Sept. 4

Dr. Tim Goudge

Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences

Jackson School of Geosciences

University of Texas at Austin

Remote Sensing of Sinuous Channels in the Solar System: From Meandering Rivers to Lava Channels

Abstract: Remote sensing data provide a landscape-scale view of the surface properties of planetary bodies, and offer unique insight into a wide array of geoscience problems. In this talk I will present results from two projects that showcase how remote sensing data can be used to characterize landscape evolution on Earth and other planetary bodies. The first project focuses on use of high-frequency, high-resolution lidar topography from a UAV (uncrewed aerial vehicle) to characterize the process of bank erosion in meandering rivers. This work provides insight into when river banks erode, and the evolution from short-term stochastic to long-term average behavior. The second project looks at the geometry of bends within three distinct classes of sinuous channels formed by fluid flow: meandering rivers (Earth), supraglacial channels (Earth), and sinuous volcanic channels (the Moon). This work aims to test whether sinuous channel geometry records diagnostic aspects of the formative process, or whether it is a universal outcome of confined fluid flow.

Sept. 11

Dr. Jane Baldwin

The University of California, Irvine

The Role of Mountains in Understanding and Simulating Earth’s Climate

Sept. 18

Dr. Christine McCarthy

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

Columbia University

Heat Generating Mechanisms in Ice and the Fate of Partial Melt

Sept. 25

Dr. Douwe van Hinsbergen

Utrecht University

From Plate to Mantle Tectonics: Towards 3D Kinematic Constraints on Mantle Convection

Oct. 2

Dr. Terry Plank

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

Columbia University

Magma Stalling and Launching Depths beneath Active Volcanoes

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.

Oct. 9

Dr. Ian Kane

University of Manchester

Transport and Burial of Anthropogenic Pollutants in Deep-Marine Sedimentary Systems

Oct. 16

Dr. Nadja Drabon

Harvard University

Hadean zircon from South Africa: New Insights into Early Surface Environments

Oct. 23

Dr. Jeff Schragge

Colorado School of Mines

Observations from the Seafloor: Low-frequency Ambient Wavefield Seismology on Large Ocean-Bottom Nodal Arrays

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. 

Oct. 30

Dr. Shi Joyce Sim

Georgia Institute of Technology

Dec. 4

Dr. Thomas Harter

The University of California, Davis