Frank Spera paper is featured on the cover of Geology

The July 2014 issue of journal GEOLOGY features this cover photo of recent research conducted by   UCSB Earth Science Professor Frank J. Spera and former UCSB Earth Science undergraduate  Constance Christensen.The project was a joint endeavor between  UCSB anthropologist Anabel Ford, Spera, Christensen and two researchers from UCLA Kevin Coffey and Axel Schmitt. They have been able to determine that Volcano Ilopango, long thought to be the volcanic source of ash used by Late Classic Maya in the Greater Peten region in pottery fabrication, in fact could not possibly have been the source. Details at http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/42/7/595.abstract and at http://magma.geol.ucsb.edu/ under publications at the latter site.