Geological and Mining Engineering and Science News

Menominee Crack Research in Discover Magazine

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Menominee Crack
Menominee Crack, copyright Wayne Pennington, Michigan Tech.

Discover magazine published an article about Dean Wayne Pennington’s (COE) research on the Menominee Crack, a strange geological disruption known as a pop-up.

From Tech Today.

Major geologic transformations don’t usually happen in real time without explanation — especially in seismically quiet areas like the Upper Midwest. So, when Michigan Technological University geophysicist Wayne Pennington saw reports about a crack the length of a football field suddenly appearing in some swamp and woods in the northern area of the state’s Upper Peninsula, he assumed it was a small landslide.

Read more at Discover, by Steven Potter.

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Third annual Keweenaw Geoheritage Tours to be July 25-28, 2016

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GeoTours MapHOUGHTON — The Keweenaw Peninsula is a place of natural beauty with a fascinating mining history. Join local experts Bill Rose and Erika Vye in reading the landscape to learn how the Copper Country came to be the way it is today. In July Erika and Bill will lead one-day field trips exploring one of four major events in Earth’s history that make up the geology of the Keweenaw — Lavas, the Keweenaw Fault, the Jacobsville Sandstone, and Copper Mining Waste.

Read more at Keweenaw Now.

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Burkwald Awarded Copper Club Scholarship

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Cory Burkwald, a third-year Geology major, has been chosen to receive a Copper Club scholarship. The $10,000 award is for the 2016-17 school year.

Burkwald, a Naperville, Illinois native, also participates on Michigan Tech’s Cross Country and Track and Field teams.

Headquartered in New York City, the Copper Club Inc. is a leading organization for networking, educational grants and events for those who support the copper industry.

In a letter informing Burkwald of his scholarship, Andrew G. Kireta, Sr., executive director of the Copper Club, said, “through this program, the copper industry identifies and recognizes exceptional individuals who have excelled in the study of mining and metallurgy.”

Burkwald is Michigan Tech’s first recipient of a Copper Club Scholarship in the 20-year history of the award.

From Tech Today, by Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences.

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Bornhorst Publishes on Hydrothermal Native Copper

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Ted Bornhorst, executive director A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum and professor, is co-author of a paper recently published by the international journal Economic Geology. The publication is a result of collaboration with Dr. Kei Ikehata of University of Tsukuba, Japan who is first author of the paper. The paper is titled “Hydrothermal Native Copper in Ocean Island Alkali Basalt from the Mineoka Belt, Boso Peninsula, Japan.” Additional co-authors are K. Chida and T. Tsunogae both at University of Tsukuba.

From Tech Today.

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Bornhorst Attends Meeting of the Institute on Lake Superior Geology

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Ted Bornhorst, executive director and professor, A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum recently attended the 62nd annual meeting of the Institute on Lake Superior Geology held in Duluth, Minnesota. The Institute includes geologic field trips as well as two days of technical presentations and posters. He served on the board of directors at its annual meeting. The 63rd annual meeting will be held in Wawa, Ontario and Bornhorst will be co-chair along with two Canadian colleagues.

From Tech Today.

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Keweenaw Geoheritage Field/Boat Trips: July 2016

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This is the third year of one day geotours of Michigan’s Keweenaw based on four of the five Geoelements of Keweenaw Geoheritage. These tours use ground and boat transportation and visit some of the most scenic and important geological spots in the Keweenaw.

We use the University’s research vessel Agassiz. Individual trips include “Lavas and the Keweenaw Rift,” “The Keweenaw Fault,” “Jacobsville Sandstone” and “Mining Wastes of Lake Superior.” The trips are led by Bill Rose and Erika Vye, from Michigan Tech’s Geological Engineering department.

Details of these trips are described online. They feature places that can best be seen by boat. There are only 17 spaces on each trip — sign up early.

From Tech Today, by Bill Rose, GMES.

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President Barack Obama Honors Assistant Professor Colleen Mouw

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President Barack Obama honors Assistant Professor Colleen Mouw with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

“These early-career scientists are leading the way in our efforts to confront and understand challenges from climate change to our health and wellness,” said President Obama.

All 106 recipients of the award are selected for their pursuit of innovative research at the frontiers of science and technology and their commitment to community service as demonstrated through scientific leadership, public education, or community outreach. The winners will receive their awards at a Washington, DC ceremony later this spring.

To read the official White House Press Release click here.

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News Briefs in GMES Department

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) posted a news story on its website about an open-vent volcano that erupted at Fuego, near Guatemala City. It quoted Greg Waite (GMES), who is studying the volcano under an NSF CAREER award.

Ted Bornhorst, executive director of the A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum and Dr. Chris Poulsen, chair of the department of Earth and environmental sciences at the University of Michigan, published an article titled: “Michigan Mineral Alliance” in the September issue of the international journal Rocks & Minerals. The article establishes a name for the legal agreement between Michigan Tech and the University of Michigan that provides for co-ownership and shared responsibility of the University of Michigan’s mineral collection. The collection is now at the museum and there is an introductory exhibit in the museum’s Thomas D. Shaffner exhibit hall.

Chad Deering (GMES) received a $77,039 grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for a research and development project titled, Understanding Basaltic Volcanic Processes by Remotely Measuring the Links Between Vegetation Health and Extent, and Volcanic Gas and Thermal Emissions using HyspIRI-like VSWIR and TIR data. This is the first year of a potential two-year project totaling $212,448.

Aleksey Smirnov (GMES/EPSSI) received a $250,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for a research and development project titled, Paleointensity of the Paleoproterozoic Geomagnetic Field as Recorded by Single Silicate Crystals: Testing the “Proterozoic Dipole Low.” This is a three-year project.

GMES student Priscilla Addison received the Best Student Paper Award for “Rail Embankment Investigation Using Remote Sensing for a Permafrost Region” which she presented at the 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Cold Regions Engineering Conference: Developing and Maintaining Resilient Infrastructure, held earlier this month in Salt Lake City. The thrust of Addison’s paper was to look at remote sensing as a site investigative tool for the portion of the Hudson Bay railway embankment underlain with discontinuous permafrost in northern Manitoba, Canada. This research is jointly supported by OmniTRAX Inc. and National University Rail (NURail) Center funded by the U.S Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology Administration (USDOT-RITA). Addison is co-advised by Associate Professor Thomas Oommen (GMES) and Assistant Professor Pasi Lautala (CEE).

The US Peace Corps’ Peace Car was on the Michigan Tech campus July 9th. An eco-friendly Smart Car, the Peace Car enables Peace Corps staff to share their mission while limiting their carbon footprint. See the photo here

The Association of Engineering Geologists (AEG) featured Lauren Schaefer, a PhD student in Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences, as its AEG Featured Scholar for June 2015.

Jason Gulley (GMES) has received a $194,940 research and development grant from the National Science Foundation for the collaborative research project: What Hydrogeochemical Processes Control Weathering in the Deep Critical Zone of Unburied Karst Landscapes. This is a two-year project.

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