A new geologic hazards facility at the University of Buffalo is going to be built within the next decade in order to study volcanic activity. The facility is still in the planning stages at this point. One of the first areas that the facility plans to study is on volcanic processes to help interpret the geologic record. The study of the formation of craters and the structures beneath them could prove to yield economic resources. Diamonds are found underneath certain types of craters!!!
Research would also be done on pyroclastic flows. These flows are not completely understood because the flows are explosive and unpredictable in nature. Measurements are hard to take as a result. The facility would study these flows with an experimental field station.
There will be an emphasis on the study of volcanoes because there is a gap between other geological hazards experimentally. The facility plans to broaden to other geological hazards.
