It is our pleasure to announce that Dr. Richard W. Carlson from the Carnegie Institute of Washington will attend as our invited guest speaker, giving two keynote talks:
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Thursday 10th, 12.00pm
Tory 3-36 Pacific Northwest Volcanism: The Connection of Mantle Dynamics and Continent Formation Magmatic additions to North America over the past 200 Ma have extended up to 2000 km east of the convergent margin. Though the instigation of volcanism by plate subduction is relatively well understood, how plate boundary magmatism can occur so far behind the boundary is not. The talk will summarize the results from the recently completed High Lava Plains project that was a multidisciplinary effort that combined seismic imaging, studies of the composition and chronology of the volcanism, and geodynamic modeling to show how mantle motion in response to a failing subduction zone, perhaps accompanied by a mantle plume, combined to create the wide spread magmatism that represents a significant volumetric addition to the continent of North America over a relatively short time period. |
Friday 11th, 5.00pm
ESB 3-27 A History of Earth Formation Our understanding of the steps involved in Earth formation have been transformed by a combination of astronomical observations, theoretical modeling, and measurements of rocks dating from the first few hundred million years of Solar System formation. Among the advances on this subject is recognition that the growth of planetary embryos occurred quite quickly, so Earth likely formed not by the gentle accumulation of small, asteroidal size, objects, but by violent collisions between larger planetesimals. The last of these violent collisions is responsible for forming Earth's Moon. Surprisingly, after this violent birth, Earth quickly recovered so that by 4.3 billion years ago Earth was forming crustal rocks through processes similar to those still occurring today, and Earth's surface had cooled to the point where there was liquid water, likely lakes or oceans, already present. |
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Biography
Richard Carlson obtained his BS in chemistry at the University of California, San Diego and PhD in Earth science at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He joined the scientific staff of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism in 1981. His research focuses on the use of the elemental and isotopic composition of rocks and minerals to investigate the origin and evolution of the Solar System, terrestrial planets, Moon and Earth. He is a Fellow of the Geochemical Society, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and the American Geophysical Union, a Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, recipient of the 2008 Bowen Award of the AGU and the 2013 Day Medal of the Geological Society of America, and the Past President of the Geochemical Society. Dr. Carlson's webpage can be viewed here: http://home.dtm.ciw.edu/users/carlson/
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