Events

UT Paleo Seminar: Drs. Lisa Boucher and Chris Sagebiel

An introduction to the vertebrate and invertebrate paleontology collections at UT

Drs. Lisa Boucher and Chris Sagebiel

Jackson School of Geosciences

The University of Texas at Austin

Zoom Link: https://utexas.zoom.us/j/91661118623

DeFord Lecture: Greg Stock

Understanding and mitigating rockfall hazards in Yosemite National Park

Dr. Greg Stock (Yosemite National Park Geologist, National Park Service)

Abstract: Rockfalls are a defining feature of the cliffs of Yosemite National Park, with a rockfall occurring every five days on average. Yosemite is an ideal natural laboratory to study rockfall processes, but it comes at a cost: rockfalls pose considerable hazard to the park’s 4-5 million annual visitors. Combining traditional field mapping with remote sensing tools such as lidar, structure-from-motion photogrammetry and thermal imaging, this talk will summarize the findings from more than a decade of collaborative rockfall research, ranging from how rockfalls control long-term landscape evolution to the challenge of ensuring visitor safety in one of the world’s most popular parks.

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: Alejandro Cardona, UTIG

Speaker: Alejandro Cardona, Postdoctoral Fellow, UTIG

Host: Peter Flemings

Title: Flow Phenomena in Geomaterials: Unraveling Processes and Behavior

Abstract: Energy positively correlates with quality of life, gross domestic product (GDP), and CO2 emissions. Current estimates project a 30% power demand increase by midcentury. The fields of geoscience and engineering play a vital role in addressing the energy challenge. In particular, flow phenomena prevail in a wide range of engineered and natural systems, from energy resource extraction to associated environmental implications and waste (e.g., CO2 and nuclear) and energy storage. Within this context, this presentation emphasizes developments in an array of geomaterials with common needs and technological difficulties. Permeability estimation methods in carbonate rocks highlight pore size as the underlying predictor; yet, all prediction models have an irreducible uncertainty. Fractures in the subsurface localize flow and deformations. Roughness, matedness, and strength all control hydromechanical responses at the fracture level. Multiphase flow is ubiquitous in subsurface energy-related applications, and emergent capillary processes cause intricate fluid distributions in fractured media. The characterization of hydrate-bearing sediments relies on pressure core technology to preserve the hydrate within stable conditions and produce representative properties. These measurements are extremely challenging, and benchmark studies help validate measurement systems. These studies build on a synergetic approach that combines meticulous experimental designs, analytical/numerical studies, and data-driven analysis to advance the understanding of phenomena in geomaterials.

WCE Seminar: Dr. Nawo Eguchi

Dr. Nawo Eguchi, Kyushu University, Japan

Topic: Atmospheric sciences and satellite remote sensing

Faculty Meeting

LDE seminar: Thorsten Becker

UT Paleontology Seminar

Dr. Nuria Melisa Morales Garcia, University of Bristol

What were Mesozoic mammals eating? Insights from jaw function

DeFord Lecture: Elizabeth Barnes

Viewing Anthropogenic Change Through an AI Lens

Dr. Elizabeth Barnes, Colorado State University

Abstract:

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: Derrick Lampkin, George Mason University / NASA

Speaker: Derrick Lampkin, George Mason University / NASA

Host: Cyril Grima

Title: Greenland’s Shear Margins in Warming Climate: A Summary of Recent Work
 
Abstract: The Greenland Ice Sheet has experienced unprecedented changes in the last couple decades from regional warming resulting in enhanced surface melting. The increase in melting has activated a dynamic surface hydrologic system contributing to significant mass loss. Surface melt runoff contributes directly to Greenland’s mass loss as well as infiltration, which impacts ice dynamics and mass discharge. The ice sheet has a few critical bounding forces that can influence the rate of mass loss which includes the loss of ice shelves/tongues, enhanced calving at marine-terminating outlet glaciers, and an evolving basal hydrologic system due to infiltration of surface melt. In particular, the impact of surface melt water on ice dynamics via supraglacial lake drainage and runoff has been well documented. Little attention has been focused on direct injection of surface melt water into the shear margins of fast flowing, marine-terminating outlet glaciers, which are a critical control on mass flux. Our initial work was first to characterize water-filled crevasse ponds within the shear margins of Jakobshavn Isbræ and assess the volume of infiltrated melt water potentially reaching the bed. In the intervening years since this seminal work, we have utilized satellite observations and numerical models to decode the impact of hydrologic shear weakening due to melt water injection from these structures with implications for the evolution of Greenland’s other marine-terminating outlet glaciers under a warming climate.

We have constrained the theoretical impact of hydrologic shear weakening on extra-marginal ice flow using diagnostic models and provide projections for flow enhancement under future warming scenarios. For select seasons, we assessed relationships between extra-marginal, summer-time ice velocities and drainage of water-filled crevasses. We are starting to understand factors that drive how these crevasse systems fill and drain. We have characterized the spatial and temporal variability of melt extent over a 16 year period and assess the temporal changes in hydrologic state (filled vs. drained). Lastly, we explore implications for how not only water-filled shear ponds but other mechanisms such as rheological modification influence the dynamics of marine-terminating outlet glacier systems. Under future regional warming scenarios, we expect for mass discharge from Greenland’s outlet glaciers to be enhanced by perturbations to shear margins of these glacial systems.

Hot Science At Home "Water Justice"

There is a water crisis in the U.S. During the past decade, 63 million Americans were exposed to potentially unsafe water more than once. Dr. Kimberly Jones will discuss the disproportionate access to safe and reliable water in American communities and how researchers, lawmakers and communities can work together to solve this crisis.

Kimberly Jones is Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education in the College of Engineering at Howard University. Her research interests include water and wastewater quality, global water treatment, and environmental justice. She has served on advisory committees to the U.S. National Academies and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the latter as chair of their Drinking Water Committee.

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.

Habitability Seminar: Jung-Fu “Afu” Lin, UT Austin

A seminar from the Center for Planetary Systems Habitability

Title: Energy Sources Powering the Geodynamo

Speaker: Jung-Fu “Afu” Lin, Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin

https://habitability.utexas.edu/events/

LDE Seminar: Riccardo Reitano

Tectonic Geomorphology

UT Paleontology Seminar: Undergraduate Research day

DeFord Lecture: Akhilesh Gupta

Climate Research in India: Progress and Vision for 2030

Dr. Akhilesh Gupta, India Dept. Science & Technology

Abstract: https://eps.jsg.utexas.edu/files/Abstract_Akhilesh_Deford_16Sept2021-2.pdf

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: Xie Hu, Peking University, China

Speaker: Xie Hu, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University

Host: Xiaohua Xu

Title: Ground deformation and alterations associated with geohazards and shallow processes

Abstract: An explicit quantification of geohazards and shallow processes is challenging due to the stochastic nature of the environment and the lack of observations. High-accuracy and high-resolution remote sensing and environmental datasets from the ground, air, and space empower us to identify natural or anthropogenic phenomena and their driving mechanisms and responsiveness to environmental variabilities. In particular, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) allows us to monitor spatiotemporal ground deformations and alterations through interferometry (InSAR), pixel offset tracking, and amplitude and coherence statistics. This talk will illustrate how to obtain time-series SAR products at high accuracy, how to relate SAR-observed phenomena to subsurface physics, and how to quantify the kinematics and dynamics of geohazards and shallow processes. Cross-disciplinary research themes on landslides, groundwater systems, infrastructures, extreme precipitation events, and machine learning will be covered in this talk.

Faculty Meeting

UTIG Discussion Hour: Charlie Zheng, UT Jackson School of Geosciences

Speaker: Charlie Zheng, UT Jackson School of Geosciences

Title: Benthic oxygenation history of south Texas during the Austin Chalk Group deposition

Lithosphere and Dynamic Earth seminar: Eivind Straume

DeFord Lecture | Justin Filiberto

Present Day Volcanism on Venus: Evidence from Oxidation Rate Experiments

Dr. Justin Filiberto, Lunar and Planetary Science Institute

Abstract: The surface of Venus is covered with some of the largest volcanoes in our Solar System, including some fresh and unweathered lava flows, based on orbital spectroscopic and radar measurements. However, rocks on Venus are in contact with its hot (~470° C) and caustic (CO₂ with S) atmosphere, which should alter these rocks and produce coatings of iron-oxides and sulfates on the rocks surface. These coatings should be observable from orbital measurements. Therefore, unweathered lava flows are thought to be geologically very young. Future missions VERITAS, DAVINCI, and EnVision will fly in the next decade and will image these volcanoes. However, to constrain the age of these unweathered lava flows from current and future data sets, the rate of alteration and how alteration minerals affect orbital measurements are needed. Here I will discuss what is known about igneous petrology of Venusian lava flows and specifically focus on recent alteration experiments that suggest unweathered lava flows are only a few years or up to a decade old.

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: Malcolm Ross, Eavor/Rice University

Habitability Seminar: Zilong Wu, University of Texas at Austin

A seminar from the Center for Planetary Systems Habitability

Title: Ultrasensitive Detection of Trace Chiral Prebiotic Molecules

Speaker: Zilong Wu, Postdoctoral Fellow, Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering, University of Texas at Austin

Abstract: Chiral molecules are the building blocks of life. Study of enantiomeric excess of amino acids in interstellar ice enables scientific advancement and a better understanding of life origin on Earth. Resolution of interstellar chiral prebiotic compounds also plays a significant role in searching for life in space. Miniature systems with reduced mass, volume, power and complexity for resolving multiple (>20) trace chiral prebiotic molecules on icy bodies are desired for future planetary missions. We aim to develop miniaturized and ultra-sensitive opto-thermo-fluidic platforms with capabilities to enable chiral detection of amino acids at sub parts per billion (ppb) level and to resolve multiple pairs of trace amino acids. The platforms can be integrated with multi-level filters and heating elements for sample handling and analysis in icy environments to achieve ultracompact opto-thermo-fluidic systems with digital control and deep-learning-enabled analysis. In this talk, I will introduce our recent works in developing and improving the opto-thermo-fluidic sensing platforms, as well as establishing a deep convolutional mixture density network, which will benefit the further improvement of the platforms and the future rapid analysis of sensing signals.

https://habitability.utexas.edu/events/

Alumni and Friends Networking Reception at AAPG/SEG Image

Lithosphere and Dynamic Earth seminar: Sarah Jaye-Oliva (UBC)

DeFord Lecture | Jessica Barnes

Next-generation lunar sample science

Dr. Jessica Barnes, University of Arizona

Abstract:

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.