Austin Arias

GMPV Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology

The 2022 Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award is awarded to Austin Arias for the poster/PICO entitled:

Multidimensional Analysis of Serpentinite Dehydration Networks and Implications for Volatile Flux in Subduction Zones (Arias, A.; Beinlich, A.; Eberhard, L.; Scambelluri, M.; Plümper, O.)

Austin Arias is a Ph.D. candidate in the Structural Geology group at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. He is working on understanding devolitization processes in subduction zone environments using generative machine learning models. His current research is focused on serpentinite dehydration and investigating what drives the formation of dehydration vein networks in serpentinite and how it can help us quantify volatile fluxes in subduction zones.

The work presented demonstrates the current limitations of generative machine learning models on their applications to geologic media. Currently, 2D to 3D generative models show promise in their applications to isotropic media, however when applied to material where the internal geometry is unknown (e.g., outcrops), they fail to characterize the material’s anisotropy. Thus, the aim of the work is to develop a model that can successfully generate representative structures of geologic material using limited surficial data.