Lubricating the Action

Earth’s Secrets Revealed: Professor Martin Saar from the University of Minnesota discusses the role of fluids in geology.

Fluids play an important role in geologic processes. In this presentation, I will discuss some of the fluids that are being studied in the Geofluids Research Group which include groundwater in aquifers and karst (cave) systems, magma/lava, and gases (e.g., volatiles in magmas). The types of questions the Geofluids group tries to answer are: 1) How much groundwater is flowing from where to where at what rate with implications for drinking and irrigation water supply? 2) Where is renewable geothermal energy usage possible? 3) Can the greenhouse gas CO2 be stored in saline aquifers? 4) How fast do caves form in Minnesota’s SE karst system and how fast do water and contaminants move through karst caves? and 5) What are the effects of magma permeability on volatile degassing rates and related volcanic eruption dynamics? At the end of this talk I hope to have conveyed that there are more fluids in geology than one commonly considers and that they play an important role in many geologic processes.

Free cookies and a Q&A session will follow the illustrated talk. Lecture should be technically understandable for high school students to adults, and may qualify for extra credit for students and CEUs for teachers.

Schedule:
7:30-8:30 pm – lecture
8:30-9:00 pm – cookie break/Q&A

Price: Free – sponsored by the Geological Society of Minnesota: www.gsmn.org

U of M Minneapolis Campus/ East Bank
Electrical Engineering/Computer Science Bldg., room 3-210
200 Union St. SE, Mpls 55455

For map/directions: www.gsmn.org/mapto.htm