Dixie Forum to host presentation on Washington County’s geological hazards

Dixie Forum to host presentation on Washington County’s geological hazards

Dixie State University’s weekly lecture series Dixie Forum: A Window on the World will host a presentation on natural hazards that impact the St. George area. Dr. Rick Miller will present “Death and Destruction: Geological hazards in Washington County, Utah” at noon on Nov. 28 in the Dunford Auditorium, located in the Browning Resource Center on Dixie State’s campus. Admission is free, and the public is encouraged to attend. In his Dixie Forum presentation, Miller will discuss the major geologic province boundary between the Colorado Plateau and the Great Basin, where Washington County is located. Because of the various geologic processes associated with this boundary and the provinces, geological hazards such as landslides and slumps, floods, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes have impacted the area in the past and will likely continue to do so in the future. Miller will discuss each of these hazards and provide local examples. Miller’s research has been published in more than 50 publications. He researched and taught at California State University, Northridge and San Diego State University before teaching at Dixie State from 2010 to 2015. He earned a bachelor’s degree in geology from CSUN, a master’s degree in geology from the University of California, Los Angeles, performed graduate studies in geology at the University of Texas, Austin, and received his doctorate from UCLA. Dixie Forum is a weekly lecture series designed to introduce the St. George and Dixie State communities to diverse ideas and personalities while widening their worldviews via a 50-minute presentation. In the last presentation of the Fall 2017 semester, Dixie Forum will host Dr. Randolph Lewis of Utah State University, as he presents on his spider silk research at noon on Dec. 5 in the Dunford Auditorium. For more information about Dixie State University’s Dixie Forum series, contact DSU Forum Coordinator John Burns at 435-879-4712 or burns@utahtech.edu or visit humanities.utahtech.edu/the-dixie-forum.