EES Guest Speaker - Dr. Michael A. Velbel
This week’s seminar speaker is Dr. Michael A. Velbel. Please join us Friday, October 2nd, 2026 at 12:30 pm in room 204 NatSci.
Talk title: From Earth to Mars: Terrestrial analogs as a framework for interpreting Martian clay minerals and ancient Mars
Abstract:
Carefully selected and well-studied naturally weathered rock and regolith occurrences on Earth can serve as analogs for specific weathered materials on Mars. This presentation reviews several examples of approaches to terrestrial weathering that have been and are being used by Mars mission scientists to support inferences about low-temperature surface and near-surface weathering on Mars from the study of the primary rock-forming reactant minerals and clay-mineral products of mineral-water interactions, and their host materials, as characterized by Mars mission analyses.
Bio:
Michael Velbel, Professor Emeritus in the MSU Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, received the Marilyn and Sturges W. Bailey Distinguished Member Award from The Clay Minerals Society (CMS) July 10th at the 65th Annual Meeting of the Society in Provo, Utah. Awarded for scientific eminence in clay mineralogy as demonstrated by publication of outstanding original scientific research and by the impact of this research on the clay sciences, Professor Velbel was cited “for extensive, thoughtful, thought-provoking, and influential discoveries related to clay minerals and weathering environments – on Earth and beyond.”
Velbel studies the rates and mechanisms of mineral-water interactions during rock and mineral weathering in natural systems, including weathering on Mars as revealed in mission data and Mars meteorites. He has held visiting appointments at the University of Cincinnati, the Université Paul Cézanne (Université d'Aix-Marseilles III), and the Australian National University. He held Faculty Fellowships at the NASA Johnson Space Center and the National Museum of Natural History. He served as President of The Clay Minerals Society and Editor in Chief of its journal, Clays and Clay Minerals.
Velbel is the third MSU Professor to earn the Bailey Award (formerly the CMS Distinguished Member Award) since its creation in 1968, preceded by the late Max M. Mortland (MSU Crop and Soil Sciences and Geological Sciences Departments, 1988) and Thomas J. Pinnavaia (MSU Chemistry, 1993).
