Geological Society
of Washington
Minutes for the 1525th
meeting
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
President
Karen Prestegaard called the meeting to order at 20:03 EST
Minutes
The
meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1524th). The minutes of the 1524th meeting
and the Annual Meeting had been posted on-line and were not read aloud at the
1525th meeting, although it
was agreed that beginning with the next meeting (1526th) a summary
“Minutes Minute” would commence, in the tradition of the previous
administration. There were no noted
corrections to the minutes and they were approved by an oral vote with ne’er a
nay to be heard.
Guests
and New Members
The
president asked that any guests be formally acknowledged and introduced. Three were introduced. Phil Loomis introduced himself. Carol Frost introduced Ellen and Eric
Nye. Bill Leith (USGS) and wife also
were acknowledged. Lindsay Davis [USGS] also
introduced herself to the secretary at the end of the meeting.
The
chair of the membership committee was not in attendance. Thus if there were any new members, we were
not informed of them and they did not speak up.
Announcements
There
were two announcements at the 1525th meeting:
1)
Callan
Bentley (in absentia) submitted a short video (complete with timely and witty
subtitles) reminding members of the upcoming quisquicentennial
dinner, talk and celebration of the Geological Society of Washington to be held
at the Cosmos Club on Friday January 26, 2018.
Roberta Rudnick will give a talk on “The Origin and Evolution of the
Continental Crust: Earths Unique Continents”.
A prixe-fixe dinner will be served
afterward. The talk is free, the dinner
not so much. But the fee covers an open
bar, all courses, AND parking. Please make reservation by January 15th.
2)
Kori
Newman, of the Public Service Committee announced the 2018 campaign to recruit
judges for the upcoming science fairs and donations for the awards (time to
pare down your trophy rocks and geologic oddities in your collections)
Informal
Communications
There
were no informal communications at the meeting.
Formal
Program
The
formal program commenced at 20:15 EST and consisted of three speakers (Murray Hitzman, Thomas Crafford, and
Kathryn Miles) each presenting 20 minute talks.
The talk were as follows:
Murray Hitzman (Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO) presented
his talk on “The Role of Salt Tectonics in the Central African Copper Belt”
(CACB). Dr. Hitzman
described the occurrence, origin and evolution of the Central African Copper
Belt (CACB), from its Neo-Proterozoic (1100 Ma to >750 Ma) origin within
meta volcanic and metasedimentary rocks deposited during the Rodinian rifting of the continent, to its later Paleozoic (~600 to ~480 Ma) deformation during the Pangean assembling of the continent. The geology was based on thousands of cores
and lithofacies analyses due to the lack of any
sequence stratigraphy in the region.
Salt diapirism played a major role in the
creation of the CACB
creating capping diapiric breccias. These deposits resemble similar deposits in
Poland showing a common process for creating such deposits.
Questions
were asked by: Jane Hammarstrom (USGS), Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Scholar), Mike Purucker
(NASA), Larry Meinert (USGS), Bill Burton (USGS), Dan
Doctor (USGS), and John Repetski (USGS)
Thomas Crafford (USGS, Reston, VA)
presented his talk titled “Critical Minerals – Recent Developments”. The
long awaited Professional Paper 1802 "Critical Mineral Resources
of the United States - Economic and Environmental Geology and Prospects for Future
Supply" was finally released the week before Christmas
(Dec. 19). It's release was followed by an Executive (Presidential) Order,
"A Federal Strategy to Ensure and Secure Reliable
Supplies of Critical Minerals" on Dec. 20 which, in turn, was
followed by the signing of Dept. of Interior Secretarial Order No. 3359 "Critical
Mineral Independence and Security" on Dec. 21. The talk provided
summaries of the Executive and Secretarial Orders, and USGS's plans for
responding to those orders. The talk addressed these recent events
regarding critical minerals, which will shape the near future activities of the
Mineral Resources Program.
Questions
were asked by: Mark McBride (retired), Jamie Allan (NSF), Mike Purucker (NASA), Bill Burton (USGS), John Repetski (USGS), Karen Prestegaard
(UMD), Anna Norman (AGI), Dan Doctor (USGS), and Pat Carr
(NGA)
Kathryn
Miles (author) presented her talk “Unknown Knowns: Preparing for America’s Next
Devastating Earthquake”. The talk
focused on the authors new book “Quakeland: On the
Road to Americas Next Devastating Earthquake”, in which the author took a road
trip across America with the goal of uncovering the widespread risks of
earthquakes across the country. She
specifically did not focus on the widely known and reported risks associated
with major faults such as the San Andreas and Cascadia faults, but instead
focused on the often greater risks associated with smaller or moderate
earthquakes occurring in regions that are less prepared for their
occurrence. These include Boston,
Memphis, Salt Lake City, and New York City.
Questions
were asked by: Carol Frost (NSF), Mike Purucker
(NASA), Maeve Boland (AGI), John Repetski (USGS), Ben
Mandler (AGI), Mark McBride (retired), and Pat Carr (NGA).
The
meeting was concluded at 21:56 EST.
Respectfully
submitted,
Victor
Zabielski (GSW meeting secretary)
Geological Society
of Washington
Minutes for the 1526th
meeting
and
125th Anniversary
Dinner
Friday, January 26, 2018
Second Floor Ballroom, Cosmos
Club, Washington, D.C.
Open bar 18:00 EST
Dinner seating 19:00 EST
Short celebratory presentation were
given by Past Presidents Craig Schiffries, Jane Hammarstrom, Jeff Grossman, and Brooks Hanson during
dinner.
President Karen Prestegaard called
the meeting to order at 20:06 EST.
Minutes
The meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the
previous meeting (1525th).
The minutes had been posted on-line and a Minutes Minute was read aloud
at the 1526th meeting. There
were two noted corrections to the minutes and they were acknowledged.
Guests and New Members
There was no introduction of new guests and visitors.
Announcements
There were no announcements at this meeting.
Informal Communications
There were no informal communications at the meeting.
Formal Program
The formal program commenced at 20:11 EST and consisted of one
speaker, Roberta Rudnick (Department of Earth Sciences, University of
California, Santa Barbara) of 45 minutes. The talk was as follows:
“Earth’s Unique Continents”.
Continental crust contains a complex mixture of lithologies
requiring a similarly complex explanation for its origin. The upper crust (upper 10-15km) is rich in
silica and contains mostly major elements.
The lower crust is composed of hydrated metamorphic rocks of granulite
facies. Granulite xenoliths are of mafic
composition, but granulite terranes show a more intermediate to mafic
composition. The terranes are formed by
accretion of andesitic island arcs created through a two-step process of relamination of granitic material and remelting
of basalt. Comparison with Venus (active
tectonics, no water) and Mars (water, no active tectonics) implies that both
water and active tectonics are required to create continental crust and
possibly also life.
Questions were asked by: Ved Lekic (UMD), Sorena Sorensen
(Smithsonian MNH), Murry Hitzman (former USGS), Graham
Lederer (USGS), Dan Doctor (USGS), Tom Crafford (USGS), Ben Mandler
(AGI), Pete Toulmin (USGS), Dick Smith (USGS), and
Bill Burton (USGS).
The meeting was concluded at 21:15 EST.
Respectfully submitted
Victor Zabielski (GSW meeting secretary)
Geological Society
of Washington
DRAFT Minutes for the 1527th
meeting
Friday, January 26, 2018
Second Floor Ballroom, Cosmos
Club, Washington, D.C.
Draft minutes for the 1527th meeting of the
Geological Society of Washington
February 7, 2018
John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos
Club, Washington, D.C.
President Karen Prestegaard called
the meeting to order at 20:02 EST
Minutes
The meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the
previous meeting (1526th).
The minutes of the 1526th meeting had been posted on-line and
a Minute’s Minute was read aloud at the 1527th meeting. The Minutes were approved with no corrections
or additions.
Guests and New Members
There were thirteen guests introduced at the meeting: Pete
(?)(EPA?), Brian Flynn (LAI), Rob Smith (?), Richard Cosentino
(NASA), Yasmina Martos
(NASA), Perry Oddo (NASA), Phil Kong (ARI), Abraham
Padilla (USGS-NMIC), Beverly Walker (USAP), David Prester
(Forrest Environmental Services), Gail Gordon (?) (USGS),
Daniel Ford (NVCC), Abby Ackerman (AGI).
Two people signed the guest book but did not introduce themselves: Maddy Turner (UMD) and Gus Raggambi
(AECOM)
Erik Hankin, chair of the
membership committee announced the following new members: Sarah Hayes (USGS), Adam Blankenbicker
(AGI), Simone Runyon (Carnegie Geophysical Lab), Lindsay Davis (GSA), Diego
Gonzalez (Amec Foster Wheeler), Thomas Doggett
(NVCC), Ioan Lascu (Smithsonian Institution-NMNH), Rob Wardell (Smithsonian Institution-NMNH)
Announcements
There were two announcements at the 1527th
meeting:
1)
Kori Newman, of the Public Service Committee
announced the 2018 campaign to recruit judges for the upcoming science fairs
and donations for the awards There are seven science
fairs in March. The winners of the fairs
will be invited to attend the April 18th Meeting. Any donations of SWAG should be made prior to
the April 18th Meeting
2)
Madeline Shaffer (UC Santa Barbara) is looking
to reestablish the DC Chapter of the Association of Women Geologists
(AWG). She needs at least ten members, and
is looking to form a steering committee.
Please contact her if you are interested in joining the effort.
Informal Communications
There were no informal communications at the meeting.
Formal Program
The formal program commenced at 20:14 EST and consisted of
three speakers (Emma Locatelli, Robert Wesson, and Shelbi Bensi)
each presenting 20 minute talks. The talk were as follows:
Emma Locatelli (US
State Department) presented a talk titled “It’s not just rust: Biofilm-mediated
clays help preserve fossil leaves”.
While microbially mediated iron oxides have
long been known to enhance the preservation potential of leaves, the role of microbially mediated aluminosilicate
clays in leaf fossilization has not previously been explored. This research
combined fossil analysis and leaf decay experiments to show that authigenic aluminosilicate clays
enhance the preservation of leaves. The results of the study lead to the
development of a taphonomic model for fossil leaves
that can be applied to leaves from multiple depositional environments. Biofilms
grow on the surface of leaves decaying in water, which initiates the
precipitation of authigenic clays and clay precursors
onto the surface of the leaf, forming a biofilm-clay-leaf template. This
leaf-clay template enhances the preservation of leaves in various ways,
depending on the surrounding sediment matrix, and helps to explain the variety
of leaf adpression modes found in the fossil
record.
Questions were asked by: Phil Kong (ARI), Jamie Allan (NSF),
Dan Doctor (USGS), Gus Raggambi (AECOM), Mark Tyra (NIST).
Robert Wesson (USGS, retired) presented the
second talk titled “Darwin’s First Theory: Darwin and Tectonics? Who Knew”. Everybody
knows―or thinks they know―Charles Darwin, the father of evolution
and the man who altered the way we view our place in the world. But what most
people do not know is that Darwin was on board the HMS Beagle as a geologist―on a
mission to examine the land, not flora and fauna. Or about Darwin’s seminal
role in demonstrating and exploring the ups and down of the Earth’s crust. This
is the story told in Rob Wesson’s book, Darwin’s
First Theory, and that he will share with us.
Retracing Darwin’s footsteps in South America
and beyond, Rob trekked across the Andes, cruised
waters charted by the Beagle,
hunted for fossils in Uruguay and Argentina, and explored sites of long
vanished glaciers in Scotland and Wales. As he followed Darwin’s
path―literally and intellectually―he experienced the land as Darwin
did, engaged with his observations, and tackled the same questions Darwin had
about our ever-changing Earth.
Upon his return from his five-year journey
aboard the Beagle, after
examining the effects of earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and more,
Darwin conceived his theory of subsidence and uplift―his first theory.
These concepts and attitudes―the vastness of time; the enormous
cumulative impact of almost imperceptibly slow change; change as a constant
feature of the environment―underlie Darwin’s subsequent discoveries in
evolution. And this peculiar way of thinking remains vitally important today as
we enter the human-dominated Anthropocene age.
As the New York Time Book Review wrote, Rob’s
book “dares, thank goodness, to work some of the rare Darwinian territory that
is actually underexplored. Tracing the young Darwin’s tracks …Wesson relates
how Darwin hatched his first, favorite, and most overlooked substantive theory,
on the origins of coral reefs. In both method and vision—imagining forms
changing slowly over time in response to changing conditions—this precocious,
even audacious idea anticipated and possibly inspired the theory of evolution
Darwin would publish two decades later.”
No questions were asked.
Shelbi Bensi (UMD) presented the
third talk of the evening titled “Working Across
Disciplines to Improve Resilience to Natural Hazards”. Ensuring the reliability and sustainability
of infrastructure systems under normal operating conditions and resilience in
the face of hazards is critical to the health, safety, and security of
communities. Civil infrastructure systems face increasing service demands while
they deteriorate as a result of inadequate maintenance, material degradation,
and exposure to increasing loads. In addition, these systems are subject to a
variety of natural and man-made hazards, including hazards that may evolve and
become more severe over time due to factors such as climate change or changes
in land use and land cover. Despite their inherent importance, limited
resources are available to address deficiencies with infrastructure systems and
there is a need for infrastructure-specific decision support tools that will
help owners optimally allocate scarce funds. Engineering risk and decision
analysis involving infrastructure systems necessarily requires an inter-disciplinary
approach that leverages advances in engineering, data analytics and
computational science, natural hazards, and social sciences.
Questions were asked by: Mike Purucker
(NASA), Jamie Allan (NSF), Carl-Henry Geschwind
(Independent Scholar), Karen Prestegaard (UMD), Dan
Doctor (USGS), Perry Oddo (NASA), Mark McBride
(retired)
The meeting was concluded at 21:45 EST.
Respectfully submitted,
Victor Zabielski (GSW meeting
secretary)