Friday, September 28^th

5:30 PM – 7:30 PM

Minerals of the Erie Canal, Dr. David Bailey

Polygonal Patterns and Desert Eyes: the Origin of Enigmatic (and Beautiful!)
Structures in the Western Desert of Egypt, Dr. Barbara Tewksbury

Saturday, September 29^th  

Dr. Adam Maloof, Princeton UniversityAdam Maloof originally is from Nova Scotia, did a B.A. at Carleton College (Minnesota), a Ph.D. at Harvard University, and a postdoc at MIT. He joined the faculty in the Department of Geosciences at Princeton University in 2006. Research in Maloof's Earth history group relies on original field observations, at the scale of maps, rock outcrops, and thin sections. The group's current focus involves using sedimentary and volcanic rocks to extract information about Earth's ancient magnetic field and the relative motion of continents, perturbations to the global carbon cycle, and the coevolution of life and climate. Maloof maintains active field projects in Australia, Ethiopia, Morocco, the American West, and the high Arctic.

Did Earth Lose its Balance Before the First Animals Evolved?

Abstract. A low-latitude distribution of continents may be a prerequisite for the global glaciations that appear to have affected Earth at least twice during the emergence of animals. However, a preponderance of low-latitude continents may also make Earth more susceptible to true polar wander, the process by which the mantle and crust spin relative to the fluid outer core to maintain rotational equilibrium. I will make a case for a pair of true polar wander events circa 800 million years ago that started a cascade of changes in the geochemical cycling between continents and oceans, and led to global glaciation. Did these changes in climate and ocean geochemistry finally allow the radiation of animals, or was it the first animals that modified geochemical cycling and climate?

Sunday, September 30^th