Lecture: Volcanoes on Earth and the Planets
Speaker:
Entry Fee
Members: Free
Visitors: £5.00
Date and Time
19:30 -
Location
Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, 16-18 Queen Square, Bath BA1 2HN
Lecture Description
Knowledge accumulated from previous and ongoing spacecraft missions to Mars shows that the surface has been frozen and sterile for most of the planet’s history. However, Mars has a long history of volcanic activity, and our recent work shows that any one giant volcano is likely to have had active periods lasting for ~1 million years interspersed with dormant periods lasting ~100 million years. Counts of impact craters on lava flows on the flanks and summits of the volcanoes show that some eruptions are no more than 10-30 million years old, so there is every reason to think that eruptions may occur again in the future. However, the long dormant periods mean that volcanic centres may not be places where primitive organisms might have evolved and survived on Mars. A better candidate is the system of liquid water aquifers trapped at 5-10 km depth below the frozen crust and maintained by global geothermal heat. Violent but short-lived water floods occur when volcanic eruptions crack the crust, and it is in the floors of the great channel systems carved by these floods that we should be looking for the organic residue of possible life on Mars.
Attending via Zoom
This is a hybrid meeting: you can attend in person or join online via Zoom.
Bath Geological Society Members: Free of charge. Joining instructions and the Zoom link are sent to members by email prior to the lecture.
Visitors & Non-Members: (including members of the Geologists' Association and affiliated societies) Please book via Eventbrite to receive Zoom access (see the Entry Fee details above).
How to join: Click the Zoom link provided in your email or Eventbrite confirmation. You can join using the Zoom desktop or mobile app, or directly via your web browser without installing any software. The virtual waiting room opens approximately 15 minutes before the scheduled start time, and attendees will be admitted before the talk commences.
For any queries about joining online, please contact [email protected].