Dobrin Lecture

Student Poster Competition Guidelines

FOR STUDENTS:

There is a limit of 30 poster presentations. You will receive an email from Antonius Douglas
a week before the deadline to confirm your poster submission and attendance.

Poster Submission:
⦁ Please use this form to submit your poster information

⦁ Doing this form also serves as your RSVP for the event. Do not use the RSVP button on the Dobrin website if you are submitting a poster.
⦁ If you want to be eligible for a poster competition award, you must submit your title by midnight Jan 31st so that it will appear on the judging form.

⦁ If you have any questions or difficulties with your poster submission, please contact Antonius Douglas via email: aldougl3@central.uh.edu
Students presenting posters must:
a) Arrive by 4:00 pm to mount posters.
b) Present and stay for the entire lecture in order to receive their poster award prize.
c) Dismount posters when the lecture is over.

⦁ Follow this link for instructions to create your poster file: https://support.geosc.uh.edu/docs/plot_pc.htm
⦁ Plan your poster to fit on a 4’ height by 8’ width board. The size of the poster should be 42 inches x 72 inches.
⦁ If you want the department to print your poster, the file must be submitted by midnight Jan 31st: Email the file to Jay Krishnan: krishnan@central.uh.edu Students not presenting posters: Please RSVP here. Admission is free.

Prize categories

(3 prizes awarded in each of the following categories - Atmospheric, Geoph/Geol Senior PhD, Geoph/Geol Junior PhD plus MS plus Under Grad)

1st Place = $750
2nd Place = $500
3rd Place = $250

Please join the
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
and the Geophysical Society of Houston at the

31st Annual Milton B. Dobrin Lecture

Wednesday, February 5, 2025
5:00–8:00 PM

at the

University of Houston Alumni Center
3204 Cullen Blvd. Houston, Texas 77204

Parking: Stadium Garage located at 3874 Holman St, Houston, TX 77004. The dept. will validate the first 30 guest parking tickets. Please enter the stadium garage via the vistior parking entrance, park and walk to the UH Alumni Center. Walking Directions (click the link). There is also parking space in front of the UH Alumni Center (this has a text to pay option).

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Prospects and problems with CO2 storage and mineralization in basalt

Abstract: The geologic community has been working on and preparing for CO2 sequestration in so-called “deep saline formations” for about 30 years. Such formations are chosen because they are porous and permeable and overlain by low permeability “seal” formations such as shale. The “trapping” of CO2 in the subsurface is mainly a consequence of this geologic structure (structural trapping) because the reservoir formations are typically unreactive quartz-rich sandstone. There is continuing concern, perhaps more than necessary, that because the trapped CO2 will be present for 100’s to 1000’s of years, there might eventually be unacceptable amounts of leakage back to the surface. As a consequence, some groups have been evaluating whether CO2 could be disposed of in basalt or other volcanic formations where it might be expected that the CO2 would gradually be converted to carbonate minerals and therefore permanently immobilized. The question is whether this CO2-to-mineral conversion is fast enough that this strategy can work without there still being a need for a “seal” formation. The most well-known project exploring CO2 mineralization in basalt is CARBFIX in Iceland, which has claimed that mineralization can be achieved in a few years. In this talk I examine this claim and discuss other more general related issues about basalt formation structure and hydrology, the timescale of mineralization, and mineralizing CO2 in near surface settings like ultramafic mine tailings. This discussion will include a brief review of basalt storage projects, including one we initiated on Hawaii. Ultimately, any strategy involving mineralization in mafic or ultramafic rocks needs to be scalable to at least 1 gigaton CO2 per year, which is still a big question for CO2 mineralization.

Presented By

Donald Depaolo
Dr. Donald J. DePaolo

U.C. Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

About the Speaker

Schedule of Events

5:00 PM	Student Poster Presentations
6:30 PM	Overview of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at UH Tom Lapen
6:35 PM	Geophysics at UH Yingcai Zheng
6:45 PM	Dobrin Lecture Presentation Donald J. DePaolo
7:45 PM	Student Poster Award Announcements

Join us for hors d'oeuvres and social interaction.
Admission is free.
Please RSVP.

RSVP Here

Judges Needed for Poster Session

We invite interested professionals willing to serve as poster judges to contact Antonius Douglas at aldougl3@central.uh.edu. Judges in the areas of geology, geophysics and atmospheric sciences are encouraged to participate.

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