Events

March 2023 May 2023
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Planetary Habitability Series: Katie Teixeira & Jialong Ren, UT Austin

March, 27 2023

Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Location: PMA 15.216B

TALK ONE

Speaker: Katie Teixeira, Graduate Student, Department of Astronomy, UT Austin College of Natural Sciences

Host: Brandon Jones

Title: Modeling the Evolution of Terrestrial Planet Atmospheres Through Outgassing and Escape

Abstract: With the successful deployment of JWST, and its aim to potentially search for biosignatures on exoplanets, an important endeavor, at present, is to determine whether the rocky planets we observe are likely to have atmospheres at all. M dwarfs, the main host stars of JWST’s rocky planet targets, are thought to pose a major threat to planetary atmospheres due to their high magnetic activity over several billion-year timescales, and might completely strip planets down to bare rocks. Physical models are necessary to understand how a planet’s atmosphere evolves to become what we see today. Here, I will present coupled time-dependent simulations of atmospheric escape and planetary outgassing, processes that most influence atmospheric size and composition. I will present a case study of TRAPPIST-1c, a possible “exo-Venus” for which observations have recently been taken. I will review the results of simulations of TRAPPIST-1c, specifically the constraints that they place on the history of TRAPPIST-1c’s atmospheric and geological properties. Finally, I will discuss both simulation and observational developments that will aid in understanding rocky planets like TRAPPIST-1c.

Biography: Katie is a 2nd year graduate student in the Department of Astronomy at The University of Texas at Austin. She received a B.S. in Astrophysics and Biology from the University of Florida. There she worked with Sarah Ballard to study the demographics of M dwarf exoplanets and implications for biological evolution. She now works with Caroline Morley, developing and using simulations to model the evolution of CO2-dominated terrestrial planet atmospheres. Broadly, Katie is interested in what makes planets habitable and how to search for both habitable and inhabited planets.

TALK TWO

Speaker: Jialong Ren, Graduate Student, Department of Geological Sciences, UT Austin Jackson School of Geosciences

Host: Brandon Jones

Title: Permeability Limited Compaction and (De)Serpentinization of Ceres

Abstract: The Dawn Mission revealed a surprise that Ceres is still hydrologically active, so its interior structure is important to explain the energy and mass transport at a later stage. In this work, we investigate the compaction history of dwarf planet Ceres with a two-phase flow scheme: viscous compaction of ductile rock coupled with Darcy’s flow in porous media. In such a scheme first used in the differentiation of volatile rich bodies, compaction is limited by pressure gradient required to expel the pore fluid and permeability as a function of porosity. Moreover, we also considered two phase changes: ice-melting and (de)serpentinization.

Biography: My background is in fluid/solid mechanics and numerical simulations. Currently I am interested in planetary science. There are two projects in process: 1) fragmentation and reassembly into rubble piles of planetesimals and 2) compaction and differentiation of small ocean worlds such as Ceres.

RoKafe

March, 28 2023

Time: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Location: JGB 2.104A

DeFord Lecture | Dustin Trail

March, 30 2023

Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: JGB 2.324 (Boyd Auditorium)

Traversing the chemical landscape of the early Earth by Dustin Trail, University of Rochester

Abstract:  The conditions that gave rise to life on Earth are still unknown. Despite this, there is broad agreement that the early planet was habitable, with interactions between low-temperature water and rock, potentially creating the substrate upon which life arose. While planetary-scale constraints are a crucial part of habitability, it\'s likely that key prebiotic chemistry occurred in smaller, more localized environments. This presentation will examine the early Earth environment on a global scale through zircon chemistry, while also delving into possible local environments and scenarios that may have played a significant role in prebiotic chemistry or the emergence of life.

DeFord Lecture Series
Since the 1940\'s, the DeFord (Technical Sessions) lecture series, initially the official venue for disseminating DGS 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: Nicholas Harmon, WHOI

March, 31 2023

Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Location: PRC 196/ROC 1.603

SpeakerNicholas Harmon, Research Specialist, Geology & Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution


Host: Eric Attias


Title: The Dynamic Oceanic Lithosphere-Asthenosphere System of the Equatorial Mid Atlantic Ridge System: Results from the PI-LAB Experiment


Abstract: The transition from the lithosphere to the asthenosphere is an important part of plate tectonic theory. However, its exact depth and the factor(s) that control it are widely debated. The PI-LAB (Passive Imaging of the Lithosphere-Asthenosphere Boundary) experiment included 39 ocean bottom seismometers and 39 ocean bottom magntotelluric instruments near the equatorial Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Seismic and magnetotelluric models are invaluable, given that they offer independent, yet complimentary constraints on the properties of the mantle. We jointly interpret shear-wave velocity tomography from surface waves, compressional and shear velocity tomography from body waves, seismic discontinuity imaging and magnetotelluric (MT) imaging to take advantage of a range of resolutions and sensitivities and illuminate the structure of the oceanic lithosphere and the underlying asthenosphere. We image a tectonic plate thickness that increases with age in one location but undulates in another location. We infer thin and slightly thicker melt channels and punctuated regions of ascending partial melt several hundred kilometers off the ridge axis. This suggests melt persists over geologic timescales, although its character is dynamic, with implications for the lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary (LAB) and the driving forces of the plates. Ascending melt intermittently feeds melt channels at the base of the plate. The associated melt-enhanced buoyancy increases the influence of ridge-push in driving plate motions, whereas the channelized melt reduces the resistance of the plates to motion. Therefore, while temperature plays a first-order role in dictating the lithosphere-asthenosphere transition, melt can also affect the location and sharpness of this interface. This melt likely plays an important and dominant role in driving the plates and facilitating their motions.

Faculty Meeting

April, 04 2023

Time: 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM
Location: JGB 4.102 (Barrow)

RoKafe

April, 04 2023

Time: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Location: JGB 2.104A

DeFord Lecture | Laure Zanna

April, 06 2023

Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: JGB 2.324 (Boyd Auditorium)

TBD by

Abstract:

DeFord Lecture Series
Since the 1940\'s, the DeFord (Technical Sessions) lecture series, initially the official venue for disseminating DGS 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

April, 07 2023

Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Location: PRC 196/ROC 1.603

SpeakerAnn Dunlea, Assistant Scientist, Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution


Host: Chris Lowery

Hot Science - Cool Talks \"A Dinosaur\'s Roar\"

April, 07 2023

Time: 7:00 PM - 8:15 PM
Location: Welch Hall (WEL) Auditorium (Room 2.224)

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.

RoKafe

April, 11 2023

Time: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Location: JGB 2.104A

DeFord Lecture | Ken Williams

April, 13 2023

Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: JGB 2.324 (Boyd Auditorium)

TBD by

Abstract:

DeFord Lecture Series
Since the 1940\'s, the DeFord (Technical Sessions) lecture series, initially the official venue for disseminating DGS 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

April, 14 2023

Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Location: PRC 196/ROC 1.603

Speaker: Charles Cockell, Professor of Astrobiology, University of Edinburgh


Host: Cornelia Rasmussen & Sean Gulick

Faculty Meeting

April, 18 2023

Time: 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM
Location: JGB 4.102 (Barrow)

RoKafe

April, 18 2023

Time: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Location: JGB 2.104A

UTIG Seminar Series: Jim Gibeaut, Texas A&M

April, 21 2023

Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Location: PRC 196/ROC 1.603

SpeakerJames Gibeaut, Endowed Chair for Coastal and Marine Geospatial Sciences, Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies (HRI), Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi


Host: John Goff

RoKafe

April, 25 2023

Time: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Location: JGB 2.104A