GSW: 1990
MEETING MINUTES
MINUTES OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF
1194th Meeting, January 10,
1990
President Simkin called
the meeting to order promptly at 8:00 PM.
69 attendees were present at the beginning of the meeting and these
numbers swelled to 71 with the late arrival of Dick Fisks and his entourage. The minutes of the 1193rd slightly irregular
meeting were submitted by Brooks Hanson, read by Bruce Wardlaw, and,
nevertheless approved as read. 10
guests were introduced, including visitors
Chris Vinyl from University of Tennessee and Tim Johns from the University of
Arkansas, one from the Smithsonian, 3
from NRC, 2 from JTM, and Chip Parrott
by self-introduction. No new members
were announced. The President pointed
out that membership forms are available.
There were no other announcements,
informal communications, or old or new business, causing the slow-writing secretary to
misspeak.
Of special interest this
meeting would be the behavior of our recently retired luminaries E-an Zen and
Gene Robertson. Gene seemed to be
overly full of vim and vigor, hounding every speaker that he could. But E-an was sadly quiet for questions for
the first speaker, leaving us worried about the affects of retirement; BUT rose
to his old form for questions to the second speaker. I'm sure both Gene and E-an would have asked
questions of the film had they been given the opportunity.
The first speaker was
Laurel Woodruff from the U.S. Geological Survey. She presented "Stable isotope investigation
of Mesozoic diabases".
The second speaker,
Selwyn Saks, from the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institute,
enlightened us on "Strain diffusion in the earth's crust: Mantle viscosity and triggered earthquakes". Unfortunately this stirring talk was
presented with overhead transparencies.
Apparently, structural
seismically active troughs some 200 km from the subduction zone of the
The third presentation
was a film by Fiske, Duffield, and Swanson,
of the Smithsonian and U.S. Geological Survey, on "Inside Hawaiian
volcanoes". This slick production
was offered for sale in the back of the room and has an accompanying teachers
guide. The film introduction and running
time was 27 minutes. No formal
questions were allowed, and adjournment was called at 9:37 PM (obviously for a
need of a beer).
[signed Bruce R.
Wardlaw]
MINUTES OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF
1195th Meeting, January
24, 1990
President Simkin called
the meeting to order at 8:00:57, barely making the 8 o'clock starting
time. I didn't realize that being
minutes secretary really meant being a minute time keeper. 60 people were in attendance. The minutes of the 1194th meeting were surprisingly
approved as read. 4 guests were
introduced, Jim Quick, Denver USGS, a-son-of-speaker, Jon Cross and his
girlfriend Sara, and some Jacques in the
back. Simkin called for volunteers for
GSW administration; Simon groveled for pledges to the endowment as announcements
to the meeting. Four new members were
announced: Robert Stamm, Chip Parrott, Peter Heaney, and Rodney Koozmin. No informal communications or old or new
business was introduced.
The first speaker was
Whitman Cross II,
The second speaker was
Sandra H. B. Clark, U.S. Geological Survey,
The third speaker was
Charles Prewitt (I don't know if this means he is from a family that precedes
Whitman's and liked the name Charles or what?). He (Charles)
is from the Geophysical Laboratory and he presented "Hydrous
magnesian silicates: water in the
mantle?" This work is a large
collaborative effort by the Geophysical Lab and SUNY by 8 people. Charles apologized for presenting his talk
with overheads, especially after the secretary rammed a previous speaker for doing
the same. Charles, however, approached
the audience rather than falling to that dread habit of addressing the
overhead. We learned that Phase B has a
crystal structure of two different kinds of layers one similar to brucite and
one with the characteristics of humite and forsterite and occurs in hydrous and
anhydrous phases. We don't know much
about Phase E-and Phase C may not exist.
Water could be in a lot of phases and there is much more work to be done
for the Mantle phase. There 7 questions, including 2 by
The President quickly
recognized the Current Program Chair, Sorena Sorensen, announced the next
program and adjourned the meeting at 9:30 bringing this phase of GSW to an end.
[signed Bruce R.
Wardlaw]
MINUTES OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF
1196th Meeting, February
14, 1990
President Simkin called
the meeting to order at 7:59:28 to a crowd of 80 attendees. The minutes were read, amended to delete all
superfluous Charles'****, and approved as amended. President Simkin announced there were AAPG
membership forms available at the back of the room. Treasurer Simon announced he had taken
Draconian measures and there were no pretzels, chips, and half as much beer at
the back of the room. Reduction of the
beer had been discussed at council meeting because of reduce audiences and a
too heavy keg at the end of the evening; but the missing chips solely rest on
Simon's shoulders. Jerry Barton of the Potomac Geophysical Society of
Washington invited members to their next meeting featuring Grossling on
climatic warming. Dr. Sergei
Khmelevtsov of the
The first speaker, Brian
Huber of the Smithsonian Institution talked about "Foraminifera: Indicators of Late Cretaceous Climate and
Paleo-oceanography. Benthic
foraminifers are good paleoecologic indicators and planktic foraminifers are
good indicators of depth and latitudinal gradients, and surface patterns. With detailed paleomagnetic stratigraphy can
determine latitudinal and vertical gradients and the source of bottom waters in
the Late Cretaceous. We learned that
keeled ornamented planktics mean stratified surface waters (they occur at
depth). High latitude waters cooled
through the Maastrichtian, show
converging water masses, and bottom waters had a probably Antarctic
source. The talk was 21 minutes, included overhead transparencies and 4
questions were asked by Burke (2), Segovia, and Stifel.
The second speaker, Peter Heaney of the Smithsonian Institution,
presented "The many faces of Quartz: a TEM study of Agates". Agates are concentrically banded nodules of
layers of chalcedony (cryptocrystalline)
and quartz (coarse
crystalline) SiO2. Chalcedony differs from Quartz in that it
has 1-2% H20, it is elongate
in an axis normal to that of quartz
(C), it is twisted about its
elongate axis, it has a planar disorder,
has structural superperiodicities and intergrowths. This can all be analogized to quartz being
layers of Wonder Bread and Chalcedony being a series of PB&J sandwiches
with OH and H2O being the PB and J.
The slides to this talk showed some disorder in going in reverse several
times (NO operator error). The talk was
21 1/2 minutes, questions by Dennis, Milton, Toulmin and Simkin.
The Third speaker, Kevin
Burke, National Research Council, presented "Catastrophes: The State of the Art", presented on
overhead transparencies and based essentially on the Snowbird I and II Catastrophes
(ah, catastrophic conferences). This
exciting series of anecdotes stressed that the less exciting things (like solid research and documentation) are
not being done and need to be so that the likes of Kevin can get up and give a
new exciting series of anecdotes of personal and global catastrophes The talk was 21 minutes. Huber asked 2 questions about shocked
quartz, Michael 2 about soot, Appleman 2 about impact structure size and timing
being off; Zen and Robertson were not present but would have asked questions at
this time; and additional questions by Milton, Cross, Jeffries, and
Hanson. Simkin quickly announced the
next meeting and adjourned at 9:39:50.
[signed Bruce R.
Wardlaw]
MINUTES OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF
1197th Meeting, February
28, 1990
Though President Simkin
made a call to order promptly at 8:00, the unruly crowd of 83 attendees could
not be fully brought to order and the meeting was begun at 8:01:43. The crowd included several visitors and at
least 8 of them were introduced: Anne
O'Donnell, State Dept., a Tamera from OSM, two Russians who'll have to forgive
me for not getting their names, Jim Straw, and three USGS luminaries, John
Barron, Charlie Bacon, and a person better known for her Pick and Hammer
pseudonym, Christine Turnip-Potato Head.
Gene Robertson
announced, in an irregular manner, that
he spoke for Nick Van Driel in announcing a consultant seller of computer
graphics. The GSW field trip on
Saturday, April 28, on Metapelitic rocks of the Baltimore Gneiss Terrane was announced,
and mapping jobs appear to be available with Coastal Engineering.
We finally had our first
informal communication of the year. Dick
Fisk introduced us to ongoing activity at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
which included pictures of a lava fall, the "fire hose", and a lava
artist.
Gray Bebout, Geophysical
Laboratory, presented the first formal talk,
"Volatile recycling by devolatilizaton of subducted sedimentary and
mafic rocks--field geochemical evidence."
This talk showed us that in subduction zones there is a slab-derived
volatile component given to the mantle wedge.
A series of supporting isotopic trends, especially the homogenization of
oxygen isotopes convinced us?. The case study was the Santa Catalina
Schist Complex and somehow throughout the talk I was reminded of the old
refrain, "26 miles across the sea,
Santa Catalina is a'waiting for me,
The second speaker was
Russell Blong,
The last speaker was
George Wetherill, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, "The earliest history of the Earth"
who enjoyed sharing the platform with the author of Genesis. Molecular cloud contracts, planetesimals
form, planetesimals accumulate, runaway accretion gives embryos and most stuff
is impacted, so what's new? Things go
bump in the night, the earth forms, is
partially melted, has 300 deg. K surface temperatures, an a heck of a high initial
heat flow. 20 minutes, questions by Toulmin, Robertson, van Oss, Galvin, Towe,
Zen.
The next meeting was
quickly announced by President Simkin and the meeting was adjourned at a late
9:46:16.
[signed Bruce R.
Wardlaw]
MINUTES OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF
1198th Meeting, March 14,
1990
President Simkin managed
to get three calls to order on the order of two minutes, and the meeting began
at 8:00:55. Continuing on our ever
increasing attendance, no doubt due to the superlative efforts of Sorena
Sorensen to capture imaginative speakers,
91 people were present. 7
visitors were introduced including Mike Brown, the new chairman of Geology at
Tom Dutro presented our
second informal communication of the year, spectacular slides of
The first formal speaker
was Raymond Jeanloz, U.C.
The second speaker was
Bryan Isacks,
Our last speaker, Hatten
S. Yoder, Jr., Geophysical Laboratory, spoke on "Geophysical
Laboratory: Scientific contribution
1905-1990 and the U.S.G.S. heritage".
It appears that the successful Geophysical Laboratory amassing 2166
publications since 1903, was largely initiated and staffed by Survey employees
and has periodically been reinvigorated by the Survey. Prompting Dave Stewart to moan why can't the
Carnegie Institute and Geophysical Lab invigorate the Survey. Other questions and points of interest, like
Becker left an endowment to the Smithsonian which now pays for Fiske's
research, by Fiske and Robertson. The
Geophysical lab will be moving to the DTM campus and there is a Geophysical yearbook
out with the history of the organization.
The talk ran 23:36.
The next meeting was
quickly announced and President Simkin adjourned the meeting at 9:43:44.
[signed Bruce R.
Wardlaw]
MINUTES OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF
1199th Meeting, March 28,
1990
An unruly and massive
crowd of 118 attendees kept President Simkin from the podium, so he was unable
to call the meeting to order until 8:01:26.
The meeting began noisily at 8:01:55.
Had the beer guzzlers sat down, nearly every seat would have been
filled. Seven visitors were introduced
including Bill Davis from National Parks, Maggie Dillie, William Keffner, Daly
and Alice Dennington, Herb Black, and an Egyptian. New member Tom Jorstad was elected at, oddly enough, a regular council meeting today
and was so announced. The passing of
Izzy Adler was announced and a moment of silence observed. GSW participation in local science fairs,
earlier believed dormant, may be surviving in rural parts of Virginia. Ann Wylie discussed details of the upcoming
GSW field trip on April 28; interested trippers are to meet in the parking lot
of the Adult Education Center at U.M.
There was no new business nor were there any informal communications.
The first speaker was
Mary Jo Baedecker, U.S. Geological Survey, presenting "geochemical
alterations of ground water by crude oil".
Mary Jo conducted a detailed study of an oil lens at subsurface water
table, its plume, and the anoxic and
restricted oxygen lenses below the oil lens created in the oxygenated ground
water in glacial outwash in northern Minnesota (an available field area,
because no one cared). The talk ran
18:40 and there were five questions by French, Towe, Milton, 2 by Rye, and a
point of information by Wardlaw.
The second speaker,
Chris Fiedler, FBI, spoke of
"Applied forensic geology at the F.B.I.:
Some 'case' studies". Chris
awarded Sorena Sorensen a coveted FBI hat for duties rendered in the past. Forensic geology deals with the 3
"C's", crap, crud, and
corrosion and can be dumped into those with class or individual
characteristics. Just as our speaker
was getting warmed up and about to present some case examples, his time was waning,
so he tripped quickly through some cases, and abruptly ended at 23:45. 3 questions all by French and we learned to
use our computers, not old typewriters,
if we're thinking of doing anything sinister to Robin Bret.
The final speaker was
Mark Meier, University of Colorado, presenting "Global warming, ice, and rising sea level: Run,
the glacier is melting!". Through
20 minutes of ocean warming, alpine glacier-retreating (except recently), big
ice-sheet thickening, iceberg-counting, and meltwater-watching, we learned that
not much is changing, but a small rise will have a major impact (Bruce is glad
to know that). At least 9 questions
were asked by Towe, Robertson, Hanson, French (2), Tracey, Zen, and anonymous in a red sweater. Meyer Rubin, from Isotope Branch (or what's
left of it), got up, noted that isotope geologists are slow to respond, and
proceeded to ask the first speaker a question, and then surprised everyone by
also asking the last speaker a question.
President Simkin quickly
announced the next meeting and adjourned at 9:46:38. At 10:15 the keg was floating.
Absent-mindedly
submitted, Bruce R. Wardlaw (read by J. Thomas Dutro, Jr.)
MINUTES OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
1200th Meeting, April 11,
1990
President Simkin called
the meeting to order at approximately 8 o'clock. Several guest were introduced, but their
names were not recorded by the acting secretary. Tom Dutro, surrogate secretary for Bruce
Wardlaw, read the minutes of the 1199th meeting and they were approved as
edited by Dutro. An informal communication
by Cyrus Galvin was related to sea-level rise and beach erosion predictions. He pointed out that the most recent USGS map
on rising and falling sea levels along the U.S. coastline bears little
resemblance to reality when checked against available data for specific
stretches of coast. The map lacked a
defender in the audience.
The first speaker, Chris
Kincaid of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, presented results of
laboratory modeling of plate tectonics mechanisms. His sugar-coated technique involved emplacing
a slab of treacle onto a liquid surface so that by gravity alone the slab would
penetrate the liquid, dependant only on the dip angle and density difference
between the slab and the liquid.
Velocity was scaled at approximately 1/2 cm/yr. Kincaid talked for about 19 1/2 minutes and
then spent more than 5 minutes answering questions by Galvin, Druid, Barton, Hanson, Taylor, Toulmin, Nancy
Milton, and Ryan.
The second speaker, Mike
Wise of the Smithsonian, discussed color variation of accessory minerals as indicators
for evolution of pegmatites. Rare
elements are significant in zoned pegmatites,
where accessory minerals tend to occur in swarms; they increase and
occur as coarser crystals away from granite contacts. color change is most sensitive in tourmalines,
but apparently they don't behave very well.
Garnets are ubiquitous. Properly
evaluated, mineral color can be a useful field criterion. After 20 1/2 minutes, Mike answered
questions by van Oss, Toulmin, and Robertson.
The last speaker, Bob Hamilton,
quondam chief geologist of the U.S.G.S., told us all we wanted to know about
the mid-continent New Madrid seismic zone.
Although it's the most active zone east of the Rockies, there is not
much chance if a major quake in the near future. Hamilton stated that there is no evidence of
compression; he apparently favors a diapirism mechanism. After his 20 minute talk, Bob spent more
than 15 minutes answering questions by Dave Stewart (3), Kevin Burke (2), Robertson, Ryan, Druid, Kincaid,
Toulmin, and Simkin.
Attendance was 68. President Simkin, after announcing the program
for the next meeting, adjourned the meeting about 10 minutes shy of 10 o'clock.
Respectfully submitted,
Tom Dutro
MINUTES OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
1201st Meeting, April 25,
1990
Tom Simkin called the
meeting to order late, because the acting secretary from the meeting before
insisted on the unprecedented reading of his own minutes and he was late to the
meeting. The meeting began at
8:04. 123 were in attendance. Tom Dutro (van Oss) read the minutes
(Hendrik van Oss) and they were approved as (Hendrik G. van Oss) corrected.
Hendrik G. van Oss's name was corrected in the minutes. Three visitors were introduced, a student
from N.C. State, an aerospace-head, and Mike Nelson. The usurper lost the names of new members,
which were finally announced from the floor by Kathleen Kozey Krohn and
include: Judith Calem, Sue Cox, G.
William Davis, William G. Miller, and John Osweiler. A death was announced and a moment of
silence observed. The Spring field trip
was announced. Leann Milton announced
something about volcano workers. There
were no informal communications.
Continuing on an
irregular vein, an irregular meeting (unnumbered) of the Geological Society of Washington in a
special joint meeting with the Potomac Geophysical Society was held on September
27 at the Fort Meyer Officers' Club and featured Walter Alvarez as
speaker. The minutes of this meeting
were taken dutifully by the GSW meeting secretary and will be incorporated in
the annual report. It was learned that
the PGS has no meetings secretary and records no minutes.
The first speaker,
Gautam Sen from Florida International University, spoke on "the mantle
under Hawaii: a xenolith story."
Xenoliths incorporated in posterosional volcanism represent mantle or
magma/wall rock cumulate samples. Sen
differentiated these and showed Us the lithosphere is substantially heated up.
Sen tried to convince us he was at the cutting edge of science by using a knife
as a pointer. He rushed through his
transparencies, ending his talk in 15:45.
Questions were asked by Peck, Robertson (sort of two), unidentified, and
Ross (sort of three). The secretary
uncharacteristically bolted for a beer.
The second speaker,
Dallas Peck, Director of the U.S. Geological Survey presented "U.S.
Geological Survey: Outlook for the 21st
century." This surly veteran of 13
years at the stewardship of the USGS talked of the Survey past, present,
and future. There were no
slides, so I have to assume the picture is bleak. We can depend on a big earthquake in
Southern California, an extended drought, and climate deterioration or change
to aid future funding. The talked
lasted 20:30 and evoked 8 questions, mostly pleas from employees, including
Sato (2), Ross (2), Jingle-Ruppert, Justice, van Oss, and Mac Ross.
The third speaker, Tom Casadevall, U.S.G.S., regaled us with "Jet aircraft and
volcanic ash clouds--or, 'This is your
captain speaking...is there a geologist on board?' "
There have been 5 near fatal aircraft encounters with ash clouds in the
last 10 years. The geologist, specifically the USGS, needs to monitor
active volcanism, assist research of material properties of ash clouds, and
educate the public and air transportation industry on the hazards of flying a
big jet through an ash cloud. We need to
know and distribute information on the time eruption starts, the altitude of
the top of the eruption cloud and whether the cloud contains ash. Areas that should be keenly monitored are
Indonesia, Japan, and the U.S.A. The
talk ran 25:20. There were six questions
by Peck, Toulmin (2), Gluskoter, Sato, and Krohn.
The meeting was
adjourned at 9:50:45.
[signed Bruce R.
Wardlaw]
Minutes of the Geological Society of
Washington in a special joint meeting with the Potomac Geophysical Society
(unnumbered)
Thursday, September
27, 1990
The Social Hour (cash
bar) started at a 6:30 p.m., Dinner at 7:30 p.m. The formal meeting was supposed to start at
8:30 p.m. but due to the dinner crowd of 88 and the extensive drinking, the
meeting did not start until after 9:00.
Total attendance was 132. Karl
Veith called the meeting to order and announced that the PGS generally meets on
the third not fourth Thursday during the speaking season and something about
the SEG in San Francisco. Tom Simkin
called for nominations for an AGU medal, announced the next GSW field trip and
the next GSW meeting.
Tom Simkin than
introduced the speaker, Walter Alvarez, better known to Tom for his
piano-playing and parties, from the
University of California, Berkeley. His talk was titled "The terminal Cretaceous
event: the impact after 10
years." The speaker started at
9:06:30. We revisited the Gubbio
section in Umbria, Italy; a nice place
to get grant money to visit. We saw a
bunch of unreadable stratigraphic sections
(even if we were sober) to show
more detailed work is going on. (I
guess you have to take a lot of this on faith). We also saw big forams go to small ones in
an instant, Iridium, spheroids, and the
"white layer". The impact
site may be in the Caribbean or may be subducted. This rather fascinating update on impact
extinctions generated 7 rather in-depth questions. Being on foreign turf, the secretary was
unable to identify most of the questioners, except for Kevin Burke. Zen and Robertson asked none.
[signed Bruce R.
Wardlaw]
MINUTES OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
1202nd Meeting, October
10, 1990
In the absence of Bruce
Wardlaw, who is in West Texas, the minutes will be mercifully brief. Tom Simkin called the meeting to order at
8:01 pm. 70 people were in
attendance. Two visitors were
introduced (Patti Swain and a distinguished Russian, Andre Tsvetkov). The following 11 new members were
announced: Mary E. Turner, David
Lescinsky, Patti Swain, Candace Martin, Richard J. Walker, S. Richard O'Day,
Robert L. Lamons, Robert J. Tworkowski, Michael R. Nelson, Heather L. Collins,
and J. Michael Palin. The passing of
Bill Davies and Charlie Milton was announced and a moment of silence was observed. The fall field trip was announced. E-an Zen reported that the Education
Committee, Geoscience Division will meet at the G.S.A. Brooks Hansen presented an informal communication. The secretary, noting that there was gunk
all over the table, thus smearing the notes, missed most of what was said of
fluid flow at depth. The communication
lasted 9 minutes.
The first speaker, Mike
Brown, University of Maryland, presented "The late Archaean Qorqut granite
complex of southern West Greenland: a
colorful story of black and white rocks".
We learned the history of some very old contorted rocks and their three
zones. 3 questions were asked.
The second speaker, Jim
Hibbard, North Carolina State University, presented "Ridge prints in the
muds of time: Miocene spreading ridge
subduction in southwest Japan". We
saw just what happens when a ridge indentor subducts contorting the countryside. 5 questions were asked.
The third speaker, Ian MacGregor, National Science Foundation,
presented "Subduction eclogites and kimberlites!" Kimberlites are our sampler of mantle
eclogites, some of which represent ancient subducted oceanic crust. 3 questions, with a very long two by Sato
were asked.
All in all, it was a very subdued evening. The meeting was adjourned at 9:58 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Bruce R. Wardlaw (read by Robert G. Stamm)
MINUTES OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
1203rd Meeting, October 24,
1990
I apologize for my
technician delivering the minutes at the last meeting. The one primary and one backup alternate
secretary did not show leaving my shy technician the horror of standing before
you and the further horror of reading my minutes. The
only saving humor he could find that night was not letting President Simkin
know the minutes were in hand until the final minute. I'll try to reconstruct the meeting from the
varied notes and scribbles left me. The
meeting began innocently enough at 8:04 pm.
81 people were in attendance. 5
visitors were calmly introduced. These
included Jonathan Kishen, Kevin Malone, George Plumel, a suspicious Women named
only Susan, and Guy Hovis. The slate of council nominees for next year
was discussed and is listed on this meetings announcement. Tom Nesser presented an informal
communication on Wagners continental drift theory in picture form, 1 minute.
Then it happened .... The lights went out. How can you write anything in this
darkness .... And how do you start this stupid egg
timer. The first speaker, Ken Towe of
the Smithsonian, speaking on "Aerobic carbon cycling on the early Archean
Earth" was half way through the Archean,
when the timer was finally subdued and abandoned, left on the floor for the evening. Facing now the crisis of the darkness, why
did the speaker keep talking about Fe203, the burial of
organic carbon, and the freedom of Oxygen.
Suspicious speaking for a government employee. The lights came on and the dead egg timer
was quietly placed out of sight. Three questions were asked.
The second speaker, Jim
Hays of the National Science Foundation, began speaking on "Earth sciences
at NSF", the lights dimmed before I had a chance to recover my notes...Ah,
the darkness again. The history of NSF
earth sciences was barred on the screen,
28 grants to 400 in 38 years, with a happy inflation-beating projection
for 1993. The-the egg timer, its not
dead, but ringing. Stifle it, Stifle it, where is Peter Stifel when you
need him. 8 questions were asked,
including one from Robin Brett.
Joe Boyd, Geophysical
Laboratory, gave us "Mining diamonds from A to Z: Argyle to Zarnitsa, the dope on diamonds
from Australia, Africa, and Russia.
Better edified on the "rocks" we confidently buried the egg
timer beneath the carpet. Six questions
were asked, Brett again chirping in.
The evening was suspiciously quiet from Zen and Robertson, leading me to suspect, they were missing or
asleep! The meeting was adjourned at 9:44 pm.
Edited and rewritten
from bleary handwritten notes and presented by Bruce R. Wardlaw
MINUTES OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
1204th Meeting, November
14, 1990
The meeting was promptly
brought to order by President Simkin at 8:00 pm. 83 somewhat alert people were in attendance. The minutes were surprisingly approved with
the minor change of Havans to Hovis. 5 guests were introduced: Marti Turdito,
NHM, Chip, AGI, Janet Johnson, and Gary Epsen and Bob Johnson of MMS. There were three announcements: The AAPG Pittsburgh '91 Meeting, a
self-serving announcement by the president of openings in global volcanism at
the Museum, prompting Mark McBride to announce that Dames and Moore are looking
for six good men/women. Jane
Hammarstrom, in order to warm up for her
future role as secretary, presented an informal communication attempting to
inform us of the International Archive of Economic Geology in Laramie, Wyoming,
as a significant resource.
The official egg timer,
shot at the previous meeting, was still recuperating, and unavailable to time
and aggravate speakers.
The first speaker, Steve
Leatherman, University of Maryland, spoke on "The day Hurricane Hugo came
knocking at my beach house door".
This 100 year event came ashore with 125 mph winds, a 20 ft surge at Bulls Bay, and did tremendous
damage to beach houses. All in all, the
speaker convinced us that the rapidly decaying Foley Island should be renamed
Folley Island. The talk ran a short
16:48. Questions by Gohn, Simkin, anonymous,
French, Sy and Zen.
The second speaker,
Margo Kingston, USGS, delivered "A bird's eye view of two North American
carbonatites with airborne imaging spectroscopy". We saw Mountain Pass, California and Iron
Hill, Colorado, carbonatites and learned that igneous carbonates display a
unique combination of spectra (carbonate,
iron, and multiple neodymium bands)
and dense foliation causes problems and needs a flat field
correction. The talk ran a short
17:40. 3 questions by Hammarstrom,
Robertson, and Zen.
The final speaker, Chris
Newhall, USGS, showed us "Unrest at Iwo Jima--precursor of a
caldera-forming eruption?" Iwo
Jima (Sulfur Island) shows marked uplift, a conservative 20 cm/yr, on the NE
side and surrounding rocky shoals and probably represents an actively resurgent
dome with magma 2-4 km below.
Yeah, it's gonna blow. It represents an unique opportunity to study
a large scale caldera eruption because it is isolated and lacks
population. Why do I feel this was a
funding request? The talk ran a lengthy
23:26 and there were 11 questions by Sato, Shirey, Sy, Herron, Zen, Keith,
Robertson, McClelland, anonymous, Milton, and Tracey.
The last regular meeting
was announced and President Simkin adjourned the meeting at 9:39:23.
[signed Bruce R.
Wardlaw]
MINUTES OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
1205th Meeting, November
28, 1990
Soon-to-be past
president Simkin attempted to bring the meeting to order at 8:00:55. 72 people were in attendance. The minutes were approved as read. 7 guests were introduced, Caroline Edwards
and Mike Hamilton of DTM, Peter Stifel introduced two University of Maryland
students (who were also induced to become members in the back of the room), and
David Palmer, Barry Bone, and Pat Okito.
5 new members were elected at council and 4 new members were elected in
a huddle in the back. These
include: Guy Hovis, NSF, Joseph B.
Jurinski, NuChem, Ned Mamula, Terradynamics, Jennifer A. Smith, Earth
Technology, Allan E. Dewall, Army Corp of Engineers, Margaret Chauncey and
Teresa Messina introduced as guests, and John Nay, all from the University of
Maryland, and Laurel A. Muehlhausen, NACLS.
It was announced that the Carnegie Institution of Washington also has talks, call 202-234-6869. There were no informal communications.
The first speaker, Klaus Schulz, USGS, spoke on "An early Proterozoic ophiolite
in the Penokean orogen, northeastern Wisconsin". He told us what we should expect in an
ophiolite complex in the Proterozoic and Archean and proceeded to document
one, and by all things, mostly by field
observations. What a refreshing new
ideal Sheeted dikes are of utmost
importance and the Niagara fault zone appears to be a forearc/craton
suture. The talk was exactly 20 minutes. Questions by Brooks Hanson and Zen.
Susse Wright,
Geophysical Laboratory, then spoke on Paleozoic epiric seas: oxygen isotope perspectives from shells and
seawater." Both brachiopod shells (calcite) and conodont skeletal elements (apatite) indicate too high temperatures in the Paleozoic
and perhaps this is related to the fact that epeiric seas were much more extensive
then and were partly decoupled isotopically from the open oceans. The talk ran 16 minutes. Three questions were asked, two by anonymous
and one by Zen.
Guy Hovis, NSF, gave the
final presentation, "Calorimetric research: memories of Dave Waldbaum, and recent
results on nepheline-kalsilite."
Guy, quickly overcoming the problems of the slide advance which plagued
speakers all evening, showed us that quality research can be carried out at a
small university (Lafayette College) with proper NSF support. In the thermodynamic mixing properties (heat
of solution) of nepheline, tetrakalsilite and kalsilite, silicon is a major player. Gene
Robertson joined Guy in honoring the exacting Dave Waldbaum. The talk lasted just 10 seconds short of 20
minutes.
President Simkin quickly
announced the atypical regular/annual meeting/presidential address and the new
slate of officers and adjourned the meeting at 9:20:02.
[signed Bruce R.
Wardlaw]
MINUTES OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
1206th Meeting, December 12,
1990
President Simkin brought
the restless and boisterous crowd of approximately 123 moving attendees to
order at 8:01:00. The minutes were
approved as corrected, replacing girls with students. 9 guests were introduced including the Hanshaw
clan (both of Peggys folks), a Miller, Marty Giaramita, John Dean, Sergei Meshinko, the Bridas, and a Duke. There was a brief announcement of AAPG anniversary
charter members. There were no informal
communications.
Paul Barton then took
the podium to introduce "the president of global volcanism since
1894" and the retiring president of the GSW, Tom Simkin, who presented the
presidential address, "The caldera
of Volcan Fernandina, Galapagos: its
ups and downs in the last few decades".
Tom quickly disclaimed that the observations were not entirely his own,
but those of a succession of travelers, who took time to observe something
other than the thin skin of biota on the rocks. Fernandina is a summit caldera with
concentric fissure vents and eruptions generally 3-5 km from the center of the
caldera and is characterized by central caldera collapse. Tom dramatically documented several
spectacular collapse and landslide events in the central caldera. Tom closed remarking on his Galapagos
calderas and "Their drudging impulse for horizontality", missing a
golden opportunity to notice the same thing of the general GSW audiences. The talk ran 56 minutes and 55 seconds, no
questions were allowed at the discretion of the President, and the meeting was
adjourned for 15 minutes of beer guzzling before the 98th Annual Meeting would
commence.
Respectfully submitted,
[signed Bruce R.
Wardlaw]
MINUTES OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
98th Annual Meeting, December 12, 1990
President Tom Simkin
resumed the festivities of the combined regular and annual meetings at 9:31:10.
The minutes of the previous year's bacchanal were approved as corrected. Then
proceeded a series of boring reports, the meetings secretary, Bruce Wardlaw's
annual report questioning Robertson, approved as commented, the council
secretary, Brooks Hansen's annual report, approved as read, the treasurer, Fred
Simon's report, fund, fund, fund, the audit committee report, Dick Tollo
approving so both reports were approved, the membership committee report by
Kathy Krohn which needed no approval, the public service committee report,
science fairs by Frank Ireton and field trips by Ann Wylie and read by Mike
Brown, and finally the Centennial Committee report by Gene Robertson.
The came the real meat
of the evening - the Bradley and Great Dane committee report. The Great Dane
was awarded to Cy Galvin for his informal communication on beach erosion. The Bradley Award for best paper seemed to
have every speaker from the year receiving honorable mention, but the
runner-up, second best paper of the year, was awarded to Mark Meier, for his
paper on global warming, Run the glacier is melting! The best paper, cup, and
check were awarded to Bob Hamilton for his report on the New Madrid seismic
zone.
The Sleeping Bear Award
was presented by Dick Fiske. Several worthy members of the society, Schulz,
Stewart (a perennial favorite), and Simkin were considered. The award was
clearly won by Tom Dutro for his remarkable eying of the petrologists section
of the auditorium during his comment "gneiss view".
The new slate of officers was approved by acclamation and everybody
in the room was honored, including the standing members of the council, the
projectionist, and Sorena Sorenson as program chair. She was awarded the first
and last "bringing them out on a cold winter's night award" by
President Simkin for her excellent program selection that increased attendance.
Finally, the gavel and Robert's
Book of Rules were turned over to Paul Barton, the next meeting announced,
and the meeting was adjourned at 10:42:10.