Lunchtime Colloquia at WVGES

Upcoming Presentations

Kelby Hicks, will talk about Iceland and show some outstanding photos.

Previous Presentations

Katharine Lee Avary, Petroleum Geologist and Manager, Oil and Gas Program, West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey

Lee will tell us about the geology of the Marcellus Shale and what makes this gas play viable now, even though we’ve known about it for a long time.

Download the abstract (PDF, 433 KB)

Tara Miller, Environmental Services Project Manager and GIS Specialist, CTL Engineering of West Virginia, Inc.

Using GIS to calculate surface-water contaminant loads in relation to regulatory water-quality standards.

Download the abstract (PDF, 198.89 KB)

Shahab D. Mohaghegh, Ph.D., Professor of Petroleum & Natural Gas Engineering, WVU

Engineers are fascinated with precision and reservoir engineers are no exception. Traditional reservoir simulation and modeling has a precise approach to modeling fluid flow in the porous media. Our understanding of natur's characteristics, especially when expanded to interpret the entire reservoir from well-based observations and measurements, is far from being precise.

Download the abstract (PDF, 198.89 KB)

Valerie Smith, WVU Geology and Geography Department

This talk will cover some of the research our speaker conducted for her thesis. Valerie will discuss how she used Petrel, a sophisticated software program developed by Schlumberger, to perform the 3D modeling. However, she promises that her presentation will not be too technical, and will have many eye-catching graphics as well as nice photos of Wyoming. So you don’t have to be a geologist to appreciate this talk (but it might help).

Download the abstract (PDF, 218.93 KB)

Taryn Bell

Come escape to the Himalayas on Monday 20, 2008 at noon 11:30 AM (note, new time) in the lower conference room of the West Virginia Geological Survey to find out.
Our own Taryn Bell will speak about the months she spent living and teaching in Nepal.

Download the abstract (PDF, 55 KB)

Dr. Steve Kite
View and listen to an article on Dr. Kite and the subject on WV Public Broadcasting's website link: http://www.wvpubrad.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=3772

Download the abstract (PDF, 60 KB)

Dr. Tom Kammer
He and Dr. Dave Matchen have a paper forthcoming that discusses new data supporting sea level changes at the Kinderhookian-Osagean (K-O) boundary.

Download the abstract (PDF, 41 KB)

Paul Ziemkiewicz
Director of the West Virginia Water Research Institute and Principal Investigator of the Monongahela Basin Mine Pool Project

Abstract: A general overview of mine drainage including a discussion on some of the findings of the Mon Basin Project as well as potential uses for mine water before it breaks out onto the ground surface.

Download the abstract (PDF, 133 KB) Monday, April 14, 2008, Noon
Megalonyx jeffersonii: The New West Virginia State Fossil

E. Ray Garton
Curator, WVGES Museum

Abstract: Workers mining saltpeter in a Monroe County cave discovered fossil bones in 1797 that eventually became the property of President Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson thought they belonged to a large prehistoric lion, but they were later identified as a Pleistocene ground sloth. Although Thomas Jefferson misidentified the fossil, he is credited for the discovery that bears his name. The bones were recently Carbon dated and found to be over 38,000 years old.

Megalonyx has been found in two Monroe County caves, a Pendleton County cave and a Greenbrier County cave. Megalonyx jeffersonii also has been uncovered on the coastal shelf off New Jersey as well as in California and Washington.

Ray Garton, curator of the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey Museum, was the main force behind making Megalonyx jeffersonii the official state fossil. Ray worked with lawmakers for two legislative sessions to finally get the resolution passed in March 2008

Download the abstract (PDF, 87.34 KB)

Monday, March 3, 2008, Noon
Heresy in Cambridge, Take 2: Paleomagnetism and Continental Drift in Cambridge before Vine and Matthews

Greg Good
WVU Department of History

Abstract: This talk gets behind some of the well known events in the plate-tectonic revolution, such as the work of Harry Hess, Fred Vine, and Drummond Matthews. In the background: cosmic rays, stellar magnetic fields, and the geodynamo. Believe it or not.

Download the abstract (PDF, 30.2 KB)

Monday, February 25, 2008, Noon
The Water Flows Forth - The Mystery and Geology of Spring Water

Dorothy Vesper
WVU Department of Geology and Geography

Abstract:
We are drawn to springs for many reasons: therapeutic, spiritual, aesthetic, thirst. Springs also provide a window for studying groundwater, surface water - ground water interactions, and human impact on the environment. This talk will focus on the origin and types of springs from a geologic perspective, historic and cultural aspects of springs, and our current spring research projects at WVU.

Download the abstract (PDF, 76 KB)

Monday, February 4, 2008, Noon

Effects of Elevated pH Levels Resulting from Persistent
Volcanic Degassing of SO₂ on Ambrym Island, Vanuatu
(Including Accounts of Working in the Cannibal Islands)

Kelby E. Hicks
Dept. of Earth Sciences, University College London, London, England

Download the abstract (PDF, 52 KB)
View photos at http://www.volcan.org/vanuatu.html

Monday, January 7, 2008, Noon

The Age of the Dunkard: Have We Learned Anything in 120 Years?
Mitch Blake
Coal Geologist and Section Manager, WVGES
Discussion of the controversy over the age of the Dunkard Group. Is it Pennsylvania? Is it Permian? The debate has been raging for over a century and is still a hot topic.

Download the abstract (PDF, 22 KB)

Monday, December 3, 2007, Noon

Ichnofossils
Ron McDowell
Manager and Senior Research Geologist, WVGES

Download the abstract (PDF, 45 KB)

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