2025-02-15 Jeff Tepper – Diamond: A Multifaceted Gem

LECTURE

Diamond:  A Multifaceted Gem

 

Diamonds have been revered as precious stones for over 2000 years, yet they are composed simply of carbon, one of the most common elements on Earth. Their rarity arises from the fact that they form at extreme pressures deep in the Earth’s mantle and then are brought rapidly to the surface in CO2-rich explosive eruptions. No such eruptions have occurred in human history, but we know they occur only in the interiors of continents, where they produce narrow vertical ‘kimberlite pipes’ that are mined in Africa, Russia, and, more recently, Canada. Tiny diamonds with a completely different origin have been found in meteorites, and some of these appear to predate the formation of our solar system. Nowadays, diamonds can also be grown artificially, and these synthetic crystals are widely used in industry and, increasingly, in jewelry. For geologists, diamonds are invaluable tools for understanding the Earth’s interior. They are used to make tiny “anvils” that allow us to conduct high-pressure laboratory experiments that replicate conditions deep inside the Earth, and they commonly contain minute inclusions of other minerals that are our only actual samples of mantle materials from depths as great as ~400 km (250 miles). In this talk Jeff will provide how and where diamonds form, offer a brief summary of how we search for them, describe their history as gemstones, and detail what they tell us about our planet’s deep interior.

This IN-PERSON ONLY lecture will start at 4 PM on Saturday, February 15, 2025 at the Port Townsend First Baptist Church (1202 Lawrence Street, Port Townsend, Washington 98368). Church doors open at 3:30 PM. This event is free and open to the public. (Donations gratefully welcome at the door.) The lecture will be recorded and posted shortly after the presentation, as are all our events since 2020.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. Jeffrey Tepper

Jeff Tepper was on faculty of the Geology Department at the University of Puget Sound from 2001-2021 and has been emeritus since then. He earned his PhD from UW, where he studied the origins of granite in the North Cascades. At UPS he taught classes in mineralogy, petrology, geochemistry, GIS, and geomythology. Most of his research projects focus on the magmatic and tectonic history of the Pacific Northwest (including Tamanowas Rock) and geochemistry of water and sediment from Tacoma-area lakes. Visit Jeff’s website for more information:  https://www.jeffreytepper.com/.

2025-01-11 Paul Bierman – When the Ice is Gone

THE LECTURE
Cold War Science and Engineering Today Reveals Greenland’s Fragility in an Overheating Climate

 

 

QGS hosted Paul at 4 PM on January 11, 2025

Paul’s lecture focused on how Greenland, a remote arctic island, holds in its ice enough water to raise sea level over six meters (20 feet). That is enough to flood every major coastal city and displace up to half a billion people. As he discussed, until recently we knew very little about the past comings and goings of this massive ice sheet. Through the lens of climate science, environmental history, and the stories of people who studied Greenland over the past century, Paul used the past to look into a warming future. He filled the talk with photographs, movies, and recordings from the 1930s onward, reviewed the science done by the international team that he led, and told stories from his book, When the Ice is Gone. A key finding of Paul and his fellow researchers is that the Greenland ice sheet appears to have melted away completely during a previous interglacial warm climate, which suggests it could do so again if today’s warmer climate continues. The talk was popular with those with an interest in science and history.

An additional resource to Paul’s lecture may be found on Youtube – CLICK HERE. You can find the featured book by Paul at this link: https://www.paulbierman.net/books/.

Paul’s lecture was ZOOM-only at 4 PM on January 11, 2025.

BIO

Paul Bierman, environmental science professor at the University of Vermont, develops methods to date ice and rocks. He has published in Science and Nature, with the findings covered by CNN, USA Today, and the Weather Channel. Paul is a 1993 graduate of the University of Washington (Seattle) where he earned his MS and doctorate in Geoscience after a BA at Williams College.

Paul lives in Burlington, Vermont and his passions include telling stories and solving the mysteries of our planet. He is equally at home in a dusty archive and a cleanroom without a speck of dust. A history and geoscience researcher by training and a teacher for over four decades, Paul looks at our planet with wonder and curiosity. His career has taken him to searing deserts and frigid ice sheets. Throughout, he has focused his energies on understanding the link between our Earth and human societies – what today we call sustainability. He enjoys education at all levels and is the author of three textbooks and a book for the general public, When the Ice is Gone.

2023-05-13 Vince Matthews — Global Scramble for Natural Resources

Vince Matthews, former director of the Colorado Geological Survey and now a consulting geologist in Wisconsin, spoke on the Global Scramble for Natural Resources. This was a ZOOM broadcast Saturday, May 13, 2023.

The Lecture

During the 1990s, the world’s most populous nations—China and India–were unleashed from Communist and Socialist regimes, respectively. The first decade of the 21st Century saw China’s GDP grow at more than 10 percent per year and India’s at 7-9 percent. Both are drastically increasing their use of all natural resources. Although they have resources of their own, they are insufficient to meet their internal demand.

Because the world’s mineral and energy resources are being strained to supply these exploding economies, the price of nearly every natural-resource commodity dramatically escalated beginning in 2003. Not only did the price of commodities increase, but the competition to simply obtain a share of these natural resources became intense. From cement, to petroleum, to fertilizer, to strategic metals; the scramble for a piece of the worldwide commodities pie is in a state the world has never known. The U.S. is being, and will be, significantly affected by this new world disorder.

As America looks increasingly to alternative energy sources, we face an increase in imports to achieve our goals.  Many of the current alternative energy technologies use a variety of imported mineral commodities, especially “rare earths.” The country’s increasing vulnerabilities to foreign sources of strategic mineral commodities were slow to be recognized.

The Speaker

Dr. Vince Matthews received B.S. and M.S. degrees in geology from the University of Georgia and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He was awarded “Outstanding Alumnus” recognition from both institutions. His career includes holding executive positions with four natural resource companies and teaching at eight institutions of higher education, two of them tenured positions.

About ten years ago Vince retired as Director of the Colorado Geological Survey. In retirement, he has served as Interim Executive Director of the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum, served on the Special Scientific Committee on the Health Effects of Unconventional Oil and Gas Development in the Appalachian Basin, presented Zoom talks on a variety of topics to geological societies and universities, led field trips in the Rocky Mountains, completed the manuscript for a book entitled, Land of Ice: Jaunts into Colorado’s Glacial Landscape, and was recruited to teach “Earth Resources and Sustainability” at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire last fall semester.