Presentation on theme: "Department of Geology and Geological Engineering"— Presentation transcript
Slide1
Department of Geology and Geological Engineering
Van
Tuyl
Lecture Series-
Spring 2015
4:00-5:00 p.m. in Berthoud Hall Room 241
Thursday
,
March
26,
2015
Dr
.
Gordon Grant
Oregon State
University
USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research
Station and
College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University
“
From Volcanoes to Rivers: Co-evolution of Hydrologic and Geomorphic Processes in
t
he Oregon Cascades
”
Abstract:
The fundamental question I will be addressing in this talk is: How does the hydrologic “plumbing” system” evolve in volcanic landscapes, and how does the development of this plumbing feedback on the evolution of the landscape itself?
By
plumbing system I mean the network of surface and subsurface
flowpaths
by which precipitation recharges aquifers and ultimately emerges as streamflow
.
Questions like this are receiving increasing attention with the burgeoning attention being paid to the science of the Critical Zone: the thin but essential surface of the Earth between the boundary layer and bedrock where all terrestrial life occurs. Young volcanic landscapes, such as in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, offer an extraordinary laboratory for studying this co-evolution among geology, geomorphology, hydrology, and ecology, because they provide us with constructional landscapes of discernible age from which we can extract evolutionary sequences.
Drawing
on over a decade of studies in the Oregon Cascades, I will explore how channel networks and aquifers develop in volcanic terrains, the timescales involved, and the implications of this evolution for predicting where water is likely to be in the future.
