May 9, 2003
Contact: Dr. Lisa Ely (509-963-2177/fax 509-963-2821/e-mail: ely@geology.cwu.edu)
ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Central Washington University graduate
student Steven L. Slaughter is one of just three students nationwide to
receive a 2003 “Jack Kleinman Volcano Research Grants Program” award.
The nationally competitive program is administered by the U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS). Slaughter, 29, from Auburn, is pursuing a
master’s degree in geological sciences at CWU.
The grants are intended to perpetuate and memorialize the
attributes embodied by Jack Kleinman, a USGS employee who died in a
kayaking accident in 1994.
They are available to graduate students conducting research
in volcanology, preferably in the Cascade Range, Aleutian volcanic arc,
Hawaii, Yellowstone, Wyo., or Long Valley, Calif., calderas.
USGS evaluates applications and provides scientific oversight for the
program, which is administered by the Community Foundation of Southwest
Washington.
Slaughter, under the direction of Dr. Lisa Ely, CWU
geological science professor, and in collaboration with Kevin Scott at
the USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory, is involved in a research
project titled “Debris flows from glacial outburst floods of Chocolate
Glacier, Glacier Peak volcano, north Cascades: Origin, behavior, risk
assessment, and correlation with global warming.”
“Stephen is an enthusiastic and motivated student, and is
excited about taking on this thesis research project,” Ely says. “His
enthusiasm is infectious and it comes through clearly in his
interactions with faculty, fellow graduate students and the
undergraduate students in the labs he teaches.”
During his project, Slaughter will investigate four debris
flows in the Cascade Range associated with glaciers: the 1987 Tahoma
and 1947 Kautz Glacier debris flows at Mount Rainier, the 1927 Deming
Glacier debris flow at Mount Baker and the 1938 Chocolate Glacier
debris flow at Glacier Peak.
While the 1987, 1947 and 1927 debris flows are well documented, the1938
Chocolate Glacier debris flow has not been studied in any detail.
Slaughter will conduct a field reconnaissance study of the
source area in the Glacier Peak Wilderness, including an investigation
of historical accounts, analysis of aerial photos and precise tree
dating to assess the influence of climate, drainage slope, valley
topography and vegetation coverage on the initiation and mobility of
debris flows that result from glacial outburst floods.
The goal is to further knowledge of debris flows that were
initiated by outburst floods from retreating alpine glaciers that
shrank as a result of global warming, and identify factors that could
create a risk of future outburst floods and debris flows at other
similar glaciers in the Cascades.
