Lisa Gilbert to Talk About "Adventures in the Deep Sea"

Media contact: Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., March 17, 2014—Lisa Gilbert, associate professor of geosciences, will present the fifth talk in the annual Williams College Faculty Lecture series at 4:15 p.m., Thursday, March 20, in Wege Auditorium, Thompson Chemistry. Her lecture is titled “Adventures in the Deep Sea: Rocks Younger than You.” The event is free and open to the public. A reception will follow in Schow atrium.

In her talk, Gilbert will discuss the interaction between volcanoes and seawater.  Volcanic eruptions and hydrothermal vents at mid-ocean ridges and seamounts provide an important mechanism by which heat is lost from the interior of the Earth. This hydrothermal water is superheated and mineral-rich, causing significant chemical exchange between the ocean and lithosphere. Microorganisms can harvest chemical energy from the hydrothermal water, making seafloor volcanoes important oases during times of extreme climate.

Understanding volcanic rock fracturing and pore space has been the subject of Gilbert’s fieldwork, on the seafloor with the submersible Alvin, from the decks of the drillship JOIDES Resolution, and on land at a number of volcanoes around the world, from Hawai’i to Cyprus to northern Quebec. Her work on this topic has been published in journals such as Geology and Science.

Gilbert teaches marine science at Williams-Mystic, the Maritime Studies Program of Williams College and Mystic Seaport. At Williams-Mystic, she regularly serves as chief scientist for the sail training and research cruises at the beginning of each semester, travels with students to teach on the West and Gulf coasts, and directs field and laboratory research in Mystic, Conn.

Gilbert received her B.A. from Dartmouth College in 1997 and her Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 2004.

The last talk of the Faculty Lecture Series is scheduled for April 10 with a lecture by Ngonidzashe Munemo, associate professor of political science, titled “Elite Games, Institutional Choice, and Stability in Post-Reform Africa.”

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Published March 17, 2014