Dr. Dawn Kellett is a Research Scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada (since 2011), with previous degrees from UBC, Queen's U and Dalhousie U, and post-doctoral work at U California-Santa Barbara. Kellett's research focuses on orogen deformation and exhumation and their relationships to ore deposits by applying a wide range of structural, metamorphic and especially geochronological methods. Her work spans the Cordilleran, Appalachian, Trans-Hudson and Himalayan orogens. Kellett is Associate Editor for Tectonics and Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, and Senior Editor for FACETS. She currently holds adjunct professor positions at UBC, Saint Mary's U, and Dalhousie U.
Abstract:The research field of geochronology, in which we use the radioactive decay of unstable, naturally-occurring, long-lived isotopes in rocks and minerals as clocks for Earth processes, has been transformative for the geological sciences. In this talk, we will go right back to the origins of thought about geological, or deep time, zoom through key observations and geological principles on deep time developed during the Enlightenment, touch on some heated, but now largely forgotten, scientific controversies, and then walk through the crucial late 19th to mid 20th century discoveries and technological advances that led to the first realistic calculation of the age of the Earth, and our ability today to use diverse isotopic decay systems to date a myriad of geological processes.