ExxonMobil Geosciences Info Session

UTIG Brown Bag Talk: David Trossman

Informal weekly presentations by UTIG students, researchers. Bring your lunch!

DeFord Lecture: Thomas Carr

Friends and Alumni Network Board Meeting

UTIG Seminar Series: Jaap Nienhuis (Florida State University)

Watch Live

Title: Predicting delta morphology and delta change on a global scale

Abstract: Coastal deltaic change is expected to be one of the major Earth-surface hazards of the 21st century. We have quantified the effect of waves, tides, and fluvial sediment supply on delta morphology, and use this theory with global wave, tide, and fluvial sediment data to make morphologic predictions for Earth's deltas (n ~ 20000). For these deltas, we predict future changes in response to river damming, land-use changes, and climate change and find that many deltas with human-induced decreases in fluvial sediment loads will experience wave reworking into barrier islands or tide reworking into alluvial estuaries. Other deltas are projected to experience increased fluvial sediment flux, and, in some cases these growing deltas could transition to river-dominated morphologies. Our analysis provides opportunities for the inclusion of river deltas into Earth system and climate models, and for paleoenvironmental reconstructions based on delta sedimentology.

Learn more about Jaap Nienhuis

UTIG Host: John Goff

DeFord Lecture: David Gochis

UTIG Seminar Series: Duncan Young (UTIG)

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Title: Sub-glacial landscapes from ice penetrating radar in Antarctica from the scale of ice cores to ice sheets scales

Abstract: The sub-glacial landscape of Antarctica is critical for understanding the evolution of the ice sheet and associated sedimentary basins, the behavior of the ice sheet's sub-glacial water system, and site selection for deep ice sheet in situ access. However, in Antarctica we have sparse data of a range of vintages that must be used carefully to generate a full picture of the landscape, its lithological variability and interwoven water systems. In this presentation, I first describe the results of a recent high resolution survey of an ‘old ice’ site in central East Antarctica, and its implications for understanding the sub-glacial morphology. I then move out to the scale of individual sedimentary basins, with an improved method of characterizing sub-glacial water systems from range delayed scattered energy. I conclude by estimating the variation in the statistical properties of the grounded ice sheet bed at large scales for identifying major sedimentary basins and characterizing their influence on water systems and indications of their origin in time, using additional aero-geophysical datasets.

Learn more about Duncan Young

UTIG Host: Don Blankenship

UTIG Brown Bag Talk: Nicholas Hayman

Informal weekly presentations by UTIG students, researchers. Bring your lunch!

DeFord Lecture: Amy Hardberger

UTIG Seminar Series: Michelle Tigchelaar (University of Washington)

Watch live: http://bit.ly/2hfVWub

Title: What drives Antarctic ice sheet evolution? Insights from 800,000 year ice sheet simulation with transient climate forcing

Abstract: Antarctic ice-sheet instabilities could become a major driver for future global sea level rise. However, the rate at which Antarctic ice-sheet mass loss will occur is a matter of intense debate and subject to large uncertainties. To further constrain the response of the Antarctic ice sheet to environmental change, it is necessary to study its sensitivity to past changes in greenhouse gas concentrations and orbital parameters. So far, long-term Antarctic simulations have used proxy-based parameterizations of climatic drivers, presuming that external forcings are applied in synchrony with each other. Here for the first time we have used a transient, three-dimensional climate simulation over the last eight glacial cycles to drive an Antarctic ice sheet model. We show that the evolution of the Antarctic ice sheet was mostly driven by CO2 and sea level forcing with a period of about 100,000 years, synchronizing both hemispheres. However, high surface melt and ice-shelf calving rates during precessionally-driven periods of austral summer insolation maxima cause a decoupling of bipolar ice-sheet variations during the warmest interglacials. Sensitivity runs with individual climatic drivers indicate that they add nonlinearly, implying that the full spectrum of climate forcing needs to be considered when evaluating the sensitivity of the Antarctic ice sheet to past and future climate change.

Learn more about Michelle Tigchelaar: http://michelletigchelaar.weebly.com

UTIG Host: Pedro Di Nezio

Alumni Reception during GSA in Seattle

UTIG Brown Bag Talk: Enrica Quartini

Informal weekly presentations by UTIG students, researchers. Bring your lunch!

DeFord Lecture: Daniel Fisher

UTIG Seminar Series: Karen Fischer (Brown University)

Learn more about Karen Fischer

UTIG Host: Thorsten Becker

Hot Science - Cool Talk "Human Mating Behavior"

If we all want love, why is there so much conflict in our most cherished relationships? What is evolutionary psychology and how can it provide insights to human mating behavior? Dr. Buss shares insights on how conflict, competition, and manipulation pervade human mating. Dr. Buss is signing his newest book "The Evolution of Desire" from 5:45 - 6:30 during Cool Activities. The UT Coop will have books for sale at the signing.

Due to the content of this talk, we recommend it for high school seniors, college students and adults only.