2011 News Archives

Dec 12, 2011

Byerly and Bao Named AAAS Fellows

2011 AGU Presentations
by the Department of Geology & Geophysics

Monday, 5 December

Oral Presentations
1:55 pm; rm 302
ED13D-02. Cognitive Factors that Impact Learning in the Field: Observations from an REU Project on Precambrian Rocks of Yellowstone National Park
Darrell Henry; David W. Mogk; Charles Goodwin

 2:25 pm; Rm 2020 Moscone West
V13G: Tourmaline: A powerful mineral monitor for metamorphic rocks. Barb Dutrow; Darrell Henry.

Poster Presentations

PP13D-1852. An O-17 record of Neoproterozoic snowball Earth in Kimberley, Western Australia  Huiming Bao; Zhongqiang Chen; Chuanming Zhou
H13A-1180. Evolution of the Permeability Architecture of the Baton Rouge Fault Zone, Louisiana Gulf Coastal Plain. Jeffrey S. Hanor; Elizabeth L. Chamberlain; Frank T. Tsai
ED11A-0758. Folding Digital Mapping into a Traditional Field Camp Program. Kelley, D.  
Tuesday,  6 December

Oral Presentations

8:15 AM - 8:30 AM H21I-02
Combining Data to Assess of the Habitat Suitability of Patches of Streambed (Invited) Carol M. Wicks; Tom Aley; David Ashley; Douglas Noltie

 8:45 AM - 9:00 AM  H21I-04.
Use of short half-life cosmogenic isotopes to quantify sediment mixing and transport in karst conduits.  Randall Paylor

 4:14 - 4:30 pm Rm 2005  PP24B - 02
Antarctic hydrology during mid-Miocene warmth (invited). Sarah Feakins; Sophie Warny; Jung-Eun Lee

 Poster Presentations

 EP23B-0738.
Comparing sulfur and oxygen isotope variability of sulfate in the Mississippi River during high and low discharge from 2009-2011
Bryan Killingsworth; Issaku E. Kohl; Huiming Bao

H23C-1275. Relationship between Overpressure and the Formation of Hydrocarbon-Rich Solitary Waves during Sedimentary Basin Diagenesis: A Case Study of the Eugene Island 330 Field in the Gulf of Mexico Basin; Ajit Joshi; Martin S. Appold; Jeffrey A. Nunn

V21D-2530. Testing a Model of 2.8 Ga Arc Magmatism with Trace Elements
Jennifer C. Staffenberg; Paul A. Mueller; David W. Mogk; Darrell Henry; Joseph L. Wooden

Nov 30, 2011

4th Annual Rock Star Poster Contest

Congratulations to Kate Grenier (1st Prize - Left), Laura Coquereau (2nd Prize - Middle), and Kathryn Denomee (3rd Prize - Bottom), winners of the 4th Annual G&G Rock Star Poster Competition.  The competition was held on November 19, 2011 and hosted over 25 posters.  This event is held specifically to celebrate the research being conducted by the department’s Undergraduate and Graduate Students.  Several industry judges came in to judge each poster individually, including Kelly Poret from Chevron and Angella Thomas from Shell.  The other judges consisted of Bijaya Karki, LSU Associate Professor of Computer Science, and Clint Willson, LSU Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering.  First, Second, and Third prizes get a scholarship sponsored by Exxon Mobil.  The department thanks and congratulates all participants of the 4th Annual G&G Rock Star Poster Competition.

Sep 06, 2011

Dr. Bentley Shares Findings on NSF-Funded Lake Pontchartrain Study

This year the Mississippi River flowed at record levels not seen in many places since the Great Flood of 1927. That flooding water also delivered record amounts of sediment to the Mississippi Delta, sediment that can be used for building new land. For two months, the Bonnet Carre Spillway was open to allow Mississippi River water and sediment to flow into Lake Pontchartrain, and ease pressure on New Orleans levees. For those two months, the Bonnet Carre Spillway was one of the largest rivers in North America, and the shortest.


Dr. Sam Bentley of LSU Geology and Geophysics, with Drs. Chunyan Li, Nan Walker, Sibel Bargu, John White, and Larry Rouse of the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, received a $100,000 grant from NSF to study the water, sediment, and nutrient transport from the Mississippi River, through the Bonnet Carre Spillway, into Lake Pontchartrain. The purpose of their work is twofold: first, to see how much sediment can be derived from a large diversion such as the Bonnet Carre, to be used for coastal restoration, and second, to study the effects of nutrients on the Lake Pontchartrain ecosystem.

Initial results indicate that sediment delivered to the lake is on the order of 1-4 million tons of mud and sand. This huge mass of sediment suggests that such diversions can be powerful tools for coastal restoration. Also, nutrients delivered to Lake Pontchartrain by the flood have influenced the growth of algae, but have not yet produced toxic algal blooms seen in earlier years. This research will be ongoing for the next few months. Jeff Fabre, a G&G MS student working with Dr. Bentley, will be refining the sediment deposition measurements for this study, as part of his MS Thesis over the next year.

Sep 06, 2011

Isis Fukai received the Lee H. Meltzer Graduate Award (valued at $3,000).

Phillip Bergeron the George W. Sneider Award (valued at $2,500). Lindsay Prothro received the Jules & Olga Braunstein Junior Award (valued at $2,000).  Shane Cone received the Jules & Olga Braunstein Senior Award (valued at $2500).

 The Department of Geology & Geophysics congratulates these students in achieving excellence and receiving such a wonderful award.

Jul 27, 2011

Kathleen Brennan Awarded Prestigious NSF Graduate Fellowship

Department of Geology recognizes Kathleen Brennan, who recently received the NSF Graduate Fellowship. The program recognizes and supports outstanding students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees at accredited US institutions.

Kathleen will recieve three years of support, a $30,000 annual stipend, $10,500 cost-of-education allowance, international research and professional development opportunities, and TeraGrid Supercomputer access.

For more information about the NSF Graduate Fellowship program, email info@nsfgrfp.org.

The Department of Geology congratulates Kathleen for this prestigious honor!

Jun 01, 2011

Clint Edrington
The R. Dana Russell Memorial Grant is awarded annually to a deserving graduate student for research in petrology and petrography, or oceanography, through the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Grants-in-Aid program. It is endowed by the AAPG Foundation with a generous contribution from his friend, Dr. August Goldstein.

Brendan Headd
The Edward B.Picou, Jr. named Grant is awarded annually to a deserving student at Louisiana State University through the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Grants-in-Aid Program, and is endowed by the AAPG Foundation with generous contributions from Edward B. Picou, Jr.

Scott Tipple
The Paul Danheim Nelson Memorial Grant is awarded annually, with first preference given to a deserving graduate student whose study relates to impact geology; environmental geology; resource development, management and conservation, including hydrocarbons; geology of landscapes and formation (buried streams and valleys); or linear pattern geology and/or geologic development of landscapes. This grant is awarded through the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Grants-In-Aid program and is endowed by the AAPG Foundation, through generous contributions from Paul Danheim Nelson.

Hongjiao Yu
Geological studies applicable to regional or global tectonics; The Arthur A. Meyerhoff Memorial Grant is awarded annually to two deserving graduate students through the American Association of Petroleum Geologist Grant-in-Aid program. It is endowed by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Foundation with generous contributions from his friends and associates, with special thanks to Dr. Grover E. Murray for his efforts in contacting the many individuals who contributed toward the grant.

The Department of Geology & Geophysics congratulates these students for their hard work and dedication!

May 15, 2011 10:22 AM

Dr. Hanor receives $278,000 NSF Grant

One of the more significant environmental problems facing the Baton Rouge area is the salinization of its groundwater supplies, and the role of the Baton Rouge fault as a conduit-barrier to saltwater encroachment is not completely understood at present.  Frank Tsai, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Jeff Hanor, LSU Geology and Geophysics, are currently working on these problems.  Tsai and Hanor recently received a three-year, $278,000 grant from the Hydrologic Sciences division of NSF for the study of “Modeling and epistemic uncertainty analysis of faults as conduit-barriers to fluid flow and salinization in siliciclastic aquifer systems.”  Epistemic uncertainty refers to uncertainty arising from limitations on the data available in a study.

This research complements research currently being supported by a three-year, $218,000 grant Tsai and Hanor received in July 2010 from the NIWR/USGS National Competitive Grant Program for the study of "Hierarchical Multimodel Saltwater Intrusion Remediation and Sampling Designs: A BMA Tree Approach".  BMA refers to Bayesian model averaging, a technique designed to help account for uncertainty in selecting appropriate groundwater models.  M.S. graduate students Callie Anderson and Elizabeth Chamberlain are currently working with Jeff Hanor on the hydrogeologic aspects of the research projects.

The Department of Geology and Geophysics recognizes Dr. Jeff Hanor for this prestigious honor.

May 01, 2011

LSU IBA Team Places 2nd in Regional Competition

The Department of Geology and Geophysics recognizes the LSU IBA team, with their second place presentation on Bristol Bay Alaska. The IBA team members consist of (from left to right in above photo) Austin Cardneaux, Jake Daughtery, William Torsch, James Crane, and Timmon Drumm. Ten teams participated in the regional event, including University of Louisiana at Lafayette, University of New Orleans, University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M, University of Houston, Rice University, Stephen F. Austin University, University of Alabama, and Auburn University. The Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies awards the 2nd place LSU IBA team with a $2,000 check and trophy.

The AAPG IBA program is an international competition in which University teams of graduate students analyze a complete dataset in six to eight weeks prior to the competition. Each team delivers their results in a 25-minute presentation to a panel of industry experts. The program is rigorous and contributes to AAPG’s mission of promoting petroleum geoscience training and advancing the careers of geoscience students. Students gain valuable experience with an industry dataset and benefit from the feedback from the industry panel. The first place winner of regional competitions advances to the national competition.

The Department of Geology & Geophysics congratulates the LSU IBA team for their tremendous success!