DEPARTMENT OF GEOSCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA LAS VEGAS

Fall, 2007

Seminar Schedule
Week
Day
Date
Seminar Speaker
Topics
1
Wed
Aug-29
Geoscience Faculty
Summer Summary
2
Wed
Sep-5
Geoscience Students
Summer Summary
3
Wed
Sep-12
Dr. Rodney V. Metcalf
UNLV Geoscience Department
Supra-Subduction Zone Ophiolites and the Ophiolite Conundrum
4
Wed
Sep-19
Dr. Lawrence Rudd
Nevada State College
Using AVIRIS Hyperspectral Imagery to Study the Role of Clay Mineralogy in Colorado Plateau Debris-Flow Initiation
5
Wed
Sep-26
Dr. Uwe Brand
Department of Earth Sciences
Brock University
Gondwanan Superglaciation (Carboniferous) - Glacial II: Integration of strontium, oxygen and carbon isotope seawater records
6
Wed
Oct-3
Dr. Mark Harrison
Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences
University of California, Los Angeles
Probing Earth's Dark Age: Crust-Water Interactions on Hadean Earth
The Hadean Eon (4.5-4.0 Ga) is the dark age of Earth history; there is no known rock record from this period. However, detrital zircons as old as nearly 4.4 Ga from the Jack Hills, Western Australia, offer unprecedented insights into this formative phase of Earth history. Recent developments support the view that planetary differentiation at >4.5 Ga included the production of crust and that liquid water was abundant at or near the Earth's surface throughout the Hadean. A better understanding of the interactions between the Hadean lithosphere and hydrosphere will require new analytical and modelling approaches but represents one of the most fertile areas of geologic research.
7
Wed
Oct-10
Dr. Ann Blythe
Department of Earth Sciences
University of Southern California
Plio-Quaternary Exhumation of the Nepal Himalaya: Tracking the Climate versus Tectonic Debate
8
Wed
Oct-17
Dr. Edward M. Stolper
Division of Geol. and Planet. Sci.
California Institute of Technology
Minor element zoning in olivines -- A new source of information on igneous processes
9
Wed
Oct-24
Dr. Yuanxin Teng
UNLV Geoscience Deparment
Ordos and Mojave: Ecological Comparison of Two Deserts

Ordos is a desert in Inner Mongolia of Northern China, and Mojave is one in Southwestern USA, but they are alike in many ways. For example, they are similar in size (90, 000 and 60,000 km2); they both may not fit in the rigid definition of a desert (annual precipitation < 150 mm), and they are transition zones between larger deserts and other geographical regions. However, their ecological landscapes are remarkably different. This talk compares these two deserts, mostly ecologically, in terms of climate, topography, vegetation, soil property, plant nutrition, and management. I will discuss what can be learned for the people managing these desert resources, especially from an ecological point of view
10
Wed
Oct-31
No Seminar
GSA Meeting
11
Wed
Nov-7
Dr. Jeffrey D. Keith
Department of Geology
Brigham Young University
The smallest base and precious metal deposits in the world, and why you should care
12
Wed
Nov-14
Dr. Michael C. Pope
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Washington State University
Late Ordovician Glaciation: The long and short of it
13
Wed
Nov-21
No Seminar
Thanksgiving
14
Th
Nov-29
Dr. Donald I. Siegel
Department of Earth Sciences
Syracuse University
The Reversible Collapsing Souffle: Coupling of Peatland Hydrology and Geomorphology to the Biogeochemistry of Methane
15
Wed
Dec-5
Dr. Carol M. Dehler
Department of Geology
Utah State University
Neooproterozoic records from Grand Canyon, Arizona and the Uinta Mountains, Utah: an evolving view of climate change and tectonic setting at ~800-750 Ma
16
Wed
Dec-12