The science lecture series, UALR EarthTalk, debuted this semester and will feature lively discussions about meteorites; hydraulic fracturing and earthquakes; and the San Andreas fault. 

The next lecture, “Ground-Water Models of the Alluvial and Sparta Aquifers: Management Tools for a Sustainable Resource,” will be at 4:15 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12, in Fribourgh Hall room 101.

The featured speaker is John Czarnecki of Arkansas Water Resources Center who will discuss sustainable tools for aquifers – underground layers of water-bearing permeable rock from which groundwater can be extracted using a water well.

All lectures in the series are free and open to the public.

Upcoming lecture topics and dates:

• Sept. 26 – Erik Pollock; “Caves and Isotopes”
• Oct. 10 – Rhiannon Mayne; “Meteorites”
• Oct. 24  – Jackie Langille; “Crustal extension in the convergent Himalaya: Constraints from northwest India”
• Nov. 7 –   Rebecca Bendick; “How continents challenge the theory of plate tectonics”
• Nov. 21 – Ben van der Pluijm; “Smart Clays: Fault Lubrication and Creep on the San Andreas Fault”
• Dec. 5 – Tricia Kelley; “Evolution and Creation: Conflicting or Compatible?”

The series began Thursday, Aug. 29, with a presentation by Scott Ausbrooks of the Arkansas Geological Survey. Ausbrooks discussed the correlation between hydraulic fracturing and the Guy-Greenbrier earthquake swarm of 2009-2010.

Future talks will bring in experts from around the United States to share research into plate tectonics, and evolution and creation.

For more information, go to EarthTalk Lecture Series.