GSW: 2005 MEETING MINUTES
Geological Society of
Minutes of the 1384th Meeting,
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
John
Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club,
On a bitterly cold evening, President Hanson called the 110 attendees to order at 8:02 pm. The minutes of the 1383rd meeting were read, and a correction was suggested. Former GSW President Grossman, however, stated that the proposed correction was not necessary and that the annual meeting should not be confused with the regular meeting. Finally, after Sorena Sorenson of the Smithsonian Institution made it known that she had more than 21 years of experience dealing with former GSW President Grossman, the minutes of the 1383rd meeting were approved. Several guests were then introduced, including Chris Worth, Jan Ikelsong, someone whose last name was Marrall, Igor Puchtel, Katherine O’Rear, Steven Shirey, Ron Charpentier, and Selene Deike. New GSW member Carl-Henry Geschwind was also introduced.
Former GSW President Grossman made two announcements: One about the change in size of the meeting announcement cards, and the other about the minutes of the society back to 1949 being on-line. Current GSW President Brooks Hanson made three announcements: the 50th anniversary of Yochelson’s membership in GSW, the upcoming GSW Spring field trip, and role of Sandy Neuzil as the new GSW membership chair. These announcements were followed by one informal communication by Sorena Sorenson. It was noted that technical difficulties with PowerPoint prompted some rather informal language from Sorenson during her informal communication.
The official program for the evening was billed as a tribute to Hat Yoder, Joe Boyd, and Phil Abelson. The first speaker on the program was Bob Hazen, who discussed Hat Yoder and his work on the generation of basaltic magmas, and investigations on whether hydrothermal conditions promote the carboxylation of pyruvic acid. Hazen concluded his presentation with one of the last statements that Hat Yoder said to Bob Hazen, “We still have so much more to do.” This presentation was followed by questions from Brooks Hanson, Sorena Sorenson, Sean Brennan, Moto Sato, and two people who did not reveal their identity.
The second speaker was Dean Presnall, who discussed the scientific career of Joe Boyd, carbonate-rich melts in the mantle, and geothermal gradients. Stating that it was exceptionally difficult to reconstruct paleo-geothermal gradients, Presnall focused on elucidating modern geothermal gradients, using phase diagrams and shear-wave seismic tomography. Following the talk, Jim Meow of NSF asked Presnall why seismologists have widely diverging interpretations of seismic data. In response, Presnall noted that he was a petrologist, and that he was not able to explain the behavior of seismologists. Other questions were posed by Bob Burruss, Bill Nelson, Moto Sato, and one person who did not reveal his identity.
The third and final speaker was Marilyn Fogel, the title of whose talk (prior to the meeting) was given as, “Paleobiochemistry and a renewed search for extraterrestrial life.” At the meeting, however, the title was modified to, “Paleobiochemistry and the renewed search for life on Mars.” Now if you run a computer spell-check program on this title, your computer will note that the word “paleobiochemistry” has many syllables, and your computer will suggest that you break it into two words: “pale” and “biochemistry.” This “correction,” however, would not be appropriate, although Marilyn Fogel did talk about pale pigments in rocks on the Island of Svalbard, and how these pigments protect organisms from ultraviolet light. Fogel’s presentation focused on isotopic evidence for microbial life in rocks in the extremely cold climate of Svalbard, and she indicated that there may be (or may have been) similar microbial life in rocks on Mars. Her presentation was followed by one question from Bevan French, and one question from a man who did not reveal his identity. President Hanson then thanked the people who put together the program for the evening, and he announced the program for the upcoming meeting on February 9, 2005.
The 1384th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 9:55 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Christopher Swezey
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1385th Meeting,
Wednesday, February 9, 2005
John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
On a crisp and cool Wednesday evening, President Hanson called the 76 attendees to order at 8:02 pm. New GSW members Claire Peachy, Igor Puchtel, Naomi Lubick, and Charme Math were introduced, followed by the introduction of guests James Bernan, Josh and Ashley of the University of Maryland, and Stephen Simpson. Brooks Hanson announced the upcoming Science Fair and the need for volunteers to judge science exhibits. He also announced the AAAS meeting, to be held in Washington on February 18. Linda Rowan then presented two informal communications: the first being that she is now the Director of Government Affairs at AGI (I note that with some previous administrations, the title of “Director of Government Affairs” might not have been one to announce with pride, but this might not be a source of concern with the present administration). Linda Rowan also communicated some information about GeoScience World, an on-line database of geoscience journals.
The official program for the evening consisted of three presentations. The first speaker on the program was Peter Wilcock, who talked about artificial floods in the Grand Canyon. He stated that construction of the Glen Canyon Dam has eliminated >90% of the sediment supply to the Grand Canyon, although some sand is still stored for short intervals in fan eddy complexes where tributaries enter the canyon. Artificial floods have not been very successful at preventing long-term sand loss to the canyon. Wilcock suggested that “success” be re-defined as “learning” – and he claimed that if our objective is to learn, then the artificial floods have been a success. Nevertheless, he concluded his presentation by stating that long-term sand loss is still occurring, and that possible solutions to this problem include removing the dam (which is not likely) and sand augmentation (which would be expensive). This presentation was followed by questions from E-an Zen, “Reds” Walman, Jeff Grossman, Stephen Simpson, and Callan Bentley from George Mason University.
The second speaker was David Lindley, a British author who gave a presentation about Lord Kelvin entitled “The Old Man and the Earth.” I must confess that I am mystified as to why a British author would allude to Ernest Hemingway in the title of a lecture about Lord Kelvin. Perhaps David Lindley admired Ernest Hemingway’s style of writing. So, with that thought in mind, I shall give a brief account (in the style of Ernest Hemingway) of David Lindley’s presentation about Lord Kelvin.
The rain fell in Britain as it had always fallen – downward and in little drops. And William Thomson, the one they called Lord Kelvin, thought about heat. For 83 years, he thought alone about heat and the age of the Earth. He turned to the geologists and said, “I have thought about heat for a long time.” But the geologists did not understand. They thought about heat in the wrong way, and not in the way that was proper and just and good. You didn’t think about heat and the age of the Earth in the way that most geologists did. You thought about heat gradients and thermodynamics. Otherwise, it was the same as entering the bull ring and killing the bull with a machine gun. He started to tell the geologists that it was wrong to use machine guns in the bull ring, but instead he said, “The Earth is 100 million years old.” Yet in the end, Lord Kelvin was wrong about the age of the Earth. But he was fierce and strong in his wrongness, and he refused to accept radioactivity and transmutation of the elements.
This presentation (“The Old Man and the Earth” by David Lindley) was followed by questions from Pete Toulmin, Mac Ross, and George Helz.
The third and final speaker was F. Michael Flaser, who presented data and images of Saturn and various moons of Saturn obtained by the Cassini space craft. In particular, he showed temperature data from the rings of Saturn and various moons of Saturn, and he showed that the south pole of Saturn appears to be unusually warm. Michael Flaser then showed a series of images and data from Titan, and he concluded that there are lots of organic compounds on Titan. He also concluded that the atmosphere of Titan is not mixed very well between the low latitude regions and the high latitude regions, and that the atmosphere of Titan is more complex than previously thought. His presentation was followed by questions from Brooks Hanson, Christopher Swezey, and Jeff Grossman.
The 1385th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 9:50 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Christopher Swezey
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1386th Meeting,
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
On a cold but clear Wednesday evening, President Hanson called the 76 attendees to order at 8:02 pm. Several guests were introduced, including Amy McCavin, Eileen Rothburg, Kathy Cramer, Steve Elmore, Amy Benson, Crystal Shankle, Rocio Caballero, Julie Damon, and Katie Ackerley. Brooks Hanson announced the upcoming Science Fair and the need for volunteers to judge science exhibits. He also announced that Jeff Grossman has the history of the Society now in a searchable format on the GSW website. Bill Burton announced that the upcoming GSW Spring Field Trip is scheduled for May 14.
The official program for the evening consisted of three presentations. The first presenter was Hans-Dieter Sues, who talked about Cretaceous dinosaurs in the Kyzylkum Desert of Uzbekistan. Specifically, he reported on a diverse assemblage of dinosaur fossils recovered from fluvial rocks of Turonian age at a location named Dzharakuduk (which means “spring” in the local language). These fossils from Uzbekistan are the first well-dated assemblage of early Late Cretaceous dinosaurs from Central Asia, and the taxa are less derived than similar taxa recovered from early Late Cretaceous strata in the Gobi Desert and the Western Interior of North America. This presentation was followed by questions from E-an Zen, Pete Toulmin, Dick Fiske, and Brooks Hanson.
The second speaker was Jennifer Lynn Eigenbrode, who gave a presentation on Late Archean microbial ecosystems. Eigenbrode stated that the Late Archean fossil record is of a more chemical nature than a traditional macrofossil nature, and she postulated that a transition occurred during the Late Archean from an anoxic ocean, to “oxygen oases” (which are shallow marine oxidated pools), and then to a stratified ocean and oxygenated atmosphere. She presented a variety of Carbon-13 isotope data, then briefly hurried through an explanation of the molecular biomarker record, and finally concluded that basic microbial physiology and chemistry were established about 2.7 billion years ago, before full development of an oxygenated atmosphere. Her presentation was followed by questions from Bill McDonough, Moto Sato, George Helz, and Brooks Hanson.
The third and final speaker was Benjamin F. Chao, who gave a presentation entitled “Large Earthquakes, Tsunami, Earth Ringing, Earth Rotation, and all that ….” His presentation included information on the recent Sumatra earthquake, which is the third largest earthquake of the past 100 years, and why the Moment Scale is better than the Richter Scale for measuring the size of big earthquakes. His presentation also included information about tsunami and other wave phenomena, the ringing of the Earth after earthquakes, and variability in the rotation of the Earth. Chao concluded that the recent Sumatra earthquake shortened the length of day by 2 microseconds and shifted the point of the North Pole axis by about 2 centimeters. This presentation was followed by questions from Bill Burton, Fred Simon, Bill McDonough, Sandy Neuzil, Rick Wunderman, Dallas Peck, and two people who did not identify themselves.
The 1386th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 10:13 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Christopher Swezey
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1387th Meeting,
Wednesday, March 9, 2005
John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
On a very cold evening, President Hanson called the 78 attendees to order at 8:03 pm. The minutes of the 1386th meeting were read and approved. The following guests were then introduced: Danielle Stoll, Cindy Tselepis, and Anna Colvin. New GSW member Robert Lee Hadden was also introduced.
Tom Dutro announced that Josh Tracey had died during the previous month, and Tom read a memorial statement written by Frank Whitmore. This reading was followed by a moment of silence.
The formal program of the evening consisted of three presentations, by colonists – That is, the presenters had inserted colons in the titles of each of their presentations. Now the use of colons in presentation titles is the style these days, but the use of three colons in a row does seem to be rather unusual, even for GSW presentations. One might wonder if this occurrence constitutes a “colonnade.”
The first presentation, which was by Robert I. Tilling, was entitled, “Confronting volcanic hazards: Are we making progress?” If one performs an operation to remove the colon (which I understand to be a painful medical procedure), then this title can be reduced to the simple interrogatory statement, “Are we making progress in confronting volcanic hazards?” In this presentation, Tilling stated that volcanoes do not cause many problems in areas that are not populated. He then presented the following three possible outcomes of escalating volcanic unrest: (1) eruption, with an example being Mt. St. Helens; (2) back to sleep, with an example being Campi Flegrei Caldera in Italy; and (3) uncertainty, followed by eruption or sleep, with an example being Rabaul Volcano in Papua New Guinea. Tilling concluded his presentation by stating that we should do more monitoring, improve predictive capabilities, and improve communication. Tilling’s presentation was followed by questions from Jim Smith, Fred Simon, Carl-Henry Geschwind, Moto Sato, Dallas Peck, and Pete Toulmin.
The second presentation, which was by Jana L. D. Davis, was entitled, “From diel to glacial variability in the rocky intertidal environment: A fish learns to cope.” If one performs an operation to remove the colon, then this title can be reduced to the simple statement, “A fish learns to cope with diel to glacial variability in the rocky intertidal environment.” The particular environment of the study was located in southern California, and Davis focused primarily on fish, which are mobile, in contrast to sessile organisms that are the typical examples used for intertidal ecology paradigms. The basic conclusion of Davis’ study is that fish make a decision during high tide about which tidal pools they plan to occupy during low tide. Fish make these decisions at the following three time scales: (1) daily; (2) seasonal; (3) the scale of El Nino/Southern Oscillation events. Questions were posed by Judy Smith, E-an Zen, Sean Brennan, Bob Tilling, Jim Rubenstone, Brooks Hanson, Dallas Peck, and Peter Stavoner.
The third and final presentation, which was by Peter J. Heaney, was entitled, “Tiger’s eye and pietersite: Fraternal gems with disparate ancestries.” In this case, if one were required to remove the colon, then the presentation title could be modified to read, “Tiger’s eye and pietersite are fraternal gems with disparate ancestries.” Peter Heaney began with a brief reference to a previous presentation that he had given at a GSW meeting, and a comment about the necessity of moderation in sobriety before giving a presentation. He then discussed the structure of the two gems Tiger’s Eye and Pietersite. Basically, Tiger’s Eye is found in South Africa, whereas Pietersite is found in Namibia. Tiger’s Eye is similar to Pietersite, but Tiger’s Eye is more ordered. Peter Heaney also introduced us to the following word: Chatoyancy (which refers to the reflection of light off parallel-oriented fibers). Heaney explained the fabric of Tiger’s Eye by the presence of crocidolite fibers and a history of cracking events. In contrast, Heaney explained the fabric of Pietersite as being a replacement of calcite in limestone by chalcedony rimmed with hematite, followed by a reaction of the chalcedony and hematite to crocidolite and length-slow chalcedony. Heaney’s presentation was followed by questions from Dan Milton, Dallas Peck, Mac Ross, Linda Rowan, E-an Zen, Chris Swezey, Ernest Hammond, and Brooks Hanson.
The 1387th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 9:56 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Christopher Swezey
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1388th Meeting,
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
On a clear and mild evening, President Hanson called the 55 attendees to order at 8:03 pm. The minutes of the 1387th meeting were read and approved. Guests included Catherine Hier-Majumder, Katie Ackerley, Lauren (who is “majoring in science at GW”), and Christopher Bernhardt. Brooks Hanson and Bill Burton announced that Dick Tollo plans to lead the GSW Spring Field Trip, which will be a tour of Shenandoah National Park. An informal communication was provided by Tom Dutro, who announced that GSW member Gene Robertson has reached the age of 90.
The first formal presentation of the evening was given by Michael P. Ryan, and was entitled “Fluid compartmentalization in Mesozoic rift zones.” In this presentation, Ryan described the distribution of igneous intrusions in the Culpeper Basin of Virginia, and how these intrusions have divided the basin into compartments with respect to fluid flow. This presentation was followed by questions from Naomi Lubick, Callan Bentley, and Brooks Hanson. Following these questions, Brooks Hanson presented data compiled by GSW Archivist Jeff Grossman, showing that Ryan’s presentation has the second longest word ever used in the title of a GSW presentation.
The second presentation was given by Gerald A. Meehl, and was entitled “Global Warming – Any Conclusions?” In this presentation, Meehl discussed global climate models for the 20th century, and how these models indicate that anthropogenic effects are required to explain the global warming that has occurred during the late 20th century. He also discussed models of future climate change, and how we are committed to some additional warming and sea-level rise on account of the radiative forcing that is already in the system. This presentation was followed by questions from Bill Burton, a woman who did not identify herself, Carl-Henry Geschwind, Fred Simon, Michael Ryan, Catherine Hier-Majumder, and Sean Brennan.
The third and final presentation was given by Linda O. Mearns, and was entitled, “Use of regional climate models in impact assessments.” In this presentation, Mearns demonstrated that climate models of greater resolution provide results of greater detail. Her presentation was followed by questions from Mike Ryan, Pat Carr, Carl-Henry Geschwind, Naomi Lubick, and Brooks Hanson.
The 1388th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 9:55 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Christopher Swezey
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1389th Meeting,
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
President Hanson called the 75 attendees to order at 8:03 pm.
The minutes of the 1388th meeting were read and approved.
The following guests were introduced: Craig Finnegan, Michael Mox, David Rheinschmidt, Nikki West, John Carr, and Sara Wilkinson. New GSW members Nadine Piatak and Katie Ackerley were also introduced.
Three announcements were made. Jeff Grossman made a cryptic announcement that there is a need for some photocopying to be done by someone who is a member of both GSW and the Washington Academy of Science. Bill Burton announced the upcoming GSW Spring Field Trip to Blue Ridge Mountain in Shenandoah National Park. Brooks Hanson announced the passing of Douglas Merrill Kinney, and presided over a moment of silence in memory of Kinney.
There were no informal communications.
The regular program for the evening consisted of three formal presentations.
Bob Tracy gave the first presentation, which was entitled, “Monazite chemical dating using the electron microprobe: Monazite in shear environments.” In this presentation, Tracy concluded that monazite dating by electron microprobe techniques is superior to dating by ion probe analyses and isotopic techniques. This conclusion was supported by examples from the Goochland Terrane in Virginia, the Tobacco Root Mountains in Montana, the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, and a locality in western Massachusetts. The presentation was followed by questions from Bill Burton, Dan Milton, Craig Finnegan, Sean Brennan, Carl-Henry Geschwind, and again from Bill Burton.
Harry Lins gave the second presentation, which was entitled, “Rundown on runoff: Trends in the Nation’s rivers.” In this presentation, Lins stated that there is a perception that floods and droughts are increasing in frequency and severity. After analyzing USGS water-flow data for the United States, Lins concluded that the volume of stream flow has increased since 1941, but there is no discernable trend in the frequency at which annual flood peaks have occurred. In other words, the Nation has become wetter, but there has been no change in the occurrence of extreme flooding events. The presentation was followed by questions from Catherine Hier-Majumder, E-an Zen, Brooks Hanson, Eugene Roseboom, Jon Castro, Bill McDonough, Carl-Henry Geschwind, E-an Zen, and Craig Finnegan.
Jon Castro gave the third and final presentation, which was entitled, “Linkages between degassing and crystallization in rhyolite magmas.” In this presentation, Castro discussed variability in the compositions and textures of pyroclastic obsidian, and he related these features to variability of degassing and cooling during magma ascent. Specifically, he concluded that the abundance of feldspar microlites in obsidians at Inyo (California) indicate that the magma at this location ascended during a period of at least 6 days. This presentation was followed by questions from Kevin Pope, Roslyn Helz, Bill Burton, and Carl-Henry Geschwind.
The 1389th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 9:43 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Christopher Swezey
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1390th Meeting
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
Second Vice President Bill McDonough called the 43 attendees to order at 8:10 pm.
The minutes of the 1389th meeting were read and approved.
Second Vice President Bill McDonough then announced the speakers and presentation titles of the upcoming 1391st GSW meeting, scheduled for September 28, 2005.
New GSW members Catherine Hier-Majumder, Eric Brown, and Glenn Chinery were introduced. The following guests were also introduced: Frank Mannheim, Robin Petrusak, Ralf Halama, and Sonja Aulbach.
Second Vice President Bill McDonough announced the passing of Dr. Dallas Peck, followed by a moment of silence. McDonough then announced the passing of Cornelius Hurlbut, also followed by a moment of silence. There were no other announcements, and there were no informal communications.
The regular program for the evening consisted of three formal presentations.
Gene Hunt gave the first presentation, which was entitled, “Body size evolution on a cooling planet.” In this presentation, Hunt explained “Cope’s Rule,” which is not a rule and is not attributed to Cope. “Cope’s Rule” is the observation that body size tends to increase over time (I am certain that many of us here can attest to the validity of this observation from personal experience, although Gene Hunt applied this “rule” primarily at the species level). Hunt also explained “Bergmann’s Rule,” which is the observation that modern organisms show an inverse correlation between temperature and body size. Hunt tested the validity of these two rules for the deep sea ostracode Poseidonamicus, and he concluded that environmental change mediates body size evolution. His presentation was followed by 3 questions from Sean Brennan, 2 questions each from Dan Milton and Chris Swezey, and 1 question each from Carl-Henry Geschwind, Linda Rowan, and Barbara Am Ende.
Alan Cutler gave the second presentation, which was entitled, “Nicolaus Steno and the science of the Earth’s past.” In this presentation, Cutler discussed material from his recent book The Seashell on the Mountaintop. Specifically, Cutler discussed the life and work of Nicolaus Steno and he emphasized that Steno correctly identified what we now know to be fossil shark teeth in rocks. From this work, Steno formulated rules for deducing a relative history of objects and landscapes, and he established the “law of superposition.” Later, Steno joined the priesthood, not as a rejection of science but because he wanted to explore theological issues. Alan Cutler’s presentation was followed by questions from Kevin Marvel, Frank Mannheim, Carl-Henry Geschwind, and Chris Swezey.
Walter Cruikshank gave the third and final presentation, which was entitled, “The role of the Outer Continental Shelf in the Nation’s energy picture.” In this presentation, Cruikshank provided an overview of the Minerals Management Service (MMS) and various MMS projects related to the Outer Continental Shelf. He focused primarily on the Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico, which accounts for 21% of domestic gas production and 30% of domestic oil production. His presentation was followed by 2 questions each from Frank Mannheim and Craig Schiffries, and 1 question each from Carl-Henry Geschwind, Barbara Am Ende, and Naomi Lubick.
The 1390th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 9:57 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Christopher Swezey
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1391th Meeting
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
I would like to begin with a brief diatribe on the subject of PowerPoint, and I hope that I do not offend the speakers this evening who have prepared presentations using PowerPoint. Just prior to the official start of the 1391st GSW meeting, E-an Zen and I discussed the evils of PowerPoint, and how PowerPoint limits a presenter’s ability to communicate and inhibits the ability of an audience to think. The next day I went to my computer and used Google (which we all know to be the source of all knowledge) to find a version of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address [http://www.norvig.com/Gettysburg/]. I shall now show you Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in PowerPoint.
So, returning to the minutes of the GSW meeting. President Brooks Hanson called the 75 attendees to order at 8:02 pm. Technical difficulties with the computer then followed, illustrating some of the points that E-an Zen and I had discussed. Eventually, the computer problems were resolved, and the minutes of the 1390th meeting were read and approved.
New GSW members Sonja Aulbach and Ralph Halama were introduced.
The following guests were also introduced: Jennifer Eigenbrode, Nora Sekuchi, Peter Douglas, Steve Quane, George Maller, Liz Cottrell, Linda Warren, Dayanthie Weeraratne, Tetsuya Yokoyama, Suzanne Leffell, and Fred Leffell.
There were several announcements. Linda Rowan announced that Earth Science Week will start on October 9th, and Mark McBride announced that a recent NOVA television program had shown a re-creation of a GSW meeting from 1927. McBride’s announcement prompted several questions about how the re-created GSW meeting compared with modern GSW meetings. Following these announcements, Brooks Hanson called on Dick Fiske to share some thoughts and show some slides of the recently deceased Dallas Peck.
The regular program for the evening consisted of three formal presentations. Marcia McNutt gave the first presentation, which was entitled, “The origin of submarine canyons.” Her presentation was delayed for 7 minutes, because of difficulties with the computer (again, illustrating some of the points that E-an Zen and I had discussed earlier). Eventually, the computer glitches were resolved, and Marcia McNutt gave a fascinating account of recent investigations of the Monterey Canyon off the coast of California. In her presentation, McNutt indicated that much of the sediment transport in Monterey Canyon occurs as hyperpycnal flows, and that most of the sediment enters the canyon from along-shore currents rather than entering directly from the Salinas River that is present near the head of the canyon. Her presentation was followed by questions from Fred Spilhaus, E-an Zen, Naomi Lubick, Berto Brazelle, Greg van der Vink, and two men who did not reveal their identities.
Greg van der Vink gave the second presentation, which was entitled, “Earthscope – Unprecedented Undertaking for Geoscience.” Van der Vink gets a score of 9 out of 10 for his presentation. He gets 1 point for changing the title of his presentation, so that the title on his first PowerPoint slide did not match the title listed on the program card. This is a fairly easy point to obtain, and most GSW presenters attain this goal. Van der Vink gets 2 points for his amazing ability to talk for 20 minutes about the Earthscope program, without revealing the objectives of the program. He gets an additional 3 points for his fabulous use of bureaucratic buzz words, including the phrases “integrated science,” “multidisciplinary approach,” “interdisciplinary research,” “multi-scale, and multi-disciplinary,” “small-scale system level processes,” “synergy,” and “optimal location.” He also used the term “paradigm shift” at least 3 times during the first 5 minutes of his presentation. Van der Vink receives 1 point for his summary statement “What really makes it happen is the people,” and another point for discussing “instrumentation in the United States, plus Alaska.” He also receives 2 points for showing numerous photos of exotic field locations, but 1 point is deducted because of his lack of the obligatory sunset photo. However, he re-gains this point because he was able to insert the phrase “optimizing with respect to costs and benefits” into a response to a question from the audience. This gives him a score of 10 out of 10, but then 1 point is deducted because of his notable lack of acronyms. However, in the end, the points don’t matter. Van der Vink’s presentation was a masterpiece of bureaucratic-speak, and it prompted several questions from the audience, specifically questions from Mike Rubin, Marcia McNutt, Michael Ryan, Jeff Grossman, and Carl-Henry Geschwind.
Donald Boesch gave the third and final presentation, which was entitled, “Katrina, Science and the Louisiana Coast.” Boesch’s presentation has the distinction of being the first presentation of the year in which the title given in his PowerPoint presentation matched exactly the title written on the GSW meeting announcement postcard. Boesch presented 7 common perceptions about the geology of New Orleans and the damage caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and he declared that each of these 7 perceptions was incorrect. His presentation was followed by questions from Mac Ross, Brooks Hanson, E-an Zen, Allan Tanner, and one man who did not reveal his identity.
The 1391th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 10:08 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Christopher Swezey
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1392nd Meeting,
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
GSW President Brooks Hanson called the 107 attendees to order at 8:01 pm.
The minutes of the 1391st meeting were read, applauded, and approved.
New GSW members Jennifer Eigenbrode, Tetsuya Yokoyama, Nicholas Geboy, John McGeehin, Ernest Hammond, and Aaron Martin were introduced. The following guests were also introduced: Fanny Richardson, Bill Ellsworth, John Castro, Fred Singer, Jennifer Jackson, Jim Miller, Tom Jones, Jonathan Price, and Craig Chestner.
GSW President Brooks Hanson announced the passing of William A. Oliver, Jr., Charles McMurrow, and James Clarke. After these announcements, all of the GSW attendees stood for a moment of silence. Afterwards, Bret Leslie announced 2 job openings at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. There were no other announcements, and there were no informal communications.
The regular program for the evening consisted of three formal presentations.
Lucy McFadden gave the first presentation, which was on the subject of NASA’s Deep Impact Mission. In this presentation, McFadden described the deliberate impact of a NASA spacecraft with the comet Tempel 1. For this mission, an “impactor” craft was released from a fly-by “mother ship.” McFadden showed some wonderful movies of this event from the perspectives of both the impactor and the mother ship. She also showed photographs of various surface features on the comet, including smooth areas, circular impact craters, and circular depressions that are not impact craters. One surprising outcome of this mission was that the debris generated by the impact took a long time to fall back to the comet surface, and consequently NASA scientists were not able to see or measure the impact crater directly. Lucy McFadden’s presentation was followed by questions from Pete Toulmin, E-an Zen, Sorena Sorenson, Jennifer Jackson, Rick Wunderman, and George Helz.
Ralph Circone gave the second presentation, which was an update on the topic of global climate change. In this presentation, Circone provided a clear and succinct review of recent research on global warming. This research shows that there has been a very rapid increase in global temperature since the year 1975, and that there has been great transfer of heat from the upper atmosphere to the oceans during this time. After presenting a variety of recent research results, Circone concluded that we now have a much more compelling picture of climate change than we had 5 years ago. He observed that much discussion has focused on policy actions, and he said that we must accelerate scientific research in order to deliver more useful results. He then listed 7 examples of scientific research that would deliver useful results. Ralph Circone’s presentation was followed by questions from Catherine Hier-Majumder, E-an Zen, Sorena Sorenson, Mac Ross, and Randy Richardson.
Connie Bertka gave the third and final presentation, which was on the subject of “Intelligent Design.” In this presentation, Bertka stated that the concept of “Intelligent Design” is poor science, is poor theology, and has great public appeal. Bertka also stated that proponents of “Intelligent Design” attempt to change the definition of science and that they have no research program. Their strategy for changing the definition of science is to convince the public that science is a threat and to claim that Darwinism is inherently atheistic. In this way, proponents of “Intelligent Design” attempt to change the old debate of creationism vs. evolution into a new debate of God vs. atheism. In response, Bertka recommended the following three actions: (1) Education about the nature of science, (2) The involvement of religious scientists in these discussions, and (3) Pro-active discussion of cultural issues in public schools. Connie Bertka’s presentation was followed by 3 questions from Sorena Sorenson, a quotation from Mac Ross, 1 question each from Fred Singer, Liz Cottrell, an anonymous George Helz, Catherine Hier-Majumder, Rick Wunderman, E-an Zen, and Linda Rowan, and a final comment from Pete Toulmin.
The 1392nd meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 10:04 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Christopher Swezey
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1393rd Meeting,
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
GSW President Brooks Hanson called the 58 attendees to order at 8:03 pm.
The minutes of the 1392nd meeting were read and approved.
Bill McDonough and Hal Gluskoter provided informal comments about evolution, creationism, and results of recent school board elections in Dover (Pennsylvania) and in Kansas.
New GSW member Mark Engle was announced.
Guests Peter Douglas and Bob Finch were introduced.
GSW President Brooks Hanson made three announcements. He announced that GSW membership renewal notices will be sent in the mail soon, and he announced that GSW member David Applegate plans to give a presentation at an upcoming meeting of the Potomac Geophysical Society. Brooks Hanson also announced the confirmation of 9/10ths of the proposed GSW officer slate for next year. There were no other announcements, and there were no other informal communications or comments.
The regular program for the evening consisted of three formal presentations, involving the use of three separate laptop computers on the table next to the podium.
Kevin Marvel gave the first presentation, which had the lengthy title, “Using masers to study stellar outflows, or, how very large round rocks are made of old windbag stars.”
In this presentation, Marvel discussed the “temporal stratigraphy” of the Universe, and he indicated that astronomers consider calcite to be a metal. He then introduced us to the acronym “ISM” (which stands for “Interstellar Medium”). Gas in the ISM comes from supernovae and from stars. Some stars are old stars that are given the acronym “AGB” stars, whereas other stars are relatively young stars and apparently they have not yet had the opportunity to obtain acronyms. Kevin Marvel’s presentation was followed by questions and comments from Brooks Hanson, Rich Walker, Peter Folger, and Carl-Henry Geschwind. As a parenthetical comment, I will add that at the end of this round of questions, Brooks Hanson and Carl-Henry Geschwind had each asked a total of 11 questions during the year. In a fierce race for “question supremacy,” the events of the next hour resolve the question of who gets the recognition of having asked the most questions during the year.
Elizabeth Cottrell gave the second presentation, which was entitled “Constraints on core formation in a global magma ocean.” In this presentation, Cottrell gave an enthusiastic account of the platinum-silicate system. She noted that the composition of the Earth’s mantle does not match the composition of carbonaceous chrondrites, and she described two models of early Earth fractionation. One model requires a “Late Veneer” on the Earth’s surface, and the other model invokes a magma ocean. She then described experiments in which platinum-iron nuggets precipitated from a silicate solution, and from the results of these experiments she concluded that the “Late Veneer” model is not required to account for platinum abundances in the Earth’s mantle. Elizabeth Cottrell’s presentation was followed by 2 questions from Brooks Hanson, 1 question from Bob Finch, and 1 question from Carl-Henry Geschwind.
Tom Drake gave the third and final presentation, which was entitled “EuroSTRATAFORM: International collaborative research on continental shelf processes in the Mediterranean Sea.” In this presentation, Drake discussed a program in which lots of geophysical instruments were deployed in the Adriatic Sea. He also discussed geophysical surveys in the Gulf of Lions. These geophysical surveys were focused on deltaic sediments that contain gas (which the U.S. Navy does not like because gas interferes with sonar). In the course of his presentation, Tom Drake showed us lists of numerous collaborators, as well as a variety of different logos and acronyms. It is my understanding that “EuroSTRATAFORM” has the distinction of being the longest acronym in the title of a GSW presentation. Tom Drake’s presentation was followed by questions from Kevin Marvel, Jennifer Jackson, Liz Cottrell, Brooks Hanson, Mark Sarniac, and Mark McBride.
The 1393rd meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 9:36 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Christopher Swezey
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1394th Meeting,
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
GSW President R. Brooks Hanson (a.k.a., Royce Brooks Hanson) called the 67 attendees to order at 7:59 pm.
The minutes of the 1393rd meeting were read and approved.
The following new GSW members were introduced: Elizabeth Cottrell, Jennifer Jackson, and David Johnston. Guest Deborah Horwitz was also introduced.
There were no announcements.
On account of computer difficulties, Alison Shaw did not provide an informal communication about a recently erupted volcano in the western Pacific region.
The regular program for the evening consisted of one formal presentation by GSW President R. Brooks Hanson, who was introduced by GSW 1st Vice President (and President Elect) Rich Walker. The presentation by Brooks Hanson was entitled, “Unscientific publishing: Top ten reasons to worry about the future of scientific publishing.” In this presentation, Hanson outlined several of the functions of scientific publishing. Then he compared a typical scientific publication from 100 years ago with a typical scientific publication from the year 2005. Hanson next listed and discussed 10 reasons why one should be concerned about the future of scientific publishing. These reasons included problems with the following items: language, media reporting, archival databases, publishing efficiency, government interference, citation data, authorship, relations between publications and evaluations of authors, and the current structure of financial interactions associated with scientific research and publishing. Not wanting to end his presentation with thoughts of gloom and doom, however, Hanson then listed 10 comical reasons to worry about the future of scientific publishing. Following tradition, no questions were asked after the annual presentation by the GSW President. In the words of our founding fathers, “We hold these truths to be self-evident.”
The 1394th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 8:45 pm. This meeting was followed by the 113th Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of Washington, the minutes of which will be read for approval in December of 2006.
Respectfully submitted,
Christopher Stephen Swezey
PROVISIONAL MINUTES. To be approved Dec 2006:
Geological Society of
Minutes of the 113th Annual Meeting,
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
John
Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club,
GSW President R. Brooks Hanson (a.k.a., Royce Brooks Hanson) called the 67 attendees to order at 8:55 pm.
GSW Council Secretary (and former GSW Meeting Secretary) Linda Rowan read the minutes from the 112th Annual Meeting (which occurred on December 8, 2004), and these minutes were approved. Linda Rowan then provided a summary of the 2 GSW Council Meetings during 2005, and she indicated that these meetings focused on the themes of decreasing membership and decreasing revenues.
GSW Meeting Secretary Christopher Swezey gave a presentation that reviewed the Society meetings during 2005. In this presentation, he focused on attendance per meeting, length of meetings, questions per meeting, the Secretary’s minutes, and the temporal and spatial distribution of presentation topics. He concluded his presentation with the obligatory sunset photograph. GSW President R. Brooks Hanson was recognized for having asked the most questions during 2005.
GSW Treasurer Harvey Belkin provided a summary of the financial status of the Society. In his presentation, Belkin noted that the total financial assets of the Society amount to $57,886.10, and that 1994 was the last year that dues alone covered the expenses of the Society.
The GSW Auditing Committee report was presented by Sandy Neuzil, who indicated that the financial report is in good order.
Jeff Grossman gave the report of the GSW Finance Committee. In this report, Jeff stated that GSW finances are now invested with Wachovia Securities, after experiencing several years of negative earnings with Merrill Lynch and Company.
GSW
Membership Chair Sandy Neuzil gave the “Membership Report,” assisted by her
husband Chris Neuzil. In this report,
Craig Schiffries communicated the consensus of the GSW Awards Committee, making careful yet colorful comments about colons (in reference to the Meeting Secretary’s minutes from March 9, 2005). For 2005, the Committee awarded the Great Dane Prize (for best informal communication) to Richard Fiske for his communication on the life and science of former USGS Director and GSW member Dallas Peck. The award for 2nd Best Paper was given to Lucy McFadden for her presentation on NASA’s Deep Impact Mission (October 26, 2005). The award for best paper (the Bradley Prize) was given to Donald Boesch of the University of Maryland for his presentation entitled, “Katrina, Science and the Louisiana Coast” (September 28, 2005). Donald Boesch then made a few statements of thanks and appreciation.
Jane Hammarstrom gave a presentation about the history of the Sleeping Bear Award, which is given to the person who has done or said something in genuine good humor at one or more of the GSW meetings. For 2005, the Sleeping Bear Award was given to GSW Meeting Secretary Christopher Swezey for humor in the minutes of the Society.
GSW President R. Brooks Hanson announced the following new officer slate for 2006:
President: Rich Walker; 1st Vice President and President Elect: John Slack; 2nd Vice President: Linda Rowan; Treasurer: Harvey Belkin; Meeting Secretary: Bill McDonough; Council Secretary: Chris Swezey; Councilors: Jay Kaufman, Jim Luhr, Connie Bertka, Tim Mock, Mary Jo Baedecker, and Hal Gluskoter.
After George Helz reminded R. Brooks Hanson that a vote was necessary before approval, the new officers for 2006 were voted upon and then approved.
The 113th Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 9:50 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Christopher Stephen Swezey