Geological Society of Washington
Minutes for the 1561st Meeting
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
Video Conference via Zoom
President Liz
Cottrell called the meeting to order at 20:00 EST.
Attendance
There were 70
attendees.
Minutes
The meeting
began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1560th). The
minutes of the 1560th meeting had been posted online and a Minute’s Minute was
read aloud at the 1561st meeting. No corrections were noted, and the minutes
were accepted.
Guests and
New Members
Seventeen
guests were introduced: Andrejs Dimbirs (Seattle
District Corp of Engineers, retired), Colin and Margaret Warren, Margaret
Boettcher (U New Hampshire), Katie, Matthew and Jason Boettcher, Michelle
Jordan (Carnegie Institution), Melinda Bahruth (U
Delaware), Ann Benbow (Mineralogical Society of America), Sierra Patterson ( U
South Carolina), Berit Hudson-Rasmussen (UMD), Gregory Neumann (NASA Goddard
Emeritus), Alex Michels (NASA Goddard), Abigail Nalesnik (U Delaware), Caela Barry (NASA Goddard) and Kuan-Yu Lin (U Delaware).
No new members were
introduced.
Announcements
1. Kori Newman announced that science fairs are taking place virtually. Student presentations will be done through a short video that judges will view. She urged all prospective science fair judges to contact her through her email address, posted in the Chat.
2. Jane Hammarstrom announced the UNESCO Lecture Series “Earth Materials for a Sustainable and Thriving Society.” The series commenced this week and will take place every Tuesday through the second week of March. Jane posted a link to this ongoing event in the Chat.
3.
Liz Cottrell and Mong-Han Huang launched a quick poll to gauge member
interest in taking part in a potential mentor/mentee program sponsored by GSW.
4.
Bev Walker announced
two upcoming events hosted by DMV AWG (Delaware Maryland Virginia Chapter of
the Association for Women Geoscientists). Dr. Marjorie Chan will be sharing
information on geo-conservation and the film “Picture a Scientist” will be
shown. Discussions will follow each event. For additional details Bev
posted a link in the Chat.
Obituaries
There were no obituaries.
Informal Communication
There were no informal communications.
Formal
Program
The formal program commenced at
20:20 EST and consisted of three speakers: Dr. Jessica Warren
(University of Delaware), Dr. Ellen Knappe (University of California, San
Diego/Scripps Oceanographic Institute) and Dr. Kira Olsen (NASA Goddard
Space Flight Center/University of Maryland/Howard University).
Dr. Jessica Warren
presented “Global Oceanic Transform Faults: The Link
Between Fluid Flow and Seismic Behavior.”
Dr. Warren opened her
presentation by noting that oceanic transform faults represent over 16,000 km
of plate boundaries globally, but the physical properties controlling seismic
behavior are poorly understood. She shared observations of deformed rocks dredged
from transform faults and linked these to the depth extent of seismicity on
these faults. Vivid photomicrographs
from faults on the Southwest Indian Ridge showed three deformation
domains, ranging from low to high temperature. She noted that brittle and
ductile mechanisms operated in each domain and proposed that hydrothermal
fluids assisted deformation and that the association of hydration features with
brittle structures points to seawater, rather than melt, as the fluid source.
She pointed out preserved evidence of fracturing and
fluid flow in ductile fault samples and proposed that this flow caused mineralogy and
microstructure changes which resulted in the transition from brittle to ductile
behavior. Warren concluded by sharing
her research group’s upcoming focus. Their work on breccias
recovered from the Gofar Transform Fault on the equatorial
East Pacific Rise will help constrain the shallow brittle behavior that
causes the transition from seismicity to aseismicity
along the fault. Talk
Length: 23’ 28”
Questions were asked by: Graham Lederer (USGS),
Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher), Steve Shirey (Carnegie
Institution), Jamie Allan (NSF), Mong-Han Huang
(UMD), Larry Meinart (USGS), Mark McBride
(Retired) and Liz Cottrell (NMNH).
Dr. Ellen Knappe
presented “The capability of GPS to Measure Watershed Hydrology.” Dr. Knappe
established that in mountainous regions, quantifying water storage is difficult
and conventional observations used to predict water balances are limited and
often have restricted spatial or temporal resolutions. She explained how
measurable displacement of the earth’s surface by water weight can be
leveraged. To more accurately estimate
water loading and unloading this deflection is measured with GPS. Knappe shared data to show how GPS measures
watershed scale hydrologic loading with high temporal resolution.
Talk
Length: 18’ 26”
Questions were
asked by: Bill Burton (USGS Emeritus), Jurate
Landwehr (USGS Emeritus and The Sumanim Group), Mark Tyra (NIST), Steve Shirey (Carnegie Institution), Mong-Han Huang
(UMD) and Brooks Hanson (AGU).
Dr. Kira Olsen
presented “Icequakes on Enceladus: Investigation into Tidally Modulated
Seismicity at Icy Rifts Using an Antarctic Analog.” Dr Olsen walked us
through her investigation into the timing and location of seismicity along
major fractures within Enceladus' icy shell. She shared her seismicity
investigations along icy rifts within the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica, which is
a terrestrial analog to an icy shell. She discussed the characteristics of
icy-rift seismicity, and how seismic activity is related to the stress state of
the rift. Olsen noted that her observations from Antarctica were used to
construct a model which can be applied to fractures on Enceladus, and to
predict the timing and location of icequakes throughout Enceladus' orbit. Olsen
closed by noting that these results shed light on the behavior of Enceladean rifts and will be valuable for planning future
landed missions to icy worlds. Talk Length: 24’ 18”
Questions were asked by: Liz Cottrell (NMNH), Bill Burton (USGS Emeritus), Bev Walker (NSF) and Mark Tyra
(NIST).
President
Liz Cottrell adjourned the 1561st meeting at 22:09 EST.
Respectfully
submitted,
Beth Doyle
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes for the 1562nd Meeting
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Video Conference via Zoom
President Liz
Cottrell called the meeting to order at 20:04 EST.
Attendance
There were 83
attendees.
Minutes
The meeting
began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1561st). The
minutes of the 1561st meeting had been posted online and a Minute’s Minute was
read aloud at the 1562nd meeting. No corrections were noted, and the minutes
were accepted.
Guests and
New Members
Twelve guests
were introduced: Ann Benbow (Mineralogical Society of America), Larry
Malinconico (Lafayette College), Kristina Walowski
(Western Washington U), Catherine O’Hara (U Oregon), Puneet Singh (U South
Florida), Charlotte Devitre (Cornell U), Kara Brugman
(Carnegie Institution), Hannah Shamloo (Oregon State
U, Central Washington U in 2022), Bryana McKay (U Montana), Madeline Mennenga
(Grand Valley State U), George Guice (NMNH) and Ellen Olsen (U Oregon).
No new members
were introduced.
Announcements
1.
Larry Meinert raised
an objection to minutes from 25 years ago. He noted that one of the historic
GSW talk titles displayed at the opening of this 1562nd meeting contained a
typographical error. Charles Cunningham’s 1996 presentation at the 1273rd
meeting should read “Age and thermal history of Cerro Rico de Potosi, Bolivia: the world's largest silver deposit.”
2.
Liz Cottrell urged all
to join or renew their GSW membership as dues are critical to the financial
health of the Society. Renewal notices were emailed out and may be in junk or
other folders. The application is on the GSW website and early career and student memberships are discounted. Soon members will be able to sponsor
memberships. Questions about membership can be sent to Everett Johnson whose
email address was posted in the Chat.
3.
Mong-Han Huang announced that NASA will show the live session
of the Perseverance landing on Mars tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. EST. This rover is
expected to enter the atmosphere at 3:30 p.m. and to land at 3:55 p.m.
4.
Liz Cottrell put out a
call for a new GSW database manager. The current manager, Dan Doctor converts
the meeting minutes into a searchable format in the SQL Server. Anyone
interested in taking over this position should connect with Liz whose email is
posted in the Chat. Liz added that GSW Archivist Tim Mock pointed out that if
the position is not filled then 42 years from now the history slides cannot be
made.
Obituaries
There were no obituaries.
Informal Communication
1.
Mike Ackerson circled
back on the pre-meeting exchange about NMNH collections and noted that the
Smithsonian’s National Rock and Ore Collection is an amazing historical
resource. Anyone interested in seeing some “sciency”
rocks can contact him.
2.
Mike Ackerson shared
information about URGE (Unlearning Racism in Geoscience), an NSF-funded and geoscientist-led initiative
where working groups (“pods”) meet to learn more about racism in the
geosciences and to develop and refine anti-racist strategies. Mike also encouraged all to check out the URGE website for
excellent resources.
Formal
Program
The formal program commenced at
20:24 EST and consisted of three speakers: Dr.
Michelle Muth (University of Oregon), Dr. Yan Zhan (EPL, Carnegie Science) and
Dr. Kyle
Anderson (USGS).
Dr. Michelle Muth
presented “The Origin of Sulfur in Volcanic Arcs.” Dr. Muth opened by pointing
out that sulfur released during volcanic eruptions can have dramatic effects on
local and global climate and that measurements of sulfur outgassing at
volcanoes are also a key part of volcano monitoring efforts. Questions persist
about sulfur behavior within volcanoes. At volcanic arcs, the ability to
interpret sulfur measured in gases and rocks is especially hindered by
uncertainty around its origins. Sulfur in arc volcanoes could be sourced from
sulfide minerals within mantle peridotite, or from dehydrating fluids and melts
released from subducting plates. These two potential sources can drive large
differences in the behavior of sulfur once magmas rise into the Earth’s crust.
Muth shared how she uses the geochemistry of melt inclusions,
tiny parcels of trapped silicate melt to reveal the origin of sulfur in arc
magmas and how sulfur behaves during early magma differentiation. Talk Length: 18’51”
Questions were asked by: Dennis Geist
(NSF), Bill Burton (USGS Emeritus), Mong-Han Huang (UMD),
Larry Meinert (USGS Emeritus), Steve Shirey
(Carnegie Institution), Liz Cottrell (NMNH) and Janine Andrys (U Rhode
Island and NMNH).
Dr. Yan Zhan presented “An Instant Pot Model for Volcanic
Degassing.” Dr. Zhan said that before most volcanic eruptions, restless
behaviors, such as gas emission, surface deformation, temperature changes, and
earthquakes can be observed. Quantitative tools are essential to understand
what is happening inside a volcanic system and help to determine when the
volcanic system reaches a critical condition leading to the next eruption. Zhan
walked us through a case study that used a thermo-mechanical model to explain
the multiple precursory signals observed before the 2006 explosive eruption of
Augustine volcano, Alaska. Zhan posited that an instant pot is a perfect analog
of the model of Augustine. He explained that when bubbles exsolved from deep
magma or soup can escape from a volcanic system or an instant pot, no pressure
can be built to drive surface deformation. However, when the steam is not
allowed to escape from a volcano or instant pot, the accumulated pressure can
easily create deformation and finally break the system. Talk Length: 15’06”
Questions were asked by: Liz
Cottrell (NMNH), Mong-Han
Huang (UMD) and Bill Burton (USGS Emeritus).
Dr. Kyle Anderson
presented “Geophysical Insights from the World's Best-Documented Caldera
Collapse: Kilauea Volcano, 2018.” Dr. Anderson explained that the 2018 summit
eruption and caldera collapse at Kilauea Volcano offers an unrivaled
opportunity to understand basaltic caldera formation and the magma plumbing
system. The caldera formed in a series of 62 discrete meters-scale collapse
events and ultimately grew to a volume of 0.8 cubic kilometers and a depth of
over 500 m. Anderson shared how caldera formation was documented using
extensive geophysical monitoring networks, remote-sensing observations, and geological investigations. Abrupt geodetic
offsets and very-long-period earthquakes were recorded during collapse events and shared many similarities with observations at
historic basaltic collapses at other volcanoes, suggesting common physical
processes. Anderson discussed recent and ongoing research efforts at Kilauea, as well as some open questions. He
said that investigations have permitted remarkable insight into properties of
the sub-caldera magma system (location, volume, and exsolved volatile content),
the mechanics of caldera collapse, and the forces driving the eruption, with
implications for basaltic caldera collapses around the world. Talk Length:
20’09”
Questions were asked by: Mong-Han
Huang (UMD), Ian Saginor (Independent Researcher),
Bill Burton (USGS Emeritus), Larry Malinconico
(Lafayette College) and Liz Cottrell (NMNH).
President
Liz Cottrell adjourned the 1562nd meeting at 21:59 EST.
Respectfully
submitted,
Beth Doyle
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes for the 1563rd Meeting
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Video Conference via Zoom
President Liz
Cottrell called the meeting to order at 20:01EST.
Attendance
There were 54
attendees.
Minutes
The meeting
began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1562nd). The minutes
of the 1562nd meeting had been posted online and a Minute’s Minute was read
aloud at the 1563rd meeting. No corrections were noted, and the minutes were
accepted.
Guests and
New Members
Three guests were introduced: Kadie Bennis (NMNH), Andrea Mangum (Carnegie Institution) and Amol Karandikar (Carnegie Institution).
One new member
was announced: Elizabeth Boyer (Penn State).
Announcements
There were no
announcements.
Obituaries
There were no obituaries however Mark Zerniak
announced tomorrow’s ten-year anniversary of the 2011 Japan earthquake and
tsunami. A moment of silence was held in memory of the lives lost.
Informal Communication
There were no informal communications.
Formal
Program
The formal program commenced at
20:10 EST and consisted of three speakers: Maxwell
Rudolph (University of California, Davis), Karianne Bergen (Brown University)
and Doyeon Kim
(University of Maryland).
Maxwell Rudolph presented “Viscosity and Large-Scale Structure in
Earth’s Mantle.”
Max explained that the viscosity of the mantle
affects every aspect of the thermal and compositional evolution of Earth's
interior. Radial variations in viscosity can affect the sinking of slabs, the
morphology of plumes, and the rate of convective heat transport and thermal
evolution. He presented the results of new inferences of the depth-variation in
mantle viscosity, pointed out that some viscosity profiles contain a
low-viscosity zone below the mantle transition zone and proposed that global
mantle convection simulations that incorporate this feature can reproduce some
observations of slab stagnation within and below the mantle transition zone.
Talk Length: 22’ 35”
Questions were asked by:
Liz Cottrell (NMNH), Steve Shirey (Carnegie Institution), Mong-Han
Huang (UMD), and Bob Craddock (USGS).
Karianne Bergen presented “Advancing Solid Earth Geoscience with Machine Learning.”
Bergen opened by summarizing some of the more significant advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data technologies over the decades. She noted that during the same period there has been a rapid growth in the size of geoscientific datasets produced by sensors, simulations, and experiments. Bergen said that the availability of these massive scientific datasets has created exciting new research opportunities at the intersection of geoscience and machine learning. She shared the challenges associated with large-scale scientific data analysis. As an example of how new algorithmic advances in machine learning and data mining are helping to push the state-of-the-art in solid Earth geoscience, she described recent applications of machine learning and data mining to large-scale earthquake detection. She also discussed how these tools are being used by other geoscientists today and how they may impact geoscience research in the next decade. Talk Length: 20’ 05”
Questions were asked by: Liz Cottrell (NMNH), Ved Lekic (UMD), Mong-Han Huang
(UMD), Larry Meinert (USGS Emeritus) and Jessica Warren (U Delaware).
Doyeon Kim presented
“Searching for anomalous waveforms from the core-mantle boundary region of the
Pacific.” DK noted that the core-mantle boundary (CMB)
region hosts structures tied to the origin of plumes, fate of slabs, and
reservoirs of primitive and recycled material. Scattering of seismic waves by
structures near the CMB has traditionally been analyzed in a targeted way,
leveraging geometric arrangements to contextualize and understand waveform
characteristics. He shared his team’s systematic analysis of thousands of
seismograms of waves diffracting along the core-mantle boundary (Sdiff) and the panoptic view of scattering across the
Pacific. DK introduced us to the Sequencer, a new manifold learning algorithm
that arranges waveforms in an optimal order to reveal underlying trends in the
data and he reported that in nearly half of the diffracting waveforms from deep
events of Mw > 6.5 during 1990-2018, seismic waves scattered by 3D
structures near the core-mantle boundary were detected. The prevalence of these
scattered arrivals shows that the CMB region hosts pervasive lateral
heterogeneity. The relative amplitude of the scattered signals is constant with
lag-time, suggesting that they are produced by oblique interaction with
laterally abrupt edges of large low-shear-velocity provinces, or by widespread
ultralow-velocity zones (ULVZs). DK notes that the uniquely loud signals
detected near Hawaii are best explained by either a mega-ULVZ or seismically
slow plume root beneath Hawaii. He closed by revealing the discovery of a 25 km
tall, 1000 km diameter, mega-ULVZ beneath the Marquesas Islands, with a Vs
reduction of ~20%. Talk Length: 21’
52”
Questions were asked by: Liz Cottrell (NMNH) and
Mong-Han Huang (UMD).
President
Liz Cottrell advertised through Chat the next meeting’s theme of critical zone
science and adjourned the 1563rd meeting at 22:03 EST.
Respectfully
submitted,
Beth Doyle
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes for the 1564th Meeting
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Video Conference via Zoom
President Liz Cottrell called the meeting to order at 20:01EDT.
Attendance
There were 54 attendees.
Minutes
The meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1563rd). The minutes of the 1563rd meeting had been posted online and a Minute’s Minute was read aloud at the 1564th meeting. No corrections were noted, and the minutes were accepted.
Guests and
New Members
Eighteen guests were
introduced: Alex Rytel (Ohio State U), Laurel Bauer (NRC), Jane
Willenbring (Stanford U), Travis Clow (Stanford U), Adrian Wackett (Stanford
U), Bill Dietrich (UC Berkeley), Maryn Sanders (UC Berkeley), Jesse Hahm (Simon
Fraser U), David Dralle (US Forest Service), Anna Weniger (UNC Chapel Hill),
Kelsey Crutchfield (Eel River Critical Zone Observatory), Jerry Kashatus (AECOM), Hunter Jamison (Eel River Critical Zone
Observatory), Irwin Singer (Physicist, retired), Al Handwerger (NASA JPL), Berit Hudson Rasmussen (UMD), Collin
Bode (Eel River Critical Zone Observatory) and Kerri Johnson (UC Berkeley).
No new members
were announced.
Announcements
1.
Liz Cottrell reported
that as part of a lively email exchange among GSW Council on the origins of the
GSW website an equally seminal event was discovered. The 2001 Council Secretary
report by Mark McBride noted that the GSW website was launched and in a
cost-cutting measure that also addressed declining consumption, the Society
switched from kegs to bottled beer.
2.
Callan Bentley
announced his upcoming talk via Zoom to the Rockfish Valley Foundation on
Appalachian geology. Bentley posted in the Chat a registration link for those
interested in this free event.
Obituaries
There
were no obituaries.
Informal Communication
1.
Prior to the meeting’s call to order,
attendees launched a rousing ZOOM rendition of “Happy Birthday” to Bill Burton
in two-, three-, or maybe more-part harmony.
2.
In honor of Women’s History
Month, Liz Cottrell gave an appreciation of geologist Florence Bascom, the
first women hired by the USGS, the first women elected to the GSA Council as
well as the first women officer and ultimately the GSA vice president. In the
first edition of “American Men of Science” she is listed as a four-star
geologist which meant that her colleagues regarded her as among the country’s
100 leading geologists. In a nod to GSW history, Cottrell noted that in 1901
Bascom became the first women to present a paper before the Society.
Formal
Program
The formal program commenced at
20:21 EDT and consisted of three speakers: Seulgi
Moon (University of California, Los Angeles), Daniella Rempe (The University of
Texas at Austin) and Margaret Zimmer (University of California, Santa Cruz).
Seugli
Moon presented
“Present-day Stress Field Influences Bedrock Fracture Openness Deep into the
Subsurface.” Seulgi established
that the opening of bedrock fractures and onset of
water‐rock interaction are crucial to the formation
of the critical zone, the life‐sustaining part of the Earth that extends
from the top of the tree canopy to the bottom of permeable bedrock. Within the
bedrock, the intensities of horizontal regional forces and vertical
gravitational forces typically increase with depth. These force intensities, or
stresses, are modified by surface effects associated with topography, the
weight of overlying seawater and sediment, and by groundwater pressure.
However, the influence of these surface effects on fractures has been difficult
to observe because comprehensive fracture data sets are rare. Key questions
that Moon posed were whether, and to what depths, bedrock may fracture under
the influence of stress associated with surficial conditions. She explained her
research methods that compared bedrock stress calculations with approximately
50,000 fractures from 18 cores reaching depths of 600 meters at Forsmark,
Sweden. Moon shared her results and conclusion that present‐day stress
fields influence the opening of fractures to depths of 500 m, contributing to
the formation of the critical zone and the preparation of rock for
weathering hundreds of meters beneath the surface, much deeper than previously
thought. Talk Length: 21’05”
Questions were asked by: Liz Cottrell (NMNH),
Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher), Bill Burton (USGS Emeritus),
Alexander Rytel (Ohio State U), Mong-Han Huang (UMD), Ved Lekic
(UMD) and Keith Mclaughlin (Leidos).
Daniella
Rempe presented “The Hidden Role of Bedrock Fractures in Regulating Water and
Carbon Cycling.” Rempe opened her talk by noting that many landscapes are
mantled with thin soils that overlie meters to tens of meters of weathered
bedrock. This transition zone between soil and bedrock can be a vital water
supply to vegetation and can control rates of groundwater recharge. This
weathered rock may also regulate carbon cycling through the action of deep
roots, which enhance chemical weathering. Relative to the overlying soils and
underlying groundwater, the hydrologic and geochemical dynamics of weathered
bedrock are challenging to observe and consequently poorly understood. Rempe
shared results from intensive efforts to directly quantify the complex fluid
pathways in weathered bedrock and discussed the implications of her team’s
monitoring results for Earth system processes. Talk Length: 19’59”
Questions
were asked by: Bill Burton (USGS Emeritus), Karen
Prestegaard (UMD), Mong-Han Huang (UMD), and Liz Cottrell (NMNH).
Margaret
Zimmer presented “Does Aspect Matter? Assessment of Hillslope Structure and
Hydrology in Lithologically Complex Landscapes.”
Zimmer noted that as researchers try to grapple with how aspect influences hillslope
evolution, vegetation patterns, and flow routing it turns out that
the direction that hillslopes face has been the focus of a significant number of
hydrologic, ecologic, and geomorphic studies. While this body of work has led
to advancement in an understanding of these processes, studies are limited to
large scale modelling efforts or field studies in thinly mantled landscapes.
Zimmer said that her team aims to understand how aspect alters hillslope
hydrology in a lithologically complex landscape with
deep weathering fronts. In a field-based project at the Blue Oak Ranch Reserve,
located in the Diablo Mountain Range in central coastal California her team
instrumented an experimental watershed with soil moisture probes, piezometers,
weather stations, and a flume to monitor flow routing behavior across north and
south facing hillslopes. She shared the results of this research and an
associated geophysical survey. Talk Length:
21’ 01”
Questions
were asked by:
Bill Dietrich (UC Berkeley), Bill Burton (USGS Emeritus) and Mong-Han Huang (UMD).
President
Liz Cottrell announced that the next meeting is on April 21st and
adjourned the 1564th meeting at 22:00 EDT.
Respectfully
submitted,
Beth Doyle
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes for the 1565th Meeting
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Video Conference via Zoom
President Liz Cottrell called the meeting to order at 20:02 EDT.
Attendance
There were 61 attendees.
Minutes
The meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1564th). The minutes of the 1564th meeting had been posted online and a Minute’s Minute was read aloud at the 1565th meeting. No corrections were noted, and the minutes were accepted.
Guests and
New Members
Five guests were introduced:
Candace Greene (NMNH), Esther Rimer (NMNH), Siobhan Starrs, (NMNH), Kirk
Johnson (NMNH) and Greg Neumann (NASA Goddard).
Announcements
1) Liz
Cottrell announced that longtime GSW Database Manager Dan Doctor is ready to
turn this task over to another GSW member. Dan, the silent and unsung hero of
GSW will complete the Spring 2021 database update and is more than willing to
train his replacement. Interested volunteers can email Liz.
Obituaries
There were no obituaries.
Informal Communication
There
were no informal communications.
Formal
Program
The formal program commenced at 20:10
EDT and consisted of three speakers: Cara
Santelli (University
of Minnesota), Jasquelin Peña (University
of California, Davis) and Minming Cui (Johns Hopkins
University).
Cara Santelli presented “First
We Should Consider Manoomin: Decentering Western
Science through Collaborative Tribal-University Research on Wild Rice.” Manoomin, the Ojibwe word for wild rice, grows in shallow lakes and
streams and provides physical, spiritual, and cultural sustenance as a sacred
food and relative for Anishinaabe, Dakota, and other Indigenous peoples across
the Great Lakes region. Santelli
explained that Manoomin abundance has unfortunately
been declining due to multiple environmental stressors since the onset of
Euro-American colonization. Yet when it comes to Manoomin
stewardship, Indigenous voices have not been adequately involved in either
university research or state decision-making. In 2018, an interdisciplinary
group from the University of Minnesota came together with natural resource
managers from tribes and inter-tribal organizations to study Manoomin within its socio-environmental context. Santelli reported
that a growing understanding of Manoomin across
cultural worldviews is beginning to guide restoration efforts for both Manoomin and its socio-ecological environment. In this
collaboration, Indigenous Ecological Knowledge and Western biophysical
measurements are together informing the geochemical analysis and the ecohydrologic models of culturally significant Manoomin waterbodies. Santellini
concluded by discussing some of the co-developed questions, challenges, and
insights that have emerged about how to protect Manoomin
and about how to engage in inter-cultural, interdisciplinary research that
supports long-term resource protection and tribal sovereignty. Talk
Length: 28’ 18”
Questions were asked by: Beth Doyle (NVCC),
Jane Hammerstrom (USGS), Ester Sztein (National
Academy of Sciences), Mong Han Huang (U MD), Mark Zerniak,
Karen Prestegaard (UC Berkeley), Jasquelin
Peña (UC Davis), Alexander
Rytel (Ohio State U), Liz Cottrell (NMNH), Fred Davis (U Minnesota, Duluth) and
Jessica Warren (U Delaware).
Jasquelin Peña presented “Fate of Bioavailable Carbon Sources in
the Presence of Manganese Oxides.” Peña described how the oxidation of organic carbon
substrates by the soil microbiome and their subsequent accumulation as organic
matter or emission as CO (g) depends on the interaction between the organic
molecules and mineral surfaces. Clays and oxide minerals can stabilize organic
compounds through sorption reactions or promote their oxidation to smaller or
less reducing compounds. Manganese oxides, the strongest solid-phase oxidants
in natural systems, can oxidize organic molecules through successive
decarboxylation steps, potentially leading to the release of CO2. She
pointed out that manganese oxides may alter the pool of available carbon
sources in soil and hence soil carbon cycling but that the molecular-scale
mechanisms at play are understudied. Peña discussed how her team investigated
the fate of glucose, a simple and readily available carbon substrate, in
mineral (δ-MnO2), bacterial biomass (Pseudomonas putida KT2240)
and composite mineral-biomass suspensions. They measured changes in carbon and
manganese chemistry and compiled mass and electron balances. Under abiotic
conditions, formic acid was the main product of glucose oxidation
and its concentration matched the measured concentrations of Mn (II) and
solid-phase Mn (III). No CO2 was produced in these abiotic
incubations. Instead, glucose oxidation by P. putida KT2240 at pH 7 led
to the complete loss of TOC from solution and concomitant production of CO2.
The decrease in TOC and increase in CO2, however, was attenuated in
the mineral-bacteria composites. Additionally, formate
was produced and consumed. Peña
concluded by noting that these
results indicate that manganese oxides can sustain the abiotic production of
small organic acids that fuel bacterial metabolisms. Talk
Length: 21’45”
Questions were asked by: Liz Cottrell (NMNH),
Cara Santelli (U Minnesota), Mong Han Huang (UMD),
Alex Rytel (Ohio State University) and Liz Cottrell (NMNH).
Minming
Cui presented “Trace Element Speciation as a Paleo-Redox Proxy.” Cui opened by stating that redox conditions impact biogeochemical
cycling in the ocean, but reconstructions of ancient marine redox conditions
are limited to differentiating between oxic,
non-sulfidic anoxic, and sulfidic anoxic (i.e., euxinic) conditions. He noted
that improvements of paleoredox proxies include
redox-sensitive metal enrichment, isotope geochemistry, and iron speciation but
the ability to extract information about the intensity and persistence of euxinia in the past could be improved by developing
additional proxies. Cui explained his investigations into the potential of a
new redox proxy, the Mo/W ratio, including an examination of their
concentration patterns in natural redox environments paired with their
speciation patterns. He also discussed the relationships between Mo/W and
sulfide concentrations, and implications for the reconstruction of ancient
redox environments. Talk Length: 21’33”
Questions were asked by: Liz Cottrell (NMNH) and Jasquelin Peña (UC Davis).
President
Liz Cottrell announced that the next meeting’s theme will be unique natural hazards
and adjourned the 1565th meeting at 22:25 EDT.
Respectfully
submitted,
Beth Doyle
Geological
Society of Washington
Minutes
for the 1566th meeting
Wednesday,
May 5, 2021
Video
Conference via Zoom
President Liz Cottrell called the meeting to order at 20:01 EDT.
Attendance
There were 46 attendees.
Minutes
The meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1565th). The minutes of the 1565th meeting had been posted online and a Minute’s Minute was read aloud at the 1566th meeting. No corrections were noted, and the minutes were accepted.
Guests and
New Members
Eight guests were
introduced: Shannan Jones (UMD), Lori Willhite (UMD), Johanna Teske (Carnegie
EPL), George Guice (NMNH), Andrejs Dimbirs (Army Corp
of Engineers, retired), Kristina Walowski (Western
Washington U), Corina Cerovski-Darriau (USGS) and
Kadie Bennis (NMNH).
Announcements
and New Members
President
Cottrell had four announcements:
1.
Alex Baldwin has
volunteered to be the new GSW Database Manager. Long-serving current manager
Dan Doctor is now training Alex who will take over the reins formally this
fall.
2.
Members will soon be
receiving a survey on preferences for meeting venue and format, including
in-person, hybrid or virtual.
3.
To help cover two
hefty and unusual capital expenses Cottrell put out an appeal for members to
consider contributing to the Annual Fund. The first
capital expense is driven by GSW’s longtime online administrator, MSA
(Mineralogical Society of America). MSA’s website and data, including GSW’s
membership system will soon ascend to the cloud and GSW must foot their share
of the bill. On the upside, in tandem with this migration valuable new
features will be added to GSW membership management, including a one-stop,
one-step membership process and the seamless gifting of memberships. The second
capital expense is for the migration of the GSW website from AGI (American
Geosciences Institute) to another server
and more stable platform. Though admittedly less exciting than answering the
traditional call for beer donations, contributions toward capital expenses are
a worthy investment in GSW’s online accessibility and security. Cottrell posted
her email address in the chat for members to contact her about Annual Fund
contribution methods.
4.
One of this evening’s
presenters, Samuel Manzello runs an international webinar on large outdoor
fires. This monthly event hosts speakers across the world and can be accessed
by the link posted in the chat.
Obituaries
John Repetski
read the obituary of GSW member Ina B. Alterman, who died on February 19th,
2021 at the age of 91. Ina’s early research was in
eastern Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey where she focused on slatey
cleavage. She published several papers on thin-skinned tectonics of the
Appalachians and spoke on this topic at GSW Meeting #
1092 in 1982. Dr. Alterman worked
at the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and then moved to the National
Research Council where she was a panelist on several National Academy of
Science studies of nuclear waste repositories in the west, including Yucca
Mountain, Nevada. She was the lead scientist investigating a controversial
proposal for a low-level repository in Ward Valley, California. In addition to
her professional accomplishments, Ina was at the forefront of LGBT activism in
D.C. A moment of silence was observed.
Informal Communication
There
was no informal communication, but pre-meeting reminiscing about GSW meetings
“back when they had kegs” led to the memory of an annual meeting where the “keg
blew up” due to incorrect tapping, after which beer was offered in bottles and
cans only. Could it be that the purported reason for GSW’s cold shoulder to
kegs in 2001 was not only “because of a
cost-cutting measure that also addressed declining consumption” (1564th
Meeting Minutes)?
Formal
Program
The
formal program commenced at 20:21 EDT and consisted of three speakers: Alexander Handwerger
(NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology), Samuel Manzello,
National Institute of Standard Technology) and Danica Roth (Colorado
School of Mines).
Alexander Handwerger presented
“Detecting Landslides from Space: Rain or Shine, Night or Day.” Alex opened by
pointing out that rapid and accurate detection of landslides is critical for
emergency response, disaster mitigation, and improving our understanding of
where landslides occur. Satellite-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR) can be
used to identify landslides, often within days after triggering events, because
it penetrates clouds, operates day and night, and is regularly acquired
worldwide. He walked us through a SAR backscatter change detection approach
that uses multi-temporal stacks of freely available data from the Copernicus
Sentinel-1 satellites to detect areas with high landslide density on the
cloud-based Google Earth Engine (GEE). Notably, this approach does not require
downloading a large volume of data to a local system or specialized processing
software and training. Alex described several strategies that can aid in rapid
response and landslide identification and said that this GEE-based approach was
tested on multiple landslide events between 2018 and 2020. Significantly, this
GEE approach allows the broader hazards and landslide community to utilize and
advance these state-of-the-art remote sensing data. Talk
Length: 22’ 40”
Questions
were asked by: Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher, retired), Bill
Burton (USGS Emeritus), John Jens (U.S. Army, retired), Alex Rytel (Ohio State
U) and Liz Cottrell (NMNH).
Samuel Manzello
presented “The
Need to Better Understand Firebrand Processes During Large Outdoor Fires.”
Manzello established that large outdoor fires have been responsible for
destruction of vast amounts of infrastructure and loss of human life and in
particular, wildland fires that spread into urban areas (known as
wildland-urban interface or (WUI) fires) are capable of enormous
destruction. Major WUI fires were observed on South Korea in 2019,
Australia in 2019 and 2020, over much of the Western USA in 2020, and South
Africa in 2021. He explained that WUI fires include the combustion of
both vegetative and human-made fuels and occur where large population centers
exist whereas wildland fires include the combustion of vegetative fuels and
occur in uninhabited areas. The rise of densely populated urban areas has also
seen the development of large urban fires. In addition, growing informal
settlement communities in Southeast Asia and Africa continues to result in
large outdoor fires capable of great destruction. As a wildland fire
reaches an urban area, structure-to-structure flame spread processes will occur
via the same mechanisms as those in informal settlement fires and urban
fires. The complex ignition, flame spread processes, and degree of
gaseous and particulate emissions appear daunting during these large-scale
destructive events since many of the detailed physics of these processes have
yet to be fully revealed. In turn, this is a major barrier to developing
computational methods to be able to predict and understand large outdoor
processes. For example, firebrand processes are an area in need of
improved physical understanding and were introduced. Manzello concluded
by sharing progress of the ISO TC92/WG14 (Large Outdoor Fires and the Built
Environment Working Group) to develop harmonized test standards that begin to
address this growing global problem. Talk
Length: 18’ 12”
Questions were asked by: Carl-Henry
Geschwind (Independent Researcher, retired), Bill Burton (USGS Emeritus), Mong-Han Huang (UMD), Beth Doyle (NVCC), Alex Rytel (Ohio State U) and John Jens
(U.S. Army, retired).
Danica Roth
presented “New Perspectives on Wildfire and Geomorphic Hazards.”
Roth stated that prolonged drought conditions and
intensifying winter storms in the Western US have dramatically increased
wildfire occurrence and associated geomorphic hazards in recent decades. While
regional differences in postfire erosion and hazard processes are often
attributed to spatial variation in climate, vegetation or soil characteristics,
hazard models are unable to account for these effects mechanistically. In arid
regions like southern California, fire creates short-lived surface hydrophobicity,
drastically increasing runoff-driven erosion and debris flow hazards
immediately postfire. Debris flow hazard models are largely calibrated using
data from these arid climates and tend to perform poorly in the humid Pacific
Northwest, where debris flows commonly initiate several years postfire through
saturation-induced shallow land sliding. As megafires and megadroughts spread
up the west coast, these regional process regimes are evolving rapidly,
revealing critical gaps in our mechanistic understanding of postfire erosion
and hazard processes, as well as our ability to connect event-scale models and
observations to landscape-scale morphodynamics.
Predicting transient responses to changing fire regimes—from short-term hazard
risk to long-term landscape evolution—requires flexible, physically-based
models that account for the relative contributions of distinct processes and
the heterogeneity of regional variables. Such models are growing increasingly
accessible with modern computational resources and high-resolution geospatial
data. Roth discussed several ongoing projects utilizing these resources to
advance the understanding of erosion and hazards across today’s shifting
process regimes. Talk Length: 21’ 13”
Questions were asked by: Liz Cottrell (NMNH),
Bill Burton (USGS Emeritus), Alex Rytel (Ohio State U) and Mong-Han Huang (UMD).
President
Liz Cottrell reminded members to be on the lookout for the survey and announced
the theme of exoplanets for the final spring meeting on May 19th. She adjourned the 1566th meeting at 22:06
EDT.
Respectfully
submitted,
Beth Doyle
Geological
Society of Washington
Minutes
for the 1567th meeting
Wednesday,
May 19, 2021
Video
Conference via Zoom
President Liz Cottrell
called the meeting to order at 20:01 EDT.
Attendance
There were 59 attendees.
Minutes
The meeting began with
the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1566th). The
minutes of the 1566th meeting had been posted online and a Minute’s
Minute was read aloud at the 1567th meeting. No corrections were
noted, and the minutes were accepted.
Guests and
New Members
Nine guests were introduced: Kathryn Robbins (UMD), Francesca Miozzi
(Carnegie Institution), Bella Schrader (NMNH), Payton Netherland (NMNH), Shaherazade Khan (NMNH), Ash Thye
(NMNH), Ayomide Ajayi (UMD), Lisette Melendez (NMNH) and Randy Warren (GMU).
Five new members were
introduced: Alex Rytel (Ohio State U), Irwin Singer (physicist, retired) Abigail Wulf (Securing
America’s Future), Gregory Neumann (NASA Goddard) and George Guice (NMNH).
Announcements
1. President Cottrell said that the GSW survey was sent out today.
The survey covers preferences for meeting venue and format, including
in-person, hybrid or virtual and will be open for one week. Council will review
the results and plan accordingly for Fall 2021. Members who did not receive the
survey link can contact Liz through her email address, posted in the chat.
2. Ester
Sztein announced the NSF-sponsored “NNCI Nanoscience Earth and Environmental
Science Research Community Virtual Workshop” to be held on May 24th
through May 26th starting at 11:00 EDT. The goal of this workshop is
to introduce the geoscience community to new advances and opportunities
to do research in nanoscience through the National Nanotechnology Coordinated
Infrastructure (NNCI) program. Sztein posted the
registration link in the chat for this free event that is open to all.
Obituaries
Jane Hammarstrom
presented the obituary of GSW member Paul Barton Jr., who died on May 9th,
2021. Over several decades Paul served as GSW’s 2nd Vice President,
1st Vice President and President. His presidential address was
“Mineral Textures: New Frontiers in Old Territory.” He then went on to chair
the Nominating Committee. Barton was a member of the National Academy of
Sciences, received the Roebling Medal from the Mineralogical Society of America
in 1984 and in 1994 the Society of Economic Geologists awarded him the Penrose
Medal. Bartonite, a potassium iron sulfide mineral
was named in his honor. Barton and his close colleague Phillip Bethke led “one
of the most detailed and significant studies” of the Creede, Colorado mineral
district where they welcomed the opportunity to work with and support dozens of
scientists and graduate students. A moment of silence was observed.
Informal
Communication
Barbara Cohen, GSW member
and return sample scientist at the NASA Goodard Space Flight Center gave an
update on the recent activity and plans for Perseverance, NASA’s latest Mars
rover. Having completed the Ingenuity
helicopter demonstration flights over the past few months, scientists will
start an in-earnest exploration of potential sampling sites for the rover’s
drill and core system. Primarily because of weathering veneers, images alone fail
to reveal exactly what these 3.5-billion-year-old rocks are. Cohen promised
that she was not holding back on the rock type and that a debate currently
rages on whether they are volcanic or sedimentary. Sampling will come online this July as
Perseverance’s laser and imaging arms scan samples to assess mineralogy and the
presence of organic compounds. A future mission will return samples to Earth
around 2030 for more detailed analyses.
Formal
Program
The formal program commenced at 20:20 EDT and consisted of
three speakers: Peter Gao (University of California, Santa Cruz), Sarah Moran (Johns Hopkins
University) and David Kipping (Columbia University).
Peter Gao presented “Super-Earths, Water Worlds,
Mini-Neptunes, Oh My! Towards Understanding the Most
Common Type of Planet in the Galaxy.” Gao noted that the
Kepler Space Telescope revealed that the most common type of planet in the
Galaxy are "sub-Neptunes." These planets
have a radius between that of Neptune and Earth and do not exist in the Solar
System. He gave an overview of the current understanding of
these mysterious and yet prevalent worlds, as well as the hopes for
discovery. As it turns out, sub-Neptunes are observed
to be composed of two populations in radii - a smaller population with measured
densities consistent with rocky planets, and a larger population that may be
rocky cores covered in gaseous envelopes, or perhaps water worlds. Atmospheric
loss is likely responsible for sculpting these two populations. Recent efforts
in characterizing the atmospheres of these planets have revealed little
information, as they appear to be enshrouded by clouds and hazes. Peter
described the next phase of discovery, one that involves more systematic
surveys of their atmospheres with next generation facilities like the James
Webb Space Telescope and more rigorous theoretical considerations of how these
planets' interiors, surfaces, and atmospheres interact with each other. Talk Length: 22’
06”
Questions were asked by:
Liz Cottrell (NMNH), Bill Burton (USGS Emeritus), Larry Meinert (USGS Emeritus), Mong-Han
Huang (UMD), Alex Rytel (Ohio State U) and George Helz
(UMD Emeritus).
Sarah Moran presented “The Chemistry of
Super-Earth and Sub-Neptune Hazes from Laboratory Experiments.”
Moran described what photochemical hazes are
and said that they are found across the solar system and in exoplanet
atmospheres. Hazes not only serve as sources and sinks for various atmospheric
gases, but can change a planet's climate, our interpretations of planetary
conditions, and even generate prebiotic materials. Sarah presented results of
the composition of laboratory haze analogs relevant to exoplanet conditions,
particularly focused on super-Earths and mini-Neptunes
and described how oxygen-carrying molecules can act in surprising ways to
change the chemistry of these planetary atmospheres.
Talk Length: 21’ 26”
Questions were asked by:
George Helz (UMD Emeritus), Bill Burton (USGS
Emeritus), Mong-Han Huang (UMD), Alex Rytel (Ohio
State U) and Liz Cottrell (NMNH).
David Kipping presented “The
Search for Exomoons.”
Kipping opened by explaining how exomoons are a
missing puzzle piece in our understanding of distant planetary systems. Moons
in our own solar system are some of the most interesting worlds we’ve
encountered, possibly even harboring yet to be discovered life. He noted that
exomoons, moons outside of the Solar System, have eluded astronomers for the
last decade and described new methods and technologies for detection. David
shared how the search for such moons proceeds, what
hints have we found thus far and what the future might hold. Talk
Length: 20’ 45”
Questions were asked by: Liz Cottrell (NMNH), Bill Burton (USGS
Emeritus) and Alex Rytel (Ohio
State U).
President Cottrell
adjourned the 1567th meeting at 22:02 EDT.
Respectfully
submitted,
Beth Doyle
Geological
Society of Washington
Minutes
for the 1568th meeting
Wednesday,
September 8, 2021
John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club,
Washington, D.C.
President
Liz Cottrell called the meeting to order at 20:03 EDT and reminded all to wear
masks, in compliance with D.C. law.
Attendance
There were 31 attendees.
Minutes
The
meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1567th). The minutes of the 1567th meeting
had been posted online and a Minute’s Minute was read aloud at the 1568th
meeting. No corrections were noted, and the minutes were accepted.
Guests
and New Members
Six
guests were introduced: Katherine
Udell-Lopez (UMD), Kathryn Robbins (UMD), Anna Weniger (UMD), Samantha Volz
(UMD), Riley Bates (petroleum geology, retired) and George Neumann (New Haven).
Announcements
1.
Liz Cottrell said to
watch for the launch of the seamless, one-step GSW membership process. Details on the membership drive are also
forthcoming. If membership can’t wait,
click “membership” on the GSW website and proceed through the current,
circuitous route.
2.
Jamie Allan announced the 50th Annual Convention of the
AAPG-Eastern Section
starting on October 2, 2021 in Pittsburgh. “Unconventional Wisdom” is the theme of this
in-person event. Two field trips as well
as talks on petroleum industry topics and beyond are scheduled. Details can be found online at the AAPG
website.
Informal
Communication
There was no informal communication.
Obituaries
Jane Hammarstrom announced the death of Carolyn Shoemaker and a moment of silence was observed.
The formal program commenced at 20:13 EDT and consisted of three speakers: Peter Valley (U.S. Geological Survey), Will Odom (U.S. Geological Survey) and Mojhgan Haghnegahdar (University of Maryland).
Peter Valley presented “Geologic Mapping in
the eastern Adirondack Mountains: A Complex Tale of Iron Ore and Rare Earth
Element Mineralization.” Valley stated that the
Adirondack Highlands present significant challenges to natural resource
assessment because they are comprised of complexly deformed Mesoproterozoic
crystalline rocks. Voluminous
anorthosite-mangerite-charnockite-granite
(AMCG) metaigneous rocks intruded the Highlands during the mid to late
Shawinigan Orogeny and were subsequently metamorphosed during the Ottawan Orogeny. The discovery of iron sands at Crown Point, NY in 1749 led to over
200 years iron mining, with the last mine closing in 1973. The iron ore is
mainly magnetite, apatite, and quartz. The apatite and quartz were considered
waste products and discarded. In 1956 a study by the USGS concluded that much
of the apatite was rich in the rare earth element (REE) yttrium, and thorium.
In 2018, the US government published a report with a list 35 minerals or
mineral groups, including REE, that were determined to be critical for the
nation’s security and economic well-being. Due to their use in modern technology, green
energy, and the military, REE use has increased more than three-fold in the
past 25 years. Despite over a century
of topical research, the vast ~30,000 km2 area contains no
peer-reviewed 1:24,000-scale bedrock geologic maps. New detailed 1:24,000-scale
bedrock geologic mapping by the USGS, is the first of its kind in the
Adirondacks, and integrates new LiDAR, new airborne geophysics, geochemistry,
petrology, geochronology, and economic geology broadens our understanding of
the Adirondack Mountains. Valley said that this research provides a new
framework for investigations into historically significant mineral occurrences
in the Adirondacks including rare earth element (REE)-bearing apatite, iron
oxide, and graphite deposits. Talk Length: 20’ 12”
Questions were asked by: Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher,
retired), Jane Hammarstrom (USGS), Jamie Allan (NSF), Mong-Han Huang (UMD), Victor Zabielski (NVCC) and
Will Odom (USGS).
Will Odom presented
“Dating Plio-Pleistocene aggradation and incision in
eastern North America with cosmogenic nuclides.”
Odom opened by noting that studies of Appalachian
geomorphology have hypothesized that the southern and central portions of the
mountain range experienced topographic rejuvenation in the last ~20 million
years on the basis of significant river
incision. However, cosmogenic nuclide dating of fluvial sediments washed
into caves along the New, Green, and Cumberland Rivers has demonstrated that
most river incision occurred during the Pleistocene following an extended
interval of Pliocene aggradation, likely driven by the shifting climatic
regimes of the Plio-Pleistocene transition. To
expand upon these studies and test the hypothesis that most Appalachian
river incision has occurred during the past ~3 million years due to
non-tectonic drivers, Odom and his team have dated numerous fluvial terraces in
the Shenandoah, Tennessee, and Mississippi River basins using cosmogenic 26Al/10Be
burial dating. Odom said that these results indicate widespread
sedimentation spanning the Pliocene in all three basins, with the Shenandoah
Valley exhibiting a marked increase in erosion rates during the mid-Piacenzian
Warm Period that may reflect enhanced pericoastal
precipitation. Further inland, aggradational
terraces along the Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers also date to the Pliocene
and feature gradual erosion rates indicative of tectonic quiescence.
Extrapolating incision rates from terrace ages and heights along all three
rivers shows a likely increase in incision rates during the Pleistocene,
consistent with base level fluctuations driven by a changing climate. Talk Length: 20’ 40”
Questions were
asked by: Carl-Henry Geschwind
(Independent Researcher, retired), Mong-Han
Huang (UMD), Victor Zabielski (NVCC) and Gabriela Farfan (NMNH).
Mojhgan Haghhnegahdar presented “Using 13CH3D & 12CH2D2 Clumped
Isotopes for a better understanding of Atmospheric Methane Sources and Sinks.” Haghhnegahdar explained that although methane (CH4) is the most abundant organic molecule in the atmosphere and an
important greenhouse gas, considerable uncertainty remains in the apportionment
of its sources and the strengths of its sinks.
Wetlands are the largest natural sources of atmospheric methane, but the
difficulty of sampling these widespread systems through the seasons affects
understanding of the balance between in-situ microbial production and oxidative
consumption of the gas. Likewise,
uncertainties in the magnitude and distribution of atmospheric sink reactions
leads to corresponding uncertainties in estimates of methane residence
time. The emerging ability to analyze
clumped isotopes of
methane has the potential to improve reconstructions of atmospheric methane
sources and sinks. Biogenic methane, for example, is strongly depleted in 12CH2D2, and predictions for atmospheric methane based on
rates of protium-rich sink reactions should lead to equally strong 12CH2D2 enrichment in the atmosphere. Haghhnegahdar
reported on the progress of the UMD high mass
resolution IRMS (Panorama) Laboratory investigation and presented the first
measurements of methane from wetland soil incubations, chamber collections, and
air which confirm that wetland emissions in our region possess 12CH2D2 deficits and that air has 12CH2D2 enrichments in urban tropospheric air - each of nearly
50 ‰. Haghhnegahdar discussed how the addition of clumped isotope measurements to more
traditional measures of atmospheric methane can be used to understand cycling
of this important greenhouse gas in urban and rural environments of the densely
populated Mid-Atlantic States, the focus of her ongoing investigation. Talk Length: 19’ 10”
Questions
were asked by: Jane Hammarstrom (USGS),
Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher, retired), George Helz (UMD), Ved
Lekić
(UMD), Liz Cottrell (NMNH), Janine Andrys (NMNH) and
Mong-Han Huang (UMD).
Sans
gavel, President Cottrell adjourned the 1568th meeting at 21:49 EDT.
Respectfully
submitted,
Beth Doyle
Geological Society
of Washington
Minutes for the
1569th meeting
Wednesday,
September 29, 2021
John
Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
President Liz
Cottrell called the meeting to order at 20:00 EDT.
Attendance
There were 34 attendees.
Minutes
The meeting began
with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1568th). The minutes of the 1568th meeting
had been posted online and a Minute’s Minute was read aloud at the 1569th
meeting. No corrections were noted, and the minutes were accepted.
New Members and
Guests
Six new members were announced:
Steven Benford (retired), Karin Lehnigk (UMass
Amherst), John Counts (USGS), Riley Bates (petroleum geology, retired), Nico
Kueter (Carnegie GPL) and Juliana Troch (NMNH).
1.
Ester Sztein announced the publication of “America’s Geoheritage II:
Identifying, Developing, and Preserving America’s Natural Legacy: Proceedings of a Workshop” which is freely
downloadable at www.nap.edu/26316. Sztein also announced that at next week’s GSA in Portland, Pardee
symposia will be held on Geoheritage (Monday, October
11, 2021, 1:30-5:30 p.m. PDT) and Geosciences and Society: An Interdisciplinary Approach Towards
Sustainability (Wednesday, October 13, 2021, 10:15 a.m. PDT).
2.
Liz Cottrell announced
that all in-person attendees of next month’s Bradley Lecture (November 17 at
AGU) must show proof of vaccination (electronic or paper) to enter the
building. No
exceptions will be permitted. This
meeting will be hybrid for those who want to attend virtually.
Informal
Communication
There was no informal communication.
Obituaries
No obituaries were announced.
Formal Program
The formal program commenced at 20:11 EDT and consisted
of three speakers: Paul Betka (George Mason University),
Valerie Finlayson (University of Maryland, College Park) and Francesca Miozzi
(Carnegie Institution for Science).
Paul Betka presented “Late Cenozoic Tectonic and
Deltaic Interactions within the IndoBurman Subduction
Zone.” Betka took us to the IndoBurman Ranges, a subaerial accretionary prism that is
located at the intersection of the Sunda subduction zone, the Himalayan
collisional orogen, and the massive Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta. Together, these
systems form the largest example of active subduction accretion on Earth. Betka
summarized recent progress on understanding the Neogene to present growth of
the ancestral Brahmaputra delta and subsequent structural growth of the IndoBurman accretionary prism. Talk Length: 20’ 28”
Questions were asked by: Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher,
retired), Mong-Han Huang (UMD) and Ved Lekić (UMD).
Valerie Finlayson
presented “Siderophile anomalies in the Easter plume:
Source or process?” Finlayson opened her talk
by establishing that the Easter-Salas y Gomez plume is one of five mantle
plumes with very high 3He/4He, signaling the presence of undegassed,
primitive mantle in its source. Previous studies have suggested that the plume
likely samples only two types of mantle, and whether a
third is present has remained a matter of debate. New highly siderophile
element and 182-tungsten isotopic data reveal anomalous compositions within the
plume. Paired with existing data, an evaluation of the roles of processes (such
as melting) and source characteristics on siderophile compositions in the plume
is possible. Finlayson stated that these data will also serve to help determine
whether a third mantle type exists in the plume source, with potential
implications for ongoing and future explorations of undegassed,
primitive mantle material preserved in Earth’s mantle. Talk Length: 20’
41”
Questions were asked by: Victor
Zabielski (NVCC), Michael Walter (Carnegie Institution), Liz Cottrell (NMNH), Ved Lekić (UMD) and
Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher, retired).
Francesca Miozzi presented “An Experimental Approach to the Study of
Carbon Rich Exoplanets.” Miozzi
said that more than 4000 exoplanets have been discovered, orbiting around stars
with a wide variety of compositions.
Such planets are detected and studied through indirect methods that in
many cases give access to the main properties of the planets: mass and radius.
The same parameters can be calculated from a chosen model and compared to the
observed ones. Miozzi noted that calculations remain difficult for planets
orbiting around stars with compositions very different from our Sun, for
example carbon enriched, because the physical properties of carbides (i.e. silicon carbides and iron carbides) at extreme pressure
are unknown. Miozzi shared experimental
data collected at high pressure and high temperature to illustrate how
experiments can complement modelling and observations to unveil the chemical
and structural nature, as well as properties, of exoplanets. Talk Length: 18’ 07”
Questions were asked by: Ved Lekić (UMD) and Richard Walker (UMD).
President
Cottrell adjourned the 1569th meeting at 21:35 EDT.
Respectfully submitted,
Beth Doyle
Geological
Society of Washington
Minutes
for the 1570th meeting
Wednesday,
October 13, 2021
Video Conference Via Zoom
President
Liz Cottrell called to order the meeting, GSW’s first virtual session not
mandated by the pandemic, at 20:03 EDT.
Attendance
There were 43 attendees.
Minutes
The
meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1569th). The minutes of the 1569th meeting
had been posted online and a Minute’s Minute was read aloud at the 1570th
meeting. No corrections were noted, and the minutes were accepted.
New
Members and Guests
One new member was announced: John Counts
(USGS).
Six guests were introduced: Sourabh Shubham (UMD), Brenden Fischer-Femal (UUTAH), Jenna Elizabeth Reimer (UFlorida),
Francesca Miozzi (Carnegie Institution), Dionysis Foustoukis (Carnegie
Institution) and Phil Piccoli (UMD).
Announcements
1.
Dan Doctor announced a
November 20th USGS-sponsored field trip that will focus on the tectonic and
landscape evolution history at the boundaries of the Blue Ridge
Anticlinorium. Details are posted on the
GSW website.
2.
Liz Cottrell announced that
all in-person attendees of next month’s Bradley Lecture (November 17 at AGU)
must show proof of vaccination (electronic or paper) to enter the
building. No exceptions will be
permitted. This meeting will be hybrid
for those who want to attend virtually.
3.
Liz Cottrell announced
“Blackneum,” an initiative to share stories,
perspectives, and knowledge of Black people in the Natural History Museum
community. Register for this October 17 -23rd event on
Twitter @BlackInNHMs Black in Natural History
Museums.
Informal
Communication
There was no informal communication.
Obituaries
No obituaries were announced.
Formal
Program
The formal program commenced at 20:19
EDT and consisted of three speakers:
Johanna Teske
(Carnegie Institution for Science), James W. Dottin, III (University of
Maryland, College Park & Carnegie Institution for Science) and Dr.
Courtney Wagner (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian
Institution).
Johanna
Teske presented “Holistic Characterization of Small Planets with the
Magellan-TESS Survey.”
Teske shared recent results on the
characterization of small planets. Two questions that she and her collaborators
hope to answer are: (1) Is there a range of super-Earth and/or sub-Neptune
formation mechanisms and (2) What is the precise and accurate planet
mass-radius relation in the <3 Rearth regime. The Magellan-TESS Survey (MTS) is designed to address
these two questions in a statistically robust framework, combining transiting
and radial velocity techniques to connect observed planet distributions to true
underlying populations. MTS will include mass constraints, host star
compositions, and system architectures of 30 small planets detected by TESS across
a range of insolation fluxes. Its statistical robustness arises from
quantifiable and uniformly applied choices for transiting planet target
selection and radial velocity observation cadencing, a new feature compared to
most previous follow-up surveys. Teske presented the MTS findings and explained
the hierarchical Bayesian modeling of the mass-radius relation. She discussed
next steps for the survey including plans for combining it with atmospheric
follow-up and stressed that the MTS-style approach to population studies will
become increasingly important as the era of exoplanet characterization deepens,
making observational constraints more technically challenging and expensive. Talk Length: 21’13”
Questions
were asked by:
Larry Meinert (Economic
Geology & CSM), Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Researcher,
retired), Ved Lekić (UMD), Beth Doyle (NVCC/Marymount U) and
Liz Cottrell (NMNH).
James W.
Dottin, III presented “Isotopic Constraints on the Lunar Sulfur Cycle.” Dottin described how he uses sulfur isotope
measurements in lunar soils to place constraints on sulfur cycling on the lunar
surface. The origin, evolution, and cycling of volatiles on the moon
are established by processes such as the giant moon forming impact, lunar magma
ocean degassing, mantle crystallization and degassing, and lunar surface
gardening events. These processes are typically controlled by mass
dependent fractionation processes and, as such, have been readily documented in
a variety of stable isotope systems (such as K, Cl, Zn, S, ect.). However, a role for mass-independent processes, such
as atmospheric photochemistry, has yet to be demonstrated and can have
implications for the evolution of the tenuous lunar atmosphere with time and
the potential establishment of an isotopically distinct lunar mantle from
Earth. Dottin presented the first high precision quadruple sulfur isotope
measurements on lunar soils and glasses collected during Apollo 17. He reported
that mass-independent fractionation of sulfur in lunar regolith is
observed from at least one site and not in regolith from other sites. This
signature is attributed to photochemistry in sunlit regions and the absence of
such a signature is ascribed to gardening in shadowed areas. Talk Length: 20’00”
Questions were asked by: Liz Cottrell (NMNH), Mark Tyra (NIST), Larry
Meinert (Economic Geology & CSM),
Mong-Han Huang (UMD) and Johanna Teske (Carnegie Institution for Science and Ved Lekić (UMD).
Courtney Wagner presented “Navigating through Environmental
Disasters with Magnetofossils.” Wagner introduced us to characteristics of magnetotactic bacteria and magnetofossils
and described how both inform aspects of environmental magnetism and
environmental change. Talk
Length: 18’52”
Questions
were asked by: Carl-Henry Geschwind
(Independent Researcher, retired), Mong-Han
Huang (UMD), Liz Cottrell (NMNH), Ved Lekić
(UMD) and Bev Walker (NSF).
President
Cottrell adjourned the 1570th meeting at 22:14 EDT.
Respectfully
submitted,
Beth Doyle
Geological
Society of Washington
Minutes
for the 1571st meeting
Wednesday,
November 17, 2021
American Geophysical Union, Washington D.C. and Video
Conference Via Zoom
President
Liz Cottrell called to order GSW’s first hybrid meeting at 20:03 EST.
Attendance
There were 101 attendees, 33 in-person and 68 on Zoom.
Minutes
The
meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1571st). The minutes of the 1570th meeting
had been posted online and a Minute’s Minute was read aloud at the 1571st
meeting. No corrections were noted, and the minutes were accepted.
New
Members and Guests
Sixteen new members were announced: Will Odom (USGS), Riley Bates (petroleum geology, retired), Juliana Troch (Smithsonian NMNH), Nico Kueter (Carnegie EPL), Phil Piccoli (UMD), Sourabh Shubham (UMD), Kris McCandless (VA Dept Env Quality), Alan Pitts (USGS), John Counts (USGS), Campbell Bates, Karin Lehnigk (UMASS, Amherst), Steven Benford (retired), Laurel Bauer (USNRC), Jonathan Arthur (AGI), Palma Botterell (USGS) and Josie Hammon (US Senate).
Announcements
1.
Dan Doctor announced a
November 20th USGS-sponsored field trip that will focus on the tectonic and
landscape evolution history at the boundaries of the Blue Ridge
Anticlinorium. Details are posted on the
GSW website.
Informal
Communication
There was no informal communication.
Obituaries
No obituaries were announced.
Formal
Program
The formal program commenced at 20:16 EST with the Bradley Lecture
delivered by Terry Plank (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia
University).
Terry Plank presented “At the Speed of
Volcanic Eruptions.” Plank explained new constraints on volcanic run-up,
forecasting and eruption dynamics and addressed the following questions: What
happens under volcanoes in the months leading up to eruption? How does the
magmatic system prepare for an eruption? And why are some eruptions more
explosive than others? Plank said that crystal clocks reveal some answers.
Chemical zonation preserved inside crystals and their inclusions provide some
of the fastest clocks in geology. These timescales of chemical diffusion
operate over minutes to years prior to eruption. Talk Length: 53’22”
Questions
were asked by: Jamie Allen (NSF), Brooks Hanson (AGU), Roz Helz
(USGS), Larry Meinert (Economic
Geology & CSM), Steve Mackwell (Rice U), Yan Zhan (Carnegie Institution for
Science), Carl-Henry Geschwind
(Independent Researcher, retired), Bill Burton (USGS Emeritus), Megan Holycross
(Cornell U), Yasmina Martos (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), Beth Doyle
(NVCC/Marymount U), Liz Cottrell (NMNH), Brent Grocholski (Science) and Abigail Nalesnik (U
Delaware).
President
Cottrell adjourned the 1570th meeting at 22:14 EST.
Respectfully
submitted,
Beth Doyle
Geological
Society of Washington
Minutes
for the 1572nd meeting
Wednesday,
December 1, 2021
John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington
D.C. and Video Conference Via Zoom
President
Liz Cottrell called to order GSW’s second hybrid meeting and the first to be
held at the Cosmos Club at 20:01 EST.
Attendance
There were 113 attendees, 51 in-person and 62 on Zoom.
Minutes
The
meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1571st). The minutes of the 1571st meeting
had been posted online and a Minute’s Minute was read aloud at the 1572nd
meeting. No corrections were noted, and the minutes were accepted.
New
Members and Guests
Three new members were announced: R. Drew Thomas (ECS
Mid-Atlantic, LLC), Alan Pitts (USGS) and Jack Sharp (UT Austin).
Thirty-three
guests were introduced. Eight
in-person guests: Joey Kulenguski (GMU), Anna Hindrichs (GMU), Mary Croke (GMU), Austin Shiver (GMU),
Dave Stevenson (Liz Cottrell’s husband), Dale Stevenson (Liz Cottrell’s son and
likely the youngest Sleeping Bear Award recipient), Madeline Stevenson (Liz
Cottrell’s daughter) and Elisabeth Herndler (Embassy of Luxembourg). Twenty-five
virtual guests signed in via Zoom: J. Hnat (Saint Francis, WI), David Evans
(Tucson, AZ), Michael Edelen (Lexington, KY), Kelly Brigham (UMass Amherst), Karianne
Bergen (Brown U), John Brady (Smith College), Alexandra Arimes
(UKY), Steve J. Smith (USGS), Lauren Sankovitch (USGS,
Denver), Besim Dragovic (USCarolina), Michael Edelen (UKY),
Clint Tippett (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), Dave Evans (Tucson, AZ), Craig
Lundstrom (UIL), Andy Campbell, Brendan Garvey (WWU), Sloane Kennedy (WWU), Mahinaokalani Robbins (WWU), Larry Tuttle (LSU), Michael Bizimis (USCarolina), Connor
Hopps (Lexington, KY), Caroline Kenney, (PVCC), Nelson Eby (UMass Lowell), John
Encarnacion (Saint Louis U) and Ekaterina Rojas Kolomiets
(USCarolina).
Informal
Communication
1.
Liz Cottrell gave a shout-out to Dan
Doctor and Alan Pitts for the wonderful November 20th
USGS-sponsored field trip that covered tectonic and landscape evolution history
of the Blue Ridge Anticlinorium. Trip
highlight photos were shown, including the spectacular church built of Catoctin
Formation stone. Photos are also on the GSW website.
Announcements
1.
Liz Cottrell announced that
a companion field trip to the Doctor-Pitts venture will be run by Bill Burton
in the Spring of 2022 and will feature igneous rocks of this region.
Obituaries
No obituaries were announced.
Formal
Program
The formal program commenced at 20:11 EST with the President’s
Address. After sound and video checks of the Zoom audience 1st Vice
President Larry Meinert introduced Liz Cottrell, whose talk commenced at 20:16.
Liz Cottrell presented “From Arctic Volcanoes to Furnaces:
The Generation of Earth’s Crust.” Liz
dedicated her talk to George Helz, current GSW
Council member and 1996 GSW President. She then gave us a primer on
oxygen fugacity, essential in understanding crustal formation since
“unfortunately” rocks don't behave as an ideal gas. Liz surveyed the
development of scientific thought on the relative roles of water and oxygen
fugacity in making iron-depleted melts and continental crust and she
highlighted the essential contributions of past and current GSW members
including Clarence Fenner, Norm Bowen, Neil Irvine, Hat Yoder, Ros Helz and Megan Holycross.
Then Liz transported us to the remote western Aleutians, the site
of her 2015 field expedition. She said that this volcanic arc is the perfect
field lab to track potential sources of iron-depleted signatures in
calc-alkaline volcanism. Here she sought and found her “black
gold," mafic tephra with the requisite olivine-hosted melt inclusions.
These are key to water and oxygen fugacity assessment at the microscale. Liz
described how she and “Team Tephra” encountered stunning vistas and choppy seas
as they dodged unexploded World War II ordinances, soaked in hot springs,
acquired 2,700 pounds of rock -- including the first tephra from many islands
--and achieved 100% maintenance success at 30 seismic installations, all
without a single evacuation. Liz then shared analyses of her Aleutian samples.
They align with experimental and petrological data, demonstrating a link
between high oxygen fugacity and iron-depleted melts.
Liz closed her presidential
address by acknowledging the land of the Unangan
on which all samples were collected and shared a video in
honor of the people and their culture. Talk Length: 45’22”
As per GSW tradition, no questions
were asked after this Presidential address.
President Cottrell
adjourned the 1572nd meeting at 21:02 EST.
Respectfully submitted,
Beth Doyle
Geological
Society of Washington
Minutes
for the 129th Annual Meeting
Wednesday,
December 1, 2021
John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington
D.C. and Video Conference Via Zoom
The 129th Annual Meeting of the Society was called to order at 9:10 p.m. by President Liz Cottrell following her presidential address, From Arctic volcanoes to furnaces: The generation of the Earth’s crust. The minutes of the 2020 meeting were read and approved.
Reports
Beth Doyle reported the following statistics of the eleven meetings of the Society in 2020:
|
|
Min |
Mean |
Max |
|
Attendees |
31 |
58 |
101 |
|
Guests |
2 |
9 |
18 |
|
Announcements |
0 |
2 |
4 |
|
Informal
Comm. |
0 |
1 |
2 |
|
Questions |
13 |
18 |
23 |
|
Length (min.) |
90 |
118 |
143 |
Note that only
the first seven meetings of 2021 were held virtually; the Fall was a mix of in-person,
virtual, and hybrid meetings. Liz Cottrell and Mong-Han
Huang tied for most questions asked with thirty-one.
Council
Secretary
Patrick Carr
reported that the Council held meetings on May 5th, June 22nd,
and October 20th; all were held virtually. At the Spring meeting,
the council approved resolutions to upgrade the web site hosting and membership
processing. The June meeting was a Special Meeting to discuss and decide on the
Fall Schedule.
At the fall
meeting, dues were increased to $50 for Regular Members and the slate was approved.
Treasurer
Carl-Henry Geschwind reported the finances of the Society for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2021, as follows:
|
Receipts |
|
|
Dues |
$7,280 |
|
Contributions |
3,583 |
|
Disbursement
from Funds |
1,335 |
|
|
$12,198 |
|
Disbursements |
|
|
Hall rental |
$0 |
|
Drinks |
0 |
|
Speakers |
566 |
|
Miscellaneous |
3,561 |
|
|
$4,127 |
Dues have been decreasing steadily over a long time; the invested funds have in[1]creased. Because of the pandemic, the expenses were also greatly reduced. Cottrell thanked Geschwind for his years of dedicated service.
Audit Committee
Mark Fuhrmann reported that he and Joe Kanney audited the treasurer’s report and it was found to be correct. Roz Helz moved that the auditor’s report be adopted; this passed without objection.
Membership Committee
Erik Hankin reported that there are 254 paid members for 2021. This is the largest in[1]crease in the past five years, but we’re still down for the last decade or so. There were 31 new members. The renewal rate for 2021 was 85 percent, which is on par with previous years. New membership processes have been put in place, both a one-step registration and the ability to give gift memberships. He also noted this will be his last year in the position, so interested successors are encouraged to make themselves known. Cottrell thanked him for his many years of service.
Public Service Committee
Kori Newman reported that the pandemic has continued to be a challenge. Bill Burton judged the Loudoun County virtual science fair; many of the rest are scheduled for early Spring.
Awards Committee
Ved Lekic and Sally June Tracy presented the following awards:
The Bradley Prize for the best formal
scientific talk was to Courtney L. Wagner of the
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History for her talk of October 13th, Navigating
through environmental disasters with magnetofossils.
The prize for second-best formal talk was to Cara M. Santelli of the University of Minnesota for her talk of April 21st, First we should consider Manoomin: Decentering West[1]ern science through collaborative tribal-university research on wild rice.
Gabriella Farfan presented the Great Dane Award for the best informal communication to the Society of timely or newsworthy events to Michael R. Ackerson of the Smithsonian for his information on Unlearning Racism in the Geosciences (URGE), an NSF-funded and geoscientist-led initiative.
Emma Bullock presented the Sleeping Bear award for genuine good humor at meetings to Karianne J. Bergen of Brown University. (The bear will stay local.)
Cottrell thanked the dedication of the awards committee.
Business of the Day
After debate and amendment, the following motion made by Cottrell was adopted: That the following Code of Conduct be adopted and made available on the Society web site.
Expected Conduct at GSW Events
GSW expects a professional and respectful atmosphere that values a diversity of views and opinions. All meetings and sponsored activities shall be conducted in a professional atmosphere in which all participants are treated with courtesy, respect, and consideration. GSW expects events to be free of inappropriate behavior and harassment by or toward all participants, including scientists, students, guests, exhibitors, staff, vendors, and other suppliers.
Unacceptable Behavior, Consequences and
Reporting
GSW will not tolerate harassment of any sort. As a condition of participation in GSW gatherings, attendees are expected to behave according to professional scientific standards and to maintain appropriate standards of behavior. Attendees will not engage in harassment, intimidation, or discrimination of any meeting participant. This includes, but is not limited to, physical or verbal abuse or threats of harm; stalking or uninvited physical contact and inappropriate use of sexual images in public spaces or in presentations; or disruption of presentations at oral or poster sessions or other events organized by the GSW at the meeting venues or field trips. Examples of abuse include, but are not limited to, verbal comments related to gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, political views, and national origin, or derogatory or demeaning comments based on perceived scientific competency. Those attending GSW meetings or events who violate the Society’s expectations for conduct may be asked to comply by the event leader and may be asked to leave the event. Egregious behavior may result in more serious sanctions (e.g. revocation of membership in the Society) at the discretion of the Council. We ask that anyone experiencing and/or witnessing inappropriate behavior at a GSW event inform the person leading the event, an officer of the Society, or an appropriately trained liaison.
Ester Sztein as chair of the Nominations Committee presented the following slate of officers as approved by the Council on October 20th:
First Vice-President: Kori Newman (Systems & Technology Research)
Second Vice-President: Victor Zabielski (Northern Virginia Community College)
Meeting Secretary: Beth Doyle (Northern Virginia Community College)
Council Secretary: Patrick Carr (Department of Defense)
Treasurer: Mark Fuhrmann (Nuclear Regulatory Commission)
Councilor: Stephen Mackwell (Rice University)
Councilor: Megan Newcombe (University of Maryland)
Councilor: Michael Walter (Carnegie Institution).
There were no nominations from the floor, and the slate was elected by acclamation.
The President for 2022 will be Larry Meinert (Economic Geology), elected last year as the first vice-president. Liz Cottrell (Smithsonian) is on the Council as the past president, and continuing councilors are Ryan Haupt (National Youth Science Foundation), George Helz (University of Maryland), and Yasmina Martos (NASA Goddard).
Cottrell recognized and thanked committee chairs.
The gavel was passed to President Meinert, who closed the meeting at 10:34 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Patrick M. Carr, Council Secretary
and approved by the Council, April 27,
2022