Topics

Extreme Volcanism (Large Igneous Provinces / LIPs):

• Continental Reconstructions
• Related Ore Deposits
• Effect on climate (including causing mass extinctions)
• Planetary Geology

Welcome

My focus is Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs), which represents an extreme type of volcanism that occurs on Earth on average every 20-30 million years and results in breakup of continents, dramatic changes in climate and is linked to many major types of ore deposits. This research is well-supported by industry funding and government grants. I am keen to involve students in all aspects of my research including opportunities to work on rock suites from remote regions of the world, GIS projects related to continental reconstructions and mapping tectono-magmatic features on radar images of Venus.

• Short Biography
• Book on Large igneous Provinces
• Nature Geoscience Paper
• Selected Media Outreach

Selected Keynote Talks

• June 2018: Resources for Future Generations Conference (RFG2018), Vancouver, Canada:  Keynote on first day of conference (Monday June 18) Ernst, R.E. "Importance of Earth’s Geological History for Understanding Modern Climate Change"; http://www.rfg2018.org/en/RFG/2018/Technical-Program/Plenaries
• August 2017: International Conference on Large Igneous Provinces, Chengdu University of Technology, China (August 26 to 31, 2017). Ernst, R.E. "Frontiers in Large Igneous Province Research"

• April 2017: Target 2017 Meeting April 19-21, Perth Australia: Ernst, R.E., Jowitt, S.M. "Multi-commodity, multi-scale exploration targeting using the Large Igneous Province Record" http://target2017.org.au/program/keynote-speakers/    
  
• November 2015: Keynote in Mass Extinction Session at GSA 2015 Annual Meeting:  Ernst, R.E. "How Large Igneous Provinces affect climate and sometimes cause extinctions” Keynote talk in Session T153: Mass Extinction Causality: Records of Anoxia, Acidification, and Global Warming during Earth's Greatest Crises at GSA 2015 Annual Meeting Baltimore, GSA Press Release on my Keynote Presentation
  
• September 25, 2013
  Opening keynote talk by Ernst, R.E. “Large igneous Provinces (LIPs) and Metallogeny” at the Annual SEG2013  meeting in Whistler BC 
  
• November 15, 2012 
  F.K. North Lecture 2012 : Ernst, R.E. "Extreme volcanism through time: From the Sahara to the High Arctic to other planets"
  

Last Updated: July 9, 2018