Monday, July 26 - Earthquake Hazards
Brian Stump, Albritton Chair of Geological Sciences, SMU
Earthquakes are one of the most dynamic expressions of natural earth processes known. They provide the starting point for the exploration of the solid earth from the surface to the deep interior. This lecture explores how an understanding of these events and their effects provides a basis for the fundamental theory of earth evolution, Plate Tectonics. These natural phenomena have affected humans for centuries and provide a historical context for our studies as well as an opportunity to compare human and geologic time scales.
Monday, August 2 - Generation of Geothermal Energy from Produced Fluids: Greening Texas Oial and Gas Fields
David Blackwell, W.B. Hamilton Professor of Geophysics, Department of Earth Sciences, SMU
Monday, August 9 - Plate Tectonics
Robert Gregory, Professor & Chair, Department of Earth Sciences, SMU
The "Ring of Fire" maps out the plate convergent boundaries that rim the Pacific Ocean from the tip of the Chilean Peninsula to volcanic arcs in the southwestern Pacific (e.g New Zealand). "Ring of Fire" margins are typified by the Andes in South America or the island arcs of the western Pacific and are important sites for the generation of new continental crust and for the recycling of elements that make our planet habitable (e.g. water and carbon dioxide). This lecture will examine the importance of these recycling processes driven by plate tectonics for the evolution of the surface of the Earth.
Monday, August 16 - Volcanic Hazards
James Quick, Assocaite Vice President for Research, Dean of Graduate Studies, and Professor of Earth Sciences, SMU
Did you know that there are multiple types of volcanic eruptions that can occur - each identified by different visual activities, producing various hazards, and resulting in diverse geological consequences? Threats from active volcanoes range from the dramatic destruction of property and life on the ground to eruption of volcanic-ash clouds that constitute severe risks to jet aircraft in flight. In this last lecture of the Ring of Fire Series, Jim Quick share with us insights on the nature of volcanoes and what we should know about the multiple hazards of volcanoes.
Advanced Reservations Required. Call the GLS office at 214-768-2532.
$65 per lecture (includes lunch)