Speaker: Hanika Rizo, Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University

Abstract

Rocky planets like the Earth formed in the first hundreds of millions of years of our solar system. The planet grew through the addition of planetary bodies by impacts, whose energy and associated heat release caused extensive melting of surface rocks, creating of magma oceans. By far, the most important chemical changes of our planet occurred at those times, such as the formation of the Earth’s metallic core. Those early geological processes have lead to the formation of our modern, habitable world.

But how do we know all this? How do we know the age of the Earth, or that it was a molten ball of magma at some point early in its history? Rocks are usually the geologists’ fossils or time capsules that help them elucidate the geological past. However, there are no rocks from that period. Early cataclysmic events such as giant impacts, plate tectonics and crustal recycling have left no geological record. In this presentation we will see how we have been able to find evidence from Earth’s early history, and that this evidence may still lurk in our planet’s interior…

About the Science Café Series

Explore science through Carleton University’s popular Science Cafés, held twice a month during the fall and winter terms at the Sunnyside Branch of the Ottawa Public Library at 1049 Bank Street (at Aylmer Ave in Old Ottawa South). Each café begins at 6:30 p.m. with a 20-minute talk by a scientist followed by a 40-minute open question and answer period.
Come and join us for a lively discussion around a scientific issue of the day. Be prepared to be informed, engaged and even amused, as our professors share their scientific discoveries with you. All are welcome!

For more information, please visit our website: www.science.carleton.ca/science-cafe, or contact the Faculty of Science by email at odscience@carleton.ca or by telephone at 613-520-4388.