The International Association for Volcanology and Chemistry of the
Earth's Interior (IAVCEI) was formed following the end of World War I at
the inaugural general assembly (GA) of the International Research Council in
Brussels in 1919, where the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) was constituted. IAVCEI was then known as the
Section for Volcanology (SV) and was one of six scientific disciplines that
made up IUGG. The first president of IAVCEI (or SV) was Annibale Riccò
(Italy), its first two vice presidents were Alfred Lacroix (France) and
Henry Washington (USA), and the first secretary-general (SG) was Alessandro
Malladra (Italy). A secretariat office for SV was established in Naples,
Italy, following the first IUGG and SV General Assembly in 1922, in Rome,
Italy. At that meeting SV established its own scientific journal called
Key personnel responsible for the formation of IAVCEI.
At the end of World War I in 1918, representatives of national academies from the allied nations held meetings in London and Paris to establish the International Research Council (IRC). At the first IRC General Assembly in Brussels in 1919, it was decided that the International Astronomical Union and the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics would be established (IUGG; Lyons, 1919; Ismail-Zadeh, 2016). IUGG was thus constituted in July 1919 in Brussels, and it brought together several geoscientific disciplines that had existed as independent scientific organisations prior to World War I – geodesy, terrestrial magnetism and electricity, meteorology, physical oceanography, and seismology (Ismail-Zadeh, 2016). Volcanology was also included, even though it does not appear to have had a formal international organisational presence prior to this. These scientific disciplines of IUGG were initially called “Sections” (of IUGG). The International Association for Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI) was therefore initially called the Section of Volcanology (SV) of IUGG when it became constitutionally legitimate in 1919 (Gasparini and Johnson, 1995). The first general assembly of IUGG, and of SV (IAVCEI), was held in Rome, Italy, in 1922.
This article traces the evolution of IAVCEI, its governance and activities for its first 100 years as an international learned society or association, from 1919 to 2019.
The movers and shakers who are credited with establishing the Section for
Volcanology in IUGG in 1919 are Annibale Riccò (Italy), Alfred Lacroix
(France), Henry S. Washington (USA) and Alessandro Malladra (Italy; Fig. 1;
Gasparini and Johnson, 1995). Annibale Riccò (Fig. 1a) was a celebrated
Italian astronomer, with interests in other natural sciences, including
seismology. He served as an astronomer at the universities of Modena;
Naples, Palermo, and at the time of appointment, Catania (all in Italy).
Alfred Lacroix (Fig. 1b) was a French volcanologist at the Museum of Natural
History in Paris and was most famous for his account of the 1902 eruption of
Mount Pelée, which killed
At that inaugural general assembly of the International Research Council in Brussels, Belgium, in 1919, where IUGG was formed as a union of six disciplinary sections, Annibale Riccò was elected as the first president of the Section for Volcanology (SV), Alfred Lacroix and Henry Washington were elected vice presidents, and Alessandro Malladra was elected as secretary-general (SG). The process is not clear, but presumably it was by the consensus of the shakers and movers involved in setting up SV. Sadly, Riccò died after only 2 months into his term as president. Lacroix took over the duties of president de facto but was not formally installed as president until the first IUGG General Assembly in Rome, Italy, in 1922, at which Washington was elected vice president and Malladra was confirmed as secretary-general.
At the 1922 IUGG General Assembly, SV decided to establish a bureau or
office for the section in Naples, Italy, where Malladra was based. In his
capacity as secretary-general, Malladra also oversaw the introduction of
IAVCEI's first scientific conference or meeting, where scientists from several countries presented their research, volcanological issues were discussed and reports on significant recent volcanic eruptions were presented, was part of the first IUGG General Assembly held in Rome in 1922. The number of participants was not recorded, but representatives from Belgium, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA participated in IAVCEI's first general assembly (Gasparini and Johnson, 1995). At the 4th IUGG General Assembly in Stockholm, Sweden, it was decided to rename the IUGG Sections as Associations (Gasparini and Johnson, 1995), which was implemented at the 5th IUGG General Assembly in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1933 (Ismail-Zadeh, 2016). SV thus became the International Association for Volcanology (IAV) in 1933. At the 14th IUGG General Assembly in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1967, IAV was renamed IAVCEI in recognition of the importance of geochemistry and geochronology in understanding volcanic processes (Gasparini and Johnson, 1995).
Since 1922, IAVCEI has held regular major scientific meetings about every 2 years.
The meetings held in conjunction with IUGG General Assemblies were
called IAVCEI General Assemblies (GAs; where business and scientific
meetings were held); these were held every 2–3 years, and since 1963, they
have been held every 4 years, except during World War II (see
IAVCEI is managed by an elected committee called the IAVCEI Executive
Committee. The principal office bearers of IAVCEI have been its presidents
and secretaries-general (the latter is also the treasurer). In addition, a
committee, variously consisting of one or, more recently, two
vice presidents and four other members, provides advice and help in the
decision-making process. Together with the president, secretary-general and
immediate past president ex officio, they constitute the executive committee of
IAVCEI. The current committee is listed on the IAVCEI website (
The IAVCEI Executive Committee is now elected by IAVCEI members in the
months before each IAVCEI general assembly, after an open call for
nominations from IAVCEI members. The election is conducted by an election
oversight committee appointed by the president, and is usually chaired by the
past president, two terms earlier. The editor of the
Prior to 1995, candidates for the IAVCEI committees were identified
following enquiries by the outgoing executive committee about suitable
candidates who were representative of the IAVCEI community worldwide. In
1995, under the presidency of Grant Heiken, the IAVCEI Executive Committee
introduced personal membership in order to develop a stronger sense of
community; to help raise funds for the many meetings and workshops that
IAVCEI organised every year, which could not be adequately funded by annual
budget allocations from IUGG; and to provide a sounder financial base for
publication of the
Unfortunately, this meant that while IUGG adhered to its statutes, IAVCEI executive committees could be declared illegitimate by IUGG if it chose. To overcome this constitutional impasse, the IAVCEI Executive Committee of 2011–2015 undertook a hard, and again at times tense, campaign to convince IUGG and its other member associations of the merits of allowing associations to introduce individual membership, the charging of membership fees and democratisation of the elections of association executive committees, if they so wished. This involved allowing all registered members, irrespective of country of residence, to be eligible to nominate candidates, to be nominated as a candidate and to participate in the election of the committees. At one stage, IAVCEI considered seceding from IUGG if these basic democratic principles were not agreed to. The proposal was overwhelmingly supported by the IUGG Council at its meeting at the IUGG General Assembly in Prague, given that two other associations also already had a form of personal membership in place, demonstrating that attitudes on personal membership in IUGG were changing. In addition, IAVCEI demonstrated that it was by far the most active association in IUGG in terms of conferences, workshops and short courses, which it could only do using funding generated by personal membership fees.
The only position now on the IAVCEI Executive Committee that must be filled by a representative from an IUGG financial member country is the president. This was a concession to IUGG, since the finances of IUGG, and thus the associations, which all receive an annual monetary allocation from IUGG, are all derived from the subscriptions paid to IUGG by member countries and from the budgets of the national academies of science of those countries. The perceived benefits of being a country member of IUGG is the right to contribute to the formulation of scientific policy at an international level through IUGG and then through the International Council for Science (ICSU), now called the International Science Council (ISC).
From 1995 to 2011, the election of the IAVCEI Executive Committee was conducted by hard-copy ballot papers and snail mail. The elections of the 2011–2015 and 2015–2019 IAVCEI committees were successfully conducted online.
Gasparini and Johnson (1995) note that statutes (or constitution) for the International Association for Volcanology (IAV) were adopted at the general assembly in Helsinki, Finland, in 1960. It is assumed that prior to this IAV Statutes mirrored those of IUGG, although information on this is invited from readers. Following these 1960 statutes, IAV's scientific activities were managed through four sections, namely active volcanoes, volcano-physics, physics and chemistry of magmas, and paleovolcanology, and the presidents of these were members of the IAV Bureau. At the IUGG General Assembly in Zurich in 1967, IAV became IAVCEI, and more flexible working groups on topical research themes were introduced to replace the more rigid sections. There was then a further revision of IAVCEI's statutes at the 1979 IUGG General Assembly, in which “Working Groups were replaced by Commissions and Task Groups, the former having the aim of promoting and co-ordinating scientific activity on large themes on a permanent basis, the latter being focussed on temporary problems or on frontier areas of volcanological research” (Gasparini and Johnson, 1995).
In 1995 at the IAVCEI General Assembly in Boulder, USA, and again in revised
statutes passed at the 2011 IAVCEI General Assembly in Melbourne, Australia,
the concept of individual scientists becoming “affiliates” of IAVCEI and
making “donations” were introduced. At the 2015 IAVCEI General Assembly in
Prague, Czech Republic, the concept of membership for scientists from all
countries, involving fee payment, was included in revised statutes, which
are available on the IAVCEI website:
IAVCEI has organised major conferences since 1922, interrupted only during World War II, and now has three regular major conferences.
Since 1922, IAVCEI's general assemblies have been held in conjunction with the IUGG general assemblies. General assemblies serve as both scientific research meetings where new research is presented in a series of symposia and workshops and as business meetings where new committees are inducted and awards for research excellence are presented and celebrated. GAs also allow for joint interdisciplinary research symposia with other IUGG associations. The timing, locations and known numbers of delegates from all IUGG associations attending the IAVCEI–IUGG general assemblies can be found in the Supplement.
IAVCEI's scientific assembly conferences, which occur between the general assemblies, seem to have only commenced in 1977 and have been held roughly every 4 years since then (see the Supplement for the timing, locations and known numbers of delegates). At scientific assemblies IAVCEI organises an in-house stand-alone scientific conference with emphasis on research, including a celebration of research achievements through presentation of research awards. In addition, there have been some “irregular” meetings, called Volcanological Congresses, which are also listed with scientific assemblies.
IAVCEI's Commission on Cities and Volcanoes has now organised 10 CoV conferences. These tend to cater more to consideration of volcanic hazard, eruption monitoring and civil response issues than the general and scientific assemblies (see the Supplement for the timing, and locations of CoV conferences). In addition, IAVCEI research commissions have organised many other conferences, workshops and field workshops all over the world, making IAVCEI one of the most active associations in IUGG.
Since very early in its history, IAVCEI has produced its own journal, called
Two versions of the cover of
The source of funding to support publication of
For over 40 years, from 1924 to 1966, the secretary-general was also the
editor of
In 1986
These are the unsung heroes of IAVCEI. Their efforts, as volunteers, in
managing the publication of research by the volcanological community on
behalf of IAVCEI have long been undervalued. Until this compilation, IAVCEI
did not even have a consolidated record of the who editors of Alessandro Malladra (Italy; also SG; 1924–1936) Francesco Signore (Italy; also SG; 1936–1959) Francesco Penta (Italy; also SG; 1959–1966) F. Esu Cugusi (Italy) – G. Marinelli (Italy; 1967) F. Esu Cugusi (Italy) – (Italy; 1968–1975) Franco Barberi (Italy) – F. Esu Cugusi (Italy; 1976–1984) Hans-Ulrich Schmincke (Germany; also SG) – Steve Sparks (UK; 1986–1989) Hans-Ulrich Schmincke (Germany; also SG) – Gail Mahood (USA; 1990–1992) Hans-Ulrich Schmincke (Germany; also SG; 1993–1995) Don Swanson (USA) – Chris Newhall (USA; 1996–1999) Tim Druitt (France) – Jean-François Lénat (France; 2000–2003) John Stix (Canada) - Jean-François Lénat (France; 2004) John Stix (Canada) – JR Clark (Canada; 2005–2010) James White (New Zealand) – Linda White (New Zealand; 2011–2016) Andrew Harris (France) – Frances van Wyk de Vries (France; 2017–date of publication).
In addition, the countless members of the editorial board and reviewers of
From 1924 to 2013
An initial aim of IAVCEI when it was first formed in 1919–1922 was to
establish a record of all the known active volcanoes around the world
(Gasparini and Johnson, 1995). However, little was done until 1947, when William Q. Kennedy (UK) and James E. Richey (UK) published a first attempt to catalogue and
produce a map of the volcanoes of the world as a supplement in Volume 7 of
Subsequently, the United States Geological Survey has produced a catalogue of historically active volcanoes of Alaska (Miller et al., 1998).
Up until 1975 all reports of volcanic activity were published by national
museum of the Smithsonian Institute as a monthly bulletin, Tom Simkin, Lee Siebert, L. McClelland, D. Bridge, Chris Newhall
and John Latter (1981) Tom Simkin, Lee Siebert and L. McClelland (1994) Lee Siebert, Tom Simkin and Paul Kimberly (2011).
These represent the periodic summaries of those monthly reports under the
Global Volcanism Program. The information is summarised and organised as
visible data archives online (
The Smithsonian Institution Museum of Natural History also now provides a
constantly updated online catalogue of volcanoes of the world through
their Global Volcanism Program (GVP;
In 1961 the Volcanological Society of Japan undertook a programme to record
annually the eruptions and locations for each year by collecting the data on
eruptions from volcano observatories around the world. Their reports were
appended to volumes of
In addition, the Smithsonian Institution GVP, in collaboration with the United States Geological Survey, Arizona State University, Portland State University and IAVCEI, releases a weekly email report (VOLCANO: Smithsonian–USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report) that summarises the activity level, eruption events and crisis management status for volcanoes worldwide that are currently active or in a state of unrest. This report is distributed through an email news service called Volcano Listserv, which was initiated by Arizona State University under the stewardship of Jonathan Fink in 1984. It continues to provide this service to the volcanological community through the collaboration of the organisations mentioned and also through disseminating information about meetings and news raised by members.
In addition to
Research commissions are now an integral part of the fabric of all IUGG Associations. They consist of groups of scientists who have a common interest in a particular research theme or problem. IAVCEI has a large number of commissions, most of whom are active, organising their own workshops and symposia as parts of IAVCEI's major conferences as well as independently between IAVCEI's major conferences.
Prior to the advent of research commissions in 1979, IAVCEI had rigid sections from 1960 to 1967, covering the fields of active volcanoes, volcano-physics, physics and chemistry of magmas, and paleovolcanology (Gasparini and Johnson, 1995). In 1967, when IAV became IAVCEI, more flexible working groups on topical research themes were introduced to replace sections, and these were changed to commissions and task groups in 1979. According to Gasparini and Johnson (1995), the aim of commissions was to promote and co-ordinate scientific activity on large themes on a permanent basis, whereas task groups would focus “on temporary problems or on frontier areas of volcanological research” over a finite period (Gasparini and Johnson, 1995).
In recent decades, all commissions and working and/or task groups have had a finite life depending on their level of activity, especially the leadership of these groups. Working and/or task groups have addressed specific issues and then ceased to operate (e.g. 2013 to 2015 IAVCEI Task Group on Crisis Protocols, led by Guido Giordano – Italy), which produced guidelines on the responsibilities, roles and liabilities of scientists involved in volcanic event management. Some commissions have become defunct or been decommissioned or resurrected under new leadership after some time of inactivity, and so the nature and themes of commissions have changed. Unfortunately, IAVCEI has not kept records, but an attempt to record the commissions and their leaders in IAVCEI's past is being made and will be summarised when completed on the IAVCEI website and included in IAVCEI's centenary booklet to be released at the 2019 IUGG General Assembly in Montréal, Canada.
One of the first thematic areas of research or investigation (an informal
commission or working group) undertaken by IAVCEI when it was first formed
was one on submarine volcanism, focussing largely, but not exclusively, on
activity in the Indonesian archipelago, then part of the Dutch East Indies.
There were regular reports in
In addition to collaborating in the organisation of inter-association
symposia at each IUGG general assembly, IAVCEI also contributes to
activities of the following IUGG Union Commissions:
Climatic and Environmental Change (CCEC) Mathematical Geophysics (CMG) Geophysical Risk and Sustainability (GRC) Study of the Earth's Deep Interior (SEDI) Data and Information (UCDI) Planetary Sciences (UCPS). Joint Tsunami Commission International Heat Flow Commission Commission on Physics and Chemistry of Earth Materials Commission on Volcano Seismology and Acoustics Working Group on Electromagnetic Studies of Earthquake and Volcanoes (EMSEV) Commission on Volcano-Ice Interaction.
In addition, it contributes to the activities of the following inter-association
commissions:
In 2013 IAVCEI instigated an early career research network to cater to the needs of postgraduate students, postdoctoral researchers and early career academics in establishing contacts and networks of like minds early in their careers. By engaging with the Early Career Researcher (ECR) Group and giving them a visible status in IAVCEI, the executive committee of IAVCEI wanted to establish a communication link with ECRs to help them develop a better understanding of how engaging in IAVCEI conferences and workshops would be beneficial to their careers. A successful scoping workshop was held at the 2013 Kagoshima IAVCEI General Assembly in Japan, together with another at the 2015 Prague General Assembly in the Czech Republic, followed by an evening ECR dinner to which a number of older scientists were invited as mentors. In 2018, the ECR Network Group has been invited to develop a new logo for IAVCEI, and ECR events are being planned for the 2019 Montreal Centenary General Assembly. The prime movers to help instigate the IAVCEI ECR network were Charlotte Vie (UK) and Sam Poppe (Belgium).
In the latter half of its history IAVCEI introduced several awards to recognise outstanding scholarly and professional achievements.
The first IAVCEI award, introduced in 1975, was for excellence in research.
It was named the Wager Medal after Lawrence Rickard Wager (1904–1965), a petrologist at Oxford
University, most famous for his seminal research on the petrological
architecture and origins of the massive Skaergaard layered intrusive complex
in Greenland. Although originally awarded every 4 years through a
collaboration with the Royal Society of London, “the medal is (now) given
every two years (i.e. at both Scientific and General Assemblies), to a
scientist up to 15 years after Ph.D acquisition, who has made outstanding
contributions to volcanology, particularly in the 8-year period prior to
the Award” (IAVCEI website). Multiple nominations are usually received in
each round. A list of past awardees can be found at the IAVCEI web page:
In 1987 IAVCEI introduced the Thorarinsson Medal sponsored by the Geological Society of
Iceland. Named after the famous Icelandic volcanologist Sigurdur
Thorarinsson (1912–1983), the award is made “every four years at the IAVCEI
Scientific Assembly to a scientist of outstanding distinction who has made
fundamental contributions to research in volcanology” (IAVCEI website). A
list of past awardees can be found at the IAVCEI web page:
The Krafft Medal, introduced in 2004, is named after the French husband-and-wife team
Maurice and Katia Krafft, who were tragically killed by a block and ash flow
during an eruption of Mount Unzen in Japan in 1991, together with another
volcanologist, Harry Glicken, and 40 people from the media. The medal is
sponsored through a trust fund established by the Krafft family and “is
awarded every 4 years at the IAVCEI Scientific Assembly to an individual who
has made outstanding contributions to volcanology through service to the
scientific community or to communities threatened by volcanic activity. The
Krafft Medal honours those who have shown altruism and dedication to the
humanitarian and applied sides of volcanology and those who have made
selfless contributions to the volcanological community” (IAVCEI website). A
list of past awardees can be found at the IAVCEI web page:
This award honours George P. L. Walker, originally from the UK, whose largely
field-based research modernised and pioneered a quantitative approach to
understanding volcanic eruptions, especially explosive eruptions. The award
was introduced in 2004 and “is given every two years to a scientist up to 7
years after Ph.D acquisition. The award recognises achievements of a recent
outstanding graduate in the fields of research encompassed by IAVCEI, or
also a recent graduate whose achievements in volcanology involved operating
in difficult circumstances” (IAVCEI website, 2018). The award is sponsored from a
trust fund established by the Walker family. A list of past awardees can be
found at the IAVCEI web page:
The Fisher Medal is in honour of Richard V. Fisher (1928–2002), who made major
contributions to understanding the behaviour of pyroclastic density currents,
based largely on field studies of their deposits: “The medal is given every
4 years at the IAVCEI Scientific Assembly to a scientist who has made
outstanding contributions to volcanology based primarily upon field
observations” (IAVCEI website). The medal was introduced in 2017. More information can be found at
The Volcanic Surveillance and Crisis Management Award
honours the personnel from institutions or organisations responsible for
monitoring volcanoes (volcano observatories and/or other institutions) that
have made a remarkable contribution to the mitigation of volcanic hazards
and volcanic risks. Volcano monitoring, eruption forecasting and the
mitigation of volcanic hazards are key objectives of volcanologists and a
duty of volcano observatories worldwide. Criteria for eligibility include the following:
successful hazard assessment and mitigation efforts, effective
volcano surveillance and eruption forecasting, and/or effective crisis
management: “This award will be presented every 2 years at the Cities on
Volcanoes Meeting (CoVs)” (IAVCEI website). The first award was given in
2018 (
The United Nations declared 1990–2000 to be the International Decade for
Natural Disaster Reduction. IAVCEI identified 16 volcanoes worldwide to be
the focus of studies for the IAVCEI Decade Volcanoes programme
(
A number of these volcanoes have been volcanically active since being
declared Decade Volcanoes, including Avachinsky (1991, 2002; Smithsonian
Institute Global Volcanism Program – SI GVP – website, 2018); the Koryaksky volcano (2009; SI GVP); Colima (many times); Galeras
in 1993, when six scientists (during Decade Volcanoes workshop) and two
tourists were killed; Etna (many times); and Merapi (many times). The Nyiragongo
volcano in the Congo had erupted catastrophically in 1977, involving
extremely fast-flowing lava that killed 70 people. It experienced another
eruption in 1994, during the civil war there, and then another large
eruption in 2002, which again produced far-flowing lavas that inundated Goma
and killed
The data that is presented in this paper and in the supplementary file have been sourced from the cited references,
as well as from non-cited, generic sources (i.e. without specific authors identifiable) that are not available in digital form
and therefore do not have accessible URLs. In particular, the following sources were used to identify, where possible, the names and
years of service of past IAVCEI presidents, secretaries-general, committee members, and editors of
The names of IAVCEI presidents and secretaries-general are listed on the IAVCEI website (
Information about the IAVCEI Decade Volcanoes research initiative was sourced using: Wikimedia Commons
Decade Volcanoes:
The supplement related to this article is available online at:
Raymond A. F. Cas was president of IAVCEI from 2011–2015 and is currently a member of the executive committee of IAVCEI, 2015–2019. He is an emeritus professor at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and an honorary adjunct professor at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, Australia. This work is his, and all sources of information have been cited and acknowledged.
The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.
This article is part of the special issue “The International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics:
from different spheres to a common globe” (
Many people have helped in finding and providing information used in this
overview. In particular, regarding information on membership of past
executive committees, I thank Franz Kuglitsch, and for help in documenting
the editors of