Lunchtime Colloquia at WVGES
Please join us at the Survey in the large conference room behind Publications Sales, directly
to the right through our main entrance.
(You may also wish to visit the Department of Geology and Geography Colloquium Series at West Virginia University:
http://www.geo.wvu.edu/gradadmissions/colloquium/colloquium.htm)
Upcoming Presentations
None are currently scheduled.
Previous Presentations
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)
Page last revised: April 8, 2008
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