Sedimentology of Mars, Titan Topic for April 21 Water@USU Seminar

Water@USU, a Utah State University Water Initiative project, welcomes geologist David Rubin of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Pacific Science Center as featured speaker for the group’s Tuesday, April 21, seminar. Rubin presents “Earth’s Sedimentology Applied to Mars and Titan” at 4 p.m. in the Biology-Natural Resources Building, room 102. His talk is free and open to all. 

A USGS scientist for more than 30 years, Rubin is currently based with the agency’s Coastal and Marine program at Santa Cruz, Calif. He has worked in Grand Canyon for 22 years, where he has been a lead designer of restoration flood experiments.

 

Rubin’s research focuses on sediment transport and sedimentary structures in the lab and in modern and ancient oceans, estuaries, rivers and deserts. His work on sedimentary structures, including a book, computer code and interactive animated DVD, has been applied to sedimentology, geomorphology, paleoclimatology, mine detection, petroleum exploration and to ripples and dunes on Mars and Saturn’s moon, Titan. In 2004, Rubin was among the scientific experts tapped by NASA to publicly address the first firm, direct evidence for flowing water on the surface of Mars. 

 

Water@USU is an interdisciplinary collaboration of the university’s Utah Water Research Laboratory, the colleges of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences, Natural Resources, Science, Engineering, Agriculture and the Huntsman School of Business. Established in 2003, the initiative fosters collegial sharing of water-related research and ideas throughout campus and the community.

 

Water@USU (Water Initiative)

 

Contact: Traci Maughan, (801) 721-6246, traci.maughan@usu.edu
Writer: Mary-Ann Muffoletto, (435) 797-3517, maryann.muffoletto@usu.edu