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'Mars For Earthlings: Using Earth Analogues To Decode The Sedimentary History Of Mars' by Prof. Marjorie Chan
On 18th February,2014 the Institute organised a lecture by one of the most distinguished professor of recent time in the field of geophysics and geology, Prof. Marjorie Chan of Utah University.She and her STAR group, ie, sedimentary and terrestrial analog research group works on a large range of projects covering sedimentology, stratigraphy and diagenesis. The lecture was mostly based on how one can use sedimentary features,found on earth,to interpret or rather deduce a possible sedimentary history of planet mars. This talk explored Earth analog comparisons to Mars that included: red rocks and concretions ("blueberries") and the implications for past fluid flow, similarities of cross bedded sandstone, comparisons of shoreline geometries, and weathering.
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'Implication Of Landforms In Regional and Local Context' by Dr. Sujit kr. Mazumder
37th Professor S. Ray Memorial Lecture, the Institute hosted this lecture by Dr.Sujit kr. Mazumder.
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'Radioactivity & The Early Earth' by Mr. David R. Nelson
PA lecture by Mr. David R. Nelson was organised on the aforesaid topic by the Geological Institute on 31st July,2013.Uranium, thorium and potassium are the main elements contributing to natural terrestrial radioactivity. The isotopes 228U, 235U, 232Th and 40K decay with half-lives so long that significant amounts remain in the earth, providing a continuing source of heat. The slow decay of these isotopes also provides the basis for radiometric age dating and isotopic modelling of the evolution of the earth and its crust. There is a complex interplay between their heat production and the processes involved in crust formation. Phenomena such as volcanism, earthquakes, and large-scale hydrothermal activity associated with ore deposition reflect the dissipation of heat energy from the earth, much of which is derived from natural radioactivity.
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'The Great Oxidation Event & Emerging Aerobiosis-What Can Molecular Fossils Tell Us?' by Dr.Christian Hallmann
On 10th May,2013 the Institute organised yet another lecture. This time it was by Dr.Christian Hallmann from the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany.The late Archean and Paleoproterozoic sedimentary sequence records (most likely) the biological invention of oxygenic photosynthesis and the initial rise of oxygen in Earth's atmosphere, termed the Great Oxidation Event. Dr. Hallmann and his research group studies the co-evolution of life and environmental conditions on the early Earth by analyzing the sedimentary hydrocarbons remnants of biological lipids. The distribution and stable isotopic composition of such molecules in Precambrian rocks carry clues to organismic diversity, metabolism and depositional redox conditions. The lecture was based on these recent finding of Dr. Hallmann and his team.
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'Deformation Features Of Asian Continent Due To the Collision Of India' by Prof. Y. Otofuji
On 4th March, 2013 the Geological Institute, Presidency University organised a lecture by distinguished professor Y. Otofuji of Kobe University, Japan on the aforesaid topic. Prof. Otofuji's research mainly concentrates on deformation of continent and evolution of the earth core. Studying the deformation features of continental blocks of East Asia is one of the main objectives of his research. Collision of India and Asia is one of the most prominent tectonic events in Cenozoic time. The Indian continent collided to Asia at about 52 Ma and continued to penetrate into the Asian continent. The northward penetration of India gave rise to tectonic deformation in the Asian continent. The lecture focused on the deformation features within the southern part of the Asian continent due to this collision of India.