The Alps contain records of deeply subducted oceanic lithosphere that detached at high-pressure (HP) conditions and later exhumed to the surface. These HP ophiolite bodies are key to understanding important geodynamics processes occurring along the plate-interface within subduction zones, yet the nature of their detachment and recovery is not well-understood. For example, HP ophiolites from […]
A39: Using Student Outreach to Create Stewards of the Environment
Teaching STEM concepts to secondary-education students is a challenge, especially with large-scale, abstract concepts such as the degradation of our ecosystems and the impacts this has on communities. One way to address this is to use small-scale examples that exist in “their own backyards”. Thus, the purpose of this project is to develop hands-on experiences […]
C60: Deciphering the Relationship Between the 1949, 1971, and 2021 Eruptions in La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain
The Canary Islands are a chain of seven intra-plate volcanic islands located off the NW African coast, ~100 km west of Morocco. La Palma Island is one of the youngest and westernmost islands in the Canary archipelago, with seven recorded historical eruptions, the three most recent of which include the 1949 San Juan eruption, the […]
B20: A Petrographic Analysis of Shonkinites in the Adel Mountain Range
A rare rock type known as a shonkinite was found in the Adel Mountain range of Southwest Montana near the Missouri River and we set out to determine its crystallization history and magmatic evolution. As a first step towards this research goal, thin sections were made, and a petrographic analysis was conducted to determine composition […]
A17: The Danube River: Economics vs Environment
Our general research area for this project was comparing the economic benefits of the Danube River to the problems that it has environmentally. We started out by gathering general information about the Danube to give the audience a little bit of background. With our majors being economics and zoology, we wanted to have those topics […]
A08-T: Using X-ray Fluorescence to Develop a Soil Chronosequence for the Four Mile Creek Floodplain, Ohio
A soil chronosequence is useful for describing landscapes by quantifying soil development across geomorphic surfaces of varying ages that formed under similar conditions. A chronosequence can be constructed with data from stream terraces because these landscapes have soil profiles that developed under similar soil forming factors (parent material, relief, organisms, as well as climate if […]
B42-P: Changing Ecosystem Dynamics: Identifying potential impacts of marine invasion
During the Late Ordovician (Katian) in the Cincinnati Series of North America, shallow marine ecosystems flourished and remained stable for several million years. Previously isolated ocean basins in the surrounding regions connected due to a sea level rise, leading to an influx of non-native species termed the Richmondian Invasion (RI). The Cincinnati Series thus preserves […]
B03-T: A Microanalytical and Petrochemical Approach to Investigating Megacrystic Feldspar Crystallization, CA
Crystal-rich, chemically evolved, coarse-grained igneous rocks provide opportunities to investigate the differentiation and solidification of magmas within Earth’s crust. Specifically, by investigating the micro-scale textural, chemical, and chronological record of these crystal populations insights into the processes which operated during magmatic crystallization and intrusion of large magma bodies within Earth’s crust can be evaluated. This […]
C04-T: How Fast does Magma Move? Insights from Volcanoes of the Central Andes
Reaction rims surrounding amphiboles in hornblendites allow for the investigation of the timescales associated with magmatic ascent beneath volcanoes and new insights into the magma dynamics beneath active volcanic centers. The hornblendites of this study originated from andesitic-dacitic lavas that erupted from the Quillicas Volcanoes of the Central Bolivian Andes approximately 1.4 million years ago. […]
C31-P: Fluorite and Calcite Melt Inclusions in Apatite from Carbonatitic Intrusions at the Schickler Occurrence and Dwyer Mine, Ontario, Canada
My research area encompasses the subjects of mineralogy and petrology in the study of unusual melt chemistries. This research involves investigation into fluorite and calcite melt inclusions trapped within apatite crystals from the Schickler Occurrence and Dwyer Mine, located in Ontario, Canada. We have investigated the textures and variable internal mineral assemblages of melt inclusions, […]