加拿大维多利亚大学 & 美国哈佛大学 Paul Hoffman院士学术报告

The geological evidence, the physical theories of how such events came

about and were reversed, how those theories were tested with new observations,

and implications for the evolution of life are the subjects of these

lectures. Illustrations will be drawn from the speaker’s 30 years of Snowball-related

field work on six continents, and from his new textbook, Snowball Earth

in 4-G: Geology, Geophysics, Geochemistry, Geobiology, Phoenix Science

Press, Nanjing, Jiangsu. The short course includes four parts: Lecture

2: Testing the predictions of a self-reversing Snowball Earth. Geochonology

tests of multi-million-year duration, globally synchronous onsets and

terminations, and low average sediment accumulation rates, due to weak

hydrologic cycling. Lithologic and isotopic tests of extreme postglacial

CO2 greenhouse warming. Sr isotope test for evolved Snowball ocean water.

Lecture 3: Dynamics of the Snowball Earth atmosphere, cryosphere and subsurface

oceans. Sensitivity of continental ice sheets to warming and orbital changes.

Oxygen isotope dynamics without evaporation of seawater. Dust dynamics,

ablative ice albedo, microbial feedback, and surface meltwater production

and drainage. Waterbelt states: accessibility and stability. Deglaciation

and its aftermath. Why did successive Snowball Earths differ in duration

and character?

Paul F. Hoffman是维多利亚大学兼职教授，也是哈佛大学Sturgis Hooper地质学荣休教授。他的研究聚焦于板块构造和地球历史演化。

他被广泛认为是过去100年中最具影响力和创造力的地质学家之一，是加拿大皇家学会会士、美国国家科学院国际院士（1992年），以及美国艺术与科学院国际荣誉院士（1993年）。他曾荣获洛根奖章（Logan Medal，1992年）、阿尔弗雷德·魏格纳奖章（Alfred Wegener Medal，2001年）、沃拉斯顿奖章（Wollaston Medal，2009年）、沃尔特·布赫奖章（Walter Bucher Medal，2010年）、彭罗斯奖章（Penrose Medal，2011年）以及京都奖（Kyoto Prize，2024年）。