DLS - Robert Hazen: “Mineral Evolution”
Name:
DLS - Robert Hazen: “Mineral Evolution”
Date:
April 9, 2019
Time:
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM CDT
Website:
http://pbpetro.org
Event Description:
“Mineral Evolution” delivered by Robert Hazen on April 9th as part of the 2019 Arlen Edgar Distinguished Lecture Series Mineral evolution studies involve linking mineralogical variables with time and evolving geologic setting. This subject — a merger of mineralogy and Earth history — was introduced in 2008 with a series of global syntheses by Robert Hazen and coworkers in the American Mineralogist. Hazen is an American mineralogist and astrobiologist. He received his BS and SM in geology at MIT, PhD at Harvard University in Earth science, and was NATO Postdoctoral Fellow at Cambridge University. In 2008 Hazen was named Principal Investigator and in 2011 Executive Director of the Deep Carbon Observatory. He is a research scientist at Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution and Clarence Robinson Professor of Earth Science at George Mason University. Hazen is the Executive Director of the Deep Carbon Observatory, based at the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution. For the past decade Hazen and his colleagues have explored “mineral evolution” and “mineral ecology” — their research examines roles of minerals in life’s origins, with a focus on mineral-catalyzed organic synthesis and interactions between biomolecules and mineral surfaces. Hazen suggests that the mineralogy of terrestrial planets and moons depends on the sequence of varied physical, chemical, and biological processes that lead to the formation of new mineral species. He is developing a global mineral evolution database which holds the prospect of revealing mineralogical records of important geophysical, geochemical, and biological events in Earth history. It will greatly facilitate the compilation and analysis of existing data and the expansion of research in mineralogy outside its traditional bounds and into more interdisciplinary fields. Reserve your seat today for Robert Hazen’s April 9th presentation on Mineral Evolution. Museum Members get reserved seating. Call 432-683-4403 or sign up on the Museum website: pbpetro.org.
