Events
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JSG | BEG | UTIG | EPS |
UTIG Seminar Series: Cornelia Rasmussen, UTIG
Start:May 1, 2020 at 10:30 am
End:
May 1, 2020 at 12:00 pm
Location:
Zoom Meeting
Contact:
Constantino Panagopulos, costa@ig.utexas.edu, 512-574-7376
Speaker: Cornelia Rasmussen, Postdoctoral Fellow, UTIG
Host: Chris Lowery
Title: Colorado Plateau Coring Project (CPCP): A continuous, globally exportable chronostratigraphy of non-marine Triassic environmental change from Western North America
Abstract: Developing exportable chronostratigraphic frameworks is crucial to test first-order hypotheses about the correlation and duration of major evolutionary and paleoenvironmental events in Earth history. The early Mesozoic strata in western North America preserves a critical non-marine archive of low-paleolatitude biotic and environmental change. Outcrop-based geochronologic age constraints are difficult to put in an accurate stratigraphic framework because lateral facies changes and discontinuous outcrops allow for multiple interpretations. Past and future drilling initiatives on the Colorado Plateau seek to remedy this situation and test hypothesis about such as if a biotic turnover event recorded by vertebrate and palynomorph fossils in the Chinle Formation at Petrified Forest National Park coincided with the Manicouagan impact event.
UTIG Brown Bag: Rob Domeyko
Start:May 5, 2020 at 12:00 pm
End:
May 5, 2020 at 1:00 pm
Location:
Zoom Meeting
Contact:
Naoma McCall, nmccall@utexas.edu
Informal weekly presentations by UTIG students and researchers. Bring your lunch!
Speaker: Rob Domeyko, Graduate Research Assistant, UTIG
Title: Elusive Ice-age Coral Hunters: Vanuatu Edition
Habitability Seminar: Victoria Meadows, University of Washington
Start:May 6, 2020 at 1:30 pm
End:
May 6, 2020 at 2:30 pm
Location:
Zoom Meeting
Contact:
Cornelia Rasmussen, crasmussen@utexas.edu
A seminar from the Center for Planetary Systems Habitability
Watch the recorded talk (UT Zoom sign-in required)
Title: Terrestrial Exoplanet Characterization and the Search for Life
Speaker: Professor Victoria Meadows, University of Washington
Hot Science At Home "Fire Ants and Zombie Ants"
Start:May 15, 2020 at 7:00 pm
End:
May 15, 2020 at 7:40 pm
Location:
Online
Contact:
Didey Montoya, didey@austin.utexas.edu, 5124714211
View Event
Join us for a Hot Science – Cool Talks event from the comfort of your home with Dr. Rob Plowes!
The red imported fire ant is an invasive species in Texas that can produce life-threatening allergic reactions in people, has major costs to agriculture, and causes severe impacts to native fauna. Dr. Rob Plowes researches one of the fire ant’s deadliest enemies – tiny flies, which actually turn ants into zombie-like living incubators for their offspring!
Enjoy the science and then participate in a live Q&A session with Dr. Plowes.
Habitability Seminar: Carole Lakrout and Nicola Tisato, JSG
Start:May 27, 2020 at 10:30 am
End:
May 27, 2020 at 11:30 am
Location:
Zoom Meeting
Contact:
Cornelia Rasmussen, crasmussen@utexas.edu
A seminar from the Center for Planetary Systems Habitability
Watch the recorded talk (UT Zoom sign-in required)
Title: The Biotic Influence on Speleothem Morphology
Speaker: Carole Lakrout, Undergraduate Student, Jackson School of Geosciences and Nicola Tisato, Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences
Abstract: Studying life and life-mediated deposits in caves can provide information about habitability and mineral-life interactions in extreme environments and other planets. Asperge and Breezeway are examples of caves containing mineral deposits (helictites) whose formation is orchestrated by life. Such helictites grow in an area with little water, no light, and on a substrate that is rich in heavy-metals. Two specific helictites morphologies from Breezeway are of interest for our research: acicular and tubular. The former are made of aragonite, and their formation can be explained abiotically. Tubular morphologies are composed of calcite and present a central hole that challenges an abiotic genesis hypothesis. Similar to Asperge cave, we hypothesize that the tubular helictites from Breezeway formed biotically as well.
We used high-resolution imagery to seek biotic films, study textures, and chemical elements. SEM images reveal that small calcite “flakes” cover larger calcite crystals and small filaments create bridges between the calcite “flakes” and the calcite crystal. We suggest that such filaments are extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), which is a remnant of microbial life activity.
On acicular samples, we mostly observe pristine aragonite needles. However, on a few acicular samples, we observe what appears to be EPS. We suggest that such an EPS might represent the initial stages of the microbial colonization of an abiotic speleothem.
This research furthers the understanding that life exists in extreme environments and can create complex mineral deposits. Understanding how life can thrive in these conditions is a starting point for the study of life on other planets. Given that caves are present on Mars and other planetary bodies, we suggest a potential way to search for past or present evidence of life in the geological record.
UTIG Seminar Series: Cornelia Rasmussen, UTIGApril, 26 2024Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AMLocation: PRC 196/ROC 1.603 Speaker: Cornelia Rasmussen, Research Associate, University of Texas Institute for Geophysics Host: Krista Soderlund Title: The Emerging Field Of Position-Specific Isotope Analysis: Applications in chemical forensics, exobiology, geo- and environmental sciences Abstract: Complex organics can be found all over our solar system and within each living thing on our planet, be it as part of its physiology or as a contaminant. However, different processes can lead to the formation of chemical identical molecules. This makes answering a number of scientific questions challenging. One example is distinguishing between biotic and abiotic molecules, hence hindering life detection on early Earth but especially on other planetary bodies, such as on Mars, Titan, Enceladus and on meteorites where organics have been detected. Moreover, tracing molecules as they move through the environment can be demanding, yet is essential in studying the flow of organic molecules as well as correlating pollutants with their source. Novel tools to address these challenges are currently being developed. Especially, the emerging field of position-specific isotope analysis is beginning to grant access to the unique intramolecular carbon (13C/12C) isotope fingerprint preserved in complex molecules. This fingerprint can be applied in various scientific disciplines, ranging from forensics to exobiology, geo- and environmental sciences, including geo health. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) has the potential to become a key player in this research area, as it allows the analysis of organics within complex mixtures, all without the need to fragment the molecule into single carbon units or the combustion of the molecule of interest. We have been developing several NMR tools that allow us to investigate the intramolecular carbon isotope distribution within various molecule classes and to test the central hypothesis that the position-specific carbon isotope distribution within complex organics depends on a molecule’s source and formation history. |
Planetary Habitability Seminar SeriesApril, 29 2024Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PMLocation: PMA 15.216B UT Center for Planetary Systems Habitability Seminar Series. See website for speaker schedule and more details: View Events Join remotely: https://utexas.zoom.us/j/94052130734 In person: Classroom 15.216B, Physics, Math and Astronomy Bldg. UT Austin, Department of Astronomy 2515 Speedway, Stop C1400 Austin, Texas 78712-1205 |
UTIG Discussion Hour: Kristian Chan - PhD Talk (UTIG)April, 30 2024Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PMLocation: ROC 2.201 |