Silvia Castilla

Silvia Castilla completed her BSc at the National University of Colombia in 2017. Her passion for volcanoes started with her undergraduate thesis, when she studied the Azufral volcano in Colombia under the supervision of Professor Natalia Pardo. To grow as a volcanologist, Silvia joined the Colombian Geological Survey, where she contributed to the new version of the Galeras volcano geological map and co-authored the first methodological guide for volcanic geological mapping in Colombia. In 2021, with the support of a Fulbright Scholarship, Silvia pursued an MSc in Geology at the University of Maryland, College Park, under the supervision of Professor Megan Newcombe. Her study revealed one of the most water-rich magma compositions ever measured, with results published in the Journal of Petrology.

Currently, Silvia is doing her PhD at the University of Toronto, under the supervision of Professor Corliss Sio. Her research aims to improve the accuracy of the diffusion chronometry method—a technique used to determine timescales of pre-eruptive magmatic processes—by using non-traditional stable isotopes. Her project involves measuring the Mg-Fe isotopic composition of olivine crystals from volcanoes around the world to evaluate the most likely source of chemical gradients in volcanic crystals. For her project, Silvia is using cutting-edge instrumentation unique in Canada, which allows high-precision isotope analysis using a femtosecond laser ablation MC-ICPMS. Moreover, she will develop a machine-learning-based geochemical tool based on trace and minor elements that can help to identify diffusion-controlled zoned crystals. To expand the method for more felsic compositions, Silvia will explore Mg isotopes in plagioclase as an alternative crystal clock. Ultimately, her work will address critical challenges in diffusion modelling and will provide new insights to guide future petrology and volcanology studies, contributing to our understanding of volcanic processes.