Bermuda: A Geologic Mystery
Program Overview
Legends of the Bermuda Triangle have persisted in popular culture for decades. The veracity of these tales is up for debate. But there is no doubt that the island of Bermuda is home to a very real geologic anomaly. Plate tectonics predicts that oceanic islands like Bermuda—and Hawaii—should form from large, hot plumes of rock that originate at the bottom of Earth’s mantle and erupt from volcanoes on its surface. Nobody has ever found a plume beneath Bermuda and its absence has confounded scientists for decades. In this talk, Dr. William Frazer will explain how he is using Carnegie’s cache of custom-designed and -built portable seismometers to reveal what’s really going on under Bermuda’s surface.
About the Speaker
Postdoctoral Fellow William Frazer is an observational seismologist who develops and applies methods to image the crust and mantle. He is particularly interested in the circulation of subducted lithosphere and volatiles within the Earth’s mantle. He works with Staff Scientist Diana Roman to image evidence of volatile cycling in the mantle at regional and global scales.
Public Programming
A series of public lectures on current astronomical topics hosted at the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens.
These free, public talks connect the local community with the boundary-pushing research at the Earth & Planets Laboratory.
Diana Roman works with a Quick Deploy Box (QDB) at a research site in Iceland