Welcome to GeoUnion, the graduate student body of the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences. GeoUnion strives to supplement the overall graduate student experience at Rice and DEEPS. GeoUnion represents DEEPS in the overall Rice grad student community, acts as a liaison between students and faculty and organizes a number of intra- and inter-departmental events throughout the academic year.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| August 19-23 | O-Week |
| September 6-8 | Overnight Camping at San Marcos |
| September 13 | Welcome Barbecue |
| Cancelled because of Imelda | Pre-GSA talk |
| October 12-15 | Field Trip to Big Bend |
| October 25 | Halloween Kickball Tournament |
| November 26 | Multicultural Thanksgiving! |
| Dec 6 | Pre-AGU practice session |
| TBA | Enlightenment |
Here’s a list of the resources that you would need to use frequently as graduate students at Rice. The websites of the Rice Graduate Student Association (GSA), Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS), Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (GPS) are platforms which graduate students can use to keep track of upcoming events, funding opportunities, changes in rules and regulations, etc.
Living in a vast city like Houston and exploring a new place can also be challenging, and so we have compiled a list of recommendations for housing and fun things to do in the Space City!
Postdoc Sahand Hajimirza’s collaborative research on Yellowstone’s Steamboat Geyser highlighted
Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone National Park is active again!
Considered the worlds tallest active geyser, the 400 foot jet of water can be tough for the average tourist to witness, with quiescent periods lasting as long as 50 years. Yet since 2018, Steamboat has erupted more times than it has in the last half century.
Image and caption from Berkeley News: A 2019 eruption of Steamboat Geyser in the Norris Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park. The geyser’s first documented activity was in 1878, and it has turned off and on sporadically since, once going for 50 years without erupting. In 2018 it reactivated after a three-and-a-half-year hiatus, for reasons that are still unclear. (UC Berkeley photo by Mara Reed)
Sahand Hajimirza is on the team (with lead author Dr. Mara Reed and senior author Professor Michael Manga from University of California at Berkeley) that wanted to know why.
Geysers, from the name describing water that erupts from the ground, have some thermodynamic similarities to volcanic eruptions. Yet geyser eruptions, which range in size from bubbling pools to extraordinary skyward jets such as Steamboat, are much rarer than volcanoes, and according to the U.S. Geological survey, number less than a thousand in the world, with most of them found in Yellowstone National Park.
During the 2019 CIDER (Cooperative Institute of Dynamic Earth Research hosted by UC Berkeley), which focused on volcanic and hydrothermal eruptions, a group of researchers set out to study the reawakening of Steamboat. Sahand’s expertise in the dynamics of volcanic eruption helped the group to address what makes Steamboat the tallest active geyser in the world.
Six members of the science team assembled around a table in McCone Hall at UC Berkeley in the summer of 2019, at work on the Steamboat Geyser project. Clockwise from lower left, Carolina Munoz-Saez, Anna Barth, Sahand Hajimirza, Tarsilo Girona, Sin-Mei Wu and Majid Rasht-Behesht. The three questions and hypotheses the team analyzed are on the greenboard, while the fluid dynamics equations that describe a geyser eruption are on the whiteboard. (UC Berkeley photo by Michael Manga)
Sahand builds thermodynamical models that show how the thermal energy of water and steam drives geyser eruptions. His model, published in December in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests geysers with a deeper water reservoir, that directly feeds the eruption have taller plumes. The model hypothesis was verified when tested against a worldwide database of geyser plume height and reservoir depth, and then compared with data collected from Steamboat.
Sahand says the work is not finished; there are several questions that are left unanswered. Scientists still don’t know what initiated the current eruption phase that started in 2018. The other is more basic- why do geysers erupt?
“We know geysers need water, heat and a proper plumbing system. But we still do not know how the combination of these three factors lead to an eruption, “ says Sahand.
While the study rules out processes such as recent earthquakes or significant external water source (such as snowmelt) as factors for the sudden increase in activity, the mystery will keep scientists and Sahand looking for the answers.
For more information about the paper and other press coverage, go to the following links:
PLoS ONE: Stable isotope (C, N, O, and H) study of a comprehensive set of feathers from two Setophaga citrina
Stable isotope (C, N, O, and H) study of a comprehensive set of feathers from two Setophaga citrina
Deme, S., Laurence Y. Yeung, Tao Sun, and Cin-Ty A. Lee, PLoS ONE 16 (2021): e0236536.
Abstract
Oxygen, hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes were measured on a comprehensive sampling of feathers from two spring Hooded Warblers (Setophaga citrina) in Texas to evaluate isotopic variability between feathers and during molt. Isotopic homogeneity within each bird was found across all four isotopic systems, supporting the hypothesis that molt in these neotropical migrants is fully completed on the breeding grounds. This homogeneity suggests that the isotopic composition of a single feather is may be representative of the whole songbird. However, each bird was found to have one or two outlier feathers, which could signify regrowth of lost feathers after prebasic molt.
RiMG: Climbing to the Top of Mount Fuji: Uniting Theory and Observations of Oxygen Triple Isotope Systematics
Laurence Y. Yeung and Justin A. Hayles
Rev. Mineral. Geochem. 86 (2021) 97-137
Abstract
Are current theoretical methods sufficiently accurate to benchmark oxygen triple-isotope
geochemistry? In this review and synthesis article, we first cover basic concepts and notation relevant to oxygen triple-isotope geochemistry. Second, we examine what theory predicts for oxygen triple-isotope variability in chemical processes. Third, we examine the systematic biases that may be present in theoretical approaches, with special attention paid to first-principles electronic structure calculations. Fourth, we will consider the current limits of analytical accuracy and the complications introduced by physical effects in real systems. Finally, we revisit the triple-isotope mass dependence of carbonate acid digestion as a case study of how theory and experiment can work together to improve both each other and ultimately also our understanding of a process that is vital for the emerging area of carbonate-based paleohydrology.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Because of COVID-19, the field trip is being postponed to later (date TBD) this year. The seminar will continue via remote meetings through the end of the Spring 2020 semester.
As earth scientists we seek to understand the natural processes that have shaped the world around us through time. The most fundamental requirement to acquiring a deeper understanding of these mechanisms is through observation. EEPS has a strong heritage in field-based research that when combined with analytical excellence, produces skilled scientists with a broad view of Earth as a system. While Rice University is well placed to take advantage of a broad array of research resources, students in Houston do not always have immediate access to nearby geological sites that represent Earth as a system.
A generous gift from Mike Johnson enables EEPS students the opportunity to observe classic and fundamental geologic concepts in the field. Students are in charge of proposing, selecting and managing a field excursion that will benefit everyone in the department. A year-long seminar-based class run by the students prepares them to visit the locality they have selected. Papers are selected, presented and discussed, followed by activities that educate the students on how to run a field-based project. During the field excursion, elected stops will be led and presented by individual students. The knowledge gained before and during the field trip will cumulate into a multi-media field guide that will be made available to the department and public following the trips conclusion.
A significant benefit of a department-wide field excursion is the interaction of students with scientists from various disciplines. Many earth scientists only carry out field work with specialists in their own field. The real discoveries in modern earth science occur when the different disciplines are part of a collective discourse. This trip will have scientists with different backgrounds observe the same outcrops; fostering fruitful discussion that results in the generation of new and unique questions. In addition, this trip may inspire fellowship among EEPS graduate students that will hopefully create life-long collaborations and a cohesive department.
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General route starting in Albuquerque, New Mexico
This year, EEPS elected to utilize Mike Johnson’s gift to lead graduate students on a 7 day field expedition to observe some of the most diverse and economically important geologic terrains in the United States.
In early June of 2020, EEPS will travel through New Mexico, Colorado and Utah, which have easily accessible exposures of metamorphic, sedimentary, and igneous rocks. Starting from Albuquerque, New Mexico they will explore the Rio Grande Rift, the San Juan Volcanic field, and the well exposed Mezozoic stratigraphy on the Colorado Plateau. Observing these diverse geologic terrains will give EEPS graduate students a chance to see how their research interests dovetail with what they observe in nature and provide opportunities to create new ideas.
Pre-Trip planning seminars
Fall semester: The graduate student of the winning field trip proposal organizes a weekly reading group focusing on the regional geology of the four corners region and come up with potential stops.
Spring semester: The weekly reading group continues. Students pick the final outcrops that they would like to visit. Each student is assigned to be an expert on 1-3 stops. Before the field trip, each student will submit their description(s) of their stop for the field guide.
Spring 2020 Seminar Papers
Fall 2019 Seminar Papers
Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences
Rice University
MS-126
6100 Main Street
Houston, TX 77005 USA
Phone: 713.348.4880
Fax: 713.348.5214
Email: geol@rice.edu
