Events
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Doctoral Defense: Brandon Shuck
Start:July 1, 2021 at 9:00 am
End:
July 1, 2021 at 11:00 am
Location:
JGB 4.102
Please join the Jackson School of Geosciences for the final doctoral examination for BRANDON SHUCK on JULY 1, 2021; 9:00AM; JGB 4.102 (Barrow Family Conference Room) and via Zoom (see below).
The PhD project “Mechanisms Of Lithospheric Failure During Late Continental Rifting And Early Subduction” was supervised by Dr. Harm van Avendonk and Dr. Sean Gulick.
Committee members include: Donna Shillington, Nathan L Bangs, Thorsten Becker and Luc L Lavier
Zoom link: https://utexas.zoom.us/j/4732830175
Doctoral Defense: Evan Ramos
Start:July 1, 2021 at 10:00 am
End:
July 1, 2021 at 12:00 pm
Location:
JGB3.222
Please join the Jackson School of Geosciences for the final doctoral examination for EVAN RAMOS has been scheduled for JULY 1, 2021; 10:00AM; JGB3.222 and Zoom (see below).
The PhD project “Toward A Mechanistic Understanding Of Silicate Weathering And Li Transfer Across Landscapes, Past And Present” was supervised by Dr. Jaime Barnes and Dr. Dan Breecker.
Committee members include: Brady Foreman, Joel P Johnson and Daniella M Rempe
Zoom link: https://utexas.zoom.us/j/95141295703
Doctoral Defense: Wen-Ying Wu
Start:July 21, 2021 at 9:00 am
End:
July 21, 2021 at 11:00 am
Please join the Jackson School of Geosciences for the final doctoral examination for WEN-YING WU has been scheduled for JULY 21, 2021; 9:00AM; JGB3.222 and Zoom (see below).
The PhD project “Advancing the Application of Remote Sensing to Improve Land ?Surface Modeling” was supervised by Dr. Zong-Liang Yang.
Committee members include: Bridget R Scanlon, Bayani Cardenas and Daniella M Rempe
Doctoral Defense: Natasha Sekhon
Start:July 23, 2021 at 10:30 am
End:
July 23, 2021 at 12:30 pm
The final doctoral examination for NATASHA SEKHON has been scheduled for JULY 23, 2021; 10:30AM; Zoom (see below).
The PhD project “A monitoring and 20th stalagmite study from a shallow cave in New Mexico elucidating climate controls on geochemical variability with insight into stalagmite suitability for paleoclimate reconstructions ” was supervised by Dr. Jay Banner and Dr. Dan Breecker.
Committee members include: Bryan Black, Yuko M Okumura, Timothy M Shanhan
Zoom link: https://utexas.zoom.us/j/91054608576
The defense is open to all members of the University community and the public.
Hot Science At Home "To Err is Human"
Start:July 23, 2021 at 7:00 pm
End:
July 23, 2021 at 7:40 pm
Location:
Online (YouTube and Facebook)
Contact:
Didey Montoya, didey@austin.utexas.edu, 5124714211
View Event
Much of what we experience in our lives each day is entirely forgotten. So what leads our brains to store experiences in memory that help us navigate the world? Perhaps the most important signal is mistake-making. Formal schooling unfortunately conveys the message that becoming more skillful means making fewer mistakes, which is demonstrably untrue. Come and learn how mistakes lead to advantageous changes to our memories and are the key to learning.
Professor Bob Duke is a former studio musician and public school music teacher whose research at UT focuses on human learning and behavior. Along with Art Markman, he co-hosts the NPR program and podcast Two Guys on Your Head, produced by KUT Radio in Austin.
Time: 7:00 – 7:40 p.m.
The event will be streamed live through our Facebook and YouTube channels and will include a Q&A session. Additional information is available at www.hotsciencecooltalks.org.
Bureau of Economic Geology Seminar SeriesJanuary, 16 2026Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PMLocation: Zoom BEG Seminar presented by Pouyan Asem, UT Permian Basin on Zoom Topic: Type I water-serpentinized harzburgite interactions: implications on geologic carbon cycle |
UTIG 2026 Spring Seminar Series: Ann ChenJanuary, 16 2026Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AMLocation: UTIG Seminar Conference Room - 10601 Burnet Road, Bldg. 196/ROC 1.603 Title: Studying the earthquake cycle using InSAR and coral derived surface deformation observations Speaker: Ann Chen, Associate Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, The University of Texas at Austin Host: Thorsten Becker |
SSL Seminar Series | Tian DongJanuary, 20 2026Time: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PMLocation: RLP 0.012 Natural and Human Impacts on Coastal Land Building by Dr. Tian Dong Abstract: Sediment and water delivered by rivers build and sustain coastal landforms such as deltas and wetlands, which are densely populated and ecologically vital areas threatened by rising sea levels. In this talk, I highlight theory-driven and field-based research to understand how coastal land building operates across broad deltaic plains and how human activity affects these processes. On the theoretical front, inspired by Hack’s law (the scaling between watershed drainage area and channel length in tributary networks), we analyzed a global dataset of distributary delta networks and discovered a nearly identical scaling relationship between distributary channel length and nourishment area, the land-building counterpart to drainage area. Despite this apparent global scaling, we identified two distinct local land-building patterns: Uniform Delta Networks consistently follow Hack’s law, while Composite Delta Networks exhibit a scale break, transitioning from space-filling growth around the delta apex to quasi-linear growth near the coast. These surprising growth patterns suggest that global simplicity and local variability coexist in how river deltas grow and organize. To assess regional variability and human impacts, we combined remote sensing with field observations from the Lower Rio Grande, finding that the river currently carries about one-third of its median 1900s discharge, and only about 0.3% of its natural flow reaches the Gulf due to human consumption. This reduction leads to channel contraction, higher water levels for the same discharge, and significant shoreline retreat (up to 6 m/yr). I conclude by highlighting three ongoing/future research directions on deltaic land building: (i) sedimentation influenced by human engineering, (ii) wind-driven sediment redistribution, and (iii) the effects of sediment influx from retreating glaciers. |
DeFord Lecture | Venkat LakshmiJanuary, 22 2026Time: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PMLocation: JGB 2.324 |
Bureau of Economic Geology Seminar SeriesJanuary, 23 2026Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PMLocation: BEG VR Room 1.116C BEG Seminar presented by Dr. Bridget Scanlon, BEG in person. Topic: Remote sensing, hydrology |
SSL Seminar Series | Kristin BergmannJanuary, 27 2026Time: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PMLocation: RLP 0.012 or Barrow Temperature and the earliest animals: Quantitative climate reconstruction across the Neoproterozoic–Phanerozoic transition by Dr. Kristin Bergmann Abstract: The Neoproterozoic–Phanerozoic transition records the emergence of complex animals, the origin of biomineralization, and the establishment of modern marine ecosystems—yet the climate context for these evolutionary milestones remains poorly quantified. Reconstructing ancient temperatures requires integrating sedimentology, carbonate petrography, and isotope geochemistry. Our field-based stratigraphic analysis establishes depositional context and identifies the most promising sampling targets; detailed petrographic screening and microstructural analyses constrain diagenetic paragenesis. Clumped-isotope thermometry (Δ47–Δ48) reconstructs temperature signals within this sedimentological framework, resolving the ambiguity between temperature and seawater composition that limits traditional δ¹⁸O approaches. This rocks-first workflow reveals large, directional climate shifts with ecological consequences. In the Tonian and Cryogenian, data from Oman and elsewhere indicate near-modern tropical temperatures before and after Snowball Earth glaciations, suggesting dynamic hydrologic and climatic transitions. During the Ediacaran, post-glacial warming followed by ≥20 °C cooling likely expanded oxygenated habitats and set the stage for early animal diversification. In the Ordovician, ~15 °C of long-term tropical cooling over ~40 Myr culminated in brief but extensive glaciation, providing the climate context for the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event. By grounding geochemical data in sedimentological and petrographic observations, we build a quantitative framework linking climate and habitability and provide evidence that temperature change guided life\'s evolutionary trajectory in deep time. |
SSL Seminar Series | Ted PresentJanuary, 29 2026Time: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PMLocation: Boyd Auditorium (JGB 2.324) Biogeochemical Signals of Seafloor Oxygenation by Dr. Ted Present Abstract: Earth’s oxygenation transformed the atmosphere, oceans, and ultimately the seafloor, establishing the carbon and sulfur cycles that govern our planet today. When and how did oxygen penetrate into marine sediments, shifting where organic matter was recycled and setting up the biogeochemical architecture we recognize in modern oceans? I approach this question by studying how microbial and chemical processes at the sediment-water interface leave lasting signatures in sedimentary rocks. Using sulfur isotopes and detailed sedimentology, I will show how Paleozoic carbonates and evaporites track the reorganization of ocean redox structure through critical evolutionary transitions like the Late Ordovician glaciation and mass extinction. The Permian Reef Complex of West Texas demonstrates how cementation and dolomitization patterns archive ancient sulfur cycling, with insights grounded in observations from modern tidal systems where diagenetic processes govern carbon storage along our changing coasts. I will close with how I envision training UT Austin students in integrated field and laboratory approaches to pursue future research leveraging evaporite basins, novel phosphatic archives, and terrestrial carbonates. By extracting environmental signals from the diagenetic processes that create the rock record, this work builds a framework for understanding how Earth’s oxygenation reshaped life and its environment. |
Bureau of Economic Geology Seminar SeriesJanuary, 30 2026Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PMLocation: BEG VR Room 1.116C BEG Seminar presented in person by Dr. Todd Halihan, Oklahoma State University, and Chief Technical Officer for Aestus, LLC in person Topic: Subsurface hydrogeology |
SSL Seminar Series | Mackenzie DayFebruary, 03 2026Time: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PMLocation: RLP 0.012 or Barrow From sand to stratigraphy: How dunes record the changing landscape of Earth and other planets by Dr. Mackenzie Day Abstract: Desert dune fields preserve rich sedimentary records of environmental change, providing insight into both past climate and modern landscape evolution. This presentation explores three desert systems on Earth and Mars, using dune fields as a lens to examine how landscapes, both ancient and modern, respond to shifting environmental conditions. These investigations address the longevity of Earth’s dune fields, the interplay between wind and water, and the applicability of aeolian sedimentology to planetary bodies beyond Earth. Together, they highlight how dune fields serve as dynamic archives of change, and how Earth, Mars, and other bodies can be studied in tandem as natural laboratories for generalizing aeolian sediment transport to arbitrary fluid-gravity conditions. |
SSL Seminar Series | Marjorie CantineFebruary, 05 2026Time: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PMLocation: Boyd Auditorium (JGB 2.324) Human, climate, sediment and geobiological history of a rapidly-growing carbonate island by Dr. Marjorie Cantine Abstract: You may have heard the line that real estate is valuable because \"they aren\'t making more land\"; in this talk, I\'ll show you that that\'s not true. I\'ll use the sedimentary and radiocarbon records of a carbonate island in the Caribbean, Little Ambergris Cay, to describe its formation over the last millenium, how its growth relates to past climate, and what it means for mechanisms potentially capable of protecting shorelines in the near future. I\'ll leverage geobiological field experiments to help explain the mechanisms of island growth. Finally, I\'ll share how ongoing work in my group is leveraging geoarchaeological archives to better understand the human and climate histories of the Common Era and inform hazard predictions in the region through testing climate models. I will also briefly describe other work ongoing in my group, which tackles questions at the nexus of time, sedimentary processes, and geochemistry from the Precambrian to the Common Era. |
15th Annual Jackson School of Geosciences Student Research SymposiumFebruary, 06 2026Time: 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM |
Bureau of Economic Geology Seminar SeriesFebruary, 06 2026Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PMLocation: BEG VR Room 1.116C BEG Seminar presented by Stacy Timmons and Mike Timmons, New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources, in person. Topic: New Mexico Geological Survey |
SSL Seminar Series | Vamsi GantiFebruary, 10 2026Time: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PMLocation: RLP 0.012 or Barrow From Dunes to Channel Belts: How Rivers Organize and Move Across Scales by Dr. Vamsi Ganti Abstract: Rivers are Earth’s arteries: they transport water and sediment from uplands to oceans, sustain ecosystems and agriculture, and build the stratigraphic record of past environmental change. Yet rivers are far from static—they are dynamic systems that evolve across scales, from ripples and dunes on the riverbed to entire channel belts. In this seminar, I will present three discoveries that reveal the mechanisms shaping alluvial river form and motion across these scales. (1) Laboratory experiments and theory identify a previously unrecognized transition in river-dune organization at the onset of significant suspended sediment transport. This transition influences flow roughness, flood-driven dune reconfiguration, and the nature of preserved fluvial strata. (2) Using a new image-processing tool, we analyzed 36 years of satellite imagery from 84 rivers to uncover the origins of single- versus multithread channels. Single-thread rivers achieve a balance between lateral erosion and accretion, maintaining equilibrium width, while multithread rivers arise when erosion outpaces accretion, causing individual threads to widen and split. This mechanistic insight informs both planetary geomorphology and cost-effective river restoration. (3) Finally, I’ll show how human activity and climate change are already altering the way rivers flow and evolve. Dams dampen river motion and reduce the number of active threads, whereas increased sediment supply from land-use change and glacial melt are making rivers in the Global South and High Mountain Asia more dynamic. Together, these discoveries provide a mechanistic view of river evolution across scales and highlight why understanding river behavior is essential—not only for managing water, life, and landscapes they sustain today, but also for decoding the history of environmental change recorded in sedimentary strata. |
DeFord Lecture | Jake JordanFebruary, 12 2026Time: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PMLocation: JGB 2.324 |