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Friday Night Lecture: Nick Zentner, Supervolcanoes of the Pacific Northwest

  • Cramer Hall, Portland State University 1721 Southwest Broadway Portland, OR, 97201 United States (map)
Zentner explaining just how many supervolcano eruptions have impacted the Pacific Northwest..

Zentner explaining just how many supervolcano eruptions have impacted the Pacific Northwest..

Nick Zenter will speak about “Supervolcanoes of the Pacific Northwest.”

Prof. Zentner has made a name for himself with his involvement in several series of video productions explaIning geology to a general audience in the Pacific Northwest. His series have included the popular “2 Minute Geology,” “Downtown Geology Lectures,” “Nick on the Rocks” and “The Nick Zentner Geology Podcast.”

Zentner has been with Central Washington University Geology Dept. since 1992. He advises geology undergraduates and mentors graduate students teaching in the field and in the lab. He teaches a popular "GEOL 101 - Geology of Washington" course to CWU students every Fall Quarter and Winter Quarter — and his course is open to townspeople for free! He also teaches "GEOL 351 - Pacific Northwest Geology" every spring. In 2015, Nick received the prestigious James Shea Award, a national award recognizing exceptional delivery of Earth Science to the general public. Past recipients include John McPhee, Jack Horner, Robert Ballard, and Stephen Jay Gould.

In his recent “Supervolcanoes in the Pacific Northwest” lecture, Nick explains the appearance and origins of Supervolcanoes like Yellowstone. He distinguishes them from milder basalt and stratovolcano eruptions. He stresses that humans have never witnessed one of these eruptions because they occur so infrequently. But don’t get too comfortable, because there have been many supervolcano eruptions in the Pacific Northwest…

Those of you interested in the Wallowas and Hells Canyon area should be especially interested in Zentner’s “Downtown Geology Lecture” on Hells Canyon and the Ringold Formation.


Earlier Event: August 17
Lewis River "Easy Walking" Trip
Later Event: September 28
Johnson Creek Watershed Geology Tour