Posted onAugust 28, 2026|Comments Off on GSW Meeting Wednesday, Sept. 2nd at Cosmos Club
Andrew Hoxey, George Mason University: Active faulting in western Nepal that segments the Himalaya
John Counts, USGS: An Overview of Some USGS Regional Provenance Studies in the Gulf, Atlantic, and Alaskan Coastal Plains
Ned Mamula, USGS: Organizing Science in Washington — The Legacy of John Wesley Powell
Refreshments at 7:30 p.m., formal program at 8:00 p.m.
If anyone has announcements or informal communications they would like to share with the society, please e-mail Mike Ackerson (ackersonm@si.edu) ahead of time.
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Posted onMay 28, 2026|Comments Off on GSW Spring Field Trip to Great Falls, June 6th
Dear Members of the Geological Society of Washington,
We are pleased to invite you to the Spring Geological Society of Washington Field Trip on Saturday June 6th to The Billy Goat Trail at Great Falls. The trip will be led by USGS geologists Alan Pitts, Peter Valley, Alex Gray… and any other fun folks we convince to come along.
The event will include an approximately 3- hour walking tour including the Great Falls overlook and the northern portion of the Billy Goat Trail (From the northern entrance near the Stop Gate until approximately TM-1 on the map below). The official trip will finish at TM-1 before the trail becomes more difficult, while any adventurous hikers are free to continue ahead on their own.
Please register by emailing Alan Pitts at pitts.alan@gmail.com
Trip Details:
Location: Great Falls Park, Maryland
Duration: approximately 3 hour-walking tour
Date: June 6th, 2026
Time: 9:00am to 12:00pm-ish
Meeting Point: Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center
Parking options: Parking inside the park is widely available
Safety and Trail information: Please note that the Billy Goat Trail portion of the trip will involve hiking over rugged and rocky terrain. We recommend sturdy footwear and trekking poles if balance is an issue.
Our guided trip will explore the first section of the Billy Goat Trail and turn around at the TM-1 point on the map. For any hikers who are planning to continue onward please see the information and link below from the National Park Service
The hike involves scrambling over angled rocks, boulders and climbing. Visitors in less-than-optimal health, visitors with small children, and visitors not experienced or properly outfitted should consider other trail options. The 1.7-mile hike takes most visitors 2-3 hours to complete. Along the trail are views of Mather Gorge and Potomac River. This trail can close due to fooding from the river. Link: Billy Goat Trail – Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)
Register by emailing Alan Pitts at pitts.alan@gmail.com
We look forward to seeing you!
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Posted onMay 6, 2026|Comments Off on GSW Meeting Wednesday, May 13th at Cosmos Club
Join us to hear from leadership in the Earth Sciences at Federal Agencies
Sarah Ryker, U.S. Geological Survey, Associate Director for Associate Director for the Geology, Energy, and Minerals Mission Area
Megan Carr, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Associate Director of the Strategic Resources Program
The meeting will take place at the Cosmos Club John Wesley Powell Auditorium, 2170 Florida Avenue NW, Washington D.C
Refreshments at 7:30 p.m., formal program at 8:00 p.m.
If anyone has announcements or informal communications they would like to share with the society, please e-mail Mike Ackerson (ackersonm@si.edu) ahead of time.
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Posted onApril 22, 2026|Comments Off on GSW Meeting Wednesday, April 29th at Cosmos Club
Andrea Goltz, Carnegie Earth and Planets Laboratory – Predicting the Stability of Igneous Amphibole using Machine Learning
Supratik Roy, Johns Hopkins University – Constraining metamorphic rates in ancient orogens: insights from the Paleoproterozoic Lake Superior region (USA)
Kelsey Jenkins, Smithsonian Institution – Sensing in a Strange Land: The Fossil Record’s Story of Sensory Evolution
Refreshments at 7:30 p.m., formal program at 8:00 p.m.
If anyone has announcements or informal communications they would like to share with the society, please e-mail Mike Ackerson (AckersonM@si.edu) ahead of time.
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Posted onFebruary 27, 2026|Comments Off on GSW Meeting Wednesday, March 4th at Cosmos Club
Elizabeth Tomaszewski, USGS – Coal Mine Waste as a Resource: How Fundamental Geochemistry Informs Critical Mineral Recovery Potential
Joshua Rosera, USGS – What’s the point? Tracking regional orientations of magmatism through time in the Rocky Mountains
Oded Elazar, Carnegie Earth and Planets Laboratory – Metasomatic Fluids from Subducted Oceanic Crust Recorded by Potassium Isotopes in Sierra Leone Diamonds
Refreshments at 7:30 p.m., formal program at 8:00 p.m.
If anyone has announcements or informal communications they would like to share with the society, please e-mail Mike Ackerson (AckersonM@si.edu) ahead of time.
Upcoming 2026 Spring Meetings: Mar. 25, Apr. 29, May 13
Comments Off on GSW Meeting Wednesday, March 4th at Cosmos Club
Refreshments at 7:30 p.m., formal program at 8:00 p.m.
If anyone has announcements or informal communications they would like to share with the society, please e-mail Mike Ackerson (AckersonM@si.edu) ahead of time.
Upcoming 2026 Spring Meetings: Mar. 04, Mar. 25, Apr. 29, May 13
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Posted onNovember 25, 2025|Comments Off on GSW Fall Field Trip! Sat. Dec. 20, 2025
USGS Geologist Peter Valley will lead a hike along Difficult Run to the Potomac River below Great Falls. Along the way are metagraywackes, migmatites, and even some petroglyphs! The parking area for Difficult Run Stream Valley Park is small and fills up quickly; therefore, we will arrange carpools.
Meet at 8:00 am at the Reston Town Center Metro station, on the south side in the parking area adjacent to the bus stop and roundabout at the Kiss and Ride. Carpools will be arranged from this point to the Difficult Run trailhead. Wear sturdy shoes or boots that may become wet. This trail is very rocky and steep in places, requiring some rock scrambling in sections. Please bring a lunch and water.
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Posted onNovember 14, 2025|Comments Off on December 3rd, GSW Annual meeting at Carnegie Earth and Planets Laboratory
The 133rd Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of Washington will take place on December 3rd, 2025 in the auditorium of the Carnegie Earth and Planets Laboratory, 5241 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington D.C.
This will be a HYBRID meeting. Please see the email announcement for the Zoom link.
Dr. VED LEKIĆ will deliver the Presidential Address entitled:
“A Tale of Two Worlds: The Core-Mantle Boundaries of Earth and Mars“
Annual awards will be announced, and election of the 2026 GSW slate of officers and councilors will also take place.
Slate of Officers for 2026:
President: Michael Ackerson* (Smithsonian)
1st VP & President Elect: Michael Walter* (Carnegie EPL)
2nd Vice President: Stephen Mackwell (Univ. of Maryland)
Past President: Ved Lekić (Univ. of Maryland)
Treasurer: Andy Campbell* (NRC, retired)
Meeting Secretary: Karin Lehnigk (NASA)
Council Secretary: Beth Doyle* (NOVA Community College)
Councilors:
Linda Rowan* (CRS)
Ross Salerno* (USGS)
David Vanko* (Towsen Univ., retired)
Jamie Allan (NSF, retired)
Charna Meth
Virginia Agostinelli (Montgomery County College)
*Officers and councilors carrying over from 2025
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Posted onNovember 7, 2025|Comments Off on Wed. Nov. 12: GSW Meeting at the Carnegie Institution for Science – Earth and Planets Laboratory
Theme of the event: Extraterrestrial Materials
CONEL ALEXANDER, Carnegie Earth and Planets Laboratory – What Meteorites and Sample Return Missions Have Taught Us about Conditions and Processes in the Early Solar System
MATT CLEMENT, Applied Physics Laboratory / Johns Hopkins University – Long Term Bombardment of the Habitable Zone at Home and Abroad
ZOË WILBUR, Smithsonian Institution – Exploring Inner Solar System Volatiles with Bennu Samples
The meeting will be preceded by a poster session starting at 6:00 pm. Talks will start at 8 pm and be 20 minutes each with questions to follow. If you plan on presenting a poster, please let us know via this form: https://forms.gle/H8Cv6Bv7qUrPg8BY8
Carnegie Institution for Science – Earth and Planets Laboratory 5241 Broad Branch Rd, NW, Washington D.C.
(free parking plentiful)
* Members outside the DMV can attend via Zoom*
Please see the email announcement for the Zoom link, Meeting ID and Passcode
Upcoming 2025 Fall Meeting: December 3 – Carnegie EPL, Annual Meeting and Presidential Address
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Hey GSW Members! You’re eligible for GeoCare insurance. GeoCare provides health, life and other insurance products to members of 10 geoscience societies, including GSW. From their home webpage (), just click on the GSW block to see your options.
Preserved footprints in Kenya appear to record two different species of ancient humans walking over the same muddy lakeshore, probably within days of each other.
