Staff and Postgraduate Students

Dr Richard Brown

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Lecturer in the Department of Earth Sciences

Telephone: +44 (0) 191 33 42303

Room number: Rm 330

Contact Dr Richard Brown (email at richard.brown3@durham.ac.uk)

1997-01 PhD University of Leicester

2002-04 Vesuvius Volcano Observatory, Naples

2004-08 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol

2008-11 Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The Open University

Department Roles

Coordinator of the Volcanic Margins Research Consortium (www.durham.ac.uk/vmrc)

Research Interests

Volcanology in general, pyroclastic sedimentology, and the mass movement of debris across the Earth's surface following geo-catastrophes. Primarily use field studies of deposits to derive information about emplacement processes. Specifically interested in:

the transport and deposition of tephra by pyroclastic density currents;
basaltic volcanism, effusive and explosive;
volcanic edifice growth and evolution, encompassing all scales from monogenetic cones, to calderas, ocean island volcanoes and large igneous provinces;
aggregation mechanisms in atmospheric dust clouds applied to volcanic eruptions and meteorite impacts;
kimberlite volcanism and conduit processes;
dispersal of ejecta following large meteorite impacts.

Research Groups

Publications

Journal papers: academic

Brown, RJ, Bonadonna, C & Durant, AJ (2012). A review of volcanic ash aggregation. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C 45-46: 65-78.
Brown, RJ, Manya, S, Buisman, I, Fontana, G, Field, M, Niocaill, CM, Sparks, RSJ & Stuart, FM (2012). Eruption of kimberlite magmas: physical volcanology, geomorphology and age of the youngest kimberlitic volcanoes known on earth (the Upper Pleistocene/ Holocene Igwisi Hills volcanoes, Tanzania). Bulletin of Volcanology 74(7): 1621-1643.
Buisman, I., Sparks, S.,, Manya, S.,, Brown, R.J., & Walter, M.J., (2012). Olivine Chemistry of exceptionally young (Holocene) kimberlite of the Igwisi hills volcano, Tanzania.
Gernon, TM Brown, RJ , Tait, M & Hincks, TK (2012). The origin of pelletal lapilli in explosive kimberlite eruptions. Nature Communications 3: 832.
Brown, RJ, Blake, S, Bondre, NR, Phadnis, VM & Self, S (2011). ́Áā lava flows in the Deccan Volcanic Province, India, and their significance for the nature of continental flood basalt eruptions. Bulletin of Volcanology 73(6): 737.
Fontana, G, Mac Nio Caill, C, Brown, RJ, Sparks, RSJ & Field, M (2011). Emplacement temperatures of pyroclastic and volcaniclastic deposits in kimberlite pipes in southern Africa. Bulletin of Volcanology 73(8): 1063.
Branney, MJ & Brown, RJ (2011). Impactoclastic density current emplacement of terrestrial meteorite-impact ejecta and the formation of dust pellets and accretionary lapilli: Evidence from stac fada, Scotland. The Journal of Geology 119(3): 275-292.
Brown, RJ, Branney, MJ,, Maher, C & Davila Harris, PD (2010). Origin of accretionary lapilli within ground-hugging density currents: Evidence from pyroclastic couplets on Tenerife. Geological Society of America Bulletin 122(1-2): 305-320.
Brown RJ, Tait, M, Field, M & Sparks, RSJ (2009). Geology of a complex kimberlite pipe (K2 pipe, Venetia Mine, South Africa): Insights into conduit processes during explosive ultrabasic eruptions. Bulletin of Volcanology 71(1): 95.
Gernon, TM, Fontana, G, Field, M, Sparks, RSJ, Brown, RJ & Mac Nio Caill, C (2009). Pyroclastic flow deposits from a kimberlite eruption: The Orapa South Crater, Botswana. Lithos 112: 566.
Brown, RJ, Gernon, TM, Stiefenhofer, J & Field, M (2008). Geological constraints on the eruption of the Jwaneng Centre kimberlite pipe, Botswana. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 174(1-3): 195.
Brown, RJ, Orsi, G & De Vita, S (2008). New insights into Late Pleistocene explosive volcanic activity and caldera formation on Ischia (southern Italy). Bulletin of Volcanology 70(5): 583.
Brown, RJ, Buse, B, Sparks, RSJ & Field, M (2008). On the welding of pyroclasts from very low-viscosity magmas: examples from kimberlite volcanoes. The Journal of Geology 116(4): 354-374.
Brown, RJ, Field, M, Gernon, TM, Gilbertson, M & Sparks, RSJ (2008). Problems with an in-vent column collapse model for the emplacement of massive volcaniclastic kimberlite. A discussion of 'In-vent column collapse as an alternative model for massive volcaniclastic kimberlite emplacement: An example from the Fox kimberlite, Ekati Diamond Mine, NWT, Canada' by Porritt et al. [J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 174, 90-102]. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 178(4): 847.
Sparks, RSJ, Brown, RJ, Field, M & Gilbertson, M (2007). Kimberlite ascent and eruption. Nature 450(7172): E21.
Brown, RJ, Kavanagh, J, Sparks, RSJ, Tait, M & Field, M (2007). Mechanically disrupted and chemically weakened zones in segmented dike systems cause vent localization: Evidence from kimberlite volcanic systems. Geology 35(9): 815.
Brown, RJ, Kokelaar, BP & Branney, MJ (2007). Widespread transport of pyroclastic density currents from a large silicic tuff ring: The Glaramara tuff, Scafell caldera, English Lake District, UK. Sedimentology 54(5): 1163.
Sparks, RSJ, Baker, L, Brown, RJ, Field, M, Schumacher, J, Stripp, G & Walters, A (2006). Dynamical constraints on kimberlite volcanism. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 155(1-2): 18.
Walters, A, Phillips, JC, Brown, RJ, Field, M, Gernon, TM, Stripp, G & Sparks, RSJ (2006). The role of fluidisation in the formation of volcaniclastic kimberlite: Grain size observations and experimental investigation. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 155(1-2): 119.
Brown, RJ & Branney, MJ (2004). Bypassing and diachronous deposition from density currents: Evidence from a giant regressive bed form in the Poris ignimbrite, Tenerife, Canary Islands. Geology 32(5): 445.
Brown, RJ & Branney, MJ (2004). Event-stratigraphy of a caldera-forming ignimbrite eruption on Tenerife: The 273 ka Poris Formation. Bulletin of Volcanology 66(5).
Brown, RJ, Barry, TL, Branney, MJ,, Pringle, MS & Bryan, SE (2003). The Quaternary pyroclastic succession of southeast Tenerife, Canary Islands: Explosive eruptions, related caldera subsidence, and sector collapse. Geological Magazine 140(3): 265.

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