DURHAM, N.C. – Marine geologist John R. Delaney, one of the world’s leading experts on deep-sea volcanic activity and the leader of a recent joint U.S.-Canadian research expedition that was the subject of a “Nova” PBS documentary, will present two free seminars, Oct. 21 and 22, at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences.

Delaney will present “Oceans in Our Solar System,” at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, in 201 Old Chemistry on the Duke campus.

He’ll also present a Nicholas School 2004 Super Speaker Seminar, “21st Century Research/Education in the Ocean Basins,” at 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 22, in the Love Auditorium at the Levine Science Research Center. A reception will be held in the Hall of Science following Delaney’s talk.

Both seminars are free and open to the Duke community. Visiting parents are invited to attend the Friday Super Speaker talk and reception.

A professor of oceanography at the University of Washington, Delaney is one of the world’s leading experts on deep-sea volcanism on the Juan de Fuca Ridge in the northeast Pacific Ocean, and has served as chief scientist on 20 oceanographic research cruises, many of which have included voyages in the Deep Submergence Vehicle ALVIN. In the summer of 1998, he led a joint U.S.-Canadian expedition with the American Museum of Natural History that recovered four volcanic sulfide structures from the Juan de Fuca Ridge and was the subject of a NOVA/PBS documentary. He is widely regarded as the visionary force behind a rapidly emerging generation of cable- and satellite-linked seafloor observatories.

Among his many honors and activities, he is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and serves on the NASA committee planning a mission to the icy moons of Jupiter. He was a visiting scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute and Johnson Space Center from 1977 to 1980.