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Dr. Roland Stull is a professor of Atmospheric Sciences in the UBC department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences. During his 26 years at UBC, his focus has been on numerical weather prediction - using large computers to forecast the weather. His research team of about 15 scientists and students study renewable energy meteorology (wind, hydro, & solar power), weather disasters (forest fires, windstorms, floods), transportation weather (highway, railroad, bus, shipping), and special projects. He is a commercial pilot, and has held a multi-engine flight-instructor certificate for many decades. In his spare time, he enjoys biking.

Until recently, the development of the first real continental crust on Earth was something of a mystery. However, research within the Earth Ocean and Atmospheric Science Department (EOAS) at UBC, published last week in Nature Communications marks a breakthrough in current understanding of the origins of the modern lithosphere.

On modern Earth, the production of new continental crust is driven by plate tectonics and, in particular, within subduction zones. Yet, plate tectonics is likely to have worked very differently, or not at all, during the first few billion years of Earth’s history. This presents a chicken and the egg problem for scientists: Did the first crust result from the start of plate tectonics or did plate tectonics start as a result of the continents developing? If not for plate tectonics, how else may the continental crust have developed?

Dr. Matthijs Smit, EOAS associate professor and Canada Research Chair, used specific chemical tracers that are unaffected by geological alteration processes to identify the source of the rocks that made up most of the newly formed continental crust during the Archaean: tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorites (TTGs). By studying the chemical composition of TTGs across the globe, using data amassed in an international database, Dr. Smit and coauthors Kira Musiyachenko and Jeroen Goumans, were able to tease out large scale patterns. Trends in TTG compositions indicate that these rocks formed during slow burial, thickening and melting of precursor oceanic plateau crust. Their discovery provides a novel explanation of how continental crust may have originated without requiring an external driver, such as a meteorite impact. The findings published last week are a paradigm shift in the way geoscientists have understood the origins of continental crust and plate tectonics during the Archean era. 

Find the original research article here, and the UBC press release here. 

With great sadness, we learned that Dr. Mati Raudsepp passed away on January 10, 2024.

Dr. Raudsepp obtained his B.Sc. from McMaster University in 1971 and his M.Sc. from the University of Manitoba in 1979. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Manitoba in 1984. Dr. Raudsepp first came to UBC in 1992, and served for more than three decades as the Director of the Electron Microbeam/X-Ray Diffraction Facility. He also held an appointment as a Research Associate and Honorary Professor. Working with many students, faculty and technical staff, Mati built world-class expertise in quantitative X-ray powder diffraction, supporting basic research and industry needs. He also trained generations of graduate students in data collection and analysis. Mati made broader contributions to his field, serving as Treasurer of the Mineralogical Association of Canada from 1996 to 2006. In 2006, he was awarded the MAC’s Leonard G. Berry Medal, in recognition of his many contributions.

https://www.eoas.ubc.ca/people/matiraudsepp
https://obituaries.thespec.com/obituary/mati-raudsepp-1089268885

Curious about Earth Sciences? Introducing our newest video series - First-year Courses in EOAS! 

ATSC 113 · Weather for Sailing, Flying & Snow Sports

EOSC 110 · The Solid Earth: A Dynamic Planet

EOSC 112 · The Fluid Earth: Atmosphere and Ocean

EOSC 114 · The Catastrophic Earth: Natural Disasters

EOSC 116 · Mesozoic Earth: Time of the Dinosaurs

EOSC 118 · Earth's Treasures: Gold and Gems

Dr. Catherine Johnson is a professor of geophysics at UBC, Vancouver and a Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute, Tucson. Her research group works on problems in planetary science using data returned by recent and older NASA missions, including the Apollo missions to the Moon. Outside work she practices and teaches yoga (RYT 500) and spends time outside with her family and Bernese Mountain Dog.

Kirsten Hodge is a volcanologist and science educator. She is currently the Director of the Pacific Museum of Earth (PME), one of the University of British Columbia’s main outreach hubs. At the PME, she oversees how the museum engages, excites, and educates the UBC community as well as local youth and teachers. Her work at the PME provides a link between the fundamental science that shapes our planet (“how science works in general”) to topics that have environmental, economic, and societal importance (“why do we care?“).