2014 News Archives

Fall Commencement 2014

Dec 19, 2014

BATON ROUGE:

On Friday December 19, 2014 LSU held its 285th Commencement Exercises. The Department of Geology & Geophysics would like to congratulate the following students for completing their degrees:

Bryan Killingsworth, PhD

Advisor: Huiming Bao

"Untangling Earth system responses recorded in sulfate's sulphur and oxygen isotopes at the dawn of multicellular life and today"

Isil Akyuz, MS

Advisor: Sophie Warny

"Palynology of the Cretaceous Ferron-NOTOM Sandstone, Utah"

Chase Billeaudeau, MS

Advisor: Alexander Webb

"Preliminary Investigation of the Geometry and Kinematics of the Bangong-Jujiang Suture at the Basu Metamorphic Massif, SE Tibet"

Laura Sorey, MS

Advisor: Sam Bentley

"Paleoclimatology and Paleotempestology Study of the Blue Hole, Lighthouse Reef, Belize through Geochemical proxies"

Bachelor of Science Degree Recipients

Hussain Alqattan, University Medal Award Recipient for earning a perfect 4.0 GPA  

Hussam Alsadeg

Kevin Broussard

Will Brown

Ryan Fox

Mitchell Gregory

Charles McGaw III

Patrick Piche

David Rau

Chandler Warren

Good luck to all of our graduates on your future endeavors!!

G&G at AGU 2014

Dec 15, 2014

SAN FRANCISCO

Faculty and students in the Department of Geology & Geophysics will be a major force at the 2014 American Geophysical Union Conference in San Francisco this week. The department has a booth in the Academic Showcase located in the exhibit hall along with a wide variety of presentations, posters, and convened sessions given throughout the conference.

MONDAY December 15
Critically Stressed Crust in Southern California: A Model of Crustal Stress from Plate Driving, Topography, and Fault Loading, with Geodetic and Seismic Constraints
Luttrell, K., B. Smith-Konter, and D. SandwellT12B-01
Monday, 10:20am
Marriott Marquis - Salon 13-15 

 

A Study of the King’s Bowl Phreatic Explosion Crater as an Analog to Pits on Solar System Exploration Target Bodies.

Sears, D., Hughes, S., Kobs-Nawotniak, S., Borg, C., Kyeong, K., Sears, H., Skok, J.R., Elphic, R., Lim, D., Heldmann, J., Haberle, C., Guy, H., Kobayashi, L., Garry, B., Neish, C.

P13D-3830

Monday, December 15, 2014, 01:40 PM - 06:00 PM

Moscone South - Poster Hall 

 

Reconstruction of a Phreatic Explosion from Block Dispersion Modeling at King’s Bowl, Idaho. 

Kobs-Nawotniak, S., Sears, D., Hughes, S., Borg, C., Kyeong, K., Sears, H., Skok, J.R., Elphic, R., Lim, D., Heldmann, J., Haberle, C., Guy, H., Kobayashi, L., Garry, B., Neish, C.

V13E-04

Monday, December 15, 201402:25 PM - 02:40 PM

Marriott Marquis - Salon 10-12 

 

King’s Bowl Pit Crater, Lava Field and Eruptive Fissure, Idaho – A Multipurpose Volcanic Planetary Analog.

Hughes, S., Garry, B., Kobs-Nawotniak, S., Sears, D., Borg, C., Kyeong, K., Sears, H., Elphic, R., Skok, J.R., Lim, D., Heldmann, J., Haberle, C., Kobayashi, L.

P13D-3831

Monday, December 15, 20140, 1:40 PM - 06:00 PM

Moscone South - Poster Hall 

 

A Study by Remote Sensing Methods of Volcanism at Craters of the Moon National Park, Idaho.

Haberle, C., Hughes, S., Kobs-Nawotniak, S., Sears, D., Downs, M., Busto, J., Skok, J.R., Elphic, R., Lim, D., Heldmann, J., Kobayashi, L., Garry, B.

V13C-4789

Monday, December 15, 2014, 01:40 PM - 06:00 PM

Moscone South - Poster Hall 

 

First results from the Mojave Volatiles Prospector (MVP) Field Campaign, a Lunar Polar Rover Mission Analog.

Heldmann, J., Colaprete, A., Cook, A., Deans, M., Elphic, R., Lim, D., Skok, J.

P11D-05

Monday, December 15, 2014, 08:48 AM - 09:00 AM

Moscone West  

 

TUESDAY December 16 

Using Intermediate-Field Terms in Locating Microseismic Events

Lorenzo, J., Taleghani, A. D., LeCalvez, J.

NG33B-3831

Tuesday, December 16, 2014, 08:45 AM - 09:00 AM

Marriott Marquis - Salon 8 

 

Triple-oxygen and sulfur isotopic evidence for diagenetic overprinting of carbonate-associated sulfate in Neoproterozoic samples from a drill core

Peng, Y., Wang, W., Pratt, L., Zhou, C., Bao, H., Hayles, J.

B21D-0075

Tuesday, December 16, 2014, 08:00 AM - 12:20 PM

Moscone West - Poster Hall 

 

Anomalous Cenozoic Post-Rift Uplift in the North Atlantic; The Role of Mantle Plumes, Transform Margins and Propagating Rifts

Clift, P., Dorr, N., Spiegel, C.

PP21D-1366

Tuesday, December 16, 2014, 08:00 AM - 12:20 PM

Moscone West - Poster Hall   

 

WEDNESDAY December 17 

New constraints on the Geochronology and Thermochronology of the Sawtooth Batholith, Idaho.

Dutrow, B., Foster, D., Mueller, A, Ma, C.

V31E-4807

Wednesday, Dec. 17, 8:00 - 12:00

Moscone - South Poster Hall 

 

Exploring the Igneous Evolution of Mars with Observations and Analogs I (Comparative Planetology and Habitability Swirl)

Karunatillake, S., Wray,J., Skok, J.

P33E

Wednesday, December 17, 2014, 1:40 – 3:40 pm

Moscone West - 2011 

 

Assessing Subaqueous Mudflow Hazard on the Mississippi River Delta Front, Part 1: A Historical Perspective on Mississippi River Delta Front Sedimentation

J.M. Maloney, S.J. Bentley, J. Obelcz, K. Xu, M.D. Miner, I.Y. Georgiou, K. Hanegan, G. Keller

OS33B-1061

Wednesday, Dec. 17, 1:40-6:00pm

Moscone West Poster Hall 

 

An REU Project on the Precambrian Rocks of Yellowstone National Park: Some lessons learned

Henry, D., Mogk, D., Mueller, P., Foster, D.

ED31A-3422

Wednesday, December 17, 2014, 08:00 AM - 12:20 PM

Moscone South- Poster Hall 

 

The Heat-Pipe Hypothesis for Early Crustal Development of Terrestrial Planets

Webb, A., Moore, W., Simon, J.

P33E-08

Wednesday, December 17, 2014, 03:25 PM - 03:40 PM

Moscone West - 2011   

 

THURSDAY December 18
A signal of Ice Loading in Late Pleistocene Activity of the Sudetic Marginal Fault (Central Europe)

Štěpančíková, P., T. Rockwell, D. Nývlt, F. Hartvich, J. Stemberk, D.H. Rood, J. Hók, M. Ortuňo, M. Myers, K. Luttrell, and N. Wechsler
T41C-4631
Thursday, 8:00am
Moscone South - Poster Hall 

 

Exploring the Igneous Evolution of Mars with Observations and Analogs II Posters

Karunatillake, S.,Wray,J., Skok, J.

P41B

Thursday, December 18, 2014, 8:00 am – 12:20 pm

Moscone South Poster Hall 

 

The Unique Formation of the Nili Patera Caldera on Mars.

Skok, J., Karunatillake, S., Fawdon, P.

P41B-3899

Thursday, December 18, 2014, 08:00 AM - 12:20 PM

Moscone South -Poster Hall 

 

Chemical provinces reveal Elysium Volcano’s compositional evolution.

Susko, D., Karunatillake, S.,Wray, J., Skok., J., Hurowitz, J., Ojha, L., Judice, T., Bently, R.

P41B-3904

Thursday, December 18, 201408:00 AM - 12:20 PM

Moscone South - Poster Hall 

 

Seeking signatures of Martian magmatic evolution within the Greater Thaumasia Plateau

Judice, T., Karunatillake, S.,Rogers, D., Dohm, J., Susko, D.

P41B-3902

Thursday, December 18, 2014, 08:00 AM - 12:20 PM

Moscone South - Poster Hall

 

Variations in the association of H2O with sulfur on Mars 

Karunatillake, S., Wray, J., Gasnault, O., McLennan, S., Rogers, D., Boynton, W., Skok, J., Ojha, L., Button, N.

P41A-3890

Thursday, December 18, 2014, 08:00 AM - 12:20 PM

Moscone South - Poster Hall 

 

Role of Plumes and Plates in the Construction and Preservation of Hadean-Archean Continental Nuclei

Mueller, P., Mogk, D., Henry, D., Wooden, J.

V43C-4897

Thursday, December 18, 2014, 01:40 PM - 06:00 PM

Moscone South - Poster Hall 

 

Neoproterozoic Glaciation: Interrogation of Data and Models I

Fairchild, I., Bao, H.

PP42B

Thursday, December 18, 2014, 10:20 AM - 12:20 PM

Moscone West – 2006 

 

Neoproterozoic Glaciation: Interrogation of Data and Models II Posters

Fairchild, I., Bao, H.

PP43C

Thursday, December 18, 2014, 01:40 PM - 06:00 PM

Moscone West - Poster Hall 

 

Orbitally Forced Climatic Fluctuations in Snowball Earth: Compelling Evidence from a Data-Model Study

Benn, D., Fairchild, I., Guillaume, L. H., Fleming, E., Ramstein, G., Stevenson, C., Donnadieu, Y., Bao, H., Hambrey, M., Petronis, M., Wynn, P.

PP42B-04

Thursday, December 18, 2014, 11:05 AM - 11:20 AM

Moscone West – 2006 

 

Long-Term Evolution of the East Asian Monsoon and Impact on Erosion and Weathering Around the South China Sea

Clift, P.

PP42C-02

Thursday, December 18, 2014, 10:35 AM - 10:50 AM

Moscone West – 2008 

 

Transforming Spatial Reasoning Skills in the Upper-Level Undergraduate Geoscience Classroom Through Curricular Materials Informed by Cognitive Science Research.

Ormand, C., Shipley, T., Dutrow, B., Goodwin, L, Hickson, T., Tikoff, B, Atit, K., Gagnier, K, and Resnick, I.

ED42B-05

Thursday, December 18, 11:20 - 11:35am

Moscone South - Rm. 102 

 

Active anthropogenic and surface salt deformation measured by InSAR, northwestern China

Colon, C., Webb, A.,Lasserre, C., Doin, M.

G43A-0497

Thursday, December 18, 2014, 01:40 PM - 06:00 PM

Moscone West - Poster Hall 

 

The Limits of Extrusion in the Western Himalaya

Zhang, K., Webb, A., Donaldson, D., Johnson, S., Elorriaga, T.

T21B-4601

Tuesday, December 16, 2014, 08:00 AM - 12:20 PM

Moscone South - Poster Hall   

 

FRIDAY December 19 

Laboratory Experiments on Wave Emissions Generated by the Variable Viscosity of Fracturing Fluids

Taleghani, A. D., Lorenzo, J.

H53C-0870

Friday, December 19, 2014, 01:40 PM - 06:00 PM

Moscone West - Poster Hall 

 

Uranium Isotope Fractionation During Coprecipitation with Aragonite and Calcite

Chen, X., Romaniello, S., Herrmann, A., Wasylenki, L., Anbar, A.

PP51C-1141

Friday, December 19, 2014, 08:00 AM - 12:20 PM

Moscone West-Poster Hall

Carol Wicks Named a 2014 AAAS Fellow

Nov 25, 2014

BATON ROUGE:

Congratulations to our Department Chair, Carol Wicks, on being named a Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Wicks was one of three LSU Faculty who were named to the list of Fellows for 2014. 

MS and PhD opportunities in Geology and Geophysics

10/23/2014

The department of Geology and Geophysics at Louisiana State University invites applicants for graduate studies in both the MS and PhD programs. In particular, students interested in Geophysics, Palynology, and Antarctic Climate & Ecology are being sought by our faculty. Click View More below to learn more about the application process and these opportunities.  

Live Oak Dedicated to Arnold Bouma

10/21/2014

On October 8, 2014 the Department of Geology & Geophysics held a ceremony dedicating one of the LSU campus live oaks endowed in memory of Dr. Arnold Bouma. Family, friends, and former students celebrated the moment recollecting stories of Arnold and remembering the impact he made during his 17 years at LSU. The ceremony was followed by a luncheon at the Club at Union Square. Special thanks to Erik Scott and Alan Brown for their work in making this event happen and to all the contributors who helped endow the oak.

Recent Graduate Edward Lo's Thesis Published in Geo-Marine Letters

Sep 15, 2014

Edward Lo (B.S. 2013) has had his undergraduate thesis research published in the journal Geo-Marine Letters. Ed worked alongside Dr. Sam Bentley for the study titled, "Experimental study of cohesive sediment consolidation and resuspension identifies approaches for coastal restoration: Lake Lery, Louisiana." Ed  was recently selected a recipient of a Fulbright Award and plans to continue his future research interests in Brazil. 

Karen Luttrell's Research Featured in Eos

Jun 11, 2014

Dr. Karen Luttrell's research contributions to Hurwitz et al. has been featured in the May 27th issue of Eos. The article "Yellowstone geysers influenced by internal processes" details the study of 10 years of geyser eruption data of two Yellowstone geysers: "Old Faithful" and "Daisy". 

Postdoc Researcher J.R. Skok Awarded NASA Grant

May 30, 2014

BATON ROUGE:

Congratulations to Dr. J.R. Skok on winning a $368,000 grant from the NASA-ROSES-Mars Data Analyses Program. He will be using the funding to investigate the pre-Noachian crust of Mars. His compelling proposal on a novel idea serves as a major accomplishment especially at the federal level.

J.R. received his PhD from Brown University in 2012 and is a member of Dr. Suniti Karunatillake's planetary science lab.  

New Mineral Species Named After Darrell Henry

May 06, 2014

BATON ROUGE:

A new species of tourmaline has been discovered by geologists in the Czech Republic and named “darrellhenryite” in honor of LSU Campanile Charities Professor of Geology Darrell Henry for his scientific contributions to the mineralogy and petrology of the tourmaline supergroup minerals. This new mineral species was discovered by geologists from the Czech Republic in a quarry at Nová Ves near Český Krumlov, Czech Republic.  The mineral was further characterized by crystallographers from the University of Vienna and California Institute of Technology. To name a new species, the mineral has to be fully chemically and structurally characterized, and a new mineral proposal submitted to and accepted by a committee of the International Mineralogical Association. Although darrellhenryite was originally found in the quarry in the Czech Republic, other examples are likely to be found. Already there appears to an example of a green gemmy tourmaline from Maine that is probably darrellhenryite. The type material has been deposited in the collections of the Department of Mineralogy and Petrography of the Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic and in the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C.

 

darrellhenryite

 Darrellhenryite from the type locality at Nová Ves, Czech Republic. Photo by Professor George Rossman of the California Institute of Technology.


Over the last 150 years there have been about 4000 species of minerals named. In most cases the species are named after places in which the species is discovered (e.g. elbaite after the island of Elba, Tuscany, Italy) or after some chemical characteristic (e.g. zincite after the high zinc content in the mineral). However, some species are named after geoscientists who have made significant contributions to the science of mineralogy and petrology. This is the case for the new mineral species darrellhenryite. In the published article describing the new mineral species it was stated that “the name is for Darrell J. Henry, Professor of Geology at the Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA, an expert on the mineralogy, petrology, crystal chemistry and nomenclature of tourmaline-supergroup minerals”.  This honor is the first instance that a mineral was named after anyone from LSU.

A full description is found in: Novák, M., Ertl, A., Povondra, P., Galiová, M.V., Rossman, G.R., Pristacz, H., Prem, M., Giester, G., Gadas, P., and Škoda, R. (2013) Darrellhenryite, Na(LiAl2)Al6(BO3)3Si6O18(OH)3O, a new mineral from the tourmaline supergroup. American Mineralogist, 98(10), 1886-1892.

Saturday Science features Sophie Warny

Apr 29, 2014

BATON ROUGE

Dr. Sophie Warny, AASP Professor in the Center for Excellence in Palynology, will the featured speaker for the May 3, 2014 installment of Saturday Science. She will giving her talk: "Climate change, oil exploration, crime scene, and allergy: What is the common thread?". 

Date: May 3, 2014

Location: 130 Nicholson Hall

Time: 10:00 - 11:15am

Saturday Science is an event aimed to bring high school students, teachers, and the community together to advance knowledge of many scientific areas. It is organized by the LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy.

Sophie Warny Recognized by LSU Alumni Association

Apr 28, 2014

Juan Lorenzo Featured on WWLTV

Apr 23, 2014

Congratulations James Smith!

Mar 26, 2014

New Orleans

Geology & Geophysics junior James Smith has won 2nd place in the Undergraduate category at the 2014 State of the Coast Convention for his poster titled "Patterns of sediment accumulation over decadal time scales in the Breton Sound basin." James conducts research under the guidance of Dr. Sam Bentley. The convention took place March 18-20 in New Orleans.

Congratulations James!

2014 Rockstar Poster Competition

Mar 25, 2014

Baton Rouge

The annual Rockstar Poster Competition was held on Friday March 21. Student research posters filled the Clarence Cazalot Atrium on topics ranging from Delta Evolution to Palynology to Sediment Flux. Rockstar provides student's with a formal way to present their research in a familiar setting. Students gain valuable experience discussing their research and learning more about effective communication both during the creation of the visual aspects of the poster and the discussion of the research. 

Congratulations to the 2014 winners:

Graduate Level:

1st Suraj Bajgain: "Water speciation and properties of hydrous model basalt melt at high pressure"

2nd Madison Kymes: "Palynological evaluation of Oligocene and Miocene sections from King George Island, Antarctica"

3rd Adam Turner: "Developing U as a paleoredox proxy, modern analogs"

Undergraduate Level:

1st James Smith: "Patterns of sediment accumulation over decadal time scales in the Brenton Sound basin"

2nd Matthew Smith: "On the amount of sediment deposited in floodplains from the Mississippi River: A case study in Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana"

Tie 3rd Ingrid Eckhoff: "Kinematics of active surface salt structures in western China: field observations and topographic analysis"

Tie 3rd Shelby Johnston: "Low-temperature history of the Tethyan Himalayan Sequence, NW Himalaya"

Thank you to judges Bill Wischusen from the Department of Biological Sciences, Barb Dutrow of the Department of Geology & Geophysics, and James Geaghan of the Department of Experimental Statistics. 

Brooks Ellwood Profiled in Earth Magazine

Mar 17, 2014

Dr. Brooks Ellwood, Robey H. Clark Professor in Geology, has been featured in the March issue of Earth. The article titled "Brooks Ellwood and the unusual applications of magnetism" captures the hunt for the grave of William "Wild Bill" Longley and how Dr. Ellwood creatively used magnetic susceptibility during the search. 

Feb 04, 2014

Peter Clift Blogs His Journey on the Joides Resolution

 

Jan 02, 2014

Congratulations to our fall graduates!

Doctor of Philosophy in Geology

James Michael Crane

"Effects of Stress and Water Saturation on Seismic Velocity and Attenuation in Near Surface Sediments" 

Advisor: Juan Lorenzo

Bachelor of Science:

Logan Michael Adams

George Sterling Caravella

Elizabeth Winn Ingram

Zachary Bose Kelly

Caven M. Kymes

Edward Limin Lo

Cameron Andrew McCulla

Andrew Raymond Morse

Oliver Joseph Navo

Eric Janssen Orphys

Stephen R. Osborne

Evan Joseph Roundtree

Andrew K. Webb

Craig Nicholas Zimmerman

Congratulations and good luck with your future discoveries!

Dec 09, 2013