GAC's 2022 Medalist Lecture Tour: Dr. Britta Jensen (University of Alberta)
Speaker: Dr. Britta Jensen (University of Alberta)
Title: Progress and prospects for tephrochronology at the intersection of volcanology and paleoenvironmental studies
Abstract: The field of tephrochronology (the study of volcanic ash) developed largely to provide stratigraphic and chronologic control to sediments being examined for paleoenvironmental studies. However, as the field has matured, this type of research is being increasingly applied to broader questions in both the paleoenvironmental and volcanological communities. This talk will introduce the basics of tephrochronology and explore this broadening of the field through two different projects. One is based in Alaska, where the collation of abundant tephra deposits may provide new insights into volcano-climate interactions; the other in northeastern North America, where we are finding abundant cryptotephra deposits in peatbogs and lakes from Michigan to Newfoundland.
Bio: Britta Jensen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Britta specializes in tephrochronology, studying volcanic ejecta to date and correlate sedimentary sequences as well as determining eruption frequencies and magnitudes. Her research is focussed on North American volcanism: examining Miocene to Holocene eruptions from the Aleutian Arc and Wrangell volcanic field in the Yukon and Alaska, characterizing distal and proximal deposits of Cascade volcanoes in the western USA and Canada with a focus on Mount St. Helens, and building a tephrostratigraphic framework based on cryptotephra deposits in eastern North America. She is the PI of the Volcanic Ash Research Group (VARG) at the UofA, and curator of the John Westgate Tephra Collection, which includes over 5000 individual tephra samples. |
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Time
Location
Format: In-person
Gordon Riley Conference Room (#3652, 3rd floor LSC Oceanography Wing)