Early Paleocene Environmental Reconstruction Using the Isotopic Composition of Leaf Compressions from the San Juan Basin

Steve Dworkin, Baylor University

I got my Master’s from Michigan State in glacial geology.  Ph.D.  in 1991 from UT Austin – I studied under Lynton Land and I worked on sandstone diagenesis.  I am a sedimentary petrologist and low temperature geochemist.  My work focuses on paleoclimate reconstructions using terrestrial rocks.  Most of my students work on reconstructing paleoceanographic conditions using the chemistry of black shales. 

Spherulites in obsidian are more than a curiosity

Kevin Befus, Baylor University

Dr. Befus earned his first and second degrees in Geology at Texas Christian University, and his Ph.D. at UT Austin (in 2014).  He has taught at Stanford University and Baylor.  His interests focus on the processes affecting eruptive lavas: the temperatures and pressures at which magmas are stored before eruption, the rates of ascent, emplacement and cooling of lavas when they are erupted.  He has worked on lavas from the Yellowstone Caldera, Mono Craters (CA), and the mid-ocean ridge system, as well as on phreatomagmatic rocks of K-T boundary age from West Texas.  He has used many techniques to analyze his samples: microchemical analysis of spherulites and their surroundings, Oxygen isotopes, and has developed innovative methods to make these analyses much less time-consuming and more accurate.  Tonight he will talk about the part that analyses of spherulites and their surroundings can play in increasing our knowledge of fundamental volcanic processes and their rates This knowledge will be important as we try to develop the capacity to accurately forecast eruptions.

Microcosm Study to Evaluate Alternative Reduced Sulfur Compounds to Stimulate Uranium Reduction.

Nebechi Osia

Nebechi is a PhD candidate in Environmental Engineering at the Texas A & M University - Kingsville.  Her advisor is Dr. Lee Clapp.  Nebechi graduated with a Masters in both Environmental Chemistry/M.E.E.S and Environmental Engineering from University of Maryland Eastern Shore and University of Maryland Baltimore County respectively. Her interest in the environment stems from her experiences in her homeland of Nigeria. Her main research interests are remediation, wastewater treatment, geochemical modeling, and the fate and transport of heavy metals.