GSW: 1969
MEETING MINUTES
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF
January 8,
1969
The
915th meeting of the Society was held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
January 8, 1969, at 8:00 pm with President Mentis R. Klepper
presiding.
President
Klepper welcomed the attendees and called for the
introduction of visitors. Jack Van Dorr introduced Dave Lisell,
Head of the Science Department at
The
minutes of the 914th meeting were read and approved.
The
Secretary announced the election to membership of the following: Keith Knoblock, American Mining Congress; Thomas M. Cheney,
Consulting Geologist.
The
President announced that the Cosmos Club had rented the Auditorium for other
purposes on February 12 and that meeting date was deferred to February 17th at
10:00am. Dick Fiske then explained that on that date the Society and George
Washington University would co-sponsor AAPG Distinguished Lecturer Robert F.
Dill of the U. S. Navy Electronics Laboratory who will present a paper entitled
"Pleistocene Sea Levels and Continental Margin Sedimentation" in the
GSA Auditorium at 19th and F Streets.
The
Chair also announced that a letter had been received from Travel Associates
Inc. who are offering special charter flights and travel arrangements for the
AAPG-British Petroleum Institute Conference in
In
announcing the speakers for the evening the Chair advised that the new
administration would adhere as closely as possible to tradition in that the
Secretary would rise to the podium 2 minutes prior to completion of the time
allotted for each speaker and the President would take his chair at completion
of the allotted time. He urged the speakers to hold to the allotted time as
closely as possible. The regular program followed:
Richard
P. Sheldon, USGS: "Continental
drift, geosynclines, and phosphates" proved beyond a shadow of doubt that
J. Tuzo Wilson's impression and admonition "that
Survey geologists, have no interest in continental drift" to be entirely
erroneous; discussed by Baker, Herz, Robertson,
Kinney, Guild, and Sato.
McKelvey
stated that Sheldon was overly modest in expressing the significance of his
ideas on the recent discovery of major phosphorite
deposits throughout the world. He stated that Sheldon had personally discovered
new deposits in
Dutro,
speaking from the rear of the hall, asked if the President would identify the
author of the preceding informal communication.
William
E. Davies, USGS: Coal waste-bank stability: a clear pictorial record of
waste-bank types, characteristics and special features creating hazards
throughout the Appalachian region and methods currently underway to correct
major problems: discussed by Sheldon, Kirkemo, Wood, Kiilsgaard, and Henbest.
Henry
O. Meyer, Geophysical Laboratory:
Inclusions in diamonds: a lucid description of the wide variety of
inclusions, their characteristics and composition as well as methods of study
supported by excellent color photo micrographs: discussed by Pike, Boyd,
Toulmin, Sato, Guild, Peterson, Hearn, Robertson, and Zen.
Noting
the presence of chromium in a new end member of the garnet group the President
expressed surprise that no comment had been made by Thayer and suggested that
Thayer might be absent.
A
hand immediately rose from mid-audience followed by Thayer who requested that
his presence be duly recorded by the Secretary.
With
this reassurance, the President closed the Session by announcing the program
for the next meeting.
Attendance:
164. The meeting adjourned at 9:53 pm
William
D. Carter
Secretary
GEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF
January 22,
1969
The
9l6th meeting of the Society was held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
January 22, 1969, at 8:00 p.m. with President Mentis R. Klepper
presiding.
President
Klepper welcomed all present and requested that
visitors be introduced. Following an appropriate period of silence the Chair
noted that our distinguished expert on lunar geology, Hal Masursky,
USGS of Menlo Park and
The
minutes of the 915th meeting were read and approved.
The
Secretary reminded the membership that the regular meeting for February 12 had
been postponed to February 17th when Dr. Robert F. Dill, AAPG Distinguished
Lecturer, would speak in the GSA Auditorium at 10:00 a.m. The subject of his
paper: "Pleistocene sea levels and continental margin sedimentation."
Co-sponsors of the talk are
Informal
communications were presented by Charles Denny and Harold Kirkemo.
Denny
noted that GSW secretaries have for years been reporting that preceding
meetings were held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium but that this year was
special for it was 100 years ago that Major Powell made his epic voyage down
the mighty Colorado. In memory of the trip Gene Shoemaker and Hal Stephens,
USGS,
Kirkemo
announced that the local section of AIME was sponsoring the 98th Annual Meeting
February 16-20 in the Washington Hilton Hotel. Registration for AIME and SEG
members would be $15.00 and for others would be $30.00. Approximately 45 papers within 14 sessions
would be on geology and geophysics. C.
D. Michelson will present the Jackling Lecture
entitled "Mining Ventures Abroad."
The
regular program followed:
Benjamin
A. Morgan, USGS: "Eclogite and eclogites-amphibolites
from
James
P. Owens, N. F. Sohl and J. P. Obradovich,
USGS: "Applicability of glauconite age determinations in stratigraphic
studies." Owens showed the results of sampling several sections located
over a length of more than 100 miles of the Atlantic coastal plain. Potassium-argon
age determinations from the sampled sections showed good correlation of 80 m.y. in the older (Campanian) glauconite beds; the base of the Maestrichtian
at 61 m.y. He noted that there was less potassium in
the younger beds and physical differences in the glauconite
crystals in contrast to those in the older rocks. Discussed by Cohee, Hazel, Lee, Shaw, Sohl, Henbest, Jones.
Donald
W. Peterson, USGS: "Gold-bearing
channel gravel of the Sierra Nevada," Described the work of Lindgren,
1911, in the
Attendance:
114. The meeting adjourned at 9:50
p.m.
William
D. Carter
Secretary
GEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF
February 26,
1969
The
917th meeting of the Society was held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
February 26, 1969, at 8:00 p.m. with President Mentis R. Klepper
presiding.
Bob
Tilling introduced the following visitors: George Greene, Ed Kornises and Dave Hutchison of the Lunar Receiving
Laboratory,
After
a short preamble from the minutes of the 915th meeting the Secretary refocused
his blizzard-worn eyes on the minutes of the 9l6th meeting which were read and
approved.
The
Secretary announced the election to membership in the Society the following:
Steven Alsup, Graduate Student, George Washington
Univ.; June Vogler, Naval Oceanographic Office;
Frederick J. Pearson, Jr., USGS, Water Resources Division; Norman K. Olson,
Geologist, Southern Railroad System,
The
Secretary announced (with pleasure) the report from Bill Newman that the
"case of the missing minutes" had been solved by Tom Stern who
discovered the Society "treasures" resting on the new book shelves of
the Geological Survey Library. The elusive minutes have now been returned to
their customary berth on the second deck of the Library and are available for reference.
The Society extended its thanks to Stern for his keen observation.
The
President announced that the Council had voted to continue its financial
support of the Joint Board of Education of the Washington Academy of Science to
the tune of $200 as in the past year.
Informal
communications were presented by Richard Fiske, E. Yochelson.
Fiske
reported on the most recent eruption at Kilauea volcano and specifically in the
Yochelson,
in observance of the Powell Centennial, gave a pictorial of monuments dedicated
to famous national geologists. He noted the excellent Bronze likeness of Powell
in
The
regular program followed:
Ellis
L. Yochelson, USGS - "Preliminary ideas on
primary mullosks - or vice versa": a review of
the six classes of primary mollusks and indications of at least four more
classes based on the presence and absence of septa and/or siphuncle
in oldest forms. Comments by Roedder, Toulmin and Zen.
Herbert
E. Hawkes, Consultant - "An exploration case
history from
Bevan M.
French, NASA - "Petrologic evidence for meteorite impact origin of the
Sudbury structure": concentrated mainly on mineralogical evidence from the
Onaping Formation in which quartz and feldspar show
at least six stages of deformation from simple linear fractures to complete
deformation as glass with flow banding which indicate a range of pressures from
10 to 500 kilobars. Comments by Herz and Roedder.
The
meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m.
Attendance: 93
William
D. Carter
Secretary
GEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF
March 12,
1969
The
9l8th meeting of the Society was held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
March 12, 1969, at 8:00 p.m. with President, Mentis R. Klepper
presiding.
President
Klepper welcomed all present and made the customary
request that visitors be introduced. A long silence ensued.
The
minutes of the 917th meeting were read.
King Hubbard suggested that initials or formal names rather than
informal first names be used in the minutes because they represent the official
records of the Society. His suggestion has been duly recorded.
The
Secretary announced the election to membership of the following: Mrs. Elinor H. Handman, AGI; F. A. Kohout, USGS, WED; Richard E. Faggioli,
A
Memorial to James Clifton Wright was presented by Walter S. White.
Informal
communications were presented by D. W. Rankin and D. M. Kinney.
Rankin
described the results of U/Pb ages from zircons in
five sample localities of the
Kinney
discussed the January 7 and 8, 1969, eruption of Merapi
Volcano on the Island of Java, Indonesia. The distribution and effects of Nuée ardente and lahar deposits were described and graphically portrayed in ektachrome slides.
The
regular program followed:
Eugene
C. Robertson, USGS, "Rock strength and high pressure minerals in the
crust" - presented evidence on rock strength and distribution of high
pressure minerals, such as jadeite and aragonite from the Franciscan Formation
of California, which he feels dispute the theories of Adolf
Wegener on continental drift and current views on
sea-floor spreading.
Maurice
J. Grolier, USGS,
Charles
C. Bates, U. S. Coast Guard, "Big Oil in the American Arctic — what are
the chances?" - Described the status of
Attendance:
102. The meeting adjourned at 10:10 pm
William
D. Carter
Secretary
GEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF
March 26,
1969
The
919th meeting of the Society was held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
March 26, 1969, at 8:00 p.m. with President Mentis R. Klepper
presiding.
President
Klepper welcomed all present and requested the
introduction of visitors. Charles Denny
presented Edwin B. McKee who was in town to work on the Powell Centennial. Harold L.
James introduced K. O. Emery (a long time Society member in good
standing) and Jerry Sohlen of Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institute.
The
minutes of the 918th meeting were read and approved.
President
Klepper announced that a second letter had been
received from Travel Associates, Inc., stating that flight space was still
available for travel to the AAPG-BPI joint convention in
An
informal communication was presented by W. P. Benson of the National Science
Foundation on preliminary results of the Gomar/Challenger
of geophysical sounding and drilling on and near the southern mid-Atlantic
ridge. Reflection horizon A at 230 feet
and formerly suspected to be Eocene chert was found
to be a thick series of uncemented turbidites.
Reflector B was found to be silty clays. Reef limestones
were found in a long linear ridge off the northeast coast of
The
regular program followed:
Luna
B. Leopold, USGS, "Pools and rapids in the Grand Canyon" - described
the results of depth soundings and stream velocity studies of the
George
F. Finder, USGS, "Digital modeling of ground water systems" -
Presented the formulae and parameters involved in computer calculations and electronic
modeling of ground water aquifers and the effects of draw-down by pumping with
time. Discussed by M. Klepper, E. Baltz, D. Stewart, P. Toulmin.
Harold Masursky, USGS, (
In
general the lunar surface is a uniform gray but recent impact craters are
expressed by bright circular patterns.
Attendance:
188. The meeting adjourned at 9:50 pm.
William
D. Carter
Secretary
GEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF
April 9,
1969
The
920th meeting of the Society was held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
April 9, 1969, at 8:00 PM with 2nd Vice President Francis R. Boyd, Jr.,
presiding.
One
visitor was introduced: Mrs. John Moss,
wife of one of the evening's speakers.
The
minutes of the 919th meeting were read and approved.
The
Acting Secretary announced the election to membership in the Society of the
following:
Ned
A. Ostenso, Office of Naval Research; Antonio V.
Segovia, U. of Maryland and from the U. S. Geological Survey; Richard A.
Gardner; Irwin H. Kantrowitz; James M. Weigle; Larry J. Nutter; Este F. Hollyday.
The
election of Lucien B. Platt of
The
Chair announced that there would be no meeting on April 23 because of a
conflict with the Annual Meeting of AGU.
The next meeting would be held on April 30th.
Thomas
Dutro announced that the Geological Survey's Pick and Hammer Show would be held
on May 2 in the Department of Agriculture's auditorium at 8:30 PM.
The
regular program followed:
John
H. Moss,
Brian
Mason, Smithsonian Institution: "Meteorite shower near Parral,
Mexico, February 8, 1969," which described the search for fragments of a
10 to 20 ton meteor composed essentially of olivine with gigantic chondrules
and several generations of crust; discussed by Roedder (thrice), Douglas,
Toulmin, and the Chair.
Paul
Hoffman, Franklin and Marshall College; "Sedimentary history of a
Precambrian geosyncline, Great Slave Lake, Canadian
Arctic," a provocative description of geologic events that took place about 1300 million years ago,
illustrated with excellent slides; discussed by Shaw, Zen (thrice), McKelvey,
Benson (twice, plus part II of his informal communication on Gomar/Challenger), Roedder, and Robertson.
The
Vice President thanked the speakers for a lively meeting.
Attendance:
83. The meeting adjourned at 10:00 PM.
William
L, Newman
Acting
Secretary
GEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF
April 30,
1969
The
921st meeting of the Society was held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
April 30, 1969, at 8:00 p.m. with President Mentis R. Klepper
presiding.
Two
visitors were introduced: John H. Moss, Franklin and
The
minutes of the 920th meeting were read and approved.
Thomas
Dutro repeated his "informal communication" of the previous meeting
by reminding the members that the Pick and Hammer Show would be held at the
USDA [illegible handwritten word] Auditorium on Friday, May 2nd at 8:30 p.m. He
pointed out that it was not just a USGS presentation but that it involved the
entire local geologic community. Comments by Thayer, Toulmin
and R. Neuman.
'The
Chair announced that the Pittsburgh Geological Society is planning a joint
field trip with the Ohio Geological Society to visit the Yellow Creek, Ohio
area on May 23 and 24. Interested people can get further details from President
Klepper.
The
Chair also announced that four members of the Society had participated as
Judges at two recent science fairs. Charles Denny and Ralph VanAlstine
issued three certificates of merit at the Prince Georges science fair and
George Snyder and Charles Withington issued five
certificates of merit at the D. C. science fair at the Armory.
An
informal communication was presented by Gilbert Corwin on the successful
completion of Project Tektite, a 60 day undersea habitat experiment conducted
by the U. S. Navy, NASA, General Electric and USDI at Lameshur
Bay in the Virgin Islands. Edward Clifton of the USGS and 3 scientists of the
Bureau of Commercial Fisheries participated in the program. Slides portrayed the details of the
operation.
The
regular program followed:
John
C. Maxwell, Princeton University: "Ocean floor spreading and orogeny" - cast doubt on current theories of ocean
floor spreading based on current knowledge of heat flow and distribution of peridotite in the Mediterranean, Himalayan and similar
mountain chains; discussed by Toulmin, Thayer, Woodring,
and one other unidentified member.
Meyer
Rubin, U. S. Geological Survey:
"Earliest Woman in North America—evidence in 1969 from radiocarbon
dating" - described the problems in using bones as a source of radiocarbon
dates which have given ages of 25,000 to 35,000 years BP when other sources
such as shells give about 10,000 years BP. He also established criteria for
distinguishing female from male skull remains by 1) smaller size of brain
cavity; 2) a cranial hole and 3) articulating jaw: discussed by B. Jones.
The
Chair thanked the speakers for their stimulating presentations and announced
the speakers for the next and final meeting of the season.
Attendance:
186. The meeting adjourned at 9:55 PM
William
D. Carter
Secretary
GEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF
May 14, 1969
The
922nd meeting of the Society was held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium, May
14, 1969, at 8:00 p.m. with President Montis R. Klepper presiding.
Three
visitors were introduced: Prof. Dean Smith,
The
minutes of the 921st meeting were read and approved.
The
Acting Secretary announced the election to membership in the Society of the
following: John H. Moss, Franklin and
The
Acting Secretary also announced that the Society has a need for mineral
specimens of all kinds and that Mary Mrose has agreed
to be custodian of these informal collections. Please, donate any of your
surplus specimens to the Society. Mary
states that her supply of star sapphires is particularly depleted.
President
Klepper announced that a caucus of AAPG Members would
be held after the meeting.
Paul
Lowman and Edward Clifton presented informal communications.
Lowman
described and displayed some of the spectacular color and infrared photographs
of the earth taken during the Apollo 9 earth orbiter flight. Commented upon by Charles Warren, who
expressed his appreciation of the photo showing cotton fields - because it
showed the cotton.
The
Chair then recognized Parke Snavely, who announced
that Edward Clifton had been awarded the Department of the Interior's highest
commendation, the Distinguished Service Award, and that the Navy had honored
him with the Meritorious Civilian Award.
The
regular program followed; but the order of speakers was revised from that shown
on the announcement.
James
R. Heirtzler, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution:
"Unanswered questions and problems with the theory of sea floor
spreading" - who observed that pieces of continents have been over-riding
the ocean floor; that pieces of continents have been over-riding other pieces
of continents; but that no one - as yet -has produced evidence that pieces of
the ocean floor have over-ridden continents; discussed by Marvin Lanphere, Paul Lowman, Dick, Fiske, and Phil Guild.
Roy
A. Bailey, USGS, "Form of the Glen Coe Magma Chamber and Main Fault -
Intrusion, Scotland" - an astute job of sleuthing through old reports and
memoirs for comparative data with American analogs to reconstruct the nature
of the Glen Coe Caldera and the mechanics of its collapse; discussed by P.
Toulmin, H. Shaw, and D. Stewart.
Thomas
Simkin, Smithsonian Institution, "1968 Caldera
Collapse in the Galapagos Islands", a blast that in terms of volume was
the largest since Katmai, the sonic signal from which
appeared to have destroyed 2,000 ducks; discussed by Dennis Cox, Gene
Robertson, and E-An Zen.
The
Chair thanked the speakers and announced that the next meeting would be held
about four and a half months, hence.
Attendance:
128. The meeting adjourned at 10:l4 p.m.
William
L. Newman
Acting
Secretary
GEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF
October 8,
1969
The
923rd Mooting of the Society was hold in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
October 8, 1969, at 8:00 p.m. with President Montis
R. Klepper presiding.
The
Chair greeted the members after the summer recess and then expressed his
gratitude to Paul Barton who had demonstrated his electronic wizardry by
turning on the podium light
Mr.
Sat Navain of the Guyana Geological Survey was introduced
to the Society.
The
minutes of the 922nd Meeting were read and approved.
The
Acting Secretary announced the election to membership in the Society of the
following: Wilson M. Laird, Director,
Office of Oil and Gas, Interior; Timothy O'Callaghan, American Geological
Institute; Philip Johnson, American Geological Institute; Martha Blake,
American Geological Institute; Robert Vestreys,
American Geological Institute; Ellen O'Neill, American Geological Institute;
Charles Raley, American Geological Institute; David
F. Davidson, USGS; William F. Curtis, USGS;
John J. Hickey, USGS; Melville R. Mudge, USGS;
William L. Miller, Bureau of Mines; Sheldon Sommer,
University of Maryland; Glen Gordon, University of Maryland; John Barker, University
of Maryland; George Rabchevsky, George Washington
University; David Maisel, Science Dept., Langley High
School; David Ho-Kwang Mao, Geophysical Laboratory;
James W. Head, Bellcomm, Inc., Washington, D. C.
The
Acting Secretary also announced that a lecture by Dr. Leopold Muller titled
"Central European Approach to Rock Mechanics and Tunneling", would be
given on November 4, 1969, at 8:00 p.m., in the John Wesley Powell
Auditorium. All GSW members are invited
to attend.
The
Chair disclosed that the printing and mailing services of the Washington
Academy of Sciences had been retained by the Society on a trial basis but that
the new service could not be blamed for a mispelled
[sic] word on the October 8 announcement.
An informal communication by Vincent E. McKelvey
described various aspects of the International Geological correlation program,
a preparatory meeting for which was held in
The
regular meeting followed:
John
G. Vedder,
USGS, "Late Tertiary shorelines and basin evolution-evidence for
cumulative slip on the San Andreas fault"; an astute series of rematches
of gross geologic features across the fault that suggests a total lateral
offset of more than 580 miles. Discussed by Norman Herz, Harold James,
and Wendell Woodring.
Isidore Zeitz and B. Carter Hearn, USGS, "Interpretation of
eastern Montana geophysical surveys"; an amazing exposé of the basement
beneath the flat lands of Montana as expressed in magnetic and heat flow
anomalies; discussed by King Hubbert, Don Peterson,
and Montis Klepper - who asked, "What happened to the
gigantic magnetic anomaly, east of Graycliff,
Montana?" Zietz admitted that he had "hand
smoothed” the curve to fit the heat flow curve.
"How can you do that?", pressed Klepper. "No
problem", said Zeitz, "I just took a pencil
and ———!"
Richard
P. Nichelsen, Bucknell
University, "Aspects of the structure of Valdres,
southern Norway", a detailed decipherment of structural complexities
involving thrusts, nappes, folds, and fracture
cleavage, discussed by Philip Guild and E-an Zen.
The
Chair thanked the speakers for an interesting program.
Attendance
was 110. The meeting adjourned at 9:55
p.m.
William
L. Newman
Acting
Secretary
GEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF
October 22,
1969
The
924th meeting of the Society was held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
October 22, 1969, at 8:00 p.m.with First Vice
President Frank C. Whitmore, Jr., presiding.
The
Vice President announced the deaths of the following members: John Alden
Grimes;
William H. Heers; Hugh D.
Miser; Wilbur Nelson, and
Arthur
A. Baker then addressed the chair and announced the very recent death of
Francis Wells.
The
minutes of the 923rd meeting were read and approved.
The
following visitors were introduced to the Society: Dr. Hirokazn Hase, Geological Survey of Japan; Eugenia M.Gallitelli, Paleontological
Institute of Modena, Italy; Melvin Peterson, Scripps
Institute of Oceanography; Prof. Darcy Gloss, Univ. of Rio Grade de Sul, Brazil; Mr. & Mrs. D. M. Jessup, Los Angeles,
California.
There
were two informal communications:
Ross
Shipman, AGI, disclosed that John Wesley Powell First Day of Issue Stamps and
Envelopes were still available and could be purchased at AGI Headquarters.
Peter
Fenner, AGI, announced that two 3-day geology
"short" courses would be held in
The
first half of the regular program followed:
Mary
C. Rabbitt, USGS.,
"John Wesley Powell and the development of Federal Science", the
lesser known story of Powell"s passage through
the uncharted whirlpools and
"John
Wesley Powell: Canyon Geologist", a
new color motion picture, produced by the U.S. Geological Survey captures some
of the scientific observations made by Powell during his celebrated journey
down the Colorado River in 1869. The film was introduced by Charles S. Denny,
USGS, who had recently completed an assignment as the Department of the
Interior's Chairman of the John Wesley Powell Centennial Celebration Committee.
The
film was followed by a brief intermission for refreshments.
The
chair reconvened the meeting by asking "Is there a speaker in the
House?"
Eugene
M. Shoemaker, California Institute of Technology finally attained the podium
and presented the footsteps of Powell: a
trail gone cold recovered—new photographs obtained at exactly the same location
as those taken in 1869 given unusual insight into the rates of geologic
processes along the Colorado." Discussed by Norman
Buckley, Greg Sohn, Mary Hill French, and Ed Roedder.
Ellis
Yochelson announced that the Smithsonian's Powell
exhibit, which includes the flag that flew from the Emma Dean, would close at
the end of October.
The
Vice President announced the program for Nov. 5. Attendance 292. The
meeting adjourned at 10:13 p.m.
William
L. Newman
Acting
Secretary
GEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF
November 5,
1969
The
925th meeting of the Society was held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium,. November 5, 1969, at 8:03 p.m. with Second Vice President
F. R. (Joe) Boyd, presiding.
The
Vice President announced that, because of the anticipated length of the
evening program and the large number of visitors, he preferred to omit the
introduction of visitors. He suggested that all visitors sign a register
located on the table in the coat room at the entrance of the hall.
The
minutes of the 924th Meeting were read and approved.
An
informal communication by Frank Clark, USGS, presented impressive slides of
unusual rains and floods in the desert playas of
The
regular meeting followed; but the order of speakers was revised from that shown
on the announcement.
Moderator
John H. Healy opened the "Symposium on Man-Made Earthquakes" by
indicating some of the political and social problems and protests that develop
from earthquakes caused by man's attempts to test and utilize nuclear
explosives, fluid injection and withdrawal processes. He stated that in order
to have factual answers to such protests the geologists and geophysicists must
work together on controlled experiments.
Robert
H. Hamilton spoke on "Earthquakes following Nuclear Explosions" in
which he described the seismic array, covering a radius of 30 kilometers used
to monitor the Benham nuclear event at
Francis
A. McKeown in "Structural deformation caused by
nuclear explosions" described the bedrock and subsurface geology of the Pahute Mesa area,
C.
B. Raleigh speaking on the "Role of fluids in earthquake generation"
described the l) earthquake effects resulting from surface loading by water in
major reservoirs of the world; 2) seismic studies of the Rangelay
Oil Field, Colorado, where fluid injection raises pore pressure on the field
margins and forces the migration of oil to the crest of the anticline for
continued production; 3) lessons learned at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal near
Denver where waste fluids injected into a deepwell
created significant earth tremors and aroused public protests. Comments by King Hubbert, twice or
thrice.
The
Vice President announced that the next meeting would be the annual meeting on
December 10th featuring the Presidential Address by Mentis R. Klepper.
Attendance 144. The meeting adjourned at 9:40 p.m.
William
D. Carter
Secretary
GEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF
December 10,
1969
The
926th meeting of the Society was held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
December 10, 1969, at 8:05 p. m. with
First Vice President Frank C. Whitmore,
Jr. presiding.
The
Chair welcomed all present but dispensed with the introduction of visitors to
allow the President more time for his presentation. The Chair, noted however, that the American
Geological Institute has published a very attractive calendar for 1970,
composed of excellent photographs of geologic features and that they are on
sale at AGI.
The
minutes of the 925th meeting were read and approved. The Chair noted that the Secretary had been
unable to identify several "distinguished geophysicists" who had
commented from the floor and reminded participants to clearly identify
themselves.
The
Chair introduced the speaker for the evening,
by stating that P. D. Kynine and others from
the Pennsylvania State University were responsible for many of our existing
hypotheses in geology; that the speaker had been his (the Chair) instructor in petrology at that
august university and had early demonstrated his ability with theses and
hypotheses. As the membership pondered these remarks, President Montis R. Klepper presented his
Presidential address titled "Reflections on the Boulder Batholith,
The
meeting adjourned at 8:55 p.m. Attendance 135.
William
D. Carter
Secretary
GEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF
77th Annual
Meeting
December 10,
1969
The
77th Annual Meeting of the Society was held in the John Wesley Powell
Auditorium, Wednesday Evening, December 10, 1969 a 9:07 p.m. with President
Mentis R. Klepper presiding.
The
Minutes of the 76th Annual Meeting were read by Meetings Secretary W. D.
Carter.
The
Annual Report of the Secretaries was read by Council Secretary W. L. Newman.
The
Treasurer's Report as of December 10, 1969, was presented by Treasurer Wilna Wright. Total
receipts from all sources plus $4000.97 cash balance, $4170.57; total
expenditures were $4,045.58; the net cash balance as of December 10, 1969, is
$124.99. The Endowment Fund stands at
$2790.65, giving total net assets at the years end of
$3,050. 57. The net decrease in assets over 1968 is
$l4l.50.
The
Auditing Committee's report was presented by R. Tilling, Chairman, supported by
D. Kinney. The Treasurer's books were
found to be correct for every detail with individual items of income and
expenditures correctly summarized and all monies where they belonged. As in previous years, the Committee commended
the Treasurer on her devotion to "the condition and order of all pertinent
materials ." A round of hearty applause followed
the suggestion of President Klepper.
The
Report of the Finance Committee was presented by Chairman Malcolm Ross. He reviewed the assets for 1967, as $3,018.00
for 1968 ($3,191) and 1969 ($3,050) and noted the stable income of the society;
he also noted that the increase in dues has been offset by increases in
printing and mailing of announcements.
These are now being done on a trial basis with Washington Academy of
Science. Increased amounts were spent on
speakers from out of town ($200 average).
He expressed concern for loss of members and urged the members to
attract new members. He noted a net loss
of 37 in 1969. Ray Douglass questioned
this figure, noting that the Treasurer had indicated a figure closer to
70. Ross noted that Douglass was adding
net gains to net losses.
The
Public Service Committee's report was not given due to the absence of Chairman
John Snyder. However, the Chair noted
that the Committee's letter requesting members to volunteer in providing
science assistance to Greater Washington area schools brought over 60
enthusiastic responses.
The
Awards Committee Report was presented by Chairman C. E.
Brown, supported by Lucian Platt and E-an
Zen. A History of the awards was related
by Erv Brown.
First prize, for the best paper of the year, consisting of a silver bowl
with names of past and present winners engraved on it—plus a $25 check—was
awarded to Paul Hoffman of
The
Great Dane Award, presented for the best informal communication of the year,
went to Frank Clark for his snappy and well-illustrated description of the
Algerian-Tunisian Floods of September 1969.
Others considered were l) V. E. McKelvey, for various formal,
semi-formal, and informal communications; an early contender later scratched
for being too long winded, 2) Dick Fiske—was considered a prime candidate but
was rejected for trying too hard to supplement his income, 3) Bill Benson—for
repeating the Glomar-Challenger cruise; (not twice
but thrice!) was considered but rejected for making too much of a good thing by
"flagrant overkill."
The
Sleeping Bear Award was presented by Chairman Priestley Toulmin who noted that
his partners in crime were W. Prinz and Jean Burdan. The previously "anonymous" chairman
of this obscure committee indicated to the wide diversity of representation on
the committee noting that not all members were "geochemists." He
chided the failure of the old pros (Roedder, Thayer, Rubin)
to stimulate the committee. He also
commented that prime candidates for the award were 1) Joe (somebody) who had
inquired about a prominent paleontologist as "Wendell Who?", 2) I. Zietz for his comment "It's easy, you just fit it to
the curve," he praised 3) M. Rubin for his lucid description on sexual
discrimination among bugs; and extolled 4) McKelvey—whose exploits were
described earlier. He stated that the
Committee had been forced to search through annuals of the society for
established precedents. Finding none,
they considered the option of giving it to President for safe keeping but
decided that
Noting that each committee has traditionally
held obscure the reasons for their final decisions, they unanimously selected
that "Bear-faced spectacle"—"the real sleeping bear"—Dave
Stewart; who, noted that when he gave the cup away last year, it had a base.
The
annual election of officers and councilors followed. The official slate was presented; it was
moved and hastily seconded that nominations be closed, and the officers and
councilors were unanimously elected.
The
Chair thanked the Communication Committee for a highly successful season of
diversified programs and gave special recognition to Richard Fiske for his
conscientious efforts.
The
councilors were also thanked for their active participation during the year.
The
new officers were introduced by the President and the customary transfer of
gavels officially concluded the ceremony.
The President noted an absence of councilors. —E-an Zen reported
that D. Peck in Audience but failed to come up.
There was a very rough reading of the very rough minutes.
The
meeting adjourned at 10:15 p.m.
Attendance 130
William
D. Carter
Secretary