Beneath the Surface

Unraveling Earth’s Hidden Plumbing with Volcanologist Meredith Townsend

While many associate volcanology with the dramatic spectacle of erupting lava and rugged fieldwork, geoscientist Meredith Townsend is approaching volcanoes from another perspective—one that is focused, methodical, and deeply analytical. Specializing in the internal processes that govern volcanic activity, Townsend’s research centers not on eruptions as they happen, but on the underlying systems that drive them — the movement of magma beneath the surface and the ways in which these dynamics interact with broader planetary forces.

Part of Townsend’s research begins far from the drama of live eruptions. Instead, she often works in regions where volcanoes have long gone quiet—extinct giants whose subterranean "plumbing systems" are now visible thanks to erosion. Townsend, an assistant professor of Earth and environmental sciences, studies regions where mountains have been worn down over millennia, revealing the hardened pathways once carved by ascending magma.

Read the full story on the College of Arts and Sciences News.