Presentations
Lower Gara Sbaa Formation, Kem Kem Group, Morocco | Photo by Leo Kenney
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JUNE MEETING AND PRESENTATION
M. Colin Marvin
“Sand Grain Microtextures: A record of Earth’s Earliest Surface Environments”
Tuesday, June 9, 2026
4 PM Pacific, 7 PM Eastern, 12 AM Central European
Sand is present in landscapes across Earth’s surface. The different processes that transport grains shape and texture them differently. For example, the suite of cracks, fractures, and pits (‘microtextures’) on sand grains as viewed from a scanning electron microscope is characteristically distinct on grains from desert dunes as compared to other environments like rivers, beaches, or glaciers. These differences have been exploited in studies of geology, archaeology, and forensic science. Here, we explore how to determine what environment sand has recently traversed using a variety of approaches, including machine learning. We investigate modern deposits of windblown dunes, rivers, beaches, and glaciers as well as sedimentary rocks as old as 3.34 billion years old. Altogether, we show that sand grains record our planet’s earliest surface environments going back nearly four billion years.
M. Colin Marvin is a fifth-year PhD student at Stanford University in the Earth and Planetary Surface Processes group (https://epsp.stanford.edu/) led by Dr. Mathieu Lapôtre. Broadly speaking, his research is focused on how environmental conditions are recorded on planetary surfaces throughout the Solar System…
Click here for more information and a complete bio.
The Zoom link is posted in the Members Area
AUGUST MEETING AND PRESENTATION
Julian Gray
“Finding the Right Microscope for Sand Collecting”
Thursday, August 27, 2026
4 PM Pacific, 7 PM Eastern, 12 AM Central European
Click here for more information
The ISCS holds a brief business meeting followed by a presentation once per quarter. As a benefit of membership, the live sessions are available for members only via videoconferencing, but all of the presentations are recorded and posted here.
If you would like to do a presentation for the ISCS, if you have a suggestion for a topic of interest, or if you have a recommendation for a speaker, please click below to send an email to the Programs Committee.
NOTE: The Programs Committee needs volunteers to help schedule speakers as well as volunteers to do presentations. Please use the contact button below if you are interested in volunteering.
The ISCS has many knowledgeable and talented members who are available to do presentations about sand.
If you would like to invite an ISCS member to do a presentation for your organization, please click below to send an email to the ISCS Education Committee.
