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!
JGR: Source-to-Sink Terrestrial Analogs for the Paleoenvironment of Gale Crater, Mars
Michael T. Thorpe, Joel A. Hurowitz, and Kirsten L. Siebach
doi: 10.1029/2020JE006530
Abstract
In the Late Noachian to Early Hesperian period, rivers transported detritus from igneous source terrains to a downstream lake within Gale crater, creating a stratified stack of fluviolacustrine rocks that is currently exposed along the slopes of Mount Sharp. Controversy exists regarding the paleoclimate that supported overland flow of liquid water at Gale crater, in large part because little is known about how chemical and mineralogical paleoclimate indicators from mafic‐rock dominated source‐to‐sink systems are translated into the rock record. Here, we compile data from basaltic terrains with varying climates on Earth in order to provide a reference frame for the conditions that may have prevailed during the formation of the sedimentary strata in Gale crater, particularly focusing on the Sheepbed and Pahrump Hills members. We calculate the chemical index of alteration for weathering profiles and fluvial sediments to better constrain the relationship between climate and chemical weathering in mafic terrains, a method that best estimates the cooler limit of climate conditions averaged over time. We also compare X‐ray diffraction patterns and mineral abundances from fluvial sediments in varying terrestrial climates and martian mudstones to better understand the influence of climate on secondary mineral assemblages in basaltic terrains. We show that the geochemistry and mineralogy of most of the fine‐grained sedimentary rocks in Gale crater display first‐order similarities with sediments generated in climates that resemble those of present‐day Iceland, while other parts of the stratigraphy indicate even colder baseline climate conditions. None of the lithologies examined at Gale crater resemble fluvial sediments or weathering profiles from warm (temperate to tropical) terrestrial climates.
Rice team forges path toward geothermal future
MIKE WILLIAMS – FEBRUARY 26, 2021
Jonathan Ajo-Franklin leads development of monitoring system for DOE’s Utah project
HOUSTON – (Feb. 26, 2021) – Rice University scientists have been tapped to join a Department of Energy project to accelerate breakthroughs in geothermal systems that could someday provide unlimited, inexpensive energy.
Jonathan Ajo-Franklin
Rice geophysicist Jonathan Ajo-Franklin will now enter negotiations to finalize and ultimately lead the three-year project expected to be worth more than $5 million to develop a fiber optic system incorporating seismic and temperature sensing that can withstand high temperatures and provide real-time monitoring of conditions deep underground.
The grant to the Rice-led group includes faculty at California State University, Long Beach, and the University of Oklahoma as well as researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and industrial scientists from Silixa LLC and Class VI Solutions. The team was one of 17 named by DOE this week to develop a variety of technologies associated with the Utah Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (Utah FORGE). Collectively, the awards by the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy could amount to $46 million.
The concept of Utah FORGE seems simple: Send cold water down, bring hot water back up and use it to generate electricity. But this project differs from similar systems around the world.
Utah FORGE has completed drilling of its first deviated well, a critical step in the enhanced geothermal project backed by the Department of Energy. Rice University scientists have been tapped to join the project to accelerate breakthroughs in geothermal systems that could someday provide unlimited, inexpensive energy. (Credit: Eric Larson)
Utah FORGE has completed drilling of its first deviated well, a critical step in the enhanced geothermal project backed by the Department of Energy. Rice University scientists have been tapped to join the project to accelerate breakthroughs in geothermal systems that could someday provide unlimited, inexpensive energy. Photo by Eric Larson
“The big difference is this is enhanced geothermal,” Ajo-Franklin said. “For traditional geothermal, you need the rock to be permeable so the water can flow through. In enhanced geothermal, you create fractures that allow the flow of water through the system to draw the heat out.
“It’s a little like the difference between normal oil production and unconventional production, like shale,” he said. “But in this case, we’re moving heat, using water as the working fluid.”
Along with managing the grant, Ajo-Franklin’s Rice Environmental and Applied Geophysics Laboratory will design and provide distributed fiber optic sensing resources and instrumentation for the project. Senior Rice personnel involved in the project include postdoctoral fellows Benxin Chi and Feng Cheng.
Some of the work at the facility in Milford, Utah, administered by the University of Utah, is already done, including an injection well completed this year that reaches more than 8,000 feet into the Earth, where the temperature exceeds 442 degrees Fahrenheit. (The wellbore itself is nearly 11,000 feet long, as it deviates 65 degrees at 6,000 feet.) That well extends into the zone Utah FORGE will use as a reservoir, where water will be stored for heating and later recovered via a to-be-drilled second well.
The team’s fibers will be placed in both the production well and a third, vertical well in the middle specifically for monitoring. The fiber optic cable itself will be coated with durable polyimide and encased in steel. Data returned by the sensor system will be used to generate a model of the site’s fracture permeability, which will guide further development of the reservoir.
A Rice University-led team of scientists plans to design and place fiber optic sensor systems into the monitor (center) and production (right) wells at the Utah FORGE geothermal plant under development. (Credit: Rice Environmental and Applied Geophysics Laboratory)
Ajo-Franklin expects the project will spin off technologies of value to geoscience in general. “You can use this technology for many applications where seismic events can help us better understand and image the Earth,” he said. “Fiber is great for that because we can record for long periods of time over long distances, and then use either artificial sources or naturally-occuring noise to generate images of properties underneath it.”
But for now, proving the viability of geothermal energy in the United States is of critical importance, Ajo-Franklin said.
The federal government agrees. “There is enormous untapped potential for enhanced geothermal systems to provide clean and reliable electricity generation throughout the United States,” said Kathleen Hogan, assistant deputy undersecretary for science, in a press release announcing the grants.
“The big thing about geothermal is its baseload capacity,” Ajo-Franklin said. “It’s not a situation where you need to move fuel to the site, because it’s all underground to begin with. And like renewables it doesn’t have a big carbon dioxide footprint, but it’s not intermittent.
“So in comparison to wind and solar, there’s no time when the Earth isn’t hot,” Ajo-Franklin said. “That’s a nice advantage, too.”
Video:
Credit: Utah Governor’s Office of Energy Development
Related materials:
Telecom cables offer undersea seismic-sensing bonanza: https://news.rice.edu/2019/11/28/telecom-cables-offer-undersea-seismic-sensing-bonanza/
Rice Environmental and Applied Geophysics Laboratory (Ajo-Franklin lab): https://earthscience.rice.edu/ajo-franklin-lab/
Utah FORGE: https://utahforge.com
Rice Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences: https://earthscience.rice.edu
Wiess School of Natural Sciences: https://naturalsciences.rice.edu
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
