Volume 3, Issue 1
A Graduate Student Profile
November 7th, 2005
Geosciences Newsletter
UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT
In Geoscience Newsletters
throughout the year, we will
profile of one of our geoscience graduate students, so
that we can learn more about
them!
Graduate student Januka Attanayake comes to us this year
from his home country of Sri
Lanka where he studied at the
University of Peradeniya,
(UPSL). With a major in Geology and a minor in Physics,
Januka has received numerous
honors for his studies. He recently found out he received
First Class Honors (for overall
and major GPA) , and has also
received a University award
for academic excellence (2005UPSL), and the Prof. Ananda
Gunatilake Award for Academic Excellence (2004)
Awarded by the Geological
Society of Sri Lanka (GSSL).
Januka has been a member of
the Geological Society of
America since 2005, and a
member of the GSSL since
2004. His research interests
include modern structural geology/ crustal geophysics and
interdisciplinary work involving these topics - primarily
earth quake related studies;
fault mechanisms, risk assessment, the possibility of prediction. For career goals, Januka is
looking forward to teaching,
and research based scientific
work. While here at UConn,
Januka is studying under
Vernon Cormier.
Januka’s
hometown
is Kandy,
the capital
of the central
highlands of Sri
Lanka. He
Januka hard
work kindly ofJanuka
hardat at
in his office.
that
work
in his office fers
any one interested can join
him on a trip there next summer!
Interests for Januka include
music, reading, and cricket.
He’s been an opening batsman for his school cricket
team for as long as he can
remember, and has even won
awards for his cricket playing
skills. For reading he enjoys
life experiences and Philosophy.
Januka would like to send a
thank you to his family for
where he is now - it has always been a collective effort
and is the most important part
of his life.
Januka’s life philosophy is
“Man cannot discover new
oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore,
and if we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly,
our whole life would change”.
“Dimensions in Geosciences” Symposium a Success
The first CiG Symposium, held
on October 8, was a great success. More than 70 people, a
third of whom were graduate
and undergraduate students,
representing several colleges
and schools and New England
universities, attended the lectures. Six speakers presented
their work on various
“dimensions” (aspects) of geosciences, highlighting transdisciplinary approaches. The
morning speakers included
Dave Des Marais (NASA
Ames) who talked about microbial mat biogeochemistry
and the Martian rover mission,
Kip Hodges (MIT) who addressed the impact of the Himalayan mountains on climate
(monsoons), Elfatih Eltahir
(MIT) who presented work on
local hydrology (rainfall) and
land cover in Oman and the
Sahara. In the afternoon, Collin
Roesler (Bigelow) introduced
ocean optics and the ocean observatory in the Gulf of Maine,
Joan Bernhard (WHOI) presented her work on unusual eukaryotes and their symbionts
that live anoxic ocean sediments
and Andrew Bush (UConn)
discussed (statistical) approaches that can be used to
interpret the biodiversity in the
rock record. A reception in
Nathan Hale followed the
presentations and the day
ended with a dinner with over
30 students, faculty and speakers at Coyote Flaco in Coventry. We were particularly
pleased with the discussions
that followed the presentations, some of which ended
close to midnight when the
group finally parted. Special
thanks for making this day a
success to Abi Howe! -PV
Inside this issue:
Faculty News etc.
2
Upcoming Events
3
Websites of Interest
3
Earth Science Picture of the Day
4
Dr. Philpotts in Ethopia
6
105 Students In the Field
7
GeoCorps America Program
8
In the News for Geosciences:
• In the 1980s, Thomas Gold, an astronomer at Cornell
University, received support from the Swedish government to drill into the Siljan Ring, the site of an ancient
meteorite crater in central Sweden, in search of
“inorganic” oil from Earth’s mantle. Gold believed that
natural gas migrates upward from the mantle where it
transforms into more complex gases and oil, and that the
petroleum could be expelled through large releases of
energy such as a meteor impact. The experiment, which
did not find large quantities of such gas, still helped
mobilize a small community of scientists who reject the
theory of organic origins of petroleum.
Announcements, Awards, Publications, etc.
Faculty Contributions on Publications:
In addition to informing us of all your
publications and providing us with hard
copies, we encourage all students and
faculty that submit publications for peer
review to include in CiG contribution
number. This can typically be done in the
acknowledgments: “This is contribution
#XX of UConn’s Center for Integrative
Geosciences”, or alternatively, do this in
a footnote, depending on the journal
guidelines. Once the publication is accepted, Abi can provide you with an actual number. Two of the reasons for doing this are: it gives us visibility and is
“free” advertisement, and it helps us
build a case for our (transdisciplinary)
existence as the breadth and depth of
these publications can help us demonstrate our viability.
As a reminder, copies of these pubs are
located in the 207 office, in a blue binder
on the front counter, for anyone who
would like to take a look or make copies!
Faculty: If you need the LCD Projector
that geosciences now owns for Spring
classes, please be sure to reserve it
through Abi in the main office! Send an
email or stop by to make sure it’s available for the times you need.
Computer Lab: We've cleaned up the
geosciences computer lab in Beach Hall
(room 243), fixed up some of the computers, and networked several new printers. This room is available to Geoscienceaffiliated students and requires a key code
for entry; Abi will send out an email with
this code once it is changed.
Also,
graduate students now have new computers installed in the grad student offices. Thanks!!!
Conference / Symposia Activities:
Faculty and students, if you’ve been invited to attend meetings or are presenting something at a meeting, please let Abi
know and we’ll include it in upcoming
newsletters!
Two Great Books Available:
Dr. Greg McHone (geoscience adjunct
professor) has two books available about
Connecticut Geology: Connecticut in the
Mesozoic World, and Great Daytrips to
Discover the Geology of Connecticut.
Geosciences Undergrads:
Make sure to check out the undergraduate
part of the new geosciences website for
an updated list of funding/internship
o p p o r t u n i t i e s !
http://www.geosciences.uconn.edu/
undergradlinks.html
Reading
Room Update:
In case you haven’t noticed, the reading
room in Beach Hall is near completion!
Furniture will be coming in soon, and the
room now has carpet, an LCD projector
in the ceiling, a computer hook up station
up front along with a new screen and
whiteboards! We will send an announcement when the room is finished and
open!
Bulletin Board Renovation!
If you have a chance, check out the bulletin boards on the 1st and 2nd floors of
Beach Hall. Elise Kesseli has been helping to rejuvenate and organize them for
us, and they look fantastic! The What’s
Happening board is updated, old field trip
photos have been replaced with newer
trip photos, and announcements about
opportunities have been organized. The
board by the seminar room on the 2nd
floor is dedicated to anything that might
be of interest to our undergrads, so keep
your eyes open for new items!
Thanks Elise!
GEOL 299 Section 9: Karst Studies of
the Central Appalachians—Dr. John
Haynes, adjunct faculty member, will be
leading a long weekend trip down to
West Virginia caves to study the karst
geology of the area. This class is open by
permission only to students who have
taken GEOL 105. The trip will tentatively
take place March 23rd-26th, 2006 and is
worth 1 credit. Preference is given to
geology majors and associated students.
See Abi in the main office for more information or a permission number to get into
the course!
Cliff dwelling in the
Verde Formation.
Dr. Gene Likens to Visit EEB
Dr. Gene Likens, an expert on the biogeochemistry of forest, stream, and lake
ecosystems and the ethics of conservation
will be here at UConn as Visiting Distinguished Research Professor. He is Director of the Institute of Ecosystem Studies
in Millbrook, NY, and is perhaps best
known for his initial discovery and continued research on acid rain damage in
the White Mountains of New Hampshire
at Hubbard Brook. Dr. Likens was
Page 2
awarded the 2001 National Medal of
Science, and is a member of the National
Academy of Sciences.
On Thursday, November 10th, at 4:00pm,
Dr. Likens will be speaking about Acid
Rain: An Unfinished Environmental
Problem in room 130 of Biology/Physics.
Dr. Likens will also be offering a 6 session series of discussions focusing on
“Scientific Communication and Ethics”,
covering such topics as intellectual property rights, authorship, credit, dealing
with the media, plagiarism, misconduct,
and fraud. This series will be on November 7,8, and 9th and November 14,15,
and 16th starting at 5:00pm each session,
in Torrey Life Sciences room 301. Please
contact
Pat
Anderson
([email protected] or 486-4323)
if you are interested in attending some or
all of these sessions.
G E O S C I E N C ES N E W S L E T T ER
Geoscience Websites of Interest
For each newsletter that comes out, we will
try to feature a few great sites related to geosciences that may be of interest to students
and faculty associated with the Center.
Please feel free to send any sites you find
along to Abi, to be included in this section in
future editions!
•
•
name, magnitude and constellation. You can also change
the date, time and latitude for a different sky view.
http://www.neave.com/lab/planetarium/
The Blue Marble site is a mosaic of a year's worth of beautiful satellite data taken mostly from a NASA sensor called
the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) that flies onboard NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites. These monthly images show seasonal changes to the
land surface
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/features/blue_marble.ht
ml
Planetarium -highly interactive site allows you to use your
mouse to look around the sky. Pointing at stars shows their
•
US Drought Monitor Map—The drought indicators that
are synthesized into the Drought Monitor map are on this
website, under Forecasts and Current Conditions. This
summary map is based on a multi-index drought classification scheme.
http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html
•
Volcano Live—the site features live volcano cams from
30 different volcanoes,coverage of recently erupting
volcanoes, a listing of over 1500 active volcanoes arranged by country and region,
http://www.volcanolive.com/contents.html
More to come in the next edition!
Upcoming Events
•
•
Friday November 11th: Seminar by
Roman Zajac, University of New Haven, “Assessing Benthic Impacts in
Long Island Sound”. 3:00pm Room
103, Marine Sciences Building at
Avery Point.
•
Friday November 11th: Seminar on
Environmental Economics by Kathy
Sergersen, UConn Dept. of Economics. 12:00pm in Castleman 212.
•
Thursday November 17th: Seminar
by Jens-Uwe Grabow U. of Hannover,
“Spectroscopy of "Large" Molecules
on Earth and Elsewhere”. 4:00pm in
Chemistry A203.
•
Friday November 18th: Seminar on
“Epi-flourescence Imaging of Colloid
and Solute Transport in Porous Media” by Dr. Pengfei Zhang, CUNY.
12:00pm in Castleman 212.
•
on “Sustaining Working Woodlands in
an Urbanized Environment”. 9:30am3:00pm UConn Greater Hartford Campus, 1800 Asylum Ave, Library Building, West Hartford CT. Registration is
$20 and includes lunch. For more information and to register contact Bill
Bentley [email protected]
Thursday November 10th: Seminar
by Dr. Gene Likens EEB Distinguished Research Professor (Visiting)
“Acid Rain: An Unfinished Environmental Problem“. 4:00 p.m. Room
130, Biology/Physics Building.
Wednesday, November 30th: Forum
VOLUME 3, ISSUE 1
•
Friday December 2nd: "WATER
LAW IN CONNECTICUT: Fish &
Faucet: Ensuring a Healthy Future"
at Northeast Utilities, Berlin, CT.
Time: 8:30 am - 3:30pm. TOPICS: *
Who owns the water in Connecticut? *
Is water a property right? * How
should Connecticut allocate water? * Is
the law the same for ground water as
surface water? * Is water a commodity? * Do fish have rights? * What's
reasonable use? * Who's entitled to
water? * Who controls water? To register for the conference using the registration form, please visit http://
www.engr.uconn.edu/environ/nrcc/
NRCC-12-2-05.doc or you may register either by mail a check, register online at
www.conservationeducation.org or
simply call 860-236-5442 with your
credit card information. For UConn
faculty & employees the fee is $35 per
person, and $10 per student.
Registration Due Date : November
18, 2005.
•
Friday December 2nd: Seminar on
“Earth-Atmosphere Interactions” by
Dr. Mike Bosilovich, NASA.
12:00 pm Castleman 212.
•
Also check out the 5 College– University Geology Lecture Series for
2005-2006, posted on the bulletin
boards!
Image of Hurricane Katrina at landfall.
Page 3
Earth Science Picture of the Day
EPOD from 10/8/2005—Photo by Susan Rhoades—At one time, Stromatolites were the dominate life form on this planet.
The atmosphere on Earth 3.8 billion years ago (bya) was made up of methane, ammonia, sulphur and other gases, which
are toxic to most life forms, but Stromatolites thrived in this ancient and toxic atmosphere. The oxygen-rich atmosphere
that made complex life on our planet possible was largely a result of Stromatolites (cyanobacteria) photosynthesizing during the Archaean and Proterozoic Era (3.8 - 0.5 bya). In addition, Stromatolites created the first reef environments on
Earth. Today, Stromatolites are far from being dominant, and until 1958 they were thought to be extinct, when they were
re-discovered offshore of Western Australia. The photo above was taken on July 14, 2005 in Shark Bay, Western Australia.
EPOD will be a new feature in the Geosciences Newsletter—for the
current EPOD well as old archives, visit their website at http://epod.usra.edu/
Page 4
G E O S C I E N C ES N E W S L E T T ER
VOLUME 3, ISSUE 1
Page 5
Dr. Philpotts Experiences Ethopia’s New Volcano
Early in October, Professor Philpotts
(Emeritus Professor of Geology at
UConn) was invited, along with vulcanologists from Italy, the UK, and France,
to join a team from Addis Ababa University (AAU) on an expedition into the Afar
region of Ethiopia to evaluate the threat
caused by the eruption of a brand new
volcano.
On September 20th a magnitude 5.5 earthquake was recorded at the Geophysical
Observatory of AAU with the epicenter
located in the western part of the Afar
region just to the northeast of the Boina
volcano. Twenty-two other earthquakes
of magnitude 4.6 to 5.0 followed over the
next five days. The AAU geophysicists
Large gas bubble bursting in the convecting
lava lake in the summit caldera of Erta’ale
volcano with Professor Philpotts warming his
backside.
realized that the seismic activity was the
portent to a volcanic eruption. They consequently notified the Governor of the
region, who acted quickly to evacuate
quakes over the next four months. The
seismic data should indicate whether any
more volcanic activity is to be expected.
In addition, the region is being monitored
from space.
Helicopter view showing the fissure from which
the white ash was erupted.
50,000 nomads, along with their camels
and goats, from the region—no easy task.
On September 26th the seismic activity
changed to a continuous harmonic
tremor, which culminated in a magnitude
5.4 earthquake. People who were still
close enough to the epicenter witnessed a
column of volcanic ash rise into the sky
and form an umbrella-shaped cloud. The
eruption is reported to have continued for
three days.
The eruption has left a fissure up to 100
m deep and 60 m across. Near the center
of the fissure a small plug of pumice has
formed a typical cauliflower-shaped
dome. The rise of this plug seems to
have brought the recent eruption to an
end. Temperatures of up to 400°C were
measured in deep cracks in the dome on
October 16th. Earthquake activity has
died off, and there is almost no fumarolic
activity. A network of ten seismographs
was set out in the region to monitor earth-
The fact that this eruption resulted in no
human casualties is a wonderful example
of how scientific and government agencies can work together for the benefit of
society. Had the seismologists not recognized the early warnings of an eruption
and had the Governor of Afar not evacuated people, there would certainly have
been casualties.
While volcanologists can examine active
volcanoes, it is not every day that they
get to see a brand new volcano. Whether
this new eruption in the Afar marks the
birth of a volcano that will continue to
grow over the years into a large volcano
or is just a small one-time event, only
time will tell. –AP
A few of the 50,000 evacuees from the area of
the volcanic eruption of September 26, 2005
near the Boina Volcano.
Dr. Thorson’s CT Geology Collection
Dr. Robert Thorson, Center faculty member, spends some of his free time writing
a weekly column for the Hartford Courant. Most of his columns have to do with
geology and Connecticut. Dr. Thorson
has put together a number of his essays in
one document for an honors class—and
has supplied us with a copy here in the
‘Center’.
The collection is broken into three parts;
Part I is a sequence of four stand-alone
essays that tell the geological story of
Page 6
Connecticut from its bedrock beginning
to its suburban present. The Part II presents the argument that New England is a
single coherent region unified by that
geological history. Part III illustrates how
different geological processes play themselves out over the landscape of woodlands, shoreline, and river towns.
Come by the Center today to get a copy!
Copies are free for associated center
faculty and students, and available at
copy cost to all others ($3.00). Or if you
would like a copy sent to you, simply
email [email protected] for information!
The Connecticut River flows through
our state.
G E O S C I E N C ES N E W S L E T T ER
Earth and Life Through Time Students Hit the Field
Group 1
Graduate student Januka Attanayake took these photos recently during his ELTT
labs that went into the ‘field’ to study some geology here on campus.
Group 2
Kleinfelder Entry-Level and Internship Positions
Kleinfelder currently has entry-level
and internship environmental engineering / geology positions available.
The Kleinfelder Group is a leading consulting firm offering project delivery
services in natural and built environments
for municipalities, government agencies,
multinational companies and industrial
concerns across the nation.
VOLUME 3, ISSUE 1
Kleinfelder provides comprehensive environmental management solutions to
business and industry, with expertise in
petrochemical, oil and gas industries.
Their staff brings together expertise from
a variety of fields: hydrology, geology,
geophysics, engineering, and health and
safety.
Applicants for entry-level positions
should have a B.S. in geology or engi-
neering, good writing skills, and the ability to provide technical support on projects.
You can find out more and apply on
line through their websites at
http://www.kleinfelder.com or
http://www.gsc-global.com
Page 7
The Center for Integrative Geosciences mission is to offer transdisciplinary
programs of instruction and research that advance understanding of the interaction of biological, chemical, geological, and physical processes, including
feedback mechanisms, at all spatial and temporal scales that have shaped Earth
through geologic time, continue to shape the environment today, and which
provide the basis for understanding the present and future impact of human
activity on this planet.
UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT
We will be issuing these newsletters monthly throughout the academic year
to keep associated students, staff, and faculty up-to-date on the Center’s
activities!
Center for Integrative Geosciences
354 Mansfield Road, U-2045
Storrs, CT 06269-2045
Phone: 860-486-4435
Fax: 860-486-1383
E-mail: [email protected]
http://www.geosciences.uconn.edu
GSA’s GeoCorps America Program
Interested in spending your summer
working on an exciting geoscience field
project in a National Forest or National
Park? GSA, in partnership with the US
Forest Service and National Park Service, offered 39 paid positions this year
in some of the most beautiful natural
areas in the World.
Through the GeoCorps America Program, GSA places all levels of geoscientists — college students, professionals, and retirees — in temporary
summer positions with the National
Parks Service and the USDA Forest
Service. Supervisors send position descriptions to GSA, GSA posts the positions and recruits applicants through
the GSA web site, a multi-agency selection committee screens applicants,
and supervisors interview top candidates by phone and make the final selection. Participants receive a stipend
and housing (or housing allowance)
during their assignment.
The GeoCorps program dates back to
1997 when, through a partnership with
the National Parks Service’s GeologistIn-the-Parks Program, GSA placed two
college-level students in summer internships in the national parks. By the
year 2000, the program was redesigned
and renamed the GeoCorps America™
Program. Since then, the number of
geoscientists placed in temporary positions has steadily increased.
Examples of GeoCorps America projects:
Excavate and prepare fossil specimens for museums
Develop and present interpretive
and educational programs
Conduct stream surveys and watershed assessments
Monitor glacier movement
Assess soil compaction, trail conditions, erosion and sedimentation
Landslide mapping and hazards
assessment
Why does this program exist? The need
for geoscience expertise on America's
public lands is great. Geoscience is not
adequately addressed on public lands in
interpretation programs, resource management, geological hazards mitigation,
and research. For example, the National
Park Service manages 80.7 million
acres across the country, but only employs approximately 20 geologists.
For more information about the GeoCorps program, or to apply for a
position (2006 openings should be
posted by December), go to
http://www.geosociety.org/geocorps/
Please note that participants MUST be
members of GSA.