Nick Meszaros

About me

My specialties within the geosciences are volcanology and igneous petrology. I am fascinated by how magmas form and the processes through which volcanic eruptions occur. Sharing my enjoyment in interpreting the geologic stories recorded in the chemical composition, textures, and mineral assemblages of rocks with others through teaching is my favorite part about being a volcanologist/petrologist. Some of my favorite field sites I have visited are active volcanoes in New Zealand, Valles caldera in New Mexico for my PhD research, and the exhumed remnants of billion year old magma bodies in Texas and Missouri.

Education

-Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin
-B.A., DePauw University

Scholarly interest

My research focuses on unraveling how magma bodies form, change, and erupt. I investigate magmatic systems primarily from geochemical and petrographic perspectives, but am also interested in using geochronological techniques to improve volcanic eruption records. A key component of my research is to use silicate mineral and melt compositions to reconstruct the pre-eruptive storage pressure and temperature of magma bodies, as well as trace their compositional evolution through processes like fractional crystallization and magma mixing. One of my future research aims is to use mineral compositions in ignimbrites from exhumed volcanic-plutonic complexes to help identify sources from which melt was extracted to form large silicic magma bodies.

Published works

Meszaros, N.F., Gardner, J.E., Zimmerer, M.J., and Befus, K.S., 2023, The final 10 kyr of magma storage preceding the last caldera-forming eruption of the Bandelier magmatic system, New Mexico, USA: Journal of Petrology, v. 64, no. 10, doi: egad067.

Meszaros, N., Subedi, B., Stammets, T., and Shifa, N., 2017, Assessment of surface water
contamination from coalbed methane fracturing derived volatile contaminants in Sullivan County, Indiana, USA: Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, v. 99, no. 3, p. 385-390, doi:0.1007/s00128-017-2139-x.