December 9, 2015, Wednesday - Sip of Science at Aster Cafe
Time: 5:30pm
Location: Aster Cafe (River Room) 125 SE Main Street
December Sip of Science - If we found rock evidence for life on Mars, what might it look like? Microbialites from ancient lakes with Tom Hickson, Professor, University of St. Thomas.
The Mars orbiter has used remote sensing techniques to demonstrate the presence of active groundwater seeps on our planetary neighbor. The Curiosity Rover has sent back stunning images of deposits that indicate flowing water and, from Gale Crater, what look like lake deposits. If standing water had been present on Mars, it is more likely to have been in the form of lakes, not widespread oceans. If life inhabited these lakes, it would be more likely to be microbial in origin. Geologists have studied marine microbialites (rocks that formed under the influence of microbes), mainly stromatolites, for many decades.
However, these marine microbialites differ in important and significant ways from those formed in modern and ancient lakes. We should expect to find lacustrine (lake-influenced) microbialites on Mars if life had established itself there. Ancient lacustrine microbialites here on Earth, mainly from the Cenozoic, provide excellent examples of what to expect if we encounter them on Mars. In this talk, University of St. Thomas geology professor Tom Hickson will cover the basics of microbialite formation, the macro- and microscopic textures of lacustrine microbialites, and some basic microbialite chemistry. We will then focus on ancient and historical lakes from southern Nevada, with examples from other units in the Western U.S.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Thomas Hickson is professor of geology and environmental science at the University of St. Thomas. He graduated from Stanford University in 1999 and completed a post-doc at the St. Anthony Falls Lab immediately before coming on board the St. Thomas faculty in 2000. He is engaged in active collaborative scholarship with undergraduate students to understand the tectonics, paleoclimate, and landscape evolution of the Lake Mead region (Nevada) during the Miocene.
No cover; food and drink available for purchase.
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