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EOAS undergraduate wins the Most Accurate category in the Visible Geology Student Challenge
Sarah Lambros, a B.Sc. student majoring in Geophysics and minoring in Geology in the Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, recently won the “Most Accurate” category in the Visible Geology Student Challenge.
Sarah first learned about the Challenge while taking EOSC 323 Structural Geology with Dr. Lucy Porritt. Inspired by the opportunity, she decided to take on the Challenge, which involved creating a 3D model of a notable geological site in the USA or Canada using Visible Geology, a software developed by Seequent.
The model Sarah chose to build was Loder Peak on the eastern side of the Rockies in Kananaskis, Alberta. “I was born and raised in Calgary, so seeing that site of the very first mountains after the foothills is iconic and has a very special place in my heart,” said Sarah, “I also wanted to challenge myself by choosing something with folding, tilting, unconformities, and really see what I could do with Visible Geology.”
Congratulations Sarah!
EOAS at AGU: Washington, DC 9-13 Dec 2024
Keep up with the Earth Oceans and Atmospheric Science researchers presenting and contributing at the upcoming AGU meeting.
This year over 20 EOAS members are headed to Washington, DC to share novel scientific research, as well as Earth Science education and science communication initiatives.
Follow their work with the schedule below!
Monday, 9 December 2024
Monday Morning Poster Sessions 8:30 – 12:20 (Hall B-C)
Lindsey Heagy, University of British Columbia, Geophysical Inversion Facility, Vancouver, BC, Canada and Doug Oldenburg, University of British Columbia, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Parth Pokar and Lindsey Justine Heagy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Cuiyi Fei1, Rachel H White1 and Ethan Raker2, (1)University of British Columbia, Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada, (2)University of British Columbia, Department of Sociology, Vancouver, Canada
Tuesday, 10 December 2024
Tuesday Morning Poster Sessions 8:30 – 12:20 (Hall B-C)
Dominique Weis, University of British Columbia, PCIGR, Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Nicole Williamson, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada and Lauren N. Harrison, Colorado State University, Geosciences, Fort Collins, United States
Cansu Culha, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Alexandre Leonelli, UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, United States, Mark Jellinek, University of British Columbia, Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada and Eckart Heinz Meiburg, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Wednesday Morning Poster Sessions 8:30 – 12:20 (Hall B-C)
Dr. Johan Thiru Gilchrist, PhD, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Franck Donnadieu, Université Clermont-Auvergne, Clermont, France, Mark Jellinek, University of British Columbia, Earth, Ocean, Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Cyril Mergny, University of Paris-Sud 11, Planetary Science, Orsay, France, Eric Breard, University of Edinburgh, Department of Geosciences, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, Colin R Rowell, University of British Columbia, Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Josef Dufek, University of Oregon, Department of Earth Sciences, Eugene, OR, United States, Frédéric Peyrin, Observatoire de Physique du Globe de Clermont-Ferrand, Clermont, France and Thierry Latchimy, Observatoire de Physique du Globe de Clermont-Ferrand, Aubière, France
Michael G Bostock1, Charles G Sammis1, Simon M Peacock1, Nicolás Estay2 and Aaron Wech3, (1)University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, (2)Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Santiago, Chile, (3)USGS, Anchorage, United States
Laura Lukes, University of British Columbia, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Heather A Fischer, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, United States, Elijah T Johnson, USGS, Reston, United States; USGS CASC, Reston, United States and Silvia Jessica Mostacedo Marasovic, Arlington, TX, UNITED STATES; University of Texas at Arlington, Higher Education, Adult Learning & Organizational Studies Department, Arlington, United States
Wednesday Afternoon Poster Session 13:40 – 17:30 (Hall B-C)
James S Scoates and Kenneth A Hickey, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Laura Lukes, University of British Columbia, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada and Alexandra Dolling, University of British Columbia, Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Emma Betz and Laura Lukes, University of British Columbia, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Wednesday Afternoon Oral Session
- ED33GEducation Research in the Earth and Space Sciences: Theoretical Foundations, Methods, and Results II Oral 14:10 – 15:40 (Archives, Marriot Marquis)
Laura Lukes, University of British Columbia, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Heather A Fischer, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, United States, Elijah T Johnson, USGS, Reston, United States; USGS CASC, Reston, United States and Silvia Jessica Mostacedo Marasovic, Arlington, TX, UNITED STATES; University of Texas at Arlington, Higher Education, Adult Learning & Organizational Studies Department, Arlington, United States
- T33D-07Carbonation of Serpentinite in the San Andreas Fault Drives a Transition from Creeping to Locked Slip Behaviour 15:20 – 15:30 (Convention Center 206)
Matthew S Tarling, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada and Christie D Rowe, Nevada Seismological Laboratory, Reno, United States
- P34AMachine Learning and Data Science Methods for Planetary Science I Oral 16:00 – 17:30 (Liberty M, Marriot Marquis)
Abigail Azari, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Megan Ansdell, NASA Headquarters, Science Mission Directorate, Washington, United States, Hannah Rae Kerner, Arizona State University, Tempe, United States, Lior Rubanenko, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel, Ramanakumar Sankar, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States and M Joseph Pasterski, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States
- ED34AEducation Research in the Earth and Space Sciences: Theoretical Foundations, Methods, and Results III Oral 16:00 – 17:30 (Archives, Marriot Marquis)
Laura Lukes, University of British Columbia, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Heather A Fischer, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, United States, Elijah T Johnson, USGS, Reston, United States; USGS CASC, Reston, United States and Silvia Jessica Mostacedo Marasovic, Arlington, TX, UNITED STATES; University of Texas at Arlington, Higher Education, Adult Learning & Organizational Studies Department, Arlington, United States
Thursday, 12 December 2024
Thursday Morning Poster Session 8:30 – 12:20 (Hall B-C)
John Weis and Lindsey Justine Heagy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Charles G Sammis and Michael G Bostock, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Cuiyi Fei and Rachel H White, University of British Columbia, Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Abigail Azari1, Catherine Johnson1,2, Santiago Soler1 and Lindsey Justine Heagy1, (1)University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, (2)Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, United States
Abigail Azari, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Megan Ansdell, NASA Headquarters, Science Mission Directorate, Washington, United States, Hannah Rae Kerner, Arizona State University, Tempe, United States, Lior Rubanenko, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel, Ramanakumar Sankar, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States and M Joseph Pasterski, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States
Thursday Afternoon Poster Session 8:30 – 12:20 (Hall B-C)
Charles G Sammis and Michael G Bostock, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Thursday Afternoon Oral Session 8:30 – 12:20
- NS43C-03A synthetic study investigating induced polarization effects on time-domain electromagnetic data for Sea-floor hydrothermal deposit. 14:40 – 14:50 (146 A, Convention Center)
Mr. Masayuki Motoori, University of British Columbia, Earth Ocean and Atmospheric Science, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security, Seafloor Mineral Resources, Tokyo, Japan and Lindsey Justine Heagy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Friday, 13 December 2024
Friday Morning Poster Session 18:30 – 12:20 (Hall B-C)
Emma Betz1, Harold John Bradbury1, Marghaleray Amini1, Dominique Weis1 and Kendra Chritz2, (1)University of British Columbia, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada, (2)University of British Columbia, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, Canada
Joseph Janssen, Ardalan Tootchi and Ali Ameli, University of British Columbia, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Majid Bayati, Joseph Janssen and Ali Ameli, University of British Columbia, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Cansu Culha, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Stephen Sebestyen, USDA, Grand Rapids, United States, Jonas Eschenfelder, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada, Nina K. Lany, USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Durham, NH, United States and James W Kirchner, ETH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Department of Environmental Systems Science, Zurich, Switzerland
Friday Afternoon Oral Sessions
14:10 – 14:25 (Independence A-C, Marriot Marquis)
ED53A-01New Tools to Support Instructors Re/Designing Field Courses
Laura Lukes1, Silvia Mazabel2, Nina Hewitt3, Denise Gabriel4, Maite Maldonado2, Warren Cardinal-McTeague5, James S Scoates6, Sam Filipenko7 and Tara Ivanochko8, (1)University of British Columbia, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada, (2)University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, (3)University of British Columbia, Department of Geography, Vancouver, BC, Canada, (4)University of British Columbia, Integrated Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada, (5)University of British Columbia, Forestry, Vancouver, Canada, (6)Pacific Centre for Isotopic and Geochemical Research, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, (7)University of British Columbia, Indigenous Research Support Initiative, Vancouver, BC, Canada, (8)University of British Columbia, Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada
iPoster Gallery (Dec 9-13)
Searching for Functional Simplicity of Stormflow Generation
Ali Ameli, University of British Columbia, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada and Hamed Sharif, University of British Columbia, Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada
H06-44Mountain Groundwater Affects Down-valley River Storage-Discharge Function
Ali Ameli and Hongyi Li, University of British Columbia, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Alessandro Ielpi1, Madeline Norman2 and Andrea Demers2, (1)The University of British Columbia, Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences, Kelowna, BC, Canada, (2)Laurentian University, Harquail School of Earth Sciences, Sudbury, ON, Canada
H06-114Interpretable Machine Learning to Understand Wetland Hydrology Across Prairie Pothole Region
Javad Rahmani1, Ali Ameli1 and Chaopeng Shen2, (1)University of British Columbia, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada, (2)Pennsylvania State University Main Campus, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University Park, United States
One mine's waste is another company's carbon capture solution
To achieve the global climate objectives set in the 2015 Paris Agreement, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change asserts 10 GtCO2 will need to be captured annually between now and 2050, in addition to halting current emissions. One promising approach to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is to speed up natural carbon sequestering processes…cue Tilly and Eddy.
Tilly and Eddy are two autonomous rovers working tirelessly to crush mine tailings on Mt. Keith, a nickel mine in the Western Australian desert. Nickel is mined from ultra-mafic rock that is rich in iron and magnesium minerals that, when exposed to air, react with carbon dioxide to form solid carbonates. During natural weathering and erosion processes, these reactions remove carbon from the atmosphere and lock it up in rock where it stays for millennia. Arca, a UBC spin-out company, is using Tilly and Eddy to accelerate this natural process. Tilly’s job is to till the mine tailings into a fine sand to maximize surface area for carbonate reactions. Eddy follows Tilly and uses eddy-covariance methods to monitor carbon dioxide drawdown rates. To-date, Arca’s pilot project at Mt. Keith is already sequestering carbon at a rate of 40,000 tons carbon dioxide per year, representing 11% of the mine’s total greenhouse gas emissions.
Nickel is a critical component of electric vehicle batteries. As we transition from fossil fuels to electric vehicle-based transportation, nickel mining is expected to expand drastically. This presents a serious sustainability challenge as nickel mining itself is environmentally intensive and involves fossil fuel emissions. Arca hopes to offset those emissions with its carbon capture technology. Given the extent of global mining operations and the fields of ultra-mafic mining tailings that already exist, there is significant potential for Arca to scale their operations to meet significant carbon sequestration objectives. The company is already one of 20 finalist teams competing for the Musk Foundation's $50 million grand prize, which will be awarded to a group that can permanently sequester 1,000 tones of carbon in a year and prove their potential to capture 1 billion tons per year.
Arca was founded three years ago through the entrepreneurship@UBC program by UBC Earth Oceans and Atmospheric Science Professor Dr. Greg Dipple and geologists Bethany Ladds and Peter Scheuermann. Since then, the company has won several prestigious awards including Startup of the Year in Foresight’s BC Cleantech awards and was labeled one of Canada’s 50 Most Investible Cleantech Ventures by Foresight Canada.
New release of the Treatise on Geochemistry, edited by Dominique Weis and Ariel Anbar
Geosciences encompasses an immense diversity of research fields studying Earth and other planetary processes. The diverse disciplines under the geosciences umbrella are united by geochemistry, which provides the analytical tools to examine past and present geological phenomena, quantify reservoir exchanges and establish absolute ages. Since its initial publication, The Treatise on Geochemistry has been an invaluable resource for academics and researchers. In the 10 years since the release of The Treatise on Geochemistry second edition, geochemistry has been reckoning with two fundamental developments in the field. First, the discovery of thousands of potentially habitable Earth-like exoplanets. Second, the scientific consensus is that we are now in the Anthropocene, a new era defined by humans’ dominant influence on the environment. These developments bring pressing new relevance to questions regarding the formation and evolution of habitable planets and the sensitivity of our own planet and others to human activity. The latest edition of The Treatise on Geochemistry, co-edited by UBC professor and director of the Pacific Centre for Isotopic and Geochemical Research Dominique Weis, has been entirely rewritten to incorporate the latest developments and to look ahead to the coming decade of innovation. With 145 chapters, the new edition is a comprehensive guide on the ”state-of-the-art" of geochemistry today.
In addition to Dominique Weis, three UBC EOAS members contributed to the latest edition as chapter co-authors. Shaun Barker, director of the Mineral Deposit Research Unit, co-authored the chapter 'Fluid-rock interaction: A mineral deposits perspective'. Anette von der Handt, a research associate at EOAS and Electron Microprobe specialist, co-authored the chapter 'Scanning electron microscopy, electron probe microanalysis, and electron backscatter diffraction in the geological sciences'. EOAS faculty Kendra Chritz authored the chapter 'Geochemical explorations of trophic interactions in the past and present: Beyond “who’s eating whom”. In addition to serving as the chief editor, Dominque Weis co-authored a chapter titled 'The geochemistry of metal contaminants in the environment'.
Access the full new edition of The Treatise on Geochemistry here, via the UBC library.
Bridging Science and Public Knowledge: two students expand understanding of seamount microbes
Read full article here: Exploring underwater mountains: Students add marine microbial hotspots to Wikipedia by Colleen McCoy
This spring, two science students at the University of British Columbia, Alia Kogiso (Integrated Sciences major with a focus on Environmental Chemistry, Ecology, and Structural Geology) and Alyssa Jung (biology major), brought a new, robust article to Wikipedia on Seamount microbial communities as their final project in Dr. Curtis Suttle’s EOSC 475: Marine Microbiology course. By carefully collecting, reviewing, and synthesizing existing literature, they showed how seamounts act as unique hotspots for microbial communities with great diversity and adaptability to extreme conditions, such as high pressure, low temperatures, and limited nutrient availability. Their article not only expanded knowledge but also filled a gap in public understanding of the critical role of seamount-associated microbes in marine nutrient cycling and ecosystem functioning.
“I loved this assignment because it allowed us to engage with a wider audience and develop skills in communicating science to the public, which I believe will be invaluable in a professional setting after graduation,” said Kogiso. “We hope that readers get a glimpse of the importance of microbes in an underexplored biodiversity such as seamounts,” said Jung.
During the last spring term alone, students in the Marine Microbiology course contributed 86K words to Wikipedia, creating 10 new articles and enhancing 35 existing articles, with their work reaching nearly half a million views. Over the years, the cumulative contributions from the course have grown to 436k words and 10.4 million page views, demonstrating how academic coursework can enrich public knowledge and broaden access to scientific information.
Alia Kogiso. Credit: Alia Kogiso
Alyssa Jung. Credit: Alyssa Jung
Congratulations to 2024 AGU Fellow, Dr. Doug Oldenburg
Dr. Douglas Oldenburg, emeritus Professor in Earth Oceans and Atmospheric Sciences and founder of the UBC Geophysical Inversion Facility, joins the 2024 AGU Fellowship Cohort for 2024. The AGU Fellowship is a prestigious award that recognizes excellence in Earth and Planetary Sciences. Dr. Douglas Oldenburg has contributed greatly to the field by developing inversion methods and applications to solve diverse geophysical problems.
In addition to the 2024 AGU Fellowship, Dr. Douglas Oldenburg has won numerous other awards for teaching and research. He is a recognized Fellow of the Royal Society, SEG Honorary Membership Recipient, and TeckCominco Senior Keevil Chair in Mineral Exploration. He is passionate about teaching and making geophysics accessible to all and has developed a number of open-source resources for students and educators of geophysics (available here).
Congratulations to Dr. Oldenburg on this latest well deserved achievement.