Alison Koleszar (she/hers)
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akoleszar.bsky.social
Alison Koleszar (she/hers)
@akoleszar.bsky.social
740 followers 930 following 75 posts
Enthusiast of volcanoes, geochemistry, parenting, & pedagogy. Senior Lecturer @ Colgate University. She/her.
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akoleszar.bsky.social
The @colgate.edu BLAST (Bubbles, Lavas, and Silicic Tephras) research group is heading to @iavcei.bsky.social 2025! Come and chat about geochem/componentry/explosivity/grainsize on Monday and Friday afternoons: Poster 1.7.23 (Monday, Koleszar et al) and Poster 3.4.26 (Friday, D'Errico et al).
"Deconvolving the relationship between subtle shifts in geochemistry and dramatic changes in explosivity at Augustine Volcano, Alaska" - The 2006 eruption at Augustine was small (VEI = 3), but coarse pumice deposits record five large, high explosivity (VEI 4-5+) eruptions over the past 2000 years. Higher explosivity eruptions at Augustine are fueled by a greater proportion of high silica andesite (HSA). "Reconstructing eruptive intensity at Augustine Volcano: Tephra stratigraphy and componentry of the 750 ybp Tephra M eruption." Tephra stratigraphy records a recent VEI 5+ eruption at Augustine Volcano.
June 24, 2025 at 6:17 PM
akoleszar.bsky.social
10-year-old kiddo made a pastry ternary, but both parents are geologists so...
a ternary diagram of pastry. The three vertices are "crumbly," "flaky," and "goopy." Written in pencil on white paper.
April 27, 2025 at 12:07 AM
akoleszar.bsky.social
An hour in the woods to battle the Sunday Scaries.
The tips of two cross-country skis in tracks in the snow.
January 19, 2025 at 9:24 PM
akoleszar.bsky.social
woot! Super excited about #volcano science at #IAVCEI this summer. Colgate BLAST (Bubbles, Lavas, and Silicic Tephras) is submitting two abstracts, featuring five @colgateuniversity.bsky.social undergrads plus colleagues from WWU and USGS-AVO!
Screenshot of a registration confirmation. Volcano icon on the left with IAVCEI written under it. On the right is text that says Thank You for Registration.
January 8, 2025 at 2:24 PM
akoleszar.bsky.social
Acquisition of a 3D printer: kiddo was jazzed about articulated dragons/axolotls/fidgets; I was jazzed about bits and bobs for streamlining #lab work! This little green widget means no more juggling tubing while carefully tipping a full 8-gal bucket to siphon water off of sieved tephras. #geology
A green 3D clip attached to the edge of a large white bucket. The clip is holding a length of clear tubing.
January 7, 2025 at 12:11 AM
akoleszar.bsky.social
Loaf pans of data! Looks like a unimodal normal distribution for this tephra sub-layer (c. 750-year-old pumice from Augustine #Volcano).
Nine foil pans of light gray tephra, arranged in size from biggest to smallest. The middle size fractions are the most abundant.
January 6, 2025 at 8:25 PM
akoleszar.bsky.social
Kiddo's version of a #GreatShakeOut infographic to illustrate the importance of Drop-Cover-Hold On - perhaps not as elegant as the real infographics, but still gets the point across for #earthquake #hazards 😂
November 17, 2024 at 10:02 PM
akoleszar.bsky.social
I'm a #volcano person, but my classes this semester are currently doing aqueous & soft rock #geology. Side quests are fun (road salt in waterways! lobe-finned fish go terrestrial!), but back to #tephra soon! Pic: 2024 on Augustine Volcano w/ @colgateuniversity.bsky.social undergrads & WWU colleagues
four geologists look at a tephra deposit with their backs to the camera, one geologist uses a shovel to dig in the deposit
November 17, 2024 at 9:49 PM
akoleszar.bsky.social
My general strategy for programming in R:
If task x takes y minutes to do manually, grumble about it for at least a year before spending the 1-2 hours automating it in R. I've found this strategy holds true for all values of y...
a screenshot of code in R.
November 16, 2024 at 8:03 PM
akoleszar.bsky.social
CNY hard water says: "you gotta pass through the CaCO3 divide first!" 😂
(does the 240 ppm Na+ in softened water meaningfully change IAP?)

(flow chart from Babel & Schreiber 2014)
flow chart for chemical pathways for evaporite concentration, where the second level is the CaCO3 divide
November 14, 2024 at 12:43 PM
akoleszar.bsky.social
Data wrangling (extremely common in geochem!) and taste-testing (extremely uncommon in geochem!) - students in Colgate Univ GEOL303: Geochemistry are comparing 12 different “sea” salts. Samples queued up for analysis on the ion chromatograph. Data soon!
Ion chromatography instrument with round turret of sample tubes and 12 vials of dissolved sea salt samples.
November 13, 2024 at 6:13 PM
akoleszar.bsky.social
An analytical bingo: powder the rocks, weigh the rocks, dissolve the rocks, dilute the rocks, then realize there are PRECISELY enough samples to completely fill a single sample tray.
Similar life events: a chips-and-salsa coincidence, a shampoo-and-conditioner serendipity. #geology #geoscience ⚒️🌋
Sixty clear sample tubes, perfectly filling a single sample tray. A sample probe collects solution from the fourth tube.
January 8, 2024 at 3:03 PM
akoleszar.bsky.social
Grading Pup is weary.
A large black and white dog snoozes on a couch with two stacks of exams that are being graded. (Exam pages are shaded out for student privacy).
December 19, 2023 at 5:16 PM
akoleszar.bsky.social
Kiddo got a "diamond painting" kit so we gave it a try and... this skill set is hilariously reminiscent of picking mineral separates for melt inclusions/in situ geochemistry. I'll let him finish a few more of these Pokémon, then it's straight to the lab to pick some plag!
#geology #geochemistry ⚒️ 🌋
A photograph of a child's hands making a "diamond painting" by placing small plastic dots onto a sticker in the shape of a Pokémon.
November 27, 2023 at 8:57 PM
akoleszar.bsky.social
Successful day of cooking adventures in the lab! Sample digestions (dissolving rocks in hot acid— definitely cooking!), working on the ICP-MS (plasma *definitely* cooks), and calibrating the ion chromatograph (okay “cooking” is a stretch for this one).

#geology #geoscience ⚒️ 🌋
Control pad on the left heating 48 Teflon beakers in a heating block on the right. Inside a hood in a clean lab. View through the safety glass of the ICP-MS, showing the glowing plasma coming through the torch. Round autosampler containing vials of solutions for analysis.
November 22, 2023 at 11:04 PM
akoleszar.bsky.social
This little float is convinced there’s a water leak. But there’s no water leak. Come on, little float. Work with me here.
Photograph of a white foam float (a leak sensor) in a dry, gray reservoir inside a piece of equipment.
November 11, 2023 at 11:05 PM
akoleszar.bsky.social
Seeing the innards of the mass spec is usually a sign that the mass spec isn’t doing the desired mass spec-y things 😐

#geology ⚒️🌋
November 11, 2023 at 11:03 PM
akoleszar.bsky.social
It’s Family Weekend at @colgateuniversity.bsky.social ! Come join the Dept of Earth & Environmental Geosciences (EEGS) today— neat rocks, volcanic eruptions, thermal cameras, and fun!
Flyer announcing family weekend events from 11am-1pm
October 28, 2023 at 1:20 PM
akoleszar.bsky.social
Awesome #GSA2023 poster presentations yesterday from @colgateuniversity.bsky.social Jessica Zehner and Jessie Farrell!

⚒️ 🌋 #geology #geoscience
Photo of student in front of poster presentation Photo of student in front of poster presentation
October 17, 2023 at 12:32 PM
akoleszar.bsky.social
Tomorrow (Monday)!! Come to #GSA2023 posters #260-261 to learn about the explosive personality of Augustine Volcano, presented by awesome undergrads from @colgateuniversity.bsky.social ! We’ll be there until 6pm— come visit us after the afternoon volc talks!
#geology #geoscience ⚒️ 🌋
“Tephra size and composition reveal the recently explosive personality of Augustine Volcano” Reconstructed observation of a 1100 ybp eruption shows that explosivity increased after an influx of mafic magma.
October 15, 2023 at 11:49 PM
akoleszar.bsky.social
Hey there, #GSA2023 attendees! A canceled/merged session means we're reassigned to the ophiolite posters... Come see recent @colgateuniversity.bsky.social alum Jessica Zehner present awesome research about Augustine Volcano's Tephra C! (Poster 260, Monday afternoon) #geology 🌋 ⚒️
Preview of a scientific poster, with large text reading "Reconstructed observation of a 1,100 ybp eruption shows that explosivity increased after an influx of mafic magma."
October 10, 2023 at 7:50 PM
akoleszar.bsky.social
Hey there, #GSA2023 attendees! A canceled/merged session means we got reassigned to the ophiolite posters... Come see @colgateuniversity.bsky.social undergrad Jessie Farrell present some awesome research on the explosive personality of Augustine Volcano! (Poster 261, Monday afternoon) #geology ⚒️ 🌋
Preview of a research poster with large headline text, "Tephra size and composition reveal the recently explosive personality of Augustine volcano."
October 10, 2023 at 6:58 PM
akoleszar.bsky.social
Cruising around on the SEM always feels like a video game. Looking for microlites in pumice from Augustine Volcano, Alaska! Part of BLAST research (bubbles, lavas, and silicic tephras) at @colgateuniversity.bsky.social 🌋

#geology ⚒️
September 28, 2023 at 11:54 AM
akoleszar.bsky.social
Afternoon class got even more spaghetti’ed.
#geology
🌋 ⚒️
September 14, 2023 at 6:53 PM
akoleszar.bsky.social
As we transition between topics in #geoscience course “Sustainable Earth,” time for students to make concept maps of what we’ve tackled so far! This one is incomplete, just part of the in-class brainstorming process…
⚒️🌋
A white board with a concept map of geoscience topics and the connections between them
September 14, 2023 at 5:17 PM