{"id":63559,"date":"2020-02-14T13:38:14","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T18:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=63559"},"modified":"2025-09-30T10:21:47","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T14:21:47","slug":"earth-sciences-siberia-ancient-volcanic-events","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/earth-sciences-siberia-ancient-volcanic-events\/","title":{"rendered":"Earth Sciences Students Travel to Siberia to Discuss Ancient Volcanic Events"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Earth Sciences Students Travel to Siberia to Discuss Ancient Volcanic Events\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

A group of Carleton University Earth Sciences<\/a> students had an opportunity to present their work and absorb international perspectives at a conference in Siberia on ancient volcanic events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conference, which took place in Tomsk, Russia late last year, was focused on large igneous provinces (LIPs), a term that describes large fractures in the Earth\u2019s crust that lead to major volcanic events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Carleton
St. Petersburg, left to right: Sara Khawja, Nico Kastek, Erin Bethell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

LIPs have caused the breakup of supercontinents, are linked with dramatic climate change including mass extinctions, and have analogues on other planetary bodies in our solar system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLIPs are so important because they represent huge volume magmatic events emplaced in a short time,\u201d says the students\u2019 supervisor, Earth Sciences Scientist-in-Residence Richard Ernst<\/a>, who helped organize the seventh international conference on Large Igneous Provinces Through Earth History: Mantle Plumes, Supercontinents, Climate Change, Metallogeny and Oil-Gas, Planetary Analogues<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe smallest such event would cover all<\/em> of Canada to a depth of 10 metres with liquid rock,\u201d says Ernst, \u201cand the largest would cover all<\/em> of Canada to a depth of nearly 8 kilometres.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Relevant Research from Around the World<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Three Earth Sciences graduate students joined Ernst at the conference at Tomsk State University, where they were exposed to research by students and professors from around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nico Kastek, who graduated with his PhD last November, presented the final results of his thesis and was thrilled to attend a conference that revolved around a topic relevant to his research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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