Events
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JSG | BEG | UTIG | EPS |
RoKafe
Start:April 4, 2023 at 10:00 am
End:
April 4, 2023 at 11:00 am
Location:
JGB 2.104A
Contact:
Nicola Tisato
Faculty Meeting
Start:April 4, 2023 at 12:30 pm
End:
April 4, 2023 at 1:45 pm
Location:
JGB 4.102 (Barrow)
Contact:
Jessica Yeager
DeFord Lecture | Laure Zanna
Start:April 6, 2023 at 4:00 pm
End:
April 6, 2023 at 5:00 pm
Location:
JGB 2.324 (Boyd Auditorium)
Contact:
John Lassiter
View Event
Climate modeling with AI: Hype or Reality? by Laure Zanna, New York University
Abstract: Climate simulations remain one of the best tools to understand and predict global and regional climate change. Uncertainties in climate predictions originate partly from the poor or lacking representation of processes, such as ocean turbulence and clouds, that are not resolved in global climate models but impact the large-scale temperature, rainfall, sea level, etc. The representation of these unresolved processes has been a bottleneck in improving climate simulations and projections. The explosion of climate data and the power of machine learning (ML) algorithms are suddenly offering new opportunities: can we deepen our understanding of these unresolved processes and simultaneously improve their representation in climate models to reduce climate projections uncertainty? This talk discusses the advantages and challenges of using machine learning for climate projections. The focus will be on recent work in which we leverage ML tools to learn representations of unresolved ocean processes – in particular, learning symbolic expression. Some of this work suggests that machine learning could open the door to discovering new physics from data and enhance climate predictions. Yet, many questions remain unanswered, making the next decade exciting and challenging for ML + climate modeling for robust and actionable climate projections.
DeFord Lecture Series
Since the 1940’s, the DeFord (Technical Sessions) lecture series, initially the official venue for disseminating EPS graduate student research, is a forum for lectures by distinguished visitors and members of our community. This is made possible through a series of endowments.
UTIG Seminar Series: Ann Dunlea, WHOI
Start:April 7, 2023 at 10:30 am
End:
April 7, 2023 at 11:30 am
Location:
PRC 196/ROC 1.603
Contact:
Constantino Panagopulos, costa@ig.utexas.edu, 512-574-7376
View Event
This talk is part of the 2023 Ocean Discovery Lecture Series.
Speaker: Ann Dunlea, Assistant Scientist, Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Host: Chris Lowery
Title: What controls the long-term trajectory of Earth’s climate and ocean chemistry?
Abstract: What controls the long-term trajectory of Earth’s climate and ocean chemistry? How do marine sediments regulate — and bear witness to — these changes? Over the past 50 million years, the Earth has cooled from a “Greenhouse” to an “Icehouse” due to a decline in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Yet, the mechanisms that caused the cooling are still contentious. Examining marine sediment drilled during IODP expeditions allows the exploration of the role of the seafloor in modulating global climate, providing unique perspective on this longstanding debate.
In this talk, I will present a hypothesis supported with empirical evidence that invokes changes in reverse weathering on the seafloor to explain the increase in seawater Mg/Ca and global cooling observed over the past 50 million years. This hypothesis inverts prevailing hypotheses and abundant models that require an increase in silicate weathering as the driver of many elemental and isotopic trends over the Cenozoic. Stemming from this work are avenues of research to reconsider the role of the seafloor in biogeochemical and climate enigmas with implications for Earth’s past, present, and future climate.
Biography: Ann G. Dunlea completed her PhD at Boston University with Richard W. Murray, researching biogeochemistry and paleoceanography of pelagic clays from the South Pacific Gyre. She became a postdoc at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 2016 and was hired as an Assistant Scientist there in 2019. Dunlea’s research investigates the diverse and dynamic subseafloor geochemical processes actively interacting with the ocean and long-term changes in climate. Learn more.
Hot Science - Cool Talks "A Dinosaur's Roar"
Start:April 7, 2023 at 7:00 pm
End:
April 7, 2023 at 8:15 pm
Location:
Welch Hall (WEL) Auditorium (Room 2.224)
Contact:
Didey Montoya, didey@austin.utexas.edu, 5124714211
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Based on Hollywood movies, many of us imagine that a dinosaur may have roared like a lion or a tiger. But what if instead of roaring, dinosaurs instead cooed? By examining birds as living descendants of dinosaurs, Dr. Julia Clarke shares how ancient dinosaurs may have produced sound and what that tells us about modern-day birds.
Julia Clarke is a paleontologist and evolutionary biologist at UT Austin who studies birds and dinosaurs to better understand major transitions in the history of life. Dr. Clarke’s research focuses on how structures in living animals developed and how novel ways of moving—such as avian flight—evolved.
Cool Activities: 5:30 – 6:40 p.m.
Talk with Q&A: 7:00 -8:15 p.m.
Hot Science – Cool Talks provides a front-row seat to world-class research. For additional information, please visit www.hotsciencecooltalks.org.
Planetary Habitability: Charles Cockell, University of Edinburgh
Start:April 10, 2023 at 1:00 am
End:
April 10, 2023 at 2:00 am
Location:
PMA 15.216B
Contact:
Brandon Jones, brandon.jones@utexas.edu
View Event
Speaker: Charles Cockell, Professor of Astrobiology, UK Center for Astrobiology, University of Edinburgh
Host: Sean Gulick
Title: The subsurface habitability of Mars
Abstract: As the surface of Mars is today generally unsuitable for life because of the lack of persistent liquid water, we look to its subsurface as a place to test the hypothesis of life, particularly the possibility of extant life. The subsurface habitability of Mars is likely to be shaped by the presence of pervasive impact craters on the planet and the history of briny water. Using empirical data on the microbiology of impact craters and deep subsurface briny environments on Earth, we can construct hypotheses about the habitability of this environment. Experiments on unusual salts such as perchlorates at high pressure also reveal some unexpected possibilities in the subsurface. After the science, in the final ~5-10 minutes of this talk, I’ll show how the habitability of Mars can be used to advance prison education!
RoKafe
Start:April 11, 2023 at 10:00 am
End:
April 11, 2023 at 11:00 am
Location:
JGB 2.104A
Contact:
Nicola Tisato
40 Hours for the Forty Acres
Start:April 12, 2023 at 6:00 am
End:
April 13, 2023 at 10:00 pm
Contact:
Courtney Vletas, cvletas@jsg.utexas.edu
View Event
WHEN: April 12-13, 2023
WHERE: Online
40 Hours for the Forty Acres is The University of Texas at Austin’s biannual day of giving. For 40 hours, UT alumni, students, faculty, staff, parents and friends come together to support the people, places and pursuits that mean the most to them, amplifying their impact through the power of Longhorn Nation. This spring, the Jackson School of Geosciences is raising funds to support the Rapid Response Program, a critical initiative in ensuring scientists have the necessary funding to respond to natural disasters.
Contact Courtney Vletas at cvletas@jsg.utexas.edu for more information on getting involved!
40 Hours for the Forty Acres
Start:April 12, 2023 at 6:00 am
End:
April 13, 2023 at 10:00 pm
Contact:
Courtney Vletas, cvletas@jsg.utexas.edu
View Event
WHEN: April 12-13, 2023
WHERE: Online
40 Hours for the Forty Acres is The University of Texas at Austin’s biannual day of giving. For 40 hours, UT alumni, students, faculty, staff, parents and friends come together to support the people, places and pursuits that mean the most to them, amplifying their impact through the power of Longhorn Nation. This spring, the Jackson School of Geosciences is raising funds to support the Rapid Response Program, a critical initiative in ensuring scientists have the necessary funding to respond to natural disasters.
Contact Courtney Vletas at cvletas@jsg.utexas.edu for more information on getting involved!
DeFord Lecture | Ken Williams
Start:April 13, 2023 at 4:00 pm
End:
April 13, 2023 at 5:00 pm
Location:
JGB 2.324 (Boyd Auditorium)
Contact:
John Lassiter
View Event
The East River Watershed: Hydro-biogeochemical Studies Spanning Scales and Disciplines by Kenneth Williams, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Abstract: Uncertainty associated with predicting watershed hydro-biogeochemical behavior remains high as climate change, extreme weather, wildfire, land-use change, and other disturbances significantly reshape interactions within the world’s watersheds. The Watershed Function Science Focus Area (SFA) is reducing this uncertainty by addressing the grand challenge question: “How do mountainous watersheds retain and release water, nutrients, carbon, and metals in the Anthropocene?” Specifically, the project addresses how early snowmelt, drought, and other disturbances influence mountainous watershed hydro-biogeochemical dynamics over seasonal to decadal timescales. Research is conducted within the East River watershed, which is an archetypal mountainous headwater of the Upper Colorado River Basin, a region critical for water, energy and agriculture in the Western US and a region especially vulnerable to changing snow dynamics. The SFA is developing new ways of conceptualizing, characterizing and predicting aggregated watershed hydro-biogeochemical behavior. The SFA takes a “system-of-systems” approach using insights from individual subsystems to inform larger-scale predictions of aggregated watershed behavior. This seminar will focus on a series of research “vignettes” that cover topics addressing below-ground processes controlling geogenic nitrogen cycling and novel pathways for anaerobic methane oxidation and scale-integrating, above- and below-ground datasets that impact hydrologic processes and vegetation dynamics including future scenarios for vegetation mortality.
DeFord Lecture Series
Since the 1940’s, the DeFord (Technical Sessions) lecture series, initially the official venue for disseminating EPS graduate student research, is a forum for lectures by distinguished visitors and members of our community. This is made possible through a series of endowments.
UTIG Seminar Series: Charles Cockell, University of Edinburgh
Start:April 14, 2023 at 10:30 am
End:
April 14, 2023 at 11:30 am
Location:
PRC 196/ROC 1.603
Contact:
Constantino Panagopulos, costa@ig.utexas.edu, 512-574-7376
View Event
Speaker: Charles Cockell, Professor of Astrobiology, UK Center for Astrobiology, University of Edinburgh
Host: Cornelia Rasmussen
Title: Impact cratering as a biological process
Abstract: Asteroid and comet impacts are well known to be able to cause profound geophysical changes to planets, and the vast energies released are generally regarded as catastrophic for life. Yet these energies can cause geophysical changes of benefit to life, such as the alteration of target rocks that improve fluid flow and energy availability for microorganisms. Discussing results from a range of different impact craters, I’ll explore the effects of impacts on surface and subsurface habitats for life. Although now rare on Earth, on Mars, where plate tectonics has not been active, impact craters likely profoundly influence the subsurface and near-surface habitability of that planet. As impact events are universal, so are the potential effects on life anywhere else in the universe.
Master’s Saturday
Start:April 14, 2023 at 2:00 pm
End:
April 14, 2023 at 4:45 pm
Location:
JGB 2.218, JGB 2.202, JGB 3.222
View Event
The Master of Science (MS) degree at the Jackson School of Geosciences is considered to be the professional degree for a career in the Geosciences. This degree is the foundation for students pursuing employment in the petroleum industry, environmental and hydrogeological fields, state and federal government agencies, and other related geoscience fields. Some students also use the MS degree as preparation for pursuing a Ph.D. The Energy & Earth Resources Interdisciplinary program provides the opportunity for students to prepare themselves in management, finance, economics, law and policy leading to analytical and leadership positions in resource-related fields. The private sector and government organizations face a growing need for professionals that can plan, evaluate, and manage complex resource projects, commonly international in scope, which often include partners with a variety of professional backgrounds. As requirements for these degrees, students must present a professional talk on Master’s Saturday.
RoKafe
Start:April 18, 2023 at 10:00 am
End:
April 18, 2023 at 11:00 am
Location:
JGB 2.104A
Contact:
Nicola Tisato
Faculty Meeting
Start:April 18, 2023 at 12:30 pm
End:
April 18, 2023 at 1:45 pm
Location:
JGB 4.102 (Barrow)
Contact:
Jessica Yeager
UTIG Seminar Series: Jim Gibeaut, Texas A&M
Start:April 21, 2023 at 10:30 am
End:
April 21, 2023 at 11:30 am
Location:
PRC 196/ROC 1.603
Contact:
Constantino Panagopulos, costa@ig.utexas.edu, 512-574-7376
View Event
Abstract: Texas recently completed the 2023 Coastal Resiliency Master Plan (TCRMP) for addressing vulnerabilities affecting society, ecology, and economy. Through elicitation from a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), analyses of environmental change, and modeling of sea level rise and storm surge impacts, action plans were developed to address one or more of eight vulnerabilities: gulf shoreline change; degraded or lost habitat; storm surge; bay shoreline change; degraded water quality; inland flooding; tidal flooding; and degraded water quantity.
TAC members scored the importance of each vulnerability for each coastal HUC 10 watershed. This information plus data and model analyses and information on how projects provide societal benefits, direct and indirect economic benefits, and ecosystem services is used by the TAC and TCRMP team, led by the Texas General Land Office, to assess how well a project may increase resiliency. In addition to presenting worthy projects, the TCRMP provides information and data that describe the dynamics of the Texas coast and linkages between natural and human systems. Geohazards maps showing current critical environments and processes, historical change, and how systems are projected to shift by 2100 help to transfer knowledge to stakeholders for use in planning efforts.
Planetary Habitability: Hector Garza, Jackson School of Geosciences
Start:April 24, 2023 at 1:00 am
End:
April 24, 2023 at 2:00 am
Location:
PMA 15.216B
Contact:
Brandon Jones, brandon.jones@utexas.edu
View Event
Speaker: Hector Garza, Doctoral Degree Student, Jackson School of Geosciences
Host: Tim Goudge
Title: How old is the Ordovician-Silurian Boundary at Dob’s Linn, Scotland? Integrating LA-ICP-MS and CA-ID-TIMS U-Pb zircon dates
Abstract: Sedimentary rocks exposed at Dob’s Linn, Scotland, have significantly influenced our understanding of how life evolved over the Ordovician to Early Silurian giving insight to the Late Ordovician Mass Extinction (LOME). The current interpreted chronostratigraphic boundary between the Ordovician and Silurian periods is a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP), calibrated to 443.8±1.5 Ma (Hirnatian-Rhuddanian age), based on biostratigraphic markers, radioisotopic ages, and statistical modeling. We dated hundreds of zircon grains from three metabentonite ash horizons using Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), and a subset of the grains were re-analyzed using Chemical Abrasion Isotope Dilution Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometry (CA-ID-TIMS). We present a high-precision CA-ID-TIMS 238U-206Pb weighted mean date of 440.44±0.72 Ma for the Coronagraptus cyphus biozone. However, we report significantly younger and, in some cases, older LA-ICP-MS zircon dates for the Coronagraptus cyphus, Akidograptus ascensus, and Dicellograptus anceps zones as a result of Pb loss and systematic biases. Our results suggest possible biostratigraphic misplacement, identifies concerns with Dob’s Linn’s validity as a GSSP section and examines various LA-ICP-MS maximum depositional age (MDA) approaches consistent with CA-ID-TIMS data.
Biography: Hector Garza is a Ph.D. candidate at the Jackson School of Geosciences Department of Geological Sciences. Before starting the Ph.D. program, Hector spent several years working in the Oil and Gas industry as a geoscientist specializing in clay mineralogy and characterizing reservoirs using geochemistry. As part of his Ph.D. work, Hector is interested in comprehending major geologic and evolutionary events in Earth’s history and systematic biases with the U-Pb system and dating techniques. He is specifically researching the timing of early land colonization by terrestrial biota to understand the development of Earth’s Early Paleozoic biogeochemical cycles and evaluating how life appeared and transformed this planet.
RoKafe
Start:April 25, 2023 at 10:00 am
End:
April 25, 2023 at 11:00 am
Location:
JGB 2.104A
Contact:
Nicola Tisato
DeFord Lecture | Tim GoudgeSeptember, 04 2025Time: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PMLocation: Boyd Auditorium (JGB 2.324) |
UTIG Seminar Series: Louise Farquharson, University of AlaskaSeptember, 05 2025Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AMLocation: PRC 196/ROC 1.603 Speaker: Louise Farquharson, Research Assistant Professor, University of Alaska Fairbanks Host: Peter Flemings Title: Not so permanent permafrost Abstract: Permafrost - permanently frozen ground - underlies vast areas of the Arctic and sub-Arctic. But as the climate warms, how permanent is it? Across the Arctic, permafrost temperatures are rising, a trend projected to continue. Recent observations from the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute monitoring network reveal striking changes: in some regions with relatively warm permafrost, ground that once refroze each winter now remains thawed year-round, while in colder permafrost zones, the landscape is undergoing dramatic geomorphological transformation due to melt of massive ground ice. This talk will explore how permafrost temperatures in the North American Arctic have shifted in recent years and examine the cascading consequences for landscapes and northern communities. |
Bureau of Economic Geology Seminar SeriesSeptember, 05 2025Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PMLocation: BEG VR Room 1.116C Role of petroleum production subsidence on submergence of Texas coastal lands: Case of the Rose City Field presented by Dr. John M. (Jack) Sharp, Jr., Ph.D Carlton Professor of Geology Emeritus Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences The University of Texas |
How Extinctions Shaped the History of Life with Rowan MartindaleSeptember, 10 2025Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PMLocation: Texas Science & Natural History Museum Travel back 183 million years to the Early Jurassic, a time when dinosaurs were just getting started on land—and life in the oceans was in crisis. Join Dr. Rowan Martindale, Associate Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at UT Austin’s Jackson School of Geosciences, for a fascinating look at how ancient environmental changes reshaped life below the waves. Dr. Martindale will highlight how coral reef ecosystems and other marine communities survived extinctions during the Jurassic Period, responding to excessive heat, acidity and low oxygen in water. Learn how our understanding of ocean ecosystems from 183 million years ago can help us protect similar ecosystems today, and what they might tell us about the future of life on Earth. This free program will be followed by a Q&A and a light reception. An RSVP is required. |
DeFord Lecture | Jane BaldwinSeptember, 11 2025Time: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PMLocation: Boyd Auditorium (JGB 2.324) |
UTIG Seminar Series: Erica Jawin, SmithsonianSeptember, 12 2025Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AMLocation: PRC 196/ROC 1.603 Speaker: Erica Jawin, Postdoctoral Research Geologist, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Host: Cyril Grima Research Theme: Planetary; Surface processes on planetary bodies |
KBH Energy Center 11th Annual Energy SymposiumSeptember, 12 2025Time: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PMLocation: AT&T Hotel & Conference Center, 1900 University Ave, Austin, TX 78705 Exploring the Future of Energy Innovation, Investment, and Security The KBH Energy Center’s Annual Symposium brings together leading industry executives, policymakers, and faculty for a dynamic day of forward-looking dialogue on the future of energy. This year’s program will feature conversations with distinguished experts exploring global energy outlooks, the growing role of nuclear and AI, energy’s ties to national security, data infrastructure demands, capital markets, and media coverage. Join us as we examine the transformative forces reshaping the energy landscape and the innovation, investment, and policy strategies that will guide the road ahead. |
Hot Science - Cool Talks: Life and Death by Impact!September, 12 2025Time: 5:30 AM - 8:30 AMLocation: Welch Hall 2.224 and Grand Hallway What can a 66-million-year-old impact crater reveal about the past and future of life on Earth? Dr. Sean Gulick explores the science behind one of the most dramatic events in Earth’s history, the asteroid impact that ended the age of dinosaurs. From discovering a giant crater in Mexico to drilling deep into the Earth to link this impact to the mass extinction, Dr. Gulick unpacks the explosive chain of events that wiped out 75 percent of life on the planet. Current research is studying how meteorite impacts shape planets, create new ecosystems, and may even help life begin on Earth and on other worlds. Arrive early and explore Cool Activities from 5:30 - 6:40! Local organizations will share exciting hands-on activities related to the talk! List of activities coming soon! |
Bureau of Economic Geology Seminar SeriesSeptember, 12 2025Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PMLocation: BEG Bldg 130, VR Room 1.116C Sediment dynamics, coastal erosion and deposition presented by Dr. David Mohrig, Professor Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Jackson School of Geosciences In person and via Zoom |
DeFord Lecture | Christine McCarthySeptember, 18 2025Time: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PMLocation: Boyd Auditorium (JGB 2.324) |
UTIG Seminar Series: Jiaxuan Li, University of HoustonSeptember, 19 2025Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AMLocation: PRC 196/ROC 1.603 Speaker: Jiaxuan Li, Assistant Professor, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Houston Host: Zhe Jia Research Theme: MGGST & Polar, Seismic activities and image subsurface structures in diverse environments |
Bureau of Economic Geology Seminar SeriesSeptember, 19 2025Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PMAlong-strike variation in Alaska forearc deformation: From shortening to extension presented via Zoom by Dr. Suoya Fan Research Assistant Professor (2024 Fall- Present) Department of Geology and Environmental Science University of Pittsburgh https://sites.google.com/site/geofansuoya |
DeFord Lecture | Douwe van HinsbergenSeptember, 25 2025Time: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PMLocation: Boyd Auditorium (JGB 2.324) |
UTIG Seminar Series: Peter Driscoll, Carnegie Institution for ScienceSeptember, 26 2025Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AMLocation: PRC 196/ROC 1.603 Speaker: Peter Driscoll, Scientist, Earth & Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science Host: Doug Hemingway Title: The Lifecycle of Planetary Magnetic Fields Abstract: Planetary magnetic fields offer the first barrier between atmospheres and the solar wind, and are expected to play a central role in long-term habitability. In this talk we discuss why planetary magnetic fields are important to planetary habitability and how they change over billions of years of planetary evolution. We discuss the ubiquity of planetary magnetic fields in the Solar System and the prospects for detecting exoplanet magnetic fields. We review the requirements for magnetic field generation by dynamo action, general limits to thermal dynamo action, and how the planetary cooling rate affects magnetic field evolution. We will highlight how Earth’s magnetic field has evolved over the last 2 billion years, and how paleomagnetism and dynamo theory can be used in tandem to infer the dynamical evolution of the deep interior. |