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.
Comments Off on GSW Fall Field Trip! Sat. Dec. 20, 2025
Posted onNovember 14, 2025byDaniel Doctor|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 (NSF)
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
Comments Off on December 3rd, GSW Annual meeting at Carnegie Earth and Planets Laboratory
Posted onNovember 7, 2025byDaniel Doctor|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
Comments Off on Wed. Nov. 12: GSW Meeting at the Carnegie Institution for Science – Earth and Planets Laboratory
University of California, Berkeley / Collège de France, Paris
From Hotspots to Mantle Plumes: Insights on Deep Mantle Plumbing and Dynamics from Global Seismic Imaging
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 Vedran Lekic (ved@umd.edu) ahead of time.
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MONG-HAN HUANG, University of Maryland, College Park – A Novel Bayesian Near-Surface Geophysics Approach to Constrain Material Properties and their Links to Natural Hazards in Central Puerto Rico
KARIN LEHNIGK, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center – The Kakhovka Dam Break Flood: An Unprecedented View of Earth’s Most Powerful Floods
CALEB FASSETT, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab – Geomorphic Evolution of the Moon
Refreshments at 7:30 p.m., formal program at 8:00 p.m., John Wesley Powell Auditorium, 2170 Florida Avenue NW, Washington D.C.
If anyone has announcements or informal communications they would like to share with the society, please e-mail Vedran Lekic (ved@umd.edu) ahead of time.
Comments Off on Wed. Oct 1: GSW Meeting at the Cosmos Club
Posted onMay 22, 2025byDaniel Doctor|Comments Off on GSW Spring Field Trip!: June 28, Rock Creek Park
We are pleased to invite you to the Spring Geological Society of Washington Field Trip on Saturday, June 28th to Rock Creek Park! This engaging trip will be led by Callan Bentley, former GSW president and Associate Professor of Geology at Piedmont Virginia Community College.
Photo: National Park Service
The event will include an approximately 3-hour walking tour of the National Zoo lower region and Rock Creek Park area. Geologic themes of the trip will include Paleozoic tectonic history of the DC region with sites including the Rock Creek Shear Zone, Darton Fault and more!
Trip Details:
Location: Rock Creek Park and National Zoo lower region
Duration: Approximately 3-hour walking tour
Date: June 28th, 2025
Time:8:00am to 11am-ish
Meeting point: Lower (Beach Drive) entrance to the Zoo (Right across the street from Harvard Towers which are located at 1845 Harvard St NW, Washington DC 20009)
Public Transportation options: Nearest metro stations are Columbia Heights (green line) and Woodley Park (red line). And there are also Capital Bike Share rack there. We may also organize a carpool or metro group for any Northern Virginia/Reston/USGS participants who may want travel as a group.
*Please note the trip will involve approximately 2.5 miles of walking and standing on sidewalks and unpaved forest trails. Please dress accordingly and plan to bring snacks and water.
Posted onApril 11, 2025byDaniel Doctor|Comments Off on April 30th – GSW meeting at Carnegie Earth and Planets Laboratory
**The meeting will be preceded by a poster session for early career participants, starting at 6:30 pm.** Formal talks will be broadcast via Zoom and will start at 8 pm and be 20 minutes each with questions to follow. To attend virtually, please register for the Zoom meeting at this link by 4:00 pm April 30th:
Theme of the event: Rock Deformation and Tectonics
RYAN McALEER, USGS – Microtextures and Microchemistry in Retrograde Shear Zones: Implications for Geochronology, Deformation Mechanisms, and Rock Strength
WENLU ZHU, University of Maryland, College Park – Effect of Partial Melt on Seismic Wave Velocity of Mantle Peridotite
EMILY MARTIN, National Air and Space Museum – Dione’s Tectonic History and Evidence for a Global Subsurface Ocean
***THIS IS AN IN-PERSON MEETING ONLY***
Refreshments at 7:30 p.m., formal program at 8:00 p.m.
John Wesley Powell Auditorium, 2170 Florida Avenue NW, Washington D.C.
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VAL FINLAYSON, University of Maryland, College Park –A High Field Strength Perspective on Tungsten-182 Variability in Ocean Island Basalts
GIACOMO CRINITI, Carnegie Earth and Planets Laboratory – Mineral Physics Constraints on the Composition of the Lower Mantle
JINGCHUAN WANG, University of Maryland, College Park – Tracking Ancient Intraoceanic Subduction in the Deep Mantle: Insights from the Southeast Pacific
***THIS IS AN IN-PERSON MEETING ONLY***
Refreshments at 7:30 p.m., formal program at 8:00 p.m.
John Wesley Powell Auditorium, 2170 Florida Avenue NW, Washington D.C.
Comments Off on March 5th – GSW Meeting at Cosmos Club
Posted onFebruary 5, 2025byDaniel Doctor|Comments Off on **CANCELED DUE TO WEATHER** February 12: 1608th GSW meeting at Cosmos Club
Apologies for the late notice, but the worsening forecast for tomorrow has forced us to cancel the in-person meeting on Feb 12th. We will be in touch with more information about rescheduling.
***This meeting will be rescheduled*** : Theme of the event: M3 – Moon, Mars, Mercury
JACLYN CLARK, University of Maryland, College Park – The Moon Has its Faults
ANDREW STEELE, Carnegie Earth and Planets Laboratory – Martian Organic Geochemistry: A Tale of Meteorites, Curiosity, and Perseverance
SANDER GOOSSENS, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center – Mercury, Moon, and Mars: from Crust to Core
***This meeting will be rescheduled***
Comments Off on **CANCELED DUE TO WEATHER** February 12: 1608th GSW meeting at Cosmos Club
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.
