Name: Thomas Condon Lecture: Where did the lava flow and how do we know?
Start: 2025-10-29T18:00:00-07:00
Location: The LaSells Stewart Center

Join us as Nick Zentner gives the 2025 Thomas Condon Lecture: Where did the lava flow and how do we know? A geological mystery and treasure hunt.
Wednesday, October 29, 6 p.m. (reception begins at 5 p.m.) at The LaSells Stewart Center, Construction & Engineering Hall, and on Zoom
How have geological forces in the Pacific Northwest operated over the course of millions of years to create the landscapes we see today? And how do we know what happened to form our mountains, coastlines and other features? Nick Zentner, lecturer in geology at Central Washington University and star of the PBS show, “Nick on the Rocks,” loves to explore this kind of mystery. In this lecture, he will ask the seemingly simple question, did the lava that erupted from the Yellowstone hotspot 16 million years ago, known to geologists as flood basalt, make its way across the Cascade Range and to the Washington and Oregon coasts? Could that lava cross a mountain range? Zentner will present his perspective on the question, and take the audience on a scientific treasure hunt to find evidence for his answer.
For more information and to register: https://ceoas.oregonstate.edu/thomas-condon-lecture