December 4th, GSW Annual meeting at American Geophysical Union (AGU) headquarters

The 132nd Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of Washington will take place on December 4th, 2024 in the auditorium of the American Geophysical Union headquarters, 2000 Florida Avenue, NW, Washington D.C.

This will be a HYBRID meeting. In order to participate via online attendance, please register at this link before 4:00 pm Eastern time on Dec. 4th.

Dr. DANIEL DOCTOR will deliver the Presidential Address entitled “The Allegory of the Cave, redux: perception and reality in karst science

Annual awards will be announced, and election of the 2025 GSW slate of officers and councilors will also take place.

Slate of Officers for 2025:

  • President:  Ved Lekić* (Univ. of Maryland)
  • 1st VP & President Elect:  Michael Ackerson* (Smithsonian)
  • 2nd Vice President: Michael Walter (Carnegie EPL)
  • Past President: Dan Doctor* (USGS)
  • Treasurer: Andy Campbell** (NRC, retired)
  • Meeting Secretary: Jessica Bersson (Smithsonian)
  • Council Secretary: Beth Doyle* (NOVA Community College)
  • Councilors: 
    • Linda Rowan (CRS)
    • Ross Salerno (USGS)
    • David Vanko (Towsen Univ., retired)
    • Pat Carr (Brooking Legislative Fellow, U.S. Congress)*
    • Mark Tyra (NIST)*
    • Anne Pommier (Carnegie EPL)*
  • *Officers and councilors carrying over from 2024
  • **Completing term of Treasurer Mark Fuhrmann

Please come at 7:30 p.m. to enjoy refreshments ahead of the meeting, which will begin at 8:00 pm.

FALL FIELD TRIP DECEMBER 7th to CORRIDOR H IN WEST VIRGINIA!

Please join us for fun half-day to full-day field trip along West Virginia Corridor H! We will delve into the fascinating Appalachian Paleozoic stratigraphy in the Valley and Ridge Province of Virginia and West Virginia. Our stops will provide the opportunity to explore the relations between the Paleozoic sedimentary rock record and the major tectonic events that shaped North America.

Trip Details:

  • Meeting Point: Haymarket Commuter Park and Ride, 14861 Heathcote Boulevard, Haymarket, VA 20169
  • Date: Saturday, December 7th
  • Meeting Time: 8:30 AM

We will meet as a group and encourage carpooling to facilitate a smoother trip, though parking at the stops will not be an issue.

Rough Itinerary:

  • Morning: Visits to key geological sites in Virginia and West Virginia.
  • Lunch:  ~1:30pm A break in Moorefield, WV, where participants opting for the half-day can choose to depart.
  • Afternoon: Continued exploration of outcrops west of Moorefield for full-day attendees.

Registration:

Please contact Alan Pitts at pitts.alan@gmail.com to register and receive pre-trip reading materials. Please click here for more details: GSW DEC. 7 FIELD TRIP TO CORRIDOR H

November 13th, GSW meeting 1605 at Cosmos Club

BRITTANY HUPP, George Mason University – Deconvolving the Effects of Sediment Mixing on Microfossil Assemblages from the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum

ANDREW MASTERSON, U.S. Geological Survey – Lithium in oilfield brines: Geochemistry, sources, and resource estimates

HEIDI MYERS, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory – Drone-Based Multi-Modal Geophysical Techniques for the Detection and Characterization of Landmines and Unexploded Ordnance

Come at 7:30 PM to socialize and imbibe, the meeting begins at 8 PM, and ends by 10 PM.

FALL FIELD TRIP: DECEMBER 7 – CHANGE OF DATE!

Draft GSW minutes from meeting of 30 Oct 2024

The draft minutes from this meeting are here. The meeting was cut short by a fire alarm, and the final talk of the evening was not presented.

Draft meeting minutes from the GSW meeting of Oct. 9, 2024

The Bradley lecture was given Oct. 9 and a draft of the meeting minutes can be found here.

October 30th, GSW meeting 1604 at the Cosmos Club

This will be an IN-PERSON meeting only. Three excellent talks will be presented:

ANDY CAMPBELL, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (retired) – Geochemistry of hydrothermal vents in the Gulf of California

CHRISTINA DEVERA, U.S. Geological Survey – USGS Geoheritage Sites of the Nation Inventory: Connecting geologic mapping and societal values to reach a broad audience

RYAN MCALEER, U.S. Geological Survey – Microtextures and microchemistry in retrograde shear zones and their implications for geochronology, deformation mechanisms, and rock strength

Come at 7:30 PM to socialize and imbibe, the meeting begins at 8 PM, and ends by 10 PM.

FALL FIELD TRIP: DECEMBER 7 – CHANGE OF DATE!

The GSW fall field trip has been changed to Saturday, December 7th. Check back here for updates and details.

Draft meeting minutes from the GSW meeting of Sep. 4, 2024

The first GSW meeting of the Fall featured three formal talks, and an obituary of Daniel Milton. A draft of the meeting minutes can be found here.

October 9th GSW meeting, Bradley Lecture presented by Dr. Isabel Montañez

The 1603rd meeting of the Geological Society of Washington will take place at the Cosmos Club on October 9. We are honored to host Dr. Isabel P. Montañez of the University of California, Davis as our Bradley Lecturer this year with the presentation: “Paleo-CO2 Revisited — New insight into the Earth System of the Deep Past“.

Dr. Montañez is the Director of the UC Davis Institute of the Environment, and is the current Chair of the National Academies of Sciences Board on Earth Sciences and Resources. Learn more about Dr. Montañez and her distinguished career at her website: https://eps.ucdavis.edu/people/faculty/montanez

Come at 7:30 PM to socialize and imbibe, the meeting begins at 8 PM, and ends by 10 PM.

September 4th, GSW Meeting 1602 at the Cosmos Club

This will be an IN-PERSON meeting only. Three excellent talks will be presented:

JANE HAMMARSTROM, U.S. Geological Survey – Critical minerals in the U.S.: Past, present, and potential

TOMMASO MANDOLINI, University of Maryland – 3D microstructure, porosity and permeability in and out of the fault in deformed sandstones.

JOSHUA MARTIN, Geological Society of America – Geoscience’s Role in Shaping Policy Decisions

Come at 7:30 PM to socialize and imbibe, the meeting begins at 8 PM, and ends by 10 PM.

Draft meeting minutes from the GSW meeting of May 8, 2024

The last GSW meeting of the Spring featured three formal talks, two informal communications, and an obituary. A draft of the meeting minutes can be found here.

Updated draft meeting minutes: 1600th GSW meeting

from the meeting at the Carnegie Earth and Planets Lab on April 24 are here. Comments or corrections should be directed to Michael Purucker.