Scientific Guest Lecturers

If you are interested in having GERG scientists present to your classes please directly contact the presenter indicated to arrange scheduling. We will update this list on a regular basis with contact information. Please share this information with your faculty and staff as you deem appropriate.

- " Monitoring Currents Along the Texas Coast: Five Years of the Texas Automated Buoy System (TABS)"
In 1995 we began measuring currents along the Texas Coast using current meters that report data in real time through over the internet. This talk will describe the methods used and the results obtained after 5 years of operations.

- " Flow through the Cayman Sea into the Gulf of Mexico: 1999 Observations"
In 1999 we conducted a cruise to the Cayman Sea. Part of that cruise involved a transect of the Yucatan Strait during which we made measurements using Acoustic Doppler Current profilers and CTDs. I will discuss these measurements and historical measurements of the northerly and southerly flow through the strait.

- "Utilization of Buoys, Moorings, and Sensors in Real-time Ocean Observing Systems"
I will talk about the instrumentation we use and intend to use in ocean monitoring. I will talk about the longevity and fouling of different kinds of sensors and give some insight into how modern sensors may advance oceanographic research.

- "Physical Oceanography at Gulf of Mexico Chemosynthetic Seep Sites"
These sites in 500-1000m water depth in the Gulf of Mexico, experience large temperature changes and highly variable currents. I will talk about measurements made by GERG scientists in the 1990's and discuss how these changes in water properties affect the stability of gas hydrates.

-" Results of NOAA's National Status and Trends Program - Mussel Watch"
This Project has monitored the contaminant concentration of bivalves from US coastal sites and the Great Lakes for 15 years to determine trends in contaminant loading.
(alternates J. Sericano, G. Denoux)

-"The Black Sea Mussel Watch Program"
The "mussel Watch" concept was applied as a pilot program by the countries surrounding the Black Sea with scientific support from IOC/UNESCO.

- "Quality Control, Intercalibrations, and Reference Materials in Environmental Chemistry"
For environmental contamination studies, bad data is worse than no data. Historically the quality of data has been documented by the use of quality control samples including intercalibrations and the use of standard reference materials.
(alternate J. Sericano)

- "Pollution of the Marine Environment"
General review of the history of contamination of the environment. Specific topics can be covered on request.
(alternate J. Sericano)

- "Atmospheric Deposition of Nutrients"
Discussions of atmospheric deposition by precipitation and dry deposition (e.g. dust) are discussed in relationship to two local estuaries, Galveston and Corpus Christi Bays.

- "Long Range Transport of Organic Contaminants"
The discovery of pesticides and PCB in Arctic biota led to research on the long range transport of contaminants by the atmosphere. Results of studies in , Galveston and Corpus Christi Bays will be included.

- "Historical Trends of Contaminants in Coastal Environments"
The results from 14 years of the NOAA Mussel Watch Project and results of dated core samples from Gulf Coast are described.
(alternate J. Sericano)

- "Lysosomal Damage as an Indicator of Environmental Health"
In order to ensure sustainable development the health status of ecosystems must be determined. Lysosomal damage is an early warning biomarker of adverse conditions.

- " The History of the Antifouling Agent Tributyl Tin"
Tributyl tin an extremely efficient antifouling compound was limited in its use in 1989. Results of why its use was limited, how the environment responded and the current controversy of weather its use on vessels larger than 25 meters will be presented.

- "Shallow Gas Hydrate as the Product of an Active Subsurface Hydrocarbon System, Gulf of Mexico"
Gas hydrate research is shifting from descriptive geology to a more quantitative approach to better understand gas hydrate origin and stability. Much gas hydrate accumulation in the Gulf of Mexico is linked to processes of hydrocarbon generation and migration at great depth. Simultaneous salt deformation and active faulting created conduits that transports hydrocarbons to the cold sea floor, giving rise to a future energy mineral and to life in an extreme environment.

- "Gas Hydrate in the Gulf of Mexico: Is Gas Hydrate Decomposition Significant?"
Gas hydrate could be an agent of global climate change, or possibly the hypothesis is overstated. The present literature on gas hydrate and greenhouse gases involves indirect evidence or is speculative. Understanding the significance of gas hydrate decomposition in the Gulf following a sea level rise after the Pleistocene is important.

- "Reservoir Geochemistry of the Pabst Field: Late Charge of Supermature Hydrocarbon Basins, Main Pass, Gulf of Mexico"
The history of oil and gas fields in the east-central Gulf of Mexico is complex, involving multiple stages of filling, non thermal alteration, and finally destruction of oil fields as a consequence of flushing by a late charge of gas. The source of supermature gas is as yet unknown, changing our views of the subsurface hydrocarbon system.

- "Paleoseeps at Damon Mound: Origin of Gulf Coast Salt Dome Cap Rocks"
Damon Mound represents one of the best documented salt dome cap rocks on the Gulf Coast, an outcropping window to massive hydrocarbon seepage in the shallow Gulf of Mexico during the Oligocene. The link between bacterial oxidation of oil and gas, bacterial sulfate reduction and oxidation explains enormous disk-like features of authigenic carbonate over shallow salt domes, the origin of commercial deposits of elemental sulfur, and the intriguing link between seeps and coral reefs.

- "Origin of Oil and Gas Along the Northern Gulf Rim from Upper Jurasic Source Rocks"
The origin of oil from the Upper Jurassic Smackover Formation along the northern Gulf Rim is a classic case history of the generation, migration, thermal alteration, and eventual destruction of oil fields with increasing temperatures during burial. The final result of thermal cracking is methane, then destruction of methane accompanied by increasing volumes of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide as a consequence of thermochemical sulfur reduction. Ultimately, only pyrobitumen and stable gases such as nitrogen survive in reservoir rock.

Jose Sericano

- "The "Mussel Watch" Concept and its Applicability to Global Chemical Contamination Monitoring Programs"
Although the use of biological monitors has become a standard practice in different national and international programs in the last two decades, there are several complicating factors -discussed here- that need to be taken into account when sampling over large geographical areas.
(alternate T. Wade)

- "The International Mussel Watch Program"
The objectives and results of the initial implementation phase of the international "mussel watch" program in Latin American countries are presented and compared to the data produced during the NOAA's national status and trends program in the U.S..
(alternate T. Wade)

- "Bivalves as Bioindicators of Trace Organic Contamination in Coastal Environments"
Bivalves can be valuable bioindicators of environmental contamination by trace organic compounds only if their limitations are fully understood. The kinetics of the uptake and depuration of trace organic contaminants by field-transplanted and laboratory-exposed oysters is discussed.
(alternate T.Wade)

- "Chlorinated Biphenyls in the Environment"
Polychlorinated biphenyls (pcbs) are a class of 209 congeners highly persistent in the environment occurring in most human and animal adipose samples, milk, sediment, and numerous other matrices. An overview of their ubiquitous occurrence is presented.
(alternate T. Wade)

- "Planar Polychlorinated Biphenyls, Dioxins, and Furans in the Environment"
Dioxins and some related furans and planar pcbs are among the man-made chemicals subject to significant attention because of their high toxicity, high persistence and ubiquitous distribution in the environment.
(alternate T.Wade)

NOTE: With appropriate notice more general, overarching topic areas and presentations can be tailored to your particular classes' needs.