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Dec9

Learning Assistant Poster Session - Fall 2025

Dec 9, 2025, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Exploratory Hall Atrium

Dec9

2025 Celebration of Success

Dec 9, 2025, 2:00 - 4:00 PM

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2025 Winter Commencement

Dec 18, 2025, 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM

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16 Oct (GEOL) Scott Wing, Paleobotany

Oct 16, 2025, 4:30 - 5:30 PM

Speaker: Scott Wing, Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Title: The response of terrestrial vegetation to sudden global warming 56 million years ago

Time: Thu, 16 Oct, 4:30pm

Location: Exploratory 1309 and via Zoom (for link, email lhinnov@gmu.edu)

Host: Linda Hinnov

ABSTRACT: The Eocene Epoch began with a sudden release of thousands of gigaton of organic carbon that triggered global warming of about 6 degrees C, and other attendant changes in climate, geochemical cycles and ecological systems. This event is called the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). I will show in detail how the PETM affected terrestrial vegetation in the northern Rocky Mountains, briefly discuss effects at higher trophic levels, and end by speculating on what lessons we can draw about future anthropogenic climate change from the PETM.


 

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