Research Symposium

BIO

Hello, my name is Malia Hallway and I was born and raised in Coral Springs, Florida. Ever since I was a child, I was in love with the environment and working in the field. After lab experience in both high school and college, I can't wait to grow my experience in the field moving forward! In the future, I hope to be traveling and researching more the Earth has to offer.

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, Extinction, Metamorphism