Research Symposium

BIO

Hello, my name is Isabelle Barta and I am from Cape Coral, FL. I am majoring in geology and minoring in education here at FSU. I have been interested in geology since I was a kid. I had a large collection of rocks that I obtained from every state or big city that I visited. I was accepted into FSU as an environmental science major, but quickly changed it when I realized that I wanted to know more about geology. I will be attending graduate school in Fall 2023. After that, I would like to work in the geology industry, however, I am unsure what exactly I would like to do.

Did Rock Metamorphism Cause a Mass Extinction?

Abstract

Metamorphism in rocks can conceivably cause mass extinctions. The purpose of this study is to research a potential, but probable cause of the end-Triassic mass extinction event. It has been suggested that when carbon-rich rocks or sediments are heated up quickly it can affect global warming negatively as well as cause a mass extinction. We are focusing on samples that are found in the sills of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) that are found underground in the elbow of Florida. These samples have come from the Florida Geologic Survey and will be used to test the deep carbon release of metamorphism in rocks. In order to conduct this research we looked at files from the geologic survey to identify the wells that intertwine with CAMP sills, then we look at the thin sections of the rocks found in the wells, then we did computer programming to calculate certain values at different temperatures and pressures of our rock equation, and then we did chemical analysis of the rocks in the MagLab. So far, there are no results to report, but this project is ongoing.

Keywords: Geology, Rocks, Metamorphism