Kristina Walowski, PhD
She/Her/Hers, Assistant Professor of Geology
Office
Location
ES 438
About
As a geochemist and volcanologist, I utilize melt inclusions (tiny blobs of magma trapped in crystals), minerals, and the physical properties of volcanic materials to study a variety of magmatic processes from magma reservoir evolution and eruption dynamics, to mantle melting and the chemical evolution of Earth's interior. I teach courses in Mineralogy, Igneous Petrology, Geochemistry, and Volcanology, but also really enjoy teaching Field Geology, Natural Hazards, and Tectonics! To learn more, head to my website.
Are you a student interested in research opportunities? Email me (walowski@wwu.edu) to learn about the graduate and undergraduate positions currently available in my lab!
Recent Publications:
Walowski, K. J., Kirstein, L., de Hoog, C.J., Elliot, T., Savov, I., Devey., C. (Accepted, 2021). Boron recycling in the mantle: Evidence from a global comparison of ocean island basalts. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.
Befus, K.S., Walowski, K.J., Hervig, R.L., Cullen, J.T. (2020). Hydrogen Isotope Composition of a Large Silicic Magma Reservoir Preserved in Quartz‐Hosted Glass Inclusions of the Bishop Tuff Plinian Eruption. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 21(12), e2020GC009358.
Bekaert, D.V., Turner, S.J., Broadley, M.W., Barnes, J.D., Halldórson, S.A., Labidi, J., Wade, J., Walowski, K.J., Barry, P.H. (2020). Subduction-driven volatile recycling: a global mass-balance. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 49.
**Hollyday, A. E., **Leiter, S. H., & Walowski, K. J. (2020). Pre-eruptive storage, evolution, and ascent timescales of a high-Mg basaltic andesite in the southern Cascade Arc. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 175(9), 1-21.
Black, B., Mittal, T., **Lingo, F., Walowski, K. J., *Hernandez, A. (2020). Assessing the environmental consequences of lava-water interactions during Large Igneous Province emplacement. In Environmental Effects of Large Igneous Provinces: the Deadly Kiss of LIPs (Ch. 5, pp. 113-128). AGU Books.
Walowski, K. J., Wallace, P. J., Cashman, K.V., Clynne, M. A., Ruprecht, P., Marks, J.K. (2019). Understanding melt evolution and the magmatic plumbing system at Cinder Cone, Lassen Volcanic National Park, California: Insights from olivine-hosted melt inclusions. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 106665.
Walowski, K. J., Kirstein, L., de Hoog, C.J., Elliot, T., Savov, I., Jones, R.(2019). Investigating ocean island mantle source heterogeneity with B isotopes in melt inclusions. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 508, 97-108.
Dixon, J. E., Bindeman, I. N., Kingsley, R. H., Simons, K. K., le Roux, P. J., Hajewski, T. R., Swart, P., Langmuir, C.H., Ryan, J.G., Walowski, K.J., Wada I., Wallace, P.J. (2017). Light Stable Isotopic Compositions of Enriched Mantle Sources: Resolving the Dehydration Paradox. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. 18(11), 3801-3839.
Walowski, K. J., Wallace, P.J., Clynne, M.A., **Rasmussen, D.J., & D. Weis (2016). Slab melting and magma formation beneath the southern Cascade Arc. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 446, 100-112.
Walowski, K. J., Wallace, P. J., Hauri, E. H., Wada, I., & Clynne, M. A. (2015). Slab melting beneath the Cascade Arc driven by dehydration of altered oceanic peridotite. Nature Geoscience, 8(5), 404-408.
*indicates graduate student author
**indicates undergraduate student author
Research Interests
- Ocean island basalt geochemistry and mantle evolution
- Stable isotope geochemistry
- Arc magma petrogenesis and subduction zone processes
- Magmatic plumbing system evolution
- Magmatic timescales and diffusion chronometry
- Melt inclusion geochemistry
- Tephra stratigraphy and volcanic eruption dynamics
- Lunar mantle geochemistry