In the giant impact hypothesis for lunar origin, the last giant impact onto the proto-Earth generated a circumterrestrial disk that accreted to form the Moon. In the canonical version of the model, the impact also set the present-day angular momentum (AM) of the Earth-Moon system. However, the canonical model has failed to explain the near isotopic identicality between the Earth’s mantle and the Moon.
The invention of photosynthesis is often cited as one of the keystone events in the evolution of life on Earth. Roughly 2.5 billion years ago, oxygenic photosynthesis—the type of photosynthesis most of us are familiar with—provided the first major pulse of oxygen into a microbial world that was essentially anaerobic and ill-equipped to cope with what was effectively poisonous gas.
The past decade has revealed the unexpected and dramatic diversity of the physical properties of exoplanetary systems. The different planetary architectures and physical planet properties argue for formation pathways that are in many ways different from the Solar System's formation. The physical differences also foreshadow possible major compositional and dynamical differences between our own planetary system and those in which we will search for biosignatures.
Observations of widespread rivers and lakes on early Mars have been interpreted as indicating that the martian climate was once warmer and wetter than it is today. However, climate models suggest that only cold and icy climates are possible on early Mars. One avenue for resolving this paradox may be through chemical indicators of climate, as recorded in the weathering mineralogy of the martian surface.
The School of Earth and Space Exploration is proud to honor our Emeritus faculty for their distinguished service to the school. We’re fortunate for their continued involvement and guidance in our research, programs, events, and student activities.
If you are unable to find an individual from the list below, try searching the ALL webpage or using the ASU iSearch Directory.
We are a talented and passionate group of people dedicated to combining the creative strengths of science, engineering and education to set the stage for a new era of exploration.
If you are unable to find an individual from the list below, try searching the ASU iSearch Directory.
Active volcanoes are arguably the main pathways for mantle volatiles, including carbon, to enter the hydrosphere and atmosphere. Carbon return to the mantle via subduction results in a deep carbon cycle that appears balanced within current flux uncertainties.
The Cassini mission has demonstrated that Titan is an organic world of two oceans: the large hydrocarbon seas at Titan’s North Pole and the global deep salty water ocean predicted to be squeezed between an icy crust and a layer of high-pressure ice. The talk first summarizes the observations that lead to our present understanding of Titan’s organic cycle and its interior structure and composition.
Northrop Grumman is proud to lead the industry team building NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Alberto Conti (Innovation Manager and Astrophysicist on the JWST program) will briefly discuss the science and give a status update on the engineering and construction of this revolutionary observatory. After its launch in 2018, the Webb Telescope will look back at a time where the first stars were formed, observe the epoch of galaxy formation, and enhance the search for unexplored planets that might harbor life around other stars.
Fieldwork is considered essential to undergraduate education in the geosciences. Nearly all U.S. geology students participate in some form of fieldwork during their undergraduate years, with most attending a field-based course or camp focused at least in part on geologic mapping.
