Category Archives: Uncategorized

Feb 7th – GSW meeting will be at the Cosmos Club

It is an IN-PERSON meeting only. We will begin with a talk by Brandon Graham (USGS) on ‘In situ 10Be modeling and terrain analysis constrain subglacial quarrying and abrasion rates at Sermeq Kujalleq (Jakobshavn Isbræ), Greenland’. Next up will be Paul Hackley (USGS) on ‘Organic Petrology at USGS in the 21st Century’. The final talk of the evening will be presented by Ross Salerno (USGS) on ‘The age of dome-and-keel structures in the Pilbara Craton’. Abstracts of the talks, and biographies of the speakers, are here. Come at 7:30 PM to socialize and imbibe, the meeting begins at 8 PM, and ends by 10 PM.

Dec 6 draft meeting minutes, including the presidential address

Can be found here. Please send any changes to Graham Lederer.

Jan 24th – GSW meeting will be at the Cosmos Club

It is an IN-PERSON meeting only. We will begin with a talk by Sarah Hall (AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow) on ‘(Un)Well stories: Private well water quality in coastal Maine’. Next up will be Bonnie McDevitt (USGS) on ‘Radium mineral associations within abandoned mine drainage relevant to the future of critical mineral extraction’. The final talk of the evening will be presented by Rebecca Stokes (USGS) on ‘The role of graphite in a changing energy landscape: a geological perspective’. Abstracts of the talks, and biographies of the speakers, are here. Come at 7:30 PM to socialize and imbibe, the meeting begins at 8 PM, and ends by 10 PM.

2023 Awards and Draft minutes of our annual meeting, 6 Dec 2023

Our council secretary, Beth Doyle, has kindly provided a draft of the December 6 annual business meeting which is available here. The Awards committee presented the Bradley Prize for the best formal scientific talk to Anna K Behrensmeyer (Smithsonian) for her talk on Nov 8 entitled What is Taphonomy, and why does it matter? The prize for the second-best formal talk went to Shoshana Weider (NASA Hq) for her talk on Oct 4 entitled Mercury Exploration: Past, Present and Future. The Great Dane Award for the best informal communication to the GSW of timely or newsworthy events went to Tammy Bravo (Earthscope) for her update on the destructive magnitude 7.9 earthquake in Turkey. The Sleeping Bear Award for genuine good humor at meetings went to Hmong-Han Huang and Ved Lekic, both at the Univ of Maryland. Honorable mentions went to James (Jim) Head (Brown Univ) and Graham Lederer (USGS). The Meeting Secretary’s report by Graham Lederer announced that Michael Purucker took the honors as Grand Inquisitor, narrowly beating out Larry Meinert.

Presidential Address and Business Meeting

Presidential Address: KORI NEWMAN (STR) — Geoscience Applications Supporting Improvements to Landmine Detection Systems

Followed by the Business Meeting. Both meetings are at the AGU Conference Center (2000 Florida Av NW) on 6 December (Wed) evening. Join us at 730 PM for snacks and drinks. The Presidential Address will begin at 8 PM.

Draft minutes of our 8 November 2023 meeting, the 1594th

Our Meeting Secretary, Graham Lederer, has kindly provided the following draft minutes of this meeting. Let him know of any additions or corrections at glederer[at]usgs.gov.

Draft minutes of 25 Oct meeting (1593rd GSW)

Our chronicler, Graham Lederer, has kindly provided the following draft minutes of our last meeting. Let him know of any additions or corrections at glederer[at]usgs.gov.

8 Nov GSW meeting will be at the Cosmos Club

It is an IN-PERSON meeting only. It will feature formal talks on the asteroid Bennu, the Juno magnetic field investigation, and What is Taphonomy, and why does it matter? We will begin with a talk by Jason Dworkin (GSFC-NASA) on ‘OSIRIS-REx delivered a sample of asteroid Bennu to Earth’. Next up will be Jack Connerney (ADNET at NASA) talking on ‘The Juno Magnetic Field Investigation: Dust from Mars, the Zodiacal Light, and a Comet Discovered in Flight’. The final talk of the evening will be presented by Anna K. Behrensmeyer (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History) on ‘What is Taphonomy, and why does it matter?’ Abstracts of the talks, and biographies of the speakers, are here. Come at 7:30 PM to socialize and imbibe, the meeting begins at 8 PM, and ends by 10 PM.

A trip over the Fall Line (4 Nov field trip) in the Richmond area

The Itinerary and Logistics information are here. The Waiver is here. Please read and sign/date the waiver, and bring it with you. It will be collected BEFORE you can go on the field trip. You will receive a short guidebook to the field trip when you provide the signed waiver. Please note that a final go/NOgo for the trip will be based on the weather forecast by 31 Oct. So check back HERE in the first few days of Nov to see if the trip is still planned. And also note that there is a post field trip Oyster fest planned on the evening of the field trip at Mark Carter’s home in Louisa. If you are interested in attending please RSVP to Mark (mcarter[at]usgs.gov) by this weekend (Oct 29). You can camp overnight in Louisa if you don’t want to return home after the Oyster fest. Further details on all of these topics are in the Logistics. Finally, some of the trip stops require that you have waterproof boots to get close to the outcrop. So plan accordingly.

Draft minutes of 4 Oct meeting (1592nd GSW)

Our meeting secretary, Graham Lederer, has kindly provided the following draft minutes of our last meeting. Let him know of any additions or corrections at glederer[at]usgs.gov.