GSW: 1971 MEETING MINUTES

 

Geological Society of Washington

January 13, 1971

The 940th meeting of the Society was called to order by President White at 8:04 P.M. Three visitors were introduced: E. S. Grew, U.S.G.S. Post­doctoral fellow; Prof. C. S. Hutchison, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur; and R. W. White, U.S.G.S, Brazil and Denver.

The President announced the existence of the Sedimentology-Marine Geology Group of Washington, meeting in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum irregularly, but commonly on Friday at 3 P.M. The group exists only to discuss. Those interested can contact Murray Felsher, at AG.I, for details.

The regular program followed.

1) The Carolina Continental Rise and Hatteras Canyon System, Michael E. Field, Coastal Engineering Res. Ctr., discussed by the chair, Felsher, Stanley and Osborne.

2) The California Borderland, Murray Felsher, CSGS, American Geological Institute, discussed by Field.

3) A Deep Basin in the Western Mediterranean: an example of modern flysch sedimentation, Daniel J. Stanley, Div. of Sedimentology, Smithsonian Institution, discussed by Douglass, Field, Fisk, Standoff, White, and an unknown gentlemen in the far right.

The Meeting was adjourned at 9:45.

Attendance: 65 (including the bar man and the projectionist).

Weather: horrible (but it did pay dividends in beer availability).

Respectfully submitted,

William A. Oliver, Jr.

Acting acting Secretary

 

Geological Society of Washington

January 27, 1971

941st meeting of the Society, held in the JWP Auditorium, was called to order by President Walter White at exactly 8:00 PM.  No visitors were introduced, but the Chair noted a rare appearance by Balsley.  The Secretary read the minutes of the previous meeting, kindly prepared for him by William Oliver, and after a few moments of procedural confusion, the minutes were approved. The election of new members was announced: Victor M. Seiders, Branch of Atlantic Environmental Geology, USGS; Robert L. Beckwith, American Geological institute; and Eric Dowty, Research Associate, Exptl. Geochem. and Mineralogy Branch, USGS.  It was also announced that John B. McIntyre had been reinstated.

Tom Dutro presented a brief, yet profusely illustrated informal communication entitled "A Happening in Alaska Last Summer," describing a research station on Lake Peters established with the help of the late Bill Holmes, and recently dedicated to him.

Ernst Cloos, of The Johns Hopkins Univ., presented the first paper, Triassic Overlap West of York, Pennsylvania.  Although he demanded an extra minute to correct the missprint [sic] in the program card, he finished well within the alloted [sic] time.  Cloos described a deep drillhole that was expected to penetrate mineable Lower Paleozoic carbonates, yet encountered only Triassic sed­iments.  To a mining engineer's query, "a fault?" he suggested the universal reply, "it could happen to anyone." Questions were posed by White, Thayer, Melson, and Hack.

Charles B. Hunt, also of Johns Hopkins, closely followed the winding path of the Colorado River from its headwaters in Colorado.  At times he seemed to be relying on the instrument panel in the podium, but he piloted to a skilled landing at the Grand Canyon.  From there he ventured underground into an outrageous paleo-plumbing system, following the river through caver­nous limestones, to reemerge at the Grand Wash Cliffs.  Questions were raised by Warren, Whitmore, Lance, and Hack.  The President, not having a question for the speaker, asked one of Kinney instead.

Meeting adjourned 9:28

Attendance 186 Total

J. Stephen Huebner

Secretary

 

Geological Society of Washington

February 10, 1971

The 942nd meeting of the Society, held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium, began several minutes earlier than expected when the bar filled the pitchers with beer before the meeting.  The President abstained, and somehow managed to prevail upon the Secretary, who had just filled two mugs and was about to carry them forward.  The President called the meeting to order at 8:05 PM.  Louis Conant introduced Mrs. Nair Goncalves of the Brazilian Geological Survey.  The Secretary read the minutes of the previous meeting, and after a moment of dead silence, the President asked that the minutes be approved, and they were.  The election of five new members was announced: Edward S. Grew and James R. Fisher, both of the EG and M Branch of the USGS; L. W. Ward of the P and S Branch, USGS; J. Weidner of the Dept. of Agronomy, Univ. of Maryland; and Suzanne Bershad, National Oceanographic Data Center.  Gordon Lill, of the National Ocean Survey, who has recently returned to the area, was reinstated.

Dean Kleinkopf, USGS, presented a brief briefing on "A Happening in Los Angeles Yesterday", a report on the February 9, 1971, earthquake.  Of parti­cular interest was a slide showing numerous epicenters with Richter magni­tude 6 to 7 recorded during the last 50 years in southern California.  Questions were posed by Jack Strobel and by an unidentified gentleman wear­ing a blue shirt.

Jesse Whitlow, USGS, presented the first scheduled talk, "A Glimpse ,at the Geology of Arabia" in which he showed with slides some of the difficulties of mapping a 4° by 6° area of desert.  During the talk, the President crept about the stage looking, he said later, for a microphone socket.  But in fact the prowling looked so good that Past President Whitmore came forward to join in the fun.

George Ericksen, USGS, described the "Geologic Events Associated with the May 31, 1970 Peru Earthquake.” This disaster, the greatest yet recorded in the Western Hemisphere, caused 40,000 deaths and many more injuries.  Land shaking with great vertical intensity triggered slumping, landslides, and avalanches.  A 25 million cubic meter icy block fell 15000 feet in 10 horizontal miles, tripled its size, and reached velocities of several hun­dred miles an hour before burying a small city.  Comparison of photographs taken before and after the quake testifies to the superiority of rein­forced over non-reinforced building materials, whether they be concrete or adobe.  Erickson was questioned by Denny, J. Hadley, the President, McCauley, Tracey, Johnston, Rumble, Kirkemo, Kleinkopf, E-an Zen, Feiss, Ellston, and the "Blue Shirt", who this time was disguised as a dark jacket that asked about "G-Forces" and "air-cushions".

President White appealed to the members to act as local science fair judges and adjourned the meeting at 9:48.

Attendance: 160 + an invisible projectionist. 

J.  Stephen Huebner

Secretary

 

Geological Society of Washington

February 24, 1971

President White called the 943rd meeting of the Society to order at 8:04 PM in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium.  The President announced the deaths of two of the Society's senior members, Donnel Foster Hewett and Arthur R. Campbell.  Then, in a lighter vein, he announced that Vice President David Stewart was about to depart to Zurich, and that this meeting was held on Peggy Appleman's birthday. ( The Secretary duly noted that the meeting was held on February 24th.) Daniel Appleman appealed for volunteer field trip leaders.  The minutes were read and approved; the "Blue shirt" alias "Dark jacket" of last week, now alias white shirt, arose to state that, even if unidentified, he was a member.

Charles R. Warren, USGS, presented a well organized and illustrated talk, "Pre-Wisconsin Stream Diversion Near West Cornwall, Connecticut." Ice and till caused multiple diversion of the Housatonic River, result­ing in the befooting of Pine Branch Stream.  Warren related the events to Midwestern glacial chronology.  Three questioners attempted to befoot the speaker, but merely succeeded in giving him ten extra minutes on his feet: Denny, unidentified individual, and Guild, who asked "one, perhaps two questions" or maybe it was "two, perhaps one" question.

Richard S. Fiske, the speaker, and Everett D. Jackson, USGS, used slides and a movie in their entertaining discussion of the "Orientation and Growth of Hawaiian Volcanic Rifts: Regional Structure vs. the Edifice Effect".  They proposed that topographically isolated volcanic rifts parallel the regional structure and build a topographic high or edifice. Then by injecting fluids into gelatin models that bore resemblances to both volcanic and human form, they showed that the orientation of adja­cent (but later) rift volcanoes is influenced by the earlier-formed edifice.  After a modeling experiment, the gelatin could be reused or eaten.  Eleven questioners (ten were identified) rose to query the speaker.

President White adjourned the meeting at 9:36 PM.

Attendance: 145

J. Stephen Huebner

Secretary

 

Geological Society of Washington

March 10, 1971

The 944th meeting of the Society, held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium, was called to order by President Walter White at 8:05 PM.  George Ericksen introduced Helmuth Wedow, of the USGS in Knoxville, as an expert on White Lightning.  The Secretary read minutes of the previous meeting, and the minutes were approved after Dutro objected to the commer­cial name "Jello".  It was changed to "gelatin", reflecting a trend toward pure, unflavored science.  However, modeler Richard Fiske reported later that he used two brands of gelatin, and that no matter what their names, they looked and tasted like "Jello".

The election of four new members was announced: Norman Whitaker, Photogrammetry Section, National Ocean Survey; Mary Woodruff, Experimental Geochemistry and Mineralogy Branch, USGS; David R. Budge, predoctoral fellow, Smithsonian Institution; and George Doumani, Library of Congress.

Ken Lohman read a memorial honoring Foster Hewett; President Walter White similarly paid respects to Arthur Campbell.

Past President Ralph Miller presented an untitled informal communica­tion telling of a meeting of geologists interested in Central American Geology.  The meeting had two purposes: to honor the contributions of Wendell Woodring (who suddenly turned three shades redder than usual), and to announce publication of a geologic map of Guatemala.

John Huddle, USGS, presented a G-rated talk, "Pander's Legacy: A study of confusion." Taking care not to prostitute his science, he reviewed the early work on Conodonts by Christian Pander and George Hinde.  He then told us more about the present classification than most of us wanted to know, but carefully avoided saying what Conodonts really were.  In response to questions by Ericksen, Woodring, G. Helz, and Guild, Huddle produced his final slide showing an unidentified Montana animal? that may have eaten the Conodonts.

Odette James, USGS, described "Lunar Sample 12013: A Thermally Meta­morphosed, Granite-bearing Impact Breccia." This four billion year old rock is composed of several kinds of aggregate bound by a fine-grained matrix.  During the talk, the President was heard to sigh and remark that James' excellent thin section and photographic techniques should be applied to shales.  Questions were posed by the President, J. Hadley, a bearded individual (whose voice the President recognized as belonging to Robert Bryson), Woo, Sellers, and Mason.

The third speaker was G. Michel Lafon, from Bordeaux wine country and lately of SUNY-Binghamton, who spoke about the "Early Evolution of the Oceans : A Weathering Model."  Lafon, with Fred McKenzie (of Northwestern University), used the Helgeson mass transfer program to model the process by which volatiles (ocean + atmosphere) could have reacted with a primeval crust to form sediments.  He concluded that the composition of the ocean was constant throughout most of geologic time.

The President adjourned the meeting at 9:50.  Attendance 152, includ­ing the gentleman behind the bar who, miraculously, arrived at the same number.

J.  Stephen Huebner,

Secretary

 

Geological Society of Washington

March 24, 1971

The 945th meeting of the Society was held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium on a chilly but clear night.  President Walter White called the meeting to order at 8:04 PM by pounding the gavel upon the table, which was covered with white cloth and no fewer than three bowls of chrysanthemums and ferns. The Secretary read the minutes of the previous meeting, and they were approved. The President appealed for members to volunteer ser­vice as judges at the April 24th D. C. Science Fair.

Douglas Rumble, Geophysical Laboratory, described the "Regional Metamorphic Geology of Western New Hampshire," specifically the Mount Cube Quadrangle. Anti- and synclinoria trend NE, forming a complicated outcrop pattern. From a detailed study of the age relations, Rumble concluded that over­turning or thrusting must have predated Silurian metamorphism. He contin­ued his talk for ten minutes, answering the questions posed by E-an Zen, White, Robertson, and J. Hadley (who remarked that his old thesis area looked different now.

President White next interrupted the proceedings to present a bronze chrysanthemum to Past President Harry Ladd, who WAS about to leave for the Pacific.

The P and S Branch of the Survey (or perhaps it was just part of the P and S Branch) talked about "Permian Paleogeography of the Arctic." The FACTS were attributed to author R. B. Saldukas, and the FANCY to J. T. Dutro, Jr.  Speaker Dutro showed floral and faunal migrations between North America and Asia by means of polar projections. He attempted an animated cartoon, but the actor, a bug on the slide, was soon stilled by the heat of the projector. Dutro concluded that paleontologists, too, could play the game of continental drift, and that geophysicists had better take cognizance of non-marine floras, faunas, and paleontologists. He was questioned by Douglas and Grant.

Ian Gibson, University of London, posed the question: "A Quaternary Trachytic Lava Lake: The Top of a Magma Chamber?" At Fantale Volcanoe, in the Ethiopian Rift, magma somehow separated into two components. A silicic component was erupted to form a caldera tuff; later the more mafic compon­ent formed a lava pool in the caldera. Gibson speculated that the magma chamber was so high in the volcanic pile that its roof was the exposed lake of lava.  Robertson asked one question; Rabchevsky, two.

The President adjourned the meeting at 9:35 PM.

The attendance was 86, surprisingly poor considering the varied interests of the speakers and the clement weather.

J. Stephen Huebner

Secretary

 

 

Geological Society of Washington

April 7, 1971

The 946th meeting of the Society, held in the John Wesley Powell Auditor­ium, was called to order by President Walter White at 8:05 PM. The secretary read the minutes and announced the election of two new members: David Virgo, of the Geophysical Laboratory; and Richard Warner, NASA-Greenbelt.

Isidore Zeitz, USGS, described the psychedelic new Minnesota Aeromagnetic Map in an informal communication that indicated the advantages of using color patterns to show changes in the magnetic anomaly.

Harry Klemic reported on the Prince Georges County Science Fair, where he and George Helz acted as judges March 27th. Klemic noted fewer earth science exhibits this year than in previous years, and that exhibits in chemistry were better.  In the Junior Division, the First Prize Certificate and Book was awarded to Ann Marie Herzog, a ninth grader at Lord Baltimore Jr. High School, for her exhibit, Southern Maryland Fossil Correlates, Three Certi­ficates were awarded to budding crystal growers: James D. Carey of Glenridge Jr. High; Dale S. Gabersek from Northwestern Senior High School; and Ann Frazer of La Reine High School.

The first regular talk was Dean Kleinkopf's second chance to tell of "The February 9, 1971, San Fernando Earthquake".  He presented many kodachromes showing damage to land and to structures. Disaster paid no attention to building codes. Kleinkopf concluded by stating the obvious, that things are on the move in Southern California. This week it was the President's turn to note that his old thesis area (MA-Cal Tech) had changed. Ericksen asked the only question; however, Bob Wallace, Ericksen, and Wallace (again) com­mented on the original question.

David James, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, talked on "Plate Tecton­ics and the evolution of the Central Andes." This area is unique because it is the only known active margin of a continental plate and over-rides the Pacific plate, causing great thickening of the crust. The western Andean Cordillera, with roots 75 KM thick, is the volcanic arc itself. James con­cluded that the eastern Andean Cordillera were produced by crustal fore­shortening, whereas the western Cordillera were formed largely by magmatic injection.  Questions and comments by Ericksen, Fiske, Thayer (briefly), an unidentified individual, Robertson, and Ericksen again, this time not having a question, so he gave an answer.

Wendell Duffield, USGS, gave his own version in a talk titled "Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Plate Tectonics of the Crust on an Active Lava Column." He drew an analogy between the behavior of a thin crust on molten lava and the motion of great oceanic plates. A movie of recent vent activity showed incandescent rises, transform faults, and sinks. Surely, the paleontologists cannot play the game of Plate Tectonics here. Questions by Warren, Wallace, Guild, and Sato.

Robert Citron, of the Smithsonian's Center for Short Lived Phenomena, reported briefly on recent volcanic events. Karua in the Solomon Islands, Erde Ali in Ethiopia, Kamchatka, Jan Mayan, Aetna, and Stromboli had all ex­perienced eruptions within the past several days.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:54. The attendance was back up to a respec­table 166.

J. Stephen Huebner,

Secretary

 

Geological Society of Washington

April 28, 1971

The 947th meeting of the Society was called to order by President White in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium at 8:11 PM.  The Chair noted that the meeting had been delayed for several minutes by difficulties with the 35 mm projector. No visitors were introduced (although Joe Chernosky was present).  The Secretary read the minutes of the previous meeting.  The President announced that the Cosmos Club had double booked the next meeting date and that arrangements had been made to meet at the University Club instead.  In response to a question from the floor, he tried to make the parking problem vanish.

The President announced the death of Lee McGuiness, groundwater geolo­gist with the USGS who had served the Society as Insurance advisor. Mem­bers stood silently for a few moments.

William G. Melson, Smithsonian Institution, presented "Results of pre­liminary examination of rocks from Apollo 14".  He compared the Apollo 14 samples to those from Apollo 11 and 12 and from the earth.  Only two ig­neous rocks were collected; one, the plagioclase-rich 14310, will undoubtedly be intensely studied.  The audience proved to be particularly interested, for it asked questions about lunar sample chemistry, dating methods, outcrops, and NASA sample processing: Oliver (twice), Thayer, Sellers, Simkin, Chayes, Ben Zen, Roedder, and Bodenlos.

John Allingham, USGS, was so eager to begin his talk that the President never had the chance to announce its title.  The speaker showed the sample density distribution of rock units, and the magnetic, gravity, and radio­activity anomalies of a part of the Maryland Piedmont SW of Baltimore. At one point the speaker feared that he put the projectionist to sleep, but such was not the case. Allingham concluded, or perhaps speculated, that the Baltimore Gabbro has something for everyone, being alpine in character to the north and south, and stratiform in the Baltimore area. Although he returned to his seat as quickly as he began the talk, Allingham’s ploy did not deter Thayer from rising (predictably) to observe that the gabbro cannot possibly be stratiform in character.

Brian Upton, Geophysical Laboratory, warmed up for a Petrologists Club talk the following week by relating "Keewenawan Volcanism in South Greenland" to similar igneous events on North America.  His colored slides indicated that Greenland is not all ice and cold, but magnificent sunny outcrop.  Questions by White, Burt, and Roedder.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:35.  The attendance was a disappointing 86, unusually low considering the glorious weather of the evening.

J. Stephen Huebner

Secretary

 

Geological Society of Washington,

May 12, 1971

The 948th meeting of the Society, called to order by President White at 8:12 PM, was held not in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium, as has been the recent custom, but in Room C, University Club, 1135 l6th Street NW.  There were no visitors, and for that matter very few members present.  The Secre­tary read the minutes of the previous meeting; Doug Kinney corrected the Secretary by pointing out that Lee McGuiness served the Society as an insurance, not financial, advisor.

The President announced that Alan Mara Bateman, member of long standing, emeritus Professor of Geology at Yale, and emeritus editor of Economic Geology, passed away the previous day.

The election of ten new members was announced, this time by the Presi­dent: Eric G. Hoffman, U.S. Bureau of Mines; Charles R. Meissner, Jr., and Anny B. Coury, both of the Organic Fuel and Chemical Resources Branch, USGS; Charles Faust, Water Resources Division, USGS; Joel Arem, Department of Mineral Sciences, Smithsonian Institution; Patsy Beckstead Smith, P and S Branch, USGS; George Helz, Chemistry Department, University of Maryland; Richard H. Ragle, Arctic Institute of North America; David Frank, Geologic Division, USGS; and John Troxell, Director of Land Operations, Tri County Conservancy of the Brandywine, Inc.

The President also announced that Treasurer M. H. Appleman and Council Secretary D. E. Appleman represented the Society at the D. C. Science Fair held April 24, 1971.  There were 15 Earth Science exhibits.  Joseph Donald Rishel of Gonzaga High School received the Society's first prize for his exhibit, "Fossils of the Potomac." Second prize was awarded to Wendy Skidmore, from Paul Jr. High, for her exhibit, "Blue Ridge Mountains." Honorable Mention went to Bradley R. Marshall and Richard Banks, both from Alice Deal Jr. High; and Laurence Berg, Western High School.

The President concluded his announcements by mentioning that Roy Lindholm would lead a group of local science teachers on a field trip to the Great Valley.

Roderick A. Carr, NRL, talked about "Factors Controlling the Distribu­tion of Iron and Manganese in the Potomac/Chesapeake Estuary."  Surface water samples were collected at night from the bow of a moving vessel, and analyzed for soluble and total Mn and Fe.  Carr appealed for a graduate student to sit on the bottom of the estuary and collect samples, to appraise the input from the bottom sediments.  He concluded that much of the soluble Mn and Fe input is from the bottom sediments; that insoluble Mn and Fe is from surface runoff; and that the Eh indicates the District of Columbia to be in a state of reduction.  Questions by G. Helz, McKelvey, Kinney, and Whitmore.

The President announced for Bill Prinz that the Pick and Hammer Show needs actors and set crew.  Whitmore asked if it was permissible to dis­cuss an announcement, then called for volunteers for the chorus line in the show.

Alfred G.  Fischer, Princeton University, asked "Timor - a Trench Revealed - Question Mark"  He described the stratigraphy and structure of the island of Timor which lies in the trench of the same name, between Australia and the Bandor Sea.  To solve the problem of how the island got where it is, he dismissed the concept of "roller coaster tectonics" and pro­posed that the entire island is allocthonous (from the north or the south).  The trench fill, or olistrostrone, squirted up through the island as diapirs.  The President remarked that he learned a new word - "roller coaster tectonics," (The Secretary admits that he learned many new words.) Discussion by Douglas, McKelvey (the President went for a beer and returned during the question), Kinney - who suggested the alternative title, "a trench concealed", Bell, Robertson, and McKelvey again.  E-an Zen had been unusually silent, so the President suggested that he ask a question, which he did; isn't "paratocthon", used for the basement beneath the island, a loaded term?

The meeting was adjourned at 9:40.  Perhaps the appeal of a wine tasting and an unexpurgated version of King Kong on television that night was too much; not even the election of ten members boosted the attendance beyond 43.

J.  Stephen Huebner

Secretary

 

Geological Society of Washington

October 13, 1971

The 949th meeting of the Society returned to the John Wesley Powell Auditorium, newly carpeted and guaranteed absorbant.  Vice President David B.  Stewart called the meeting to order at 8:03 PM, explaining that the President's absence was rumored to be necessitated by the preparation of his forthcoming Presidential Address.  The only "visitor" present was the Chair, recently returned from Zurich.  The Secretary read the minutes of the previous meeting, and announced that the Society had undertaken pub­lication of two GSA Annual Meeting fieldtrip guidebooks: within a green cover, William E. Davies, "Historical Engineering Geology of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal", and in yellow, Ciolkosz, Clark, Hack, Sigafoos, and Williams, "Slope stability and denudational processes: Central Appalachians.” The Chair announced that an anonymous donor presented the Society with a gift of $1000 in honor of Hugh D. Miser and Marcus Goldman.  This was fol­lowed by an appeal for dues payment by once and twice delinquent members.

The Vice President announced that during the summer, three members had passed away: Helen Duncan, a paleontologist with the USGS; Joel Swartz, a retired USGS geophysicist; and Leonard Fernow, of the Agronomy Dept., Univ. of Maryland.

Past President Whitmore announced the forthcoming annual GSA meeting in Washington and appealed for advance registration.  Linn Hoover gave the pre-registration figures as of the afternoon.

The Hanshaws and Avery Drake arrived, so the main part of the meeting could begin.

An informal communication was promptly offered by Douglas Rankin, of the Branch of Atlantic Environmental Geology, USGS, who inquired about the possible precedent set by President White during the last meeting, and couldn't he, Rankin, also obtain refreshment while the meeting was in pro­gress.  Never one to waste time on mere words, Roedder promptly filled his glass.

Jack Oliver, Cornell University, presented the first formal talk, "New Horizons in Seismology." He showed that the world could be mapped on the basis of seismic" transmission efficiency: efficient and inefficient.  Hot mantle and crustal discontinuities attenuate the seismic waves, particular­ly the high frequency, very high amplitude waves.  There is good seismic propagation across the eastern coast of the U.S., indicating that at present there is no discontinuity at this continental margin.  Oliver was questioned by Stewart, Kinney, Sato, Barton, Doan (who described him­self as a “babe in the woods"), Roedder, and Zen.  Rankin missed his chance to refill his glass, and now had to endure the next talk, scheduled for a longer than usual 25 minutes.

Felix Chayes, Geophysical Laboratory, did his best to prove the old adage, "God created integers and all else is the work of man," by describ­ing "Retrieval and reduction of rock analysis data; a pilot study." Chayes has created a computer-stored file of 11,000 chemical analyses of Cenozoic volcanic rocks.  He anticipates creation of a public data file and retrieval system: a SORT routine will access the data bank and generate a data file to be operated upon by data reduction programs.  The question period was dominated by Stewart - who cited Martha Washington's Tables, Robertson, Herb Shaw - who achieved immortality - this time with a comment, not a question, Toulmin, Jones, Dan Appleman - who noted that the speaker was reputed to be dictatorial and strong willed, Thompson, LeMaitre- who said his file had 16,000 analyses, Stewart - who asked if this wasn't the end of useful analytical work, and Rankin - still with an empty glass.

Robert I. Tilling, USGS, used a mere 300 chemical analyses plus isotopic data in addressing himself to the question: "Boulder Batholith, Montana: Where two magma series of the same age meet?" He divided the batholith rocks into two series, with the more sodic series to the south and south­west.  He closed by asking whether or not the Butte batholith grades into the Idaho batholith.  In turn, the speaker was questioned by George Helz, E-an Zen, and Herb Shaw.

The Chair closed the meeting at 9:48 by giving plugs for two rival or­ganizations, The Petrologists Club, meeting October 19 with beer, and Paleontological Society, meeting the following Wednesday without beer.  (What do you expect for 50 cents a year?) Attendance 103.

J.  Stephen Huebner

Secretary

 

Geological Society of Washington

October 27, 1971

The 950th meeting of the society was called to order at 8:02 PM by President Walter S. White. No visitors were introduced. The Secretary read the lengthy minutes of the previous meeting and announced the election of seven new members: Kenneth A. Sylvester, Branch of Atlantic Environmental Geology, USGS; Helen Louise McGuiness, assistant to her geologist-husband; Norman A. Buckley, Organic Fuel and Chemical Resources Branch, USGS; and Jagannadham Akella, Robert W. Thompson, Bas J. Hensen, and Ikuo Kushiro, all of the Geophysical Laboratory.  Next, Past President Miller, announced the GSA Welcoming Party and the availability of tickets. Rankin had a beer. Donald Duncan mentioned the forthcoming AAPG Eastern Section Meeting with the theme, "Gas Supply in the Appalachians." The Chair read the text of a proposed constitutional amendment, submitted by Present and Past Presidents Walter S. White, George V. Cohee and Frank C. Whitmore, to be voted upon at the Society's next annual meeting. The text of the amendment is as follows:

Amend the first paragraph (of Article IV, Officers) by adding the underlined phrase so that the amended paragraph reads as follows:

"The officers of the Society shall be a President, a First Vice-President who shall also be the President-Elect, a Second Vice-President, two Secretaries, and a Treasurer."

Amend third paragraph by deleting "President" (second word) and adding the underlined words so that the amended paragraph reads as follows:

"The First Vice-President (President-Elect), second Vice-President, and Treasurer shall be elected annually.  The First Vice-President (President-Elect) of the prior year shall be President.

There were two very informal communications. Douglas Rankin again attempted to communicate about refilling his beer mug. And an unidentified gentleman in a powder blue jacket rose and drew attention to a recently published book on the San Francisco earthquake; he later eluded the Secre­tary's attempt to identify him by departing before the end of the meeting, taking the book with him. Perhaps he is its author.

O.A. Wise and Ellis Yochelson coauthored the first paper, "Stratigraphy and Fossils at Smithville, Arkansas - a Bad Day at Black Rock." In this hilarious excursion through poison ivy trees and unidentified fossils - reminiscent of Panders' Conodonts - a true stratigraphic problem was solved. The final population score stood: Smithville, 74; Black Rock, 554; questions, zero, spontaneous or otherwise.

Rosalind Helz discussed "Melt compositions produced by partial melting of basaltic rocks at pH2O = 5 kb and the origin of the Calc-alkaline rock series." By heating natural basalts at 5 kb water pressure she showed that neither equilibrium partial melting nor equilibrium crystallization of tho­leiite yields a series of liquid compositions like that of the calc-alkaline series.  The only question was asked by Toulmin.

James G. Moore discussed "Lava beneath the sea: underwater movie of the Mauna Ulu eruption." Glowing magma enters water without the development of steam, and quickly forms an insulating crust. Lava issues through cracks in the crust, forming pillows. Moore dispelled the notion that pillows are always reliable top and bottom and deformation, indicators by showing slides of pillows of varying primary orientation and shape. Breccias found beneath the water are due to wave erosion rather than explosive eruption; submarine basaltic eruptions may be so quiet as to go undetected at the surface. Questions by Simkin, White, Newman, Tracey, Hadley, Thayer, and Dutro - who commented that this meeting was indeed a symposium on Black Rocks. The meeting was adjourned at 9:51 PM. Attendance

J. Stephen Huebner

Secretary

 

Geological Society of Washington

November 10, 1971

The 951st meeting of the Society, held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium, vas called to order by President White at 8:03 PM. Bill Oliver introduced the only visitor, Dr. Julia Hubbard from Kings College, London. The Secretary read the minutes of the previous meeting and announced the election of two new members, William G. Perry and Norman L. Weaver, both of the Branch of Mineral Classification, USGS. The President announced the deaths of Kenneth C. Heald, retired Vice-president of Gulf Oil Co. and a founder of the AAPG, and Paul Vogeli, of the USGS Water Resources Division in Denver. Next, the Chair attempted to announce the individuals nominated to be officers of the Society, but found that the list of names had been mislaid. Hatch, seemingly in the hope that his name might be included in the resulting confusion, futilely insisted that the list be read. The Pres­ident and the two secretaries hastily decided which names were to be included and the list was read.

The first speaker was Douglas Rankin, but before he could begin Stewart asked if he couldn't get a beer during the talk. Rankin described "Late Pre-cambrian volcanism in the Blue Ridge", then asked if the gneissic anticlinal core of Sourtown Mountain was not "...evidence for an early episode of rift­ing?" The President produced a loud bell to signal the end of the talk. There were numerous questions, some penetrating, by White, Jim Clark, Hadley Chayes, Toulmin (twice), Guild (thrice), Stewart (again and again - I lost count), and Zen, who asked the forbidden question, couldn't it all be explained without resorting to plate tectonics?

Roger LeMaitre, petrologist-gone-astray, talked about "Chemical vari­ations in common rock types." He first informed the Secretary that the cor­rect number of analyses on his tape was 16,145, then revealed the peculiar­ities in the usage of rock names and analysis totals (7% incorrect). He plotted the analyses in 9-dimensional space and found that three Eigenvec­tors accounted for 90% of the variability in the analyses, permitting use of a 3-dimensional diagram to put chemical limitations on rock name usage. Questions by White, Wones, Chayes, Stewart, Dowty, Chayes again ("no one would want the system to work, anyway"), Wright, and Toulmin.

Presidential nominee Stewart set the precedent for next year's meet­ings by refilling his glass. Rankin was silent.

Joan Clark, Daniel Appleman, and Joel Arem presented "Geology in 3D: Stereoscopy in the Earth Sciences." Attendees donned polaroid glasses, and instead of following cowboys and Indians, listened to Clark explain the value of viewing crystal structures in three dimensions, watched Arem show tetrahedral phase diagrams, and saw Appleman project low angle oblique ground and aerial photographs taken by Bill Hall (Univ. of Idaho), Zen, and Huebner. Thayer, Leo, Roedder, Kinney, Guild, and Hadley asked questions.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 PM. Attendance 98.

J. Stephen Huebner

Secretary

 

Geological Society of Washington

December 8, 1971

The 952nd meeting of the Society was called to order by President Walter S. White at 8:01 PM in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium. The Presi­dent announced that he dared not let Vice-president Stewart preside at this meeting, thus he would have to both introduce the speaker and be introduced as the speaker. E-an Zen introduced the only recognized visitor, John Rosenfeld, of UCLA and Harvard. The Secretary read the minutes of the previ­ous meeting; after Rankin corrected the Secretary on a minor point ("Sour-town", rather than "Sour" Mountain), the minutes were approved. (Later two not-so-minor corrections were made by individuals more bashful than Rankin.) The Secretary announced the election of five new members: Thomas O. Wright, Timothy R. Cullen, Steven W. Mitchell, Miriam Weissman, and John F. Lewis, all of George Washington University.

The Presidential Address, rumored to have been written in the Keweenawan flood-basalt province, itself, was delivered by President White. In the Lake Superior region, basins or troughs are related to an en-echelon arrange­ment of gravity highs along the mid-continent gravity high. The President proposed that the basins are tension fractures formed by right lateral dis­placement of two plates of continental crust. Basaltic lavas erupted into the gradually subsiding basins, counteracting the subsidence and maintaining low values of the topographic paleoslope.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:48 PM, for refreshments and the Annual Meeting. Because custom permits no questions of the President after his Address, the Secretary did not have time to count heads. We must accept the figure of a gentleman who has proven his merit not only by serving the beer, but by regularly counting the number of individuals present. 178.

J. Stephen Huebner

Secretary

 

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

Annual Meeting, December 8, 1971

The 79th Annual Meeting of the Society, held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium, was called to order by President White at 9:15PM. Meetings Secretary Huebner read the minutes of the 78th Annual Meeting, prepared by previous Secretary, Appleman; although the President did not open these minutes to discussion and approval, nobody objected to their contents. Next, Secretary Huebner read the Annual Report of the Secretaries - prepared by Huebner, for the meetings, and Appleman for the Council. In an abrupt departure from tradition, the report was illustrated with a slide that showed both the number of members and the meeting attendance to be in a declining trend for the past several years. The society's extinction was pre­dicted for about 1984.

Peggy Appleman presented the Annual Report of the Treasurer for Income consisted of $3,507.00 in dues and $116.00 from the sale of 1971 G.S.A. Annual Meeting guidebooks published by the Society. Disbursements for auditorium rental and projectionist, refreshments, guest speakers, programs, billing, prizes, and guidebooks, totaled $3890.12. Income still collectable totaled $752, augmented by a stack of still-unsold guidebooks. The Treasurer closed her report with an appeal for prompt dues payments; 91 members were in arrears for 197l, and the 22 members in arrears for both 1970 and 1971 had just been dropped from the Society's membership.

The Auditing Committee, Robert G. Bates and Ralph P. Christian, was represented by Christian who reported that the checking and savings accounts had been audited and found to be in order.

Malcolm Ross, Finance Committee Chairman, represented his committee of Toulmin, Bethke, George Cohee and Treasurer Appleman in reporting the cash balances of the Society.  On December 8, 1971, the checking account contained $438.18, opposed to $146. 30 on December 9 of the previous year. The Society received $1000 in memory of Marcus Goldman and Hugh Miser; the sum has been added to the endowment fund.  Six hundred dollars was withdrawn from the endowment fund to cover the cost of printing the GSA meeting guidebooks.

Daniel Appleman reported that the Public Service Committee continued its training program for area elementary and secondary school teachers by planning and executing the following fieldtrips: Lindholm to the Great Valley; Wright and Appleman to Harper's Ferry; and Appleman and Bethke to Catoctin Mountain. Klemic and George Helz officiated at the Prince Georges County Science Fair; both Applemans judged at the District Science Fair.

The Awards Committee consisted of Harwood, Huebner, Kleinkopf, Tina Zen, and Fiske, who graciously decided to give someone else a chance to hold the cup by accepting chairmanship of the committee. (Smart move, Whitey!)  Only four informal communications were presented in 1971, and the committee had no trouble deciding that Isidore Zeitz should receive the Great Dane award for his description of the psy­chedelic new Minnesota Aeromagnetic Map. Competition for the Best Paper Award, however, was somewhat stiffer. The Committee easily singled out five outstanding papers by Ericksen, Duffield, Stanley, Moore, and Fischer, but only after lengthy deliberation decided to award the Second Best Paper award to George Ericksen for his talk, "Geologic Events Associated with the May 31, 1970, Peru Earthquake," and the Best Paper Award to Wendell Duffield, who talked about "Hawaiian Volcanic Observatory Plate Tectonics of the Crust on an Active Lava Column."

Next came what was billed as “The moment most of you came here for,” the Report of the Sleeping Bear Committee. Chairman Rankin repre­sented his committee of Dan Appleman and Blair Jones in this last act before another long hibernation. Rankin noted that Ellis Yochelson had duly returned the cup, accompanied by an opinion that the Sleeping Bear is really Thalarctos maritimus, alias "Cookie", inhabitant of the National Zoo.

The Committee examined all cases of humor, good humor, lack of good humor, and otherwise bearish behavior displayed during the year. In the search, three individuals were rejected as being too much a part of the formal program. Rosalind Helz, who attempted to keep the meeting informal by confusing the audience, or "how many angels can fit on the head of a pin?" The Secretary. And Ellis Yochelson, for his paper with Dutro describing the poison ivy at Black Rock. Dis­missal of Yochelson meant that the committee did not have to decide whether or not the two-time winner would retire the cup.

Richard Fiske was deemed as deserving of something, having eliminated himself from his usual source of income, the Best Paper Award. How­ever, jello was found to be too shaky an edifice to hold up any bear, sleeping or not. Tom Wright was considered for increasing the number of sleeping bears by permitting beer to be served before the meetings. Michael Field was considered for neatly puncturing the armor of objective research by asking Murray Felsher: "Your grading looks sort of subjective. Is there anything in the labora­tory technique that would do it?"

The Committee then found an individual who exhibited informal bear­ish behavior and good humor. This individual acted informally in dispensing with meeting minutes, omitting the reading of lists of nominees, announcing the Treasurer's birthday, wandering about in the darkness behind the lectern, and helping himself to refresh­ments during the question period. The coveted sleeping bear cup was awarded to President Walter S. White. But how could the Commit­tee know that his greatest performance was yet to come!

President White attempted to steer the meeting back to serious business when he read a proposed Constitutional Amendment, proposed by George Cohee, Frank Whitmore, and himself.

Amend first paragraph by adding the underlined phrase so that the amended paragraph reads as follows:

"The officers of the Society shall be a President, a First Vice-President who shall also be the President-Elect, a Second Vice-President, two Secretaries, and a Treasurer."

Amend third paragraph by deleting "President" (second word) and adding the underlined words so that the amended paragraph reads as follows:

"The First Vice-President (President-Elect), second Vice-President and Treasurer shall "be elected annually. The First Vice-President (President-Elect) of the prior year shall be President. But quickly, before Whitey could take control of the situation and the procedure, Wendell Woodring arose to ask whether the amendment was ever announced (it was) and promptly moved to reject the amendment; Art Baker seconded the motion. Rankin, Ross, and Appleman, only moments behind, spoke in support of the amendment and the continuity it would bring to the Council. Confusion reigned, but Wendell Woodrule's move to reject the amendment was rejected. Toulmin seconded the amendment as originally read by President White. Kinney then wanted to know if this amendment would have the effect of removing future presidents from the Sleeping Bear competition on the grounds that they, the presidents, would have an extra year of preparation. George Helz put the issue back on track by propos­ing a rider, to make the amendment effective at the END of this Annual Meeting. President White and Council Secretary Appleman deliberated; Appleman read from the Bylaws, and the President called for a vote on, it turned out after much discussion of the proper order of things, accepting Helz's rider. The rider, that the proposed constitutional amendment become effective at the END of the annual meeting, carried by a great majority. The second vote, on the constitutional amendment with its now-attached rider, also carried (seven nays against everyone else present).

There was no new business.

The President collected his wits and announced the election of new officers by reading the list of nominees proposed by the Council and Nominating Committee. Woodring, as quickly as before jumped to his feet and moved that the nominations be closed; the move was seconded, and so voted. Whitmore proposed that the Secretary be instructed to record a unanimous ballot in favor of the proposed slate, and the proposal was so voted. The New officers were asked to come to the stage; Stewart, Hoover, and Stifel did so, and were introduced to the membership (as if they all needed introduction).

The President thanked the Program Chairman, Officers, and Councilors, and transferred the Ceremonial gavel to Dave Stewart.

The Meeting was adjourned at 10:25, at which time the new constitu­tional amendment went into effect.

Attendance: 178

Respectfully submitted,

J. Stephen Huebner, Secretary