurdsson H (ed) Encyclopedia of Volcanoes, San Diego: Academic Press, p. 249–261.

Simkin T, Siebert L, Blong R (2001) Volcano fatalities: lessons from the historical record. Science, 291: 255.

Siebert L, Simkin T (2002–) Volcanoes of the World: an Illustrated Catalog of Holocene Volcanoes and their Eruptions. Smithsonian Inst, Global Volc Prog Digital Infn Ser, GVP–3, (http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/).

Siebert L, Carrasco–Nuñez G (2002) Late–Pleistocene to precolumbrian behind–the–arc mafic volcanism in the eastern Mexican Volcanic Belt; implications for future hazards. J Volcanol Geotherm Res, 115: 179–205.

Siebert L (2002) Landslides resulting from structural failure of volcanoes: in Evans, SG and De Graff J V, eds., Catastrophic landslides: Effects, Occurrence, and Mechanisms: Geol Soc Amer Rev Eng Geol, 15: 209–235.

Siebert L, Calvin CL, Kimberly P, Luhr JF, Kysar G (2003) Volcanoes of México (CD–ROM) Smithsonian Inst Global Volc Prog, Digital Inf Ser, GVP–6.

Siebert L, Kimberly P, Pullinger CP (2004) The voluminous Acajutla debris avalanche from Santa Ana volcano, western El Salvador, and comparison with other Central American edifice–failure events. in: Rose, WI, Bommer JJ, Lopez DL, Carr MJ, Major JJ (eds), Natural Hazards in El Salvador, Geol Soc Amer Spec Pap, 375: 5–23.

Carrasco–Núñez G, Righter K, Chesley J, Siebert L, Aranda–Gómez J J (2005) Contemporaneous eruption of calc–alkaline and alkaline lavas in a continental arc (Eastern Mexican Volcanic Belt): chemically heterogeneous but isotopically homogeneous source. Contr Mineral Petrol, 150: 423–440.

Siebert L (2005) Collapsing Volcanoes [title unilaterally and incorrectly changed by editors to "Blown Away"]. Natural History, 115(8): 50–55.

Luhr JF, Kimberly P, Siebert L, Aranda–Gómez J, Housh TB, Kysar Mattieti G (2006) México's Quaternary volcanic rocks: Insights from the MEXPET petrological and geochemical database. in: Siebe, C., Macias J L, Aguirre–Díaz G (eds.) Neogene–Quaternary Continental Margin Volcanism: A Perspective from México, Geol Soc Am Spec Pap, 402: 1–44.

Carrasco–Núñez G, Díaz–Castellon R, Siebert L, Hubbard B, Sheridan M., Rodríguez SR (2006) Multiple edifice–collapse events in the Eastern Mexican Volcanic Belt: the role of sloping substrate and implications for hazard assessment. J Volcanol Geotherm Res, 158: 151–176.

Siebert L, Kimberly P, Calvin C, Luhr JF, Kysar Mattietti G (2006) Volcanoes of Central America (CD–ROM). Smithsonian Inst Global Volc Prog, Digital Inf Ser, GVP–7.

Siebert L, Alvarado GE, Vallance JW, van Wyk de Vries B (2006) Large–volume volcanic edifice failures in Central America and associated hazards. in: Rose,WI, Bluth, GJS, Carr MJ, Ewert JW, Patino LC, Vallance JW, (eds.) Volcanic Hazards in Central America. Geol Soc Am Spec Pap, 412: 1–26.