Geological Society of Washington

Minutes for the 1537^th meeting

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.

President Mike Purucker called the meeting to order at 20:01 EDT.

Attendance

In spite of the federal government shutdown, there were 56 attendees. In an informal poll, more than half of the attendees said that they had been personally affected by the shutdown.

Minutes

The meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1536^th). The minutes of the 1536^th meeting had been posted on-line and a Minute’s Minute was read aloud at the 1537^th meeting. No corrections were noted and the minutes were accepted.

Guests and New Members

There were eleven guests introduced at the meeting and one additional guest signed the guest book: Kate McCann (Einstein Fellow with Marcia Fudge), Brenda Carpenter (Einstein Fellow at NSF), Megan Newcombe (DTM/University of Maryland), Janine Krippner (Smithsonian Institution), Jeff Cessna (NIST), Ryan Fitzgerald (NIST), Denis Bergeron (NIST), Juliana Olsson (Smithsonian Institution), Lysa Chizmadia (University of Puerto Rico), Daniel Flanagan and two guests (?) brought by Joyce Sim.

One new member, Élodie Macorps (NASA Goddard/University of South Florida), was announced.

Announcements

There were four announcements at the meeting:

1) Mark McBride completed the official transfer of the Bradley Award’s silver bowl to Ryan Haupt.

2) Kori Newman requested volunteers for science fair judges for three dates:

- March 14 in Loudon County

- March 16 in DC, Fairfax County, Northern VA, and Prince George’s County,

- March 23 in Montgomery County and Prince William-Manassas

3) Mike Purucker announced Ryan Haupt and Abe Padilla as the new Program Committee Chairs and requested volunteers to help with the GSW Award Committee.

4) Mike Purucker requested moments of silence to remember Nancy Grace Roman (mother of Hubble Space Telescope), Bruce Lipin (USGS) and Richard Harrison (USGS).

Informal Communications

There were two informal communications:

1. Jim Head (Brown) telecommuted to present “Chang’E 4 Mission to the Lunar Farside and the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP)”. Questions were asked by an unidentified inquisitor (?), Bill Burton (USGS) and Liz Cottrell (Smithsonian Institution).

2. Nicholas Schmerr (UMD) presented “InSight: the Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport”. Questions were asked by Pete Toulmin (USGS, retired), Joe Kanney (Nuclear Regulatory Commission), Callan Bentley (NVCC), and Mark Tyra (NIST).

Formal Program

The formal program commenced at 20:58 EDT and consisted of two speakers: Abraham Padilla (USGS) and Joyce Sim (DTM).

Abraham Padilla presented a talk titled “How to Assemble a Silicic Magma System in the Icelandic Crust”. Iceland is distinctive among modern oceanic islands due to its thick crust, elevated magmatic productivity, and abundant silicic magmatism (silicic rocks make up 10-13% of Icelandic rock exposure). The rocks preserved in the 6.52 million year old Austurhorn Intrusive Complex (AIC) best exemplify the mafic-silicic magmatic interactions that are commonly observed in silicic volcanic systems in Iceland. Zircon elemental and isotopic geochemistry was used to investigate how the diverse magmas in the AIC formed, with particular interest in better understanding the role of anatexis or recycling of hydrothermally-altered crust in the genesis and evolution of silicic magmas within the shallow crust. Oxygen isotope analyses of zircons from representative samples reveal extreme variability in the rocks of the AIC, indicating construction of the intrusion from multiple batches of isotopically diverse magmas. The lowest oxygen isotope values suggest that melting of hydrothermally-altered crust is a major contributor in the genesis of the most evolved silicic melts within the AIC magma system.

Questions were asked by Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Scholar) and Graham Lederer (USGS).

Joyce Sim presented a talk titled “Melt Focusing Beneath Mid-Ocean Ridges: A Modeling Perspective”. Oceanic crust is emplaced in a narrow neo-volcanic region at mid-oceanic ridges, whereas basaltic melt is generated in a wide region beneath the ridge. How is this melt focused beneath the ridge? Suggested mechanisms include ridge suction, decompaction layering and melt pressure focusing. Two-phase modeling shows that the background permeability of the mantle determines the dominant melt focusing mechanisms since it controls the compaction length. Analysis of the proportion of melt flux focused by either mechanism shows that melt pressure focusing is the dominant mechanism for high permeability models whereas decompaction layering is the dominant mechanism for low permeability models.

Questions were asked by Joe Kanney (NRC) and Jamie Allan (NSF).

The meeting was concluded at 22:02 EDT.

Respectfully submitted,

Megan Holycross

Geological Society of Washington

Minutes for the 1538^th meeting

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.

President Mike Purucker called the meeting to order at 20:03 EDT.

Attendance

In spite of the continuing government shutdown, there were 67 attendees.

Minutes

The meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1537^th). The minutes of the 1537^th meeting had been posted on-line and a Minute’s Minute was read aloud at the 1538^th meeting. No corrections were noted and the minutes were accepted.

Guests and New Members

There were ten guests introduced at the meeting and three additional guests signed the guest book: Anna Parker (NVCC), Michael Dinkelman (NVCC), Bridget Rorrer (NVCC), Adam Hamilton (NVCC), Daven Willis (NVCC), Rachel Skomra (NVCC), Ken Rasmussen (NVCC), Beth Doyle (NVCC), Larry Peterson (NSF/University of Miami), Emily Mellicant (NSF), David Smallwood, Steve Maran (AAS) and Raymond Smith (LLNL).

Announcements

There were three announcements at the meeting:

1) Mark Tyra invited guests to join an informal dinner before future GSW meetings and directed information requests to mark.a.tyra@gmail.com

2) Mike Purucker noted that Bruce Lipin, who was memorialized at the 1537^th meeting, was the President of GSW in 1997

3) Mike Purucker announced a “new era in the GSW program committee” and requested volunteers to speak at February GSW meetings

Informal Communications

There were two informal communications:

1) Mike Purucker shared “A little humor” courtesy of Rick Blakely (USGS emeritus) to boost the spirits of furloughed government employees.

2) Stephen Maran (AAS) presented “A brief appreciation of Dr. Nancy G. Roman”.

Formal Program

The formal program commenced at 20:28 EDT and consisted of three speakers: Erica Suosaari (Smithsonian Institution, Bush Heritage Australia), June Wicks (Johns Hopkins University) and Janine Krippner (Concord University).

Erica Suosaari presented “Hamelin Pool, Shark Bay, Western Australia: A microbial carbonate factory”. Hamelin Pool contains the largest living marine stromatolite system in the world, but the degradation of the microbial mats that form the stromatolites has gone largely unnoticed. Degradation and erosion of these mats that colonize microbial pavements, contributes prolific amounts of peloidal grains to the surrounding depositional environment. Therefore, Hamelin Pool can be recognized as a microbial carbonate factory with extensive microbial precipitation resulting in both accretion of stromatolites and carbonate sediment production. This association of peloidal sediments and stromatolites can be seen throughout the rock record, and as such Hamelin Pool functions as a great analog to facilitate understanding of microbial deposits throughout the geologic record.

Questions were asked by Bill Burton (USGS furloughed), Mike Purucker, John Repetski (USGS emeritus furloughed), Blanch? (retired physicist/engineer), Ben Mandler (AGI) and Victor Zabieleski (NVCC).

June Wicks presented “From super-earth interiors to our own earth’s surface: using dynamic compression to study our universe”. Of the thousands of planets that have been discovered outside of our solar system, many fall within the size range between Earth and Neptune. Mass-radius observations show that many of these planets have compositions (rock+metal) comparable to the terrestrial planets of our solar system. Because planetary formation and subsequent evolution is fundamentally controlled by the properties of minerals at high pressure, interpretations of terrestrial exoplanet observations require better knowledge of matter at extreme conditions. Recent experimental advances in harnessing the power of lasers can be used to constrain a wide variety of planetary processes, from determining the structure of cores of large extrasolar planets to interpreting the dynamic history of minerals found at meteor impact craters.

Questions were asked by George Helz (UMD), Joe Kanney (NRC), Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher), an unidentified inquisitor, Bill Burton (USGS furloughed) and Michael Dinkelman (NVCC).

Janine Krippner presented “Exceptionally large lava dome collapse events & block-and-ash flows: hot and fast avalanches of destruction”. Block-and-ash flows are fast, hot, dense mixtures of rock and gas that can destroy everything in their path and too frequently result in fatalities around volcanoes. Understanding the largest of these events helps us to understand what the worst-case scenarios are for volcanoes around the world that produce similar eruption styles. Block-and-ash flows at Shiveluch volcano in Kamchatka, Russia, are some of the largest historical flows on Earth. These deposits display evidence of multi-stage dome collapse events, decoupled pyroclastic surge (gas-rich flows), damage to the area, and they can help us to understand the deposits of other similar events.

Questions were asked by Carl Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher), Mike Weber (University of Bonn), Bill Burton (USGS still furloughed), Joe Kanney (NRC), Karyn Prestegaard (UMD).

The meeting was concluded at 21:48 EDT.

Respectfully submitted,

Megan Holycross

Geological Society of Washington

Minutes for the 1539^th meeting

Wednesday, February 6, 2019

John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.

President Mike Purucker called the meeting to order at 20:00 EDT.

Attendance

There were 84 attendees.

Minutes

The meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1538^th). The minutes of the 1538^th meeting had been posted on-line and a Minute’s Minute was read aloud at the 1539^th meeting. No corrections were noted and the minutes were accepted.

Guests and New Members

There were 20 guests introduced at the meeting and an additional 4 signed the guestbook: Fred Black (DOI/OSM retired), James Acker (NASA GSFC/GES DISC), Frank Lemoine (NASA GSFC), Ben Farcy (UMD), Austin Gion (UMD), Mason Fried (ICF), Isabel Nias (NASA GSFC), Denis Felikson (NASA GSFC), Sheri Loftin (NASA GSFC), Sara Rosborough (NASA GSFC), Daniel Smallwood (DC Grotto), Ashley Llitchoch (DC Grotto), Robin Rohrback (NVCC), Talitha Harrington (NVCC), Kyle Harrington (NVCC), Samantha Lawrence (NVCC), Bobbi Mercoux (NVCC), Mary Crake (NVCC), Ansarullah Haidai (NVCC), Ken Rasmussen (NVCC), Rick Cosentino (NASA GSFC), Raymond Thaler, John Long (NC State/Dewberry), Steve Vensink (US Army Geospatial Center) and Phil Torres (Independent Scholar).

Liz Cottrell attempted to introduce a guest who was not present at the meeting.

Two new members were announced: Phillip Goodling (USGS) and James Bader (UMD).

Announcements

There were four announcements:

1) Liz Cottrell announced the National Museum of Natural History is requesting quotes for a large contract to link volcanic rocks in the National Rock and Ore Collection with the Global Volcanism Program online database.

2) Kori Newman requested judges for local science fairs

3) Kori Newman announced the meeting speakers for the next two Potomac Geophysical Society: GSW President Mike Purucker (February) and GSW member Phillip Goodling (March).

4) Ben Mandler advertised open AGI science policy internships to students and early career scientists.

Informal Communications

There were no informal communications.

Formal Program

The formal program commenced at 20:12 EDT and consisted of three speakers: Peter Brannen (UC Boulder), Helen Janiszewski (Carnegie Institution for Science) and Angela Marusiak (UMD).

Peter Brannen presented “Earth’s Great Mass Extinctions”. Five mass extinctions have occurred in the 500 Myr history of life, when the majority of life went extinct in a geological moment. Geologists have discovered that most of these extinctions were caused, not by asteroid impacts, but by catastrophic volcanism and other earth processes that drove extensive degassing of CO₂ into the atmosphere, causing extreme changes in climate and ocean chemistry. Research on these past events can help us understand the prospects for life on our planet in the near and far future as Earth experiences the effects of anthropogenic climate change.

Questions were asked by: Graham Lederer (USGS), Victor Zabielski (NVCC), Phil Torres (Independent Scholar), an unidentified inquisitor, John Repetski (USGS emeritus), Bill Burton (USGS), Glen Sender (retired engineer), Samantha Lawrence (NVCC) and Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher).

Helen Janiszewski presented “The Birth and Death of a Plate: What Offshore Instrumentation Teaches Us about Subduction Zones”. Subduction zones are one of Earth’s most dangerous tectonic environments, hosting hazardous phenomena such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. They also play an essential role in long-term tectonic processes such as deep material transport and recycling, and continent evolution. However, many aspects of subduction zones remain poorly understood, in part due to the challenges associated with a system that straddles the offshore-onshore divide. Onshore/offshore seismic arrays have recently been deployed to the Cascadia subduction zone, located off the coast of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. These arrays allow, for the first time, higher resolution imaging on an entire tectonic plate from its creation at the mid-ocean ridge, to the start of subduction at the deformation front, and through the volcanic arc, allowing us to observe structures that may influence volcanic and seismic behavior.

Questions were asked by: Jasmine Marcos (NASA Goddard), Victor Zabielski (NVCC), Doug Duncan (USGS retired), Bill Burton (USGS), Mike Purucker (NASA), Ansarullah Haidai (NVCC).

Angela Marusiak (UMD) presented “Exploring Ocean Worlds: How Greenland Can Help Us Understand Icy Moons”. Icy worlds are numerous in the outer solar system. Can their waters host life? Future missions to these worlds will help us to learn more. However, any instruments hosted in a lander on the surface of an icy moon must be robust to the harsh conditions present in the outer solar system. The Seismometer to Investigate Ice and Ocean Structure (SIIOS) team explored Northwest Greenland as an analog for icy moons to evaluate how seismometers in different configurations constrain the noise environment, local ice structure, and compare how they detect, locate, and identify signals from both passive and active seismic events.

Questions were asked by: Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher), Peter Jacobs (George Mason University), Mike Purucker (NASA), Phillip Goodling (USGS), Bill Burton (USGS), Callan Bentley (NVCC) and Ansarullah Haidai (NVCC).

President Mike Purucker closed the meeting with a reminder that the next meeting is March 13, 2019.

The meeting was concluded at 21:46 EDT.

Respectfully submitted,

Megan Holycross

Geological Society of Washington

Minutes for the 1540^th meeting

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.

President Mike Purucker called the meeting to order at 20:03 EDT.

Attendance

There were 67 attendees.

Minutes

The meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1539^th). The minutes of the 1539^th meeting had been posted online and a Minute’s Minute was read aloud at the 1540^th meeting. No corrections were noted and the minutes were accepted.

Guests and New Members

There were 7 guests introduced at the meeting and an additional 9 signed the guestbook:

Amy East (USGS Santa Cruz), Delores Knipp (UC Boulder), John Geissman (UT Dallas and UNM), Emily Mellicant (NSF), Larry Peterson (NSF), Janine Krippner (Smithsonian), Wilson Sauthoff (NSF), Noah Varias (NVCC), Alex Murphy (NVCC), John Wall (Dewberry), Dimitri Vassihadi (NVCC), Thomas Buball (NVCC), Sam Ross (NVCC), Alex Morgan (Smithsonian), Jessica Gephart (SESYNC), and Alex Bijak (EPA).

Two new members were announced: Helen Janiszewski (Carnegie Institution for Science) and Michael Walter (Carnegie Institution for Science).

Announcements

There were three announcements:

1) Kori Newman requested judges for local science fairs.

2) Mike Purucker memorialized Wally Broecker (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory), Walter Munk (Scripps Institution of Oceanography), and Richard Biancale

3) An unidentified announcer reminded the audience that next meeting of the Paleontological Society of Washington is Wednesday, March 20, at the National History Building.

Informal Communications

There were four informal communications:

1) Liz Cottrell (Smithsonian) notified the greater Washington area of the Mineralogical Society of America’s Centennial celebration June 20-21, 2019 taking place at the Carnegie Building on P Street in D.C.

2) Ben Mandler (AGI) notified the community of recent layoffs at AGI and made himself available for private questions and comments, off-podium. One question was asked by Graham Lederer (USGS).

3) Bill Burton (USGS) advertised the USGS re-creation of John Wesley Powell’s expedition on the Green and Colorado rivers for its 150^th anniversary. Questions were asked by Liz Cottrell (Smithsonian), an unidentified questioner and Graham Lederer (USGS).

4) Rosalind Helz (USGS emeritus) presented “Kilauea: Current Status” to update the community on the subsidence of two large, very deep craters and slow magma recharge at Kilauea. Questions were asked by Mike Crawford (USGS) and Bill Burton (USGS).

Formal Program

The formal program commenced at 20:33 EDT and consisted of three speakers: Ioan Lascu (Smithsonian), Lynn Wingard (USGS) and Larry Meinert (Meinert Consulting, LLC).

Ioan Lascu presented “Magnetic Trek into Vortex: The Nature of Magnetic Carriers in Rocks Revealed”. The nature of mineral magnetic carriers in Earth materials has been a subject of scientific inquiry for almost a century. During this time, we have gained an accurate theoretical understanding of the behavior of a special category of grains, namely uniformly magnetized nanoparticles, which act like nanometer-sized compasses. However, these are very small (<100 nm) and represent only a fraction of the totality of magnetic carriers in rocks. Recent developments in micromagnetic modeling and nanoscale imaging have permitted the investigation of particles that are not uniformly magnetized, and which carry most of the natural remanence recorded in rocks. The magnetization of these particles can be explained by the nucleation of magnetic vortex structures, which are stable for billions of years. The behavior of magnetite in obsidians from Glass Buttes, Oregon form a case study.

Questions were asked by Rosalind Helz (USGS emeritus, two questions), Mike Purucker (NASA) and Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Scholar).

G. Lynn Wingard presented “The Application of Holocene Records to Resource Management: An Example from the Everglades”. Resource managers are challenged with the task of restoring ecosystems across a range of environments and spatial scales and a common goal of these efforts is to restore ecosystems to a pre-existing “unaltered” state. This raises questions about how to identify pre-existing states and whether this is really the right approach to restoration, particularly considering projected 21st century changes in climate and sea level. Sediment records from the Holocene are being used to set targets and performance measures for freshwater flow for the Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration, where the most important goal is to “get the water right”.

Questions were asked by Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Scholar), Brooks Hanson (AGU), Ryan Haupt (Smithsonian) and Joe Canney (Nuclear Regulatory Committee).

Larry Meinert presented “Space Resources, Sustainability and the Future of Civilization”. Mineral resources are the building blocks of civilization and have been used for millennia in ever-increasing amounts, and with increasing diversity of critical elements. As human activity extends into space it will be necessary to source some of this material from extraterrestrial bodies (asteroids, moons, other planets) due to the prohibitive cost of transportation from Earth. Although the popular press envisions sending space material back to Earth, this is unlikely for the same cost prohibition of bringing large amounts of Earth material to space. Space resources are likely to be large relative to human needs and quantitatively assessing those resources is a necessary first step in their commercial development. No major mining company would undertake the huge cost of developing a new mine without a detailed resource model and given the even higher costs of space travel and development, space resource models and assessment will be a necessity as planetary travel pushes forward.

Questions were asked by Bill Burton (USGS), Alex Morgan (Smithsonian) and Murray Hitzman (USGS-resigned).

President Mike Purucker closed the meeting by announcing the three speakers for the next meeting and encouraged guests to sign the guest book.

The meeting was concluded at 21:52 EDT.

Respectfully submitted,

Megan Holycross

Geological Society of Washington

Minutes for the 1541^st meeting

Wednesday, DATE UNKNOWN

John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.

True to his habitual sense of punctuality, President Michael Purucker called the meeting to order at 8:01pm, preceded by a minute of clapping his hands while walking westward down the central aisle of the Powell Room of the Cosmos Club.

Attendance

There were 55 people in the room.

Minutes

The minutes of the previous meeting, the 1540^th, were summarized in less than 60 seconds by the stand-in meeting secretary, and 1 addition was made (identifying an unknown announcer). A few unidentified characters remained so, but that’s what happens when members don’t take the time to read the minutes.

Guests and New Members

President Purucker announced 1 new member, Austin Gion, a PhD Student at the University of Maryland. He was in attendance, stood, and was welcomed with a hearty round of applause.

There were half a billion guests in attendance, including five NOVA students: Alyssa David, Jennie Haskamp, Jakob Reifsnyder, Kimberly Posada, and Senya Dedoo, plus Alyssa brought her dad, and Kimberly brought a small entourage. The Society also welcomed the verbal introductions of Lindsey Abdale from the USGS National Minerals Information Center, Julia Jeanty of AGI, and Maya Wei-Haas of National Geographic. The guest book revealed 6 further guests however, recorded in nonarticulated scrawls of ink: Roger Morris, Rosemary Killen of NASA, Thomas Morgan of NASA, John Wall of Dewberry, Claudia Carabajal of NASA GSFC, and Allen Lunsford of NASA GSFC.

Announcements

Then followed four announcements:

(1) AGU will host a “Station Aloha” lecture (oceanography meets microbiology) on Wednesday April 10, from 5:30-7pm at their newly renovated headquarters at 2000 Florida Avenue.

(2) Eric Lindstrom is writing a book about J. Harlan Bretz and is seeking information about the ol’ Shootout at the Cosmos Corral, specifically any details about the career or personality of GSW past president W.C. Alden.

(3) In a performance of her perpetual paean, Kori Newman asked for Science Fair Judges and alerted everyone that there would be student presenters at the next meeting, so be sure to show up at 7:30pm to interact with them.

(4) Mike Purucker announced the passing of two former GSW members: Allan Bain Tanner and Peter Milligan. A moment of silence was observed.

Formal Program

There were three formal talks of 20 minutes maximum duration apiece, but all were well timed, coming in at 19 minutes each.

The first was Aaron Barth of Emory & Henry College. Aaron coolly presented his work on cosmogenic chlorine isotopes in Adirondack peaks and boulders perched thereupon. His motivation for this work is that future changes in sea level will largely be dictated by changes in the world’s ice sheets. But the magnitude and rate at which these ice sheets will respond to climate change remain uncertain, so he seeks a deeper investigation into past ice sheet-climate interactions. Numerous studies have documented the timing and pattern of Laurentide Ice Sheet margin retreat (i.e., horizontally/laterally) since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), but few studies have provided vertical constraints necessary for accurate volume (and hence sea-level contribution) estimates. Aaron presented 21 ³⁶Cl ages from boulder and bedrock samples along vertical transects spanning ~1000 m of relief from multiple peaks in the Adirondack Mountains of northeastern New York, USA. His team’s exposure ages span the LGM through the last deglaciation, with the highest elevation sites (~1500 m) ranging between 25 – 19 ka, and the lower elevations sites (≤1300m) between 16 – 13 ka. These data suggest a two phase retreat: (1) gradual ice-sheet thinning of 200 m initiated at ~20 ka followed by (2) more rapid surface lowering of 1000 m approximately coincident with ‘Bølling-Allerød’ warming and meltwater pulse ‘1A.’ This matters because it implies that if this extra water came from North (Nørth?) America, then it didn’t come from Antarctica, and may imply a lower sensitivity for the Antarctic ice sheet when presented with global warming induced changes.

Aaron got questions from Bill Burton (USGS), Jamie Allen (NSF), Dan Doctor (USGS), Karen Prestegaard (UMD), Victor Zabielski (NOVA), and Brent Grocholski (Science).

The second speaker of the evening gave an ‘out of this world’ talk. Sheri Singerling of the USGS presented her research into iron sulfide minerals in carbonaceous chondritic meteorites (CM). Iron sulfides are common but minor phases in carbonaceous chondrites, the most primitive meteorite type. Previous works have argued for a secondary origin for sulfides in the CM chondrites, being the result of the interaction of water with precursor sulfides and/or metals on asteroidal parent bodies. Sheri’s work shows, however, that there are a population of sulfides (troilites, pyrrhotites, and pentlandites) in CM chondrites that are probably primary, having formed from crystallization in the solar nebula. These sulfides are largely unstable during aqueous alteration and break down into a host of different alteration products that can shed light on the environmental conditions present on asteroidal parent bodies early in the solar system’s evolution.

Sheri was questioned by George Helz (UMD), Carl-Henry Geschwind (independent scholar), Pete Toulmin (USGS retired), Bill Burton (USGS), Ben Mandler (AGI), and Dan Doctor (USGS).

The evening’s last talk was Old News, delivered by Adam Pritchard, currently of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, but soon to relocate to the Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsville. Adam gave us a tour of fossil reptiles across the Permian/Triassic boundary. The earliest-known relatives of the modern lizard, turtle, crocodilian, and bird lineages appear in the fossil record of the Late Permian Period, over 250 million years ago. Although records of reptiles from this time are rare, they provide a tantalizing window to a fascinating event: the origin of all of these modern groups from a single common ancestor. The earliest members of these reptile lineages were marginal components of their ecosystems, vastly outnumbered by distantly related groups of larger and more diverse vertebrates. However, a mass extinction at the end of the Permian Period—252 million years ago—radically altered the makeup of ecosystems on land. As Adam put it, “the Earth had 100,000 really, really bad days,” wiping the slate almost totally clean and opening up brand new ecospace for evolutionary novelty. New discoveries of early reptile fossils from the subsequent Triassic Period illustrate this striking event, showing that reptile lineages rapidly evolved adaptations to diverse environments following the extinction. Specialist diggers, climbers, predators, and herbivores evolved, in a variety of sizes and flavors. These pioneering species paved the way for the rise and dominance of dinosaurs in the subsequent Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods.

Those who hurled questions at Adam included Carl-Henry Geschwind (independent scholar), Victor Zabielski (NOVA), Mike Purucker (NASA), and Brent Grocholski (Science).

President Purucker announced the slate of speakers (three again: Sheana Montanari of the AAAS, Kimberly Miner of the Army Geospatial Research Lab, and Larry Peterson of the University of Miami),) and their general topics (dinosaurs, climate change risk assessment, and paleoceanography, respectively) for the April 24^th meeting.

He then imparted downward force with his forelimb, assisted by acceleration due to gravity, causing the gavel gripped in his four fingers and opposable thumb to collide with the uppermost surface of the lectern. This compressed a bolus of air between the two wooden bodies, resulting in a concussive thunderclap that traveled through the room at the speed of sound. As these waves of atmospheric pressure entered the ear canals of those in the 55 attendees, eardrums vibrated, causing nerves to be fired, carrying electrical signals to the brains of every person in the room, almost simultaneously. Mental processing then transpired in all attendees’ minds within milliseconds, interpreting the bang as a signal of the cessation of the meeting. It was 9:40pm. People got up, took their empty green bottles to the back of the room, put on their coats, and left the Club.

Respectably submitted,

Callan Bentley
Acting meeting secretary

Geological Society of Washington

Minutes for the 1542^nd meeting

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.

President Mike Purucker called the meeting to order at 20:05 EDT.

Attendance

There were 68 attendees.

Minutes

The meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1541^st). The minutes of the 1541^st meeting had been posted online and a Minute’s Minute was read aloud at the 1542^nd meeting. One correction was noted and the minutes were accepted.

Guests and New Members

There were 20 guests introduced at the meeting and an additional 3 guests signed the guestbook: James Bier (NOVA), Siobhan Light (Montgomery High School), Kate White (Montgomery High School), Irwin Singer (retired from the Naval Research Lab), Elizabeth Bailey (Bowie High School), Jessica Ash (NOVA), Thomas Holmstead (Department of Energy and Environment, DC), Chris Hander (NOVA), Isabella Munson (Governors School), Gabriella Farfan (Smithsonian Institution), Terese Mulder (NOVA), Alicia Mulder (NOVA), Daniela Hidalgo (NOVA), Kaylyn Weeks (NOVA), Walter Beckham (Science), Justin Shomers (NOVA), Aleshya Barbour (NOVA), Asim Subedi (NOVA), Mohammad Zahran (NOVA), Husam Tufail (NOVA), Huma Pervaiz (NOVA), Moses Micazzo (Other Orb; Flagstaff, AZ) and David Chavarria (NOVA).

Two new members were announced: Elizabeth Doyle (NOVA and Marymount University) and Alexander Morgan (Smithsonian Institution).

Announcements

There were 12 announcements made by 7 announcers:

1) President Mike Purucker:

a. Conducted two informal polls. The audience overwhelmingly agreed that GSW should host a summer field trip to a serpentine quarry, but a proposed meeting where GSW members give short talks was a less popular proposition.

b. Advertised the Geological Society of America’s Northeastern section meeting in 2020 taking place in Reston, VA and highlighted the June 1, 2019 proposal due date.

c. Called for a moment of silence to remember geologists Peter Robinson, Louise Kellogg and Neil Opdyke.

2) Callan Bentley:

a. Announced himself as the new GSW nominating chair to replace Ben Mandler.

b. Advertised two field trips: a Corridor H field trip Saturday May 11 and a field workshop in DC on June 1 for instructors who lead field trips (a “field trip about field trips”).

3) Bill Burton USGS updated us on the John Wesley Powell 150^th anniversary celebration. He was selected for the journey, as was Graham Lederer (USGS).

4) Kori Newman recognized eight science fair winners from local high schools and presented them with prizes.

5) Andy Campbell announced that he loves the science fair and was glad to have the opportunity to judge.

6) Beverly Walker advertised AWG’s “Quantum Questions” Science Trivia night at the Wundergarten in DC on April 25.

7) Ryan Haupt:

a. Reminded the audience of upcoming AWG chapter elections

b. Celebrated the one-year anniversary of the DMV AWG chapter

c. Advertised an upcoming field AWG field trip to Calvert Cliffs

Informal Communications

Nick Schmerr (UMD) presented “Update: First Marsquake Detection”. An event on April 6, 2019 showed seismic activity on Mars. Signals were small but demonstrably above background noise—perhaps similar to a shallow moonquake. Three other weak events have been detected on Mars as well.

Questions were asked by Liz Cottrell (Smithsonian Institution) and Pete Toulmin (USGS, retired).

Formal Program

The formal program commenced at 20:37 and consisted of three speakers: Larry C. Peterson (University of Miami), Shaena Montanari (NSF AAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow), and Kimberly Miner (U.S. Army Engineer Research & Development Center’s Geospatial Research Laboratory).

Larry C. Peterson presented “Ice Cores and Ocean Mud: Records of Abrupt Climate Change and Implications for Tropical Hydrology”. One of the most surprising discoveries to come from the paleoclimate record is the rapidity with which large magnitude changes can occur. The most dramatic insights into this behavior first came from ice core studies in Greenland in the 1980s which showed that large (10-12°C) changes in regional temperature occurred in the past over timescales of a few years to decades at most. Though the Greenland ice cap has become the de facto “type-section” for these events, marine sediment records from high accumulation rate settings around the globe have shown evidence of large and rapid climate excursions with similar temporal behavior. Sediment records from the Cariaco Basin, an unusual anoxic basin off northern Venezuela, demonstrate that shifts in the tropical rain belts are tightly linked to Greenland temperatures and ocean circulation and mirror abrupt changes seen in ice cores.

Questions were asked by: Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher), Victor Zabielski (NOVA), Bill Burton (USGS), Mark (?) (UMD) and one questioner whose name this secretary couldn’t quite hear but identified himself as being retired.

Shaena Montanari presented “Cracking the Egg: The Use of Modern and Fossil Eggs for Ecological, Environmental and Biological Interpretation”. Eggs and eggshells have both organic and inorganic components and can thus be a useful substrate for reconstructing environment, ecology and biology over a range of time scales from deep time to the present. Mongolian dinosaur eggshells were analyzed to determine their stable isotope compositions (¹³C, ¹⁵N, ¹⁸O) and the results reflect their trophic level, diet and environmental conditions. Eggshells may also be used in modern as well as fossil investigations, and can shed light on paleoenvironmental reconstructions, population genetics, determining non-avian dinosaur behavior and more.

One question was asked by Ryan Haupt (Smithsonian Institution).

Kimberley Miner presented “The Secret Legacy of Glaciers: Assessing the Human Risk from Pollution in Glacial Meltwater”. Widespread distribution of atmospherically mobilized organochlorine pollutants (OCPs) has been documented throughout the Arctic. A fraction of these pollutants have become entrained in glacial ice, and during melting, they can be released into downstream reservoirs. Though this remobilization effect is known, an assessment of risk from glacial meltwater to human communities living in the Arctic, including Alaska, had not been accomplished. A screening-level risk assessment model for glacial watersheds, based on US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) methodology, was developed and applied to numerous watersheds in Europe and America. Model results indicate that even with low levels of OCPs in glacial meltwater, high fish consumption by subsistence communities in the area increases the risk impacts above acceptable limits. The assessment of risk from glacial meltwater is work is being accomplished this spring for the first time on Mt Everest, as part of a National Geographic Science Expedition to the summit.

Questions were asked by: Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher), Bill Burton (USGS), Victor Zabielski (NOVA), Moses Micazzo (Other Orb; Flagstaff, AZ) and a fourth person whose name this secretary didn’t catch.

President Mike Purucker closed the meeting with an announcement advertising the next meeting on May 8^th, listed the speakers who will be talking at the meeting and noted his absence from this next meeting. He also announced Steve Nerem (U Colorado) as the 2019 Bradley Lecturer.

President Purucker adjourned the meeting at 21:54 EDT.

Respectfully submitted,

Megan Holycross

Geological Society of Washington

Minutes for the 1543^rd meeting

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.

Acting President Ester Sztein called the meeting to order at 20:02 EDT.

Attendance

There were 56 attendees.

Minutes

The meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1542^nd). The minutes of the 1542^nd meeting had been posted online and a Minute’s Minute was read aloud at the 1543^rd meeting. No corrections were noted and the minutes were accepted.

Guests and New Members

There were four guests introduced at the meeting and additional five guests signed the guestbook: Aaron Jubb (USGS), Marissa A. Vara (NSF), Doug Hemingway (Carnegie DTM), John Faber, Nicholas Socky (WVACS), David Smallwood (DCG), Luke Guimmelbein, Dominic White (Smithsonian Institution, NMNH), and Advait M. Jukar (Smithsonian Institution, NMNH).

One new member was announced: John Wall (Dewberry).

Announcements

There was one announcement: Maddie Schaefer announced the AWG field trip to Calvert Cliffs on May 19^th and also advertised AWG chapter elections, which have an interest deadline of May 24^th.

Informal Communications

There were two informal communications:

1. Kori Newman highlighted the work of high school senior Carolyn Beaumont, who came in 5^th place in the Regeneron Science Talent Search for her work on how water affects the viscosity of magma—a key factor in the violence of volcanic eruptions.

2. Rich Walker presented “Cretaceous Park: Gorgona Island, Colombia”. Komatiites are largely absent in the rock record post-Archean, but Gorgona Island off the coast of Colombia is host to rare young (89 Ma) komatiites that are related to the Caribbean large igneous province. A team of scientists from UMD and Cornell made a recent expedition to Gorgona to bring back komatiites for future research.

Formal Program

The formal program commenced at 20:23 EDT and consisted of three speakers: Gabriela Farfan (Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History), Emily Martin (Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum) and Matthew T. Carrano (Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History).

Gabriela Farfan presented “A Mineral Perspective on Coral Skeletons in a Changing Ocean”. Stony corals form the architecture of coral reef ecosystems, which serve as hotspots of ocean biodiversity and hold enormous economic value. The question of how corals biomineralize their aragonite skeletons and how this process will be impacted by rapid climate change is essential for predicting the fate of these delicate ecosystems. Studying the mineralogy and crystallography of aragonite crystals provides new insights into how shallow-water and deep-sea corals precipitate the aragonite crystals that make up their skeletons and how their mineralogy may be shifting under varying ocean environments.

Questions were asked by: Victor Zabielski (NVCC), Joe Canney (Nuclear Regulatory Commission), Pat Carr (NGA) and Dan Doctor (USGS).

Emily Martin presented “Holes in the Ground are Cool: Using Pit Chains in Iceland to Measure Snow on Saturn’s Moon Enceladus”. Saturn’s tiny moon Enceladus is a geologically active ocean world, spewing salty water out into the Saturn system creating the E ring, and covering Enceladus with a thick layer of snow. Enceladus’s active tectonic environment developed features called pit chains (linear assemblages of circular to elliptical pits found across the solar system) that can be used to infer the thickness of this snowy layer. Northern parts of Iceland were used as an analogue to test a proxy in the field and compare with observations from remotely collected planetary data. Understanding ocean worlds like Enceladus is helping us target future astrobiological studies, advancing our search for extraterrestrial life in our solar system.

Questions were asked by: Callan Bentley (NVCC), two questions from Brooks Hanson (AGU), Victor Zabielski (NVCC), Bob Burton ? (USGS retired), Beth Doyle (NVCC), Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher) and Bill Burton (USGS).

Matthew Carrano presented “Challenges and Benefits of Using Vertebrate Microfossil Bonebeds for Understanding Terrestrial Paleoecosystems”. Vertebrate microfossil bonebeds (VMBs) are specimen-rich, locally restricted concentrations of small-sized vertebrate fossils that occur throughout the terrestrial vertebrate fossil record. They are especially valuable sources for smaller and rarer taxa. A decade of collecting from VMB localities in the Lower Cretaceous Cloverly Formation in the western United States has revealed important new data about this vertebrate fauna, including several previously undiscovered taxa. In addition, it is now possible to make robust comparisons to penecontemporaneous faunas across North America. There are also potential biases and difficulties associated with VMB data. Major remaining challenges include sorting between the contributions made to the sample from dead versus still-living organisms and recognizing potential differential contribution from organisms with different rates of tooth replacement. Because VMBs only form under a limited set of taphonomic settings, they can be utilized for robust intra- and inter-formational comparisons, both penecontemporaneously and across geologically long time intervals. As such, they will be a powerful tool for examining geographic, environmental, and temporal variations in paleoecosystems.

Questions were asked by Bill Burton (USGS), Beth Doyle (NVCC), Tom (Science and Technology Policy Institute), John Repetsky (USGS retired), Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher), Victor Zabielski (NVCC) and Kori Newman (STR).

Acting President Ester Sztein reminded attendees this was the last meeting of GSW for the spring and announced the next GSW meeting taking place on September 11, 2019 prior to adjourning the meeting at 21:56 EDT.

Respectfully submitted,

Megan Holycross

Geological Society of Washington

Minutes for the 1544^th meeting

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.

President Mike Purucker called the meeting to order at 20:06 EDT.

Attendance

There were 48 attendees.

Minutes

The meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1543^rd). The minutes of the 1543^rd meeting had been posted online and a Minute’s Minute was read aloud at the 1544^th meeting. No corrections were noted and the minutes were accepted.

Guests and New Members

There were nine guests introduced at the meeting and an additional three guests signed the guestbook: Natalie Raia (Smithsonian), Elizabeth Herndler (Embassy of Luxembourg), Miriam (NASA Goddard), Sheri Lofgren (NASA Goddard), Mary Peterson (AAAS), Hannah Rabinowitz (AAAS), Martin Pratt (WUSTL), Emily First (Brown), Benoit Welsch (Brown), Alison Kelly (NRDC), Alex Venzke (Smithsonian) and Evelyn Powell (Harvard).

Three new members were announced: Luke Grimmelbein (Smithsonian), Connor Hilton (UMD) and Anna Parker (NVCC).

Announcements

1. Ester Sztein announced the International Geological Congress will take place in March 2020 in India and advertised available applications for travel grants.

2. Liz Cottrell announced two job opportunities at the National Museum of Natural History: a contractor position to work cataloguing the Dave Clague collection and an upcoming permanent federal job in the Global Volcanism Program as a data researcher.

3. Bev Walker announced the DMV AWG picnic on Sunday Sept 15 at Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens from 2-5 pm.

4. Mike Purucker reminded GSW that there is still an opening on USA jobs for the head of NASA Goddard.

5. Mike Purucker memorialized GSW member Brian Skinner, a pioneer of Economic Geology and professor at Yale.

6. Mike Purucker announced an offer from AGU to host GSW meetings at AGU headquarters on a three-year contract. Mike called Brooks Hanson called to the stand to comment on the offer, then took an informal poll to gauge GSW members’ happiness with the current Cosmos Club venue. A clear majority of poll responders were happy, although not everyone voted. Callan Bentley and Carl-Henry Geschwind shared that the move to AGU would save $2600/year over Cosmos Club. Callan spoke to the “deliberately exclusionary ethos” of the Cosmos Club versus a more welcoming/inclusive attitude at AGU.

Further questions and comments were asked by: Liz Cottrell (Smithsonian), Bill Burton (USGS), Karen Prestegaard (UMD), Ryan Haupt (GSA), Victor Zabielski (NVCC), Kevin Marvel (AAS) and an unidentified commenter.

Mike closed the discussion with a proposal to host the Bradley lecture at AGU, as long as there are no objections.

Informal Communications

There were no informal communications.

Formal Program

The formal program commenced at 20:41 and consisted of three speakers: Deborah Green (Richard H. Jahns Distinguished Lecturer in Applied Geology), Laura Szymanski (UW Madison/GSA), and Scott Weiman (NASA Goddard).

Deborah Green presented “You Don’t Look Like a Geologist: Why are the Geosciences the Least Diverse of the STEM Fields?”. Geology is still an overwhelmingly white profession with less than 12% of geologists identifying as underrepresented minorities. There is no one reason for this deficiency. Deborah has spoken with students and professionals over several months and a number of reasons came to light, including economic, cultural, and demographic issues. Students are attracted to geology for a variety of reasons, including taking good intro classes, supportive family members, field experiences and personal characteristics that mesh with the subject. If we’re not careful, the biases and judgements we hold that might make others feel unwelcome in the field.

Questions were asked by: Laura Szymanski (UW Madison/GSA), Kevin Marvel (AAS), Bill Burton (USGS), Mary Peterson (AAAS), Brooks Hanson (AGU) and Victor Zabielski (NVCC).

Laura Szymanski presented “Funding to Fly High: How the Appropriation Process Works for NASA Projects”. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is a civilian space program with the focus of promoting the progress of science and the understanding of the Earth through aeronautics, heliophysics, astrophysics, and space activities. As NASA is mission-orientated, funding of NASA and its programs are unique compared to other science agencies. The National Academies of Sciences produce Decadal Surveys which summarize the current state of research within the scope of NASA, identifies priorities, and makes recommendations for the coming decade. The NASA Administrator then sets priorities based on the Decadal Survey and Congress sets annual funding levels for all directorates within NASA and flagship missions.

Questions were asked by: Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher), Mike Purucker (NASA), Mary Peterson (AAAS), Ester Sztein (NAS) and Joe Canney (NRC).

Scott Weiman presented “Light Stable Isotope Research in Support of Ongoing and Future NASA Flight Missions”. Since its establishment 61 years ago, NASA has sat at the pinnacle of planetary exploration and research. In those six decades, it has sent landers to the surface of the Moon, Mars, and Titan, orbited or flown by numerous other planetary bodies, and rapidly expanded the boundaries of the known universe. Decades of research occur throughout the course of a flight mission, from on-the-ground work that leads to the mission proposal, to in-situ and analog projects over the mission duration, to the reprocessing and continuous restudying of data that can lead to major breakthroughs long after the mission has ended. Development of Earth analogs for planetary environments and advancements in instrumentation and facilities are crucial to many flight missions.

Questions were asked by: Ryan Haupt (GSA) and Hannah Rabinowitz (AAAS).

Mike Purucker closed the meeting by advertising the upcoming GSW meeting on October 2^nd and adjourned the meeting at 22:02.

Respectfully submitted,

Megan Holycross

Geological Society of Washington

Minutes for the 1545^th meeting

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.

President Mike Purucker called the meeting to order at 20:03 EDT.

Attendance

There were 64 attendees.

Minutes

The meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1544^th). The minutes of the 1544^th meeting had been posted online and a Minute’s Minute was read aloud at the 1545^th meeting. One correction was noted by Liz Cottrell (Smithsonian), who amended the minutes to note that Natalie Raia (Smithsonian/University of Minnesota) should have been registered as a new member.

Guests and New Members

There were seven guests introduced at the meeting and an additional four guests signed the guestbook: Jean Bahr (retired UW Madison), Megan Newcombe (UMD), Euan Mutch (UMD), Susan Milius (Science News Magazine), Amy Myrbo (St. Croix Watershed Research Station/University of Minnesota), Daniel Flanagan (USGS), Patricia Dove (VA Tech), John Bardwell (Dept. of Commerce), Alan Hardley (NOVA), Di-Yi Lin (NKUST) and Madeline Bach.

Four new members were announced: Hannah Rabinowitz (AAAS), Martin Pratt (Washington University in St. Loius), Robert Emberson (NASA Goddard), and Steve Mackwell (American Institute of Physics).

Announcements

1. Mike Purucker presented an obituary for David Chriswell (founder of LPI, planetary scientist) who was known for his work on resources on the moon.

2. Eric Hankin announced an event on the National Mall sponsored by AGU and ASU—a large map of Mars will be on the Mall on October 18^th and 19^th.

3. Kori Newman announced an after hours exhibit at NMNH in support of the new Deep Time Hall on Tuesday, October 15 at 6:45 pm.

4. Ester Sztein reminded us of the meeting of the International Geological Congress with an extension of the grant proposal deadline to support travel.

5. Mark McBride announced the Potomac Appalachian Club is sponsoring a talk on the best trails for geology hikes, to be held at the REI store in Columbia, MD at 7 pm on Tuesday, October 22.

6. Mike Purucker continued the discussion around the offer from AGU to host GSW meetings at AGU headquarters and provided an update on negotiations with the Cosmos Club. Comments were made by George Helz, Liz Cottrell, Callan Bentley, John Repetski, Eric Hankin, Rich Walker, Carl-Henry Geschwind. Issues that were brought up by commenters include: the possibility of splitting meeting locations between the Cosmos Club and AGU; the ability of the GSW president sign for dinner at Cosmos Club; amenities at AGU; parking at AGU; respective differences from Metro stations; availability of rooms for meetings; neighborhood feel and history of the Cosmos Club; the possibility of raising funds by displaying ads during meetings.

Mike Purucker closed the announcement with a poll to see where members stood—votes seemed to be evenly split between those who wanted meeting to be held at just the Cosmos Club, just AGU headquarters, and split between both locations. A significant fraction of attendees did not appear to vote.

Informal Communications

There were no informal communications.

Formal Program

The formal program commenced at 20:33 and consisted of three speakers: Dalia Kirschbaum (NASA Goddard), Mong-Han Huang (UMD) and Tamara Carley (Lafayette College).

Dalia Kirschbaum presented “Finding the Slippery Slope: Opportunities to Investigate Landslides from Space”. Rainfall-triggered landslides occur in nearly every country around the world, causing billions of dollars of damages and thousands of fatalities each year. Understanding and modeling the dynamics of rainfall-triggered landslides is a challenging task due to rainfall variability and the complexity of approximating landslide failure mechanisms over broader scales. Satellite data provides a unique perspective to estimate where and when landslides may be occurring, but the accuracy of the modeling is highly dependent on the spatial scale and methods used. Several efforts, including a citizen science platform for reporting local landslides, have been deployed to better understand where and when landslides may happen and how they impact us around the world.

Questions were asked by: Beth Doyle (NOVA), Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher), Mike Purucker (NASA Goddard), Karen Prestegaard (UMD), Bill Burton (USGS), Victor Zabielski (NOVA), John Repetski (USGS) and Hannah Rabinowitz (AAAS).

Mong-Han Huang presented “Seasonal Slow-Moving Landslides and Hazards in Aizawl, India revealed from INSAR”. Landslides can be fatal, and are especially dangerous in SE Asia to due to extensive rainfall from monsoons and active mountain building processes. Aizawl (population 300,000) is located in an accretionary wedge in an active tectonic setting where the Indian plate is being subducted. Landslides in Aizawl occur in two big clusters, with landslides in each area moving with different velocities in different seasons. This can be explained by the change in pore-fluid pressure driven by annual precipitations. InSAR is able to identify slow-moving landslides down to the ~20 m scale in Aizawl, which makes it an ideal tool to monitor potential hazards, especially in areas without long-term monitoring systems.

Questions were asked by: Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher), Karen Prestegaard (UMD), Ester Sztein (NAS) and Robert Emberson (NASA Goddard).

Tamara Carley presented “Investigating Proto-Continental Crust Construction Using Very Young (Icelandic) and Very Old (Hadean) Zircons”. Zircon crystals are the only tangible pieces evidence remaining from the Hadean eon. Thus, we depend on them to reveal the characteristics and formation conditions of Earth’s earliest crust. The composition of melts from which these earliest zircons crystallized may clarify their origin stories, but sadly, this information is lost in the geologic record. More modern zircons, including many from Iceland, provide a context to investigate and compare the early Earth to present geologic environments, from oceanic and continental arcs, mid-ocean ridges, and Iceland. Compositional patterns shared (or not!) between young, active, systems and the early Earth help to shed light on the darkest chapters of geologic time. In the process, striking similarities and subtle differences are revealed across the Hadean-Archean boundary.

Questions were asked by: Beth Doyle (NOVA), Bill Burton (USGS) and Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher).

President Mike Purucker advertised the GSW meeting #1546 prior to adjourning the meeting at 21:51 with a new gavel from the Spotted Cow Brewery in WI.

Respectfully submitted,

Megan Holycross

Geological Society of Washington

Minutes for the 1546^th meeting

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.

President Mike Purucker called the meeting to order at 20:01 EDT.

Attendance

There were 66 attendees.

Minutes

The meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1545^th). The minutes of the 1545^th meeting had been posted online and a Minute’s Minute was read aloud at the 1546^th meeting. No corrections were noted and the minutes were accepted.

Guests and New Members

There were fifteen guests introduced at the meeting and an additional two guests signed the guestbook:

Kathleen Farrell (NC Geological Survey), Grant Colip (USGS), Andrew Everett (USGS), William Lederer, Jenny Lederer, Greg Newmann (NASA Goddard), Geoff Abers (Cornell), Theo Burton, Jared ? (UGGS), Masaki ? (USGS), John Ervin, Jorden Hayes’s father, Maggie Wen (NASA), Lu Chow (NASA), Sarah (Georgetown?), Siobhán Cooke (The Johns Hopkins University), and Zachary Erickson (NASA Goddard).

One new member was announced: Alex Venzke (Smithsonian Institution).

Announcements

1. Liz Cottrell announced an event sponsored by the Deep Carbon Observatory on October 24^th at the 14^th St. Bus Boys and Poets location.

2. Kevin Marvel announced the Astronomy Day is Schools initiative sponsored by the International Astronomical Union is taking place over November 10-17 and encouraged members to become involved.

3. Mike Purucker announced two obituaries. An obituary for Walter Pitman III, a geophysicist and the father of continental drift, was given by Kori Newman. Graham Lederer gave a second obituary for Sam Bowring (MIT), a pioneer in geochronology.

4. Kori Newman announced Heloise Lynn, the 2019 Honorary Lecturer for the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, will be giving talks on Nov 14 at the Potomac Geophysical Society and Nov 15 at UMD.

5. Mike Purucker provided an update on negotiations with AGU and the Cosmos Club over GSW meeting locations: the Bradley lecture will be held at Cosmos Club and the results of the member survey are posted online. Results of the survey broke down with subequal votes for hosting meetings at AGU only; the Cosmos Club only; and split between both locations. The most popular choice, by a small margin, was to host GSW meetings at AGU only.

Informal Communications

There were no informal communications.

Formal Program

The formal program commenced at 20:23 and consisted of three speakers: Siobhán Cooke (The Johns Hopkins University), Jorden Hayes (Dickinson College) and Graham Lederer & Bill Burton (USGS).

Siobhan Cooke presented “Primate Evolution at La Venta, Colombia”. The Colombian Middle Miocene site of La Venta is among the most important primate-bearing fossil localities in South America. Its fossiliferous geological sequence covers two million years of evolutionary history (11-13 million years ago) and has yielded fossils of 13 primate species as well as over 100 other vertebrate species. These include sloths, astrapotheres (hoofed mammals native to South America), bats, rodents, ground sloths, armadillos, glyptodonts, fish, and enormous crocodiles. It is the oldest site where levels of primate species diversity match what is found in the Amazonian Basin today. Investigations into primate diet, movement, and modern relatives offer a window into the early faunal communities and evolutionary processes that have shaped South American primates.

Questions were asked by: Bill Burton (USGS), Chris Swayze (USGS), two questions from Victor Zabielski (NOVA), George Helz (UMD), Kathleen Farrell (NC Survey), and Yasmina Marcos (NASA Goddard).

Jorden Hayes presented “The Space Between: Porosity Production in the Critical Zone”.

Extending from the tree canopy to the depths of unweathered bedrock, the critical zone (CZ) is the living skin of Earth where terrestrial life is sustained through complex interactions between atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere. In the deep critical zone, chemical and physical processes generate pore space that allows for infiltration and storage of meteoric water. Pore space may be generated by chemical mass losses as meteoric water reacts with surrounding rock. Porosity may also be generated through physical processes such as the fracturing of intact bedrock. Understanding these processes and their relative importance is challenging because it depends on the availability of boreholes and/or geophysics and requires characterization of landscape-scale variations in chemical and physical processes. In the Southern Sierra California, the relative contributions of chemical mass loss and volumetric strain to the generation of porosity are quantified and combined with seismic refraction surveys to create maps of volumetric strain across the hillslope.

Questions were asked by: Kevin Marvel (American Astronomical Society), Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher), Bill Burton (USGS), Mong-Han Huang (UMD) and Mark Tyra (NIST).

Graham Lederer and Bill Burton presented “Powell 150, the Sesquicentennial Colorado River Exploring Expedition, and the continued legacy of John Wesley Powell”. Bill Burton dons lifejacket, hat, sunglasses for duration of the talk. On May 24th, 1869, John Wesley Powell set out from Green River, Wyoming on the first Colorado River Exploring Expedition, marking an historic achievement as he led the first scientific foray into the uncharted territory of the Green and Colorado river basins and the Grand Canyon. In the summer of 2019, a team of scientists, artists, authors, and students from the U.S. Geological Survey, University of Wyoming, and partner institutions celebrated the 150th anniversary of Powell’s epic journey by retracing his river route. The goals of the Sesquicentennial Colorado River Exploring Expedition (SCREE) include focusing on the modern-day issues affecting the Colorado River basin, making new geologic and ecologic observations, and raising science awareness through public engagement and outreach. Building on the activities and the institutions he helped establish—including the U.S. Geological Survey, the Cosmos Club, and the Geological Society of Washington—Powell’s legacy promises to live on for another century and half.

Questions were asked by: Mike Purucker (NASA Goddard), Callan Bentley (NOVA), Kevin Marvel (AAS), Victor Zabielski (NOVA), Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher), Mark Saros (State of MD) and Dick Smith (USGS).

President Mike Purucker advertised the Bradley Lecture on November 13 before adjourning the meeting at 21:58.

Respectfully submitted,

Megan Holycross

Geological Society of Washington

Minutes for the 1547^th meeting

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.

President Mike Purucker called the meeting to order at 20:03 EDT.

Attendance

There were 79 attendees.

Minutes

The meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1546^th). The minutes of the 1546^th meeting had been posted online and a Minute’s Minute was read aloud at the 1547^th meeting. No corrections were noted and the minutes were accepted.

Guests and New Members

There were 21 guests introduced at the meeting and an additional five guests signed the guestbook: Kira Olsen (NASA Goddard + UMD), Ken Rasmussen (NOVA), Brett Kessler, Arto Luttiner (University of Helsinki), David Smallwood, Michael Carl, Mr. & Mrs. Charlie Black, Keaton van Beveren, Lisa Schleicher, V. Derek Swanson, Tam Dui, Meriem Awalki, Peter Pate, John (?), Jane Hammerstrom (USGS), Stavros (?), Kathryn Durga, Bill Craddock, Peter Ibrahim, Truman Custer, Ben Scott, Alanna Belmont, Kay Pate, Kassidy Pate and Albert Wu.

Three new members were announced: Megan Newcombe (UMD), Paul Betka (George Mason University) and Rebecca Stokes (Clay Minerals Society Council).

Announcements

1. President Mike Purucker announced the 2020 slate of GSW officers, which will be voted on next meeting.

2. Mike Purucker also announced a GSW field trip weekend on Nov. 16^th to the Serpentinite Barrens Conservation Park.

3. Mike Purucker gave an obituary for Robin Brett, an active GSW member known for his knowledge of moon rocks and geochemistry, whose claim to fame was that he admitted licking moon rocks.

4. Bev Walker announced the “Not Your Daddy’s Billy Goat Trail Hike”, sponsored by DMV AWG, on November 23^rd.

Informal Communications

There were no informal communications.

Formal Program

The formal program commenced at 20:18 pm. Bradley Lecturer Steve Nerem (University of Colorado) presented “Measuring Sea Level Change from Space: What are the Measurements Telling Us?”. Satellite altimetry (TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, Jason-2, and Jason-3) and satellite gravity (GRACE and GRACE Follow-On) measurements have provided a wealth of new information on how sea level has been changing over the last few decades. This is giving us important information about the causes of sea level change and about how it will evolve in the future. The 27-year satellite record of sea level change shows sea level rise is accelerating over time and will start to change even faster in the future. Current patterns of sea level rise are dominantly due to thermal expansion of the oceans but in the future will be dominated by input from melting ice sheets. Timing the melting of the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets is the biggest uncertainty in evaluating future sea level change. Roughly 104 mm of sea level rise is predicted by 2040.

Questions were asked by: Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher), Liz Cottrell (Smithsonian Institution), three questions from Mong-Han Huang (UMD), Bill Burton (USGS), Victor Zabielski (NOVA), Mike Weber (University of Bonn), two questions from Joe Canney (NRC), Celia Werzbacher (SRI International), Jane Hammerstrom (USGS), Dan Doctor (USGS), Gabriela Farfan (Smithsonian Institution), an unidentified questioner, Albert Munoz? (NASA Goddard).

President Mike Purucker advertised the Annual meeting on December 4th before adjourning the 1547^th meeting at 21:38 EDT.

Respectfully submitted,

Megan Holycross

Geological Society of Washington

Minutes for the 1548^th meeting

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.

After 15 minutes of technical challenges, President Mike Purucker called the meeting to order at 20:18 EDT.

Attendance

There were 59 attendees.

Minutes

The meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1547^th). No corrections were noted and the minutes were accepted.

Guests and New Members

Four guests were introduced. Greg Neumann, Frank Lemoine, and Kopal Jha -- all from NASA Goddard, as well as John Faber.

Two new members were announced: Dan Rasmussen (Smithsonian) and Kira Olsen (University of Maryland).

Announcements

1. Remote Hub to AGU live from AGU headquarters with American public health association. Free to attend this join presentation. Experimental Remote Hub.

Informal Communications

There were no informal communications.

Formal Program

1^st Vice President Ester Sztein introduced Mike Purucker, whose talk commenced at 8:25pm.

President Purucker took us on tour of the planets from a magnetic perspective. He began with a global magnetic map of the moon and mars. Purucker increased the accessibility and levity of his talk with frequent cartoons, starting with some by Gahan Wilson. Purucker noted that Gahan Wilson is dead (1930-2019). Next was a cartoon by Munro, 2017 “Space without the space” to which Purucker has added the largest impact craters, which would be the focus of his talk.

Mike explained that his group at NASA Goddard has built 83 vector flight magnetometers and interprets information from magnetometers. Mike shared technical specifications with the audience, such as the fact that magnetometers on spacecraft must be magnetically isolated. On Earth, continents are more magnetic than ocean basins. Such maps give us the “Magnetic thickness” of the crust. Impact processes influence magnetic fields, and so Mike took us on a tour of the solar system’s magnetically surveyed impact basins.

Mike ended his talk looking forward. He is really excited about long-duration, miniature, solar-powered suborbital (HALE) magnetic missions over Earth’s polar regions and on Mars.

As per GSW tradition, no questions are allowed to be asked of the Presidential address.

President Mike Purucker adjourned the 1548^th meeting at 8:52 EDT.

Respectfully submitted,

Elizabeth Cottrell, on behalf of Megan Holycross

Geological Society of Washington

Minutes for the 127^th Annual Meeting

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.

The 127th Annual Meeting of the Society was called to order at 9:04 p.m. by President Mike Purucker following his presidential address, Geology of the Earth, Moon, Mars, and Mercury as revealed by the magnetic fields in their crusts, and a brief recess. The minutes of the 2018 meeting were read and approved.

Reports

MEETING SECRETARY

Megan Holycross reported the following statistics of the eleven meetings of the Society in 2019:

	min	mean	max
attendees	48	65	84
guests	9	16	26
announcements	1	4	7
informal comm.	0	1	4
Questions	4	15	22
length (min.)	95	109	121

Tied for most questions asked with twenty apiece were Bill Burton and Carl-Henry Geschwind.

COUNCIL SECRETARY

Patrick Carr reported that the Council held meetings on April 3rd and October 23rd. At the spring meeting, the president was authorized to plan for twelve meetings for 2020; at the fall meeting dues were kept steady for 2020 and minor changes were made to the Investment Policy. Meeting venue is an ongoing discussion.

TREASURER

Carl-Henry Geschwind reported the finances of the Society for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2019, as follows:

receipts
dues	$8,400
contributions	5,358
royalties	150
disbursement from funds	3,261
	$19,508
disbursements
hall rental	$7,680
drinks	5,723
speakers	2,339
miscellaneous	3,766
	$19,508

AUDIT COMMITTEE

Mark Fuhrmann reported that he and Joe Kanney audited the treasurer’s report and, once a discrepancy of 53¢ was resolved, was found to be correct. George Helz moved that the auditor’s report be adopted; this passed without objection.

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE

Erik Hankin reported that there are 271 paid members for 2019 as of October 15th. The renewal rate for this year was 85 percent, down 5 percent from 2018 and down 9 percent from 2015. As of December 3rd, 31 new members were accepted and 24 of those have paid membership dues. The Council is investigating changing the new member process to avoid this, as well as making renewal easier. The Council is also developing a code of ethics for members similar to those of AGU, GSA, and the like.

PUBLIC SERVICE COMMITTEE

Kori Newman reported that Society members visited seven regional science fairs and awarded 33 ribbons and 39 certificates to 32 deserving Earth science–oriented projects. Six posters were presented at the April 18th meeting. Thanks go to members who judged and organizations that donated tchotchkes for gift bags. The full list of winners and judges was received and placed on file.

AWARDS COMMITTEE

Laura Helmuth reported the following awards:

The Bradley Prize for the best formal scientific talk was to Deborah Green, the 2018– 19 GSA-AEG Richard H. Jahns Distinguished Lecturer in Applied Geology, for her talk of September 11th, You don’t look like a geologist—Why are the geosciences the least diverse of the STEM fields?

The prize for second-best formal talk was to Larry C. Peterson of the University of Miami for his talk of April 24th, Ice cores and ocean mud: Records of abrupt climate change and implications for tropical hydrology.

The Great Dane Award for the best informal communication to the Society of timely or newsworthy events was to Jim Head of Brown University for his talk of January 9th, Chang'E-4 mission to the lunar farside and the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP).

Yasmina Martos presented the Sleeping Bear award for genuine good humor at meetings to Bill Burton of the U.S. Geological Survey.

Business of the Day

Callan Bentley as chair of the Nominations Committee presented the following slate of officers as approved by the Council on October 23rd:

First Vice-President: Liz Cottrell (Smithsonian)

Second Vice-President: Larry Meinert (independent)

Meeting Secretary: Beth Doyle (Northern Virginia Community College) Council Secretary: Patrick Carr (Department of Defense)

Treasurer: Carl-Henry Geschwind (independent)

Councilor: Pranoti Asher (American Geophysical Union)

Councilor: Bill Craddock (U.S. Geological Survey)

Councilor: Julia Nord (George Mason University).

There were no nominations from the floor, and the slate was elected by acclamation. The President for 2020 will be Ester Sztein (National Academies), elected last year as the first vice-president. Mike Purucker (NASA Goddard) is on the Council as the past president, and continuing councillors are Graham Lederer (U.S. Geological Survey), Bev Walker (National Science Foundation), and Nick Pyenson (Smithsonian).

The gavel was passed to President Sztein, who closed the meeting at 9:38 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Patrick M. Carr, Council Secretary and approved December 2, 2020.