Events

Mitchell Sustainability Symposium

This year’s Mitchell Sustainability Symposium will continue its focus on the intersection of sustainability and student education on UT Austin’s campus and beyond. The symposium will look into the state of sustainability at UT Austin through a series of panel discussions, lectures, and student presentations. Dr. Adam Met, adjunct professor at Columbia University, will provide the lunchtime keynote address.

The 2025 Mitchell Sustainability Symposium is co-sponsored by the Office of Sustainability, UT Energy Institute, Planet Texas 2050, and Environmental Science Institute.

DeFord Lecture | Terry Plank

Magma Stalling and Launching Depths beneath Active Volcanoes by Dr. Terry Plank, professor at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University

Abstract: How do volcanoes prepare to erupt? Where is magma stored prior to eruption? What roles do H2O and CO2 play in launching eruptions? This talk will address these questions by examining volcanic crystals and their melt inclusions as volatile archives, and comparing to geophysical studies of magma stalling and ascent.

UTIG Seminar Series: Collin Brandl, LDEO

Speaker: Collin Brandl, Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

Host: Harm Van Avendonk

Title: A New Subduction Zone in the Northeast Pacific? Seismic Imaging of the Queen Charlotte Plate Boundary

Abstract:

The formation of new subduction zones is critical for plate tectonics, but detailed records of subduction initiation are scarce. Obliquely convergent ocean-continent transform plate convergence may be one of the most favorable environments for subduction initiation due to their pre-existing weak zone and significant contrast in lithospheric properties, but there are few locales of this nature that can be observationally studied. The transform Queen Charlotte plate boundary (QCPB) separates the North American and Pacific offshore western British Columbia and southeastern Alaska, connecting the Cascadia and Alaska subduction zones. The QCPB accommodates up to 55 mm/yr of plate motion, mostly along the strike-slip Queen Charlotte Fault, but up to 15° of oblique convergence occurs in its southern segment, offshore Haida Gwaii, BC. A coincident sedimentary wedge (the Queen Charlotte Terrace), a 2012 M7.8 tsunamigenic thrust earthquake, and seismological indications of a dipping slab has led many investigators to consider this southern segment a subduction zone, but the region lacks many of the other defining characteristics. A paucity of crustal scale seismic imaging along the plate boundary has left the structure and behavior of the system uncertain. In this talk I will use multichannel seismic reflection profiles acquired in 2021 to constrain crustal structure along the southern segment of the QCPB. This dataset reveals the accommodation mechanisms of oblique convergence and is used to classify this segment as an incipient subduction zone, settling a decades long-debate over the nature of the plate boundary. As an incipient subduction zone, the southern QCPB provides crucial observations of early deformation and the structural evolution that occurs during subduction initiation. Motivated by the 2012 M7.8 earthquake and the potential for future events, I will also use this seismic dataset to estimate the thermal structure of the plate boundary through an analysis of bottom simulating reflectors, better informing future hazard analysis of the region.

Bureau of Economic Geology Seminar Series

Remote sensing, urban sustainability; Natural H2 – seasonal variation – low temperature serpentinization

presented by

Dr. Yiming Zhang
Postdoctoral Fellow, BEG

and

Dr. Gabriel Pasquet
Postdoctoral Fellow, BEG

DeFord Lecture | Ian Kane

Transport and Burial of Anthropogenic Pollutants in Deep-Marine Sedimentary Systems by Dr. Ian Kane, professor at the University of Manchester

UTIG Seminar Series: Kelly Nunez Ocasio, Texas A&M

Speaker: Kelly Nunez Ocasio, Assistant Professor, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University

Host: Danielle Touma

Title: Novel Regional Modeling Approaches for Current and Future Tropical Weather and Climate

Abstract: Africa’s weather–climate system, including the African Easterly Jet (AEJ) and West African Monsoon, strongly influences high-impact weather across Africa and the tropical Atlantic. However, how this system responds to climate warming remains unclear due to limitations in global climate models. We address this using convection-permitting simulations with MPAS-A and a pseudo-global warming approach. Results show a northward-shifting and intensifying AEJ under mid-century warming, alongside increased monsoonal moisture. These changes alter the intensity and location of mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) and African Easterly Waves (AEWs), which can seed Atlantic tropical cyclones and cause significant impacts.

In the second part of the talk, I turn to Mesoamerica and the Caribbean—regions with complex hydroclimates and sparse observations. I will introduce the Mesoamerica Affinity Group (MAAG), an NSF NCAR-supported initiative promoting collaborative, high-resolution climate research. A key project includes a two-week convection-permitting MPAS-A simulation of Hurricane Maria (2017), using a variable-resolution mesh (15–3 km). Preliminary validation shows strong performance in simulating precipitation, the ITCZ, and low-level jets. This dataset, now publicly available via NCAR’s Research Data Archive, supports broader analysis of tropical cyclones and extreme rainfall events.

At Texas A&M, my group continues to explore how tropical systems across Africa, the Atlantic, Central America, and the Caribbean are evolving in a warmer, moisture-rich climate.

Bureau of Economic Geology Seminar Series

pyCoreRelator: A Quantitative Tool for Core and Log Data Correlation
(Automated Stratigraphic Correlation, Dynamic Time Warping, Deep-Water Turbidites)

presented In Person by

Dr. Larry Syu-Heng Lai, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, BEG

Hot Science - Cool Talks: How to Make Your Cat Love You. With Science!

What if there was a science to making your cat love you? In the next Hot Science – Cool Talks, Dr. Mikel Delgado explores the secrets behind feline behavior. Learn what makes cats unique, how to create their purrfect home, and how to build a stronger bond with your whiskered companion with the power of science!

DeFord Lecture | Nadja Drabon

Hadean zircon from South Africa: New Insights into Early Surface Environments by Dr. Nadja Drabon, assistant professor of Earth & Planetary Sciences at Harvard University

UTIG Seminar Series: Lizz Utlee, NASA Goddard

Speaker: Lizz Ultee, Associate Research Scientist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Host: Ginny Catania

Title: Greenland ice sheet variability and its implications for sea-level projections

Abstract: In Greenland, ice flows from a central ice sheet out to the ocean through more than 200 outlet glaciers.  The balance of ice flow through those outlet glaciers is a fundamental control on the ice sheet’s contribution to global mean sea level rise.  Satellite remote sensing shows that outlet glaciers respond to changes in the atmosphere and ocean at different time scales.  While short-term variability is generally not accounted for in ice sheet models, model experiments show that including it affects sea-level projections at longer term.  In this talk, I will show how we identify responses across time scales in the satellite data and what we can gain from in situ data.  I will highlight preliminary findings from my group’s 2025 field campaign on Sermeq Kujalleq, Greenland’s fastest-flowing outlet glacier.  (Yes, there will be gratuitous photos of really cool ice.).  Finally, I will summarize how we can incorporate these insights into future sea-level projections.

Bureau of Economic Geology Seminar Series

TBD – Topic, Title and Presenter updated once available

DeFord Lecture | Jeff Schragge

Observations from the Seafloor: Low-frequency Ambient Wavefield Seismology on Large Ocean-Bottom Nodal Arrays by Jeffrey Shragge, professor in the Geophysics Department at the Colorado School of Mines

Abstract: Estimating accurate Earth models for 3-D seismic imaging and full waveform inversion (FWI) remains challenging due to limited low frequencies (i.e., below 2.0 Hz) typically available from active-source air gun arrays. Ambient wavefield energy acquired on large, continuously recording nodal arrays, though, presents a potential alternative energy source for subsurface investigation. By exploiting principles of seismic interferometry in deep-water marine settings, low-frequency virtual shot gathers (VSGs) from 1.0 Hz to as low as 0.05 Hz can be generated with surface-wave events that exhibit clear sensitivity to large-scale model features including salt bodies. The estimated VSG data also exhibit surface-wave scattering events consistent with the locations and depths of shallow salt pinnacles observed in active-source velocity model reconstructions. These observations suggest an alternative pathway forward for estimating long- (and potentially shorter-)wavelength elastic models required for accurate 3-D FWI and seismic imaging analyses.

UTIG Seminar Series: Michael Young, The University of Texas At Austin

Title: Comparing Life-Cycle Environmental Impacts and Costs of Electricity Generation Systems

 Host: Demian Saffer

Abstract: What are the all-in costs, environmental and economic, of expanding and running an electrical grid for Texas, and how might these costs change over the next 30 years? Can we quantify trade-offs among society’s goals of providing reliable and affordable energy, mitigating climate change, and ensuring affordability for consumers? We achieve these goals through comparative life-cycle assessments (LCA) of different generation systems that include 18 different environmental pathways, including greenhouse gases (CO₂eq) and local emissions (particulate matter, SO_X, NO_X); land and water use and pollution, biodiversity and ecosystem impacts, and others. These LCA analyses consider extraction of natural resources (gas, minerals, etc.), manufacturing of generation equipment, power plant operations, and end-of-life options (e.g., landfilling or recycling of equipment).

We show how environmental impacts manifest along global supply chains for materials (e.g., lithium, cobalt, etc.) that support energy development at different times during the 30-year lifespan of the facilities. And, we connect every operating facility, using different generation mixes, to a nodal-scale, grid dispatch model that allows us to track grid reliability (goal #1), improvements in environmental performance (goal #2) and differences in consumer cost of electricity (goal #3). The results show the complicated nature of impacts along the global supply chain of materials needed for energy development and while electricity is generated, and they point to areas where impacts can be mitigated through innovation and action.

Bureau of Economic Geology Seminar Series

Landslides, critical zone, geomorphic decay of volcanic islands

presented In Person by

Dr. Justin Higa
Department of Earth Sciences
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

DeFord Lecture | Shi Joyce Sim

Dynamic Habitability: From Mid-Ocean Ridges to Europa by Shi Joyce Sim, assistant professor at the School of Earth and Atmospheric Science at Georgia Institute of Technology

Abstract: Dynamic habitability is the evolving habitability of a system, e.g., Venus might not be habitable now but might have been in the past or even in the future. The essential components of life are a solvent, the right chemistry (i.e., CHNOPS), energy that can be taken advantage of and a suitable environment. In this talk, I will attempt to look at dynamic habitability from the perspective of Earth all the way to Jupiter’s moon, Europa. Uniquely on Earth, plate tectonics is intricately linked to the habitability of our blue planet. Therefore, I embark on a journey to understand plate tectonics from a modeling perspective. First, I will explore melt transport beneath mid-ocean ridge settings, where there are crucial exchanges between the Earth’s interior and the surface. This melt transport has implications for seafloor morphology and the structure and composition of the oceanic lithosphere which forms the bulk of tectonic plates. Then, I will touch upon combining fluid transport with reactive thermodynamics to understand eclogitization of the overlying crust at a subduction zone. Going to one of our nearest planetary bodies, Mars, I use a combination of two-phase flow principles and planetary thermal evolution to model volatile trapping in the early Mars magma ocean to show that there are potentially more volatiles trapped in the Martian interior than previously thought. Water is one of the major components of habitability. To understand the dynamic habitability of Mars, I show how the distribution of water in the various reservoirs can evolve over time. I will end the talk by discussing future work on understanding dynamic habitability on other planetary bodies.

UTIG Seminar Series: Shujuan Mao, UT Austin

Speaker: Shujuan Mao, Assistant Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Texas at Austin

Host: Zhe Jia

TItle: 4-Dimnetional Seismology: New Dynamic Perspectives on Groundwater, Geoenergy, and Geohazards

Abstract: With climate change and population growth, humanity faces critical challenges related to water security and the energy transition. Tackling these issues requires high-resolution monitoring of subsurface fluid-rock systems (e.g., aquifers and geothermal reservoirs). In this seminar, I will introduce a novel, cost-effective, and scalable approach for aquifer monitoring using passive seismic interferometry. The validity and promise of this approach will be demonstrated through several case studies of aquifers across Greater Los Angeles. I will showcase how the seismic approach offers new insights into aquifer dynamics in response to climate extremes and anthropogenic activities. I will present ongoing efforts leveraging 4D seismic interferometry and scattered wavefields to understand the dynamics in fluid-rock systems associated with geothermal and volcanic systems.

Bureau of Economic Geology Seminar Series

Remote sensing, water resources

presented In Person by

Dr. Bridget Scanlon
Research Professor, BEG