Ring of Fire: Adventures of a Geologist in the South Pacific

Philip Benham received his BSc from the University of British Columbia in 1987 and his MSc from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1992. He has been employed by Shell Canada for sixteen years and during that time has worked in the Canadian Rockies, Mackenzie Delta and offshore Newfoundland. He is currently chair of the CSPG Paleontology Division and Technical Program Coordinator for the Alberta Paleontological Society. He is keen to share his love of science and actively volunteers for the Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation. He has helped develop and lead a workshop for the BSGF that provides high school science teachers geological fundamentals in the beautiful setting of the Rocky Mountains. He enjoys photography and travel to geological and culturally interesting places. These journeys are typically inspiration for talks on how Earth's geology has influenced the evolution of life. He is currently putting together a book on the geology of popular hiking trails in Western Canada.

His talk will focus on several active volcanoes he visited in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu along with cultural experiences such as a home stay with reformed cannibals, land diving ceremonies (precursor to Bungee jumping), cargo cults and ingestion of a narcotic root drink called kava.

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