Greg Gancarz
Editor
On Friday, April 6, Dr. Lijun Liu, an associate professor in the department of Geology at the University of Illinois spoke at Parkland’s Staerkel Planetarium on using supercomputers to analyze and record the traces of plate tectonics, a method of researching which is allowing new discoveries and hypotheses to be made on the subject.
The event began at 7 p.m. and brought a packed house into the planetarium. The cost of admission was $2. Some Parkland instructors offered to reimburse their students if they attended, in addition to offering extra credit. The crowd present appeared to be largely made up of students and local residents.
Dr. Liu’s demonstration and lecture included 3D imaging of the Earth’s core and mantle, reaching hundreds of kilometers down below the surface. Perhaps the most striking aspect of Liu’s lecture was his proposal of a new hypothesis regarding the formation and fueling of the Yellowstone super volcano, which is located within the central U.S.. Although much of the presented material was above the general populace’s knowledge of the subject, Liu, originally from China, effectively summarized the complex data and visual graphics and what it generally meant for his research.
“Instead of the well accepted hypothesis of this material coming from deep in the mantle, he’s proposing that it’s the subduction of the ocean plate; the Nazca Plate, off the west coast of North America beneath the North American Plate, that’s causing the material to be shoved up closer to the surface,” said Julie Angel, associate professor of Earth science at Parkland. “He’s proposing that that’s the heat source and that’s the source of this molten material for the Yellowstone Volcano, not [from] deep in the Earth; the mantle. That was the big take away.”
Angel said she thinks the hypothesis does have potential.
“With more research, with more people taking a look at this process, [and] with more data being collected via this three-dimensional technology, I believe that it could be a competing hypothesis for Yellowstone,” Angel said.
Angel said this proposal was the aspect of the talk she found most interesting. Angel also offered the students of some of her classes extra credit for attending the lecture, including students in certain geology courses at Parkland.
“The reason I offered the extra credit to my students to go and attend these talks is because it is directly related to the material that we covered in class on plate tectonics. It gave the students a richer view of how plate tectonics is researched in modern day; how researchers from the U of I are using new technology, three-dimensional technology, to map what’s going on under the Earth’s surface,” Angel said.
Angel said she heard of the event through the planetarium itself and was frequently reminded to remind her students of the event thanks to plentiful marketing and fliers distributed by the planetarium.
Angel was not the only Parkland professor to encourage students to attend. Manny Rodriguez, a chemistry professor, also encourage his students to attend the lecture. Keegan Payne, who is enrolled in Rodriguez’s course, was offered the opportunity to attend the event and then write a reflection paper for a chance to earn extra credit.
Payne said that although the topic did not directly correlate to her chemistry course, she had taken a geology course in the past so she was still familiar with the topic.
“I enjoyed it a lot. It was really interesting. My favorite part was that it’s actually in the planetarium so it makes the whole science talk a lot more interesting than if it was just in a lecture hall. As far as chemistry, it didn’t connect all that much, but there was some information that kind of related,” Payne said. “I think that the planetarium always does a really great job picking the science talks. It was really interesting.”
