Lava Eruption and Emplacement: Using Clues from Hawaii and Iceland to Probe the Lunar Past
Thursday, August 2, 2018 at 7 pm at Huntsville-Madison County Main Public Library main auditorium. Our guest speaker will be Dr. Debra Needham, PhD, NASA Research Scientist.
Billions of years ago, the Moon hosted active volcanoes and expansive
seas of molten lava. The Earth-facing side of the Moon still preserves
evidence of this ancient activity, but scientists continue to ponder how
quickly the lava was emplaced, and what significance that volcanic
activity has for constraining the Moon’s active history. Remnant
features such as sinuous rilles, or lava channels, within these vast
plains of solidified lava might hold parts of the answer.
By investigating features we see on the Moon - and the dynamics required to
form those features – to those we see actively forming on Earth, we can
better understand not only the Moon’s ancient past, but also Earth’s
past, present, and future volcanic activity. This talk explores one
such ancient lava channel on the Moon, and uses similar features
observed on Earth in Hawaii and Iceland to investigate how the lunar
feature formed.
Huntsville-Madison County Main Public Library Main Auditorium
Huntsville-Madison County Main Public Library is located at 915 Monroe Street in downtown Huntsville. The main auditorium is on the right when you come in the main entrance.
