The Geological Society of Washington

Dr. David Applegate was confirmed by the US Senate via a voice vote on 4 Aug 2022 to serve as the next Director of the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Dr. Applegate’s appointment as Director builds upon his decades of experience in Earth Science policy and administration.

After receiving degrees in geology from Yale and MIT, including a PhD thesis focused on metamorphic rocks and the geologic evolution of Death Valley, Dr. Applegate switched tracks to a career in Washington DC, with a stint on the Energy and Natural Resources committee, initially as an AGU Congressional Science Fellow. He then worked as the director of government affairs for the American Geosciences Institute before joining the USGS in 2004 as the first Senior Science Advisor for Earthquakes and Geologic Hazards. He next served as Associate Director for Natural Hazards where he led the Coastal & Marine Geology, Earthquake Hazards, Global Seismographic Network, Geomagnetism, Landslide Hazards, and the Volcano Hazards Program. He has served as the interim director of the USGS since January of 2021. Dr. Applegate is also an adjunct professor at the University of Utah where he still occasionally teaches field courses to undergraduates.

Dr. Applegate was the president of the GSW in 2003, and he continues to be engaged in its mission of providing a forum for geological interchange through a program of regularly scheduled formal talks, informal communications, opportunities to meet colleagues, field trips, and public service. The GSW members represent a wide cross-section of the local geologic community.

We would like to extend our congratulations to Dr. Applegate!

The draft minutes of our last meeting, on 11 May 2022, are attached for members to evaluate. If you have any additions or corrections please email them to our meeting secretary, Beth Doyle, at edoyle[at]nvcc.edu.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are looking for nominations for an ad hoc steering committee. The workshop will bring together experts to consider tipping points, cascading impacts, and interacting risks in the Earth system. Nominations from all fields are welcome with expertise in natural, physical, and social and behavioral sciences, including such disciplines as climate science, oceanography, environmental science, economics, engineering, computer modeling and data science, decision support, sociology, and anthropology.

We invite you to submit nominations for this committee by June 3, 2022.

Please find attached here the draft minutes of the April 27th meeting for members to evaluate. If you have any additions or corrections please email them to our meeting secretary, Beth Doyle, at edoyle[at]nvcc.edu.

We will have a full slate of three talks. Join us to learn about the recent exploration of an enigmatic submarine province in the southern Ocean, exoplanets and how their atmospheric properties are revealed, and the rise of oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere more than 2 Gy ago on the basis of new oxygen isotope studies. If you come to the Cosmos Club, please remember to bring your Covid vaccination card. It will be checked. Non-members are welcome! Details of the talks, including the Zoom link, will be sent to members shortly. Contact Michael Ackerson (ackersonm[at]si.edu) for the Zoom link if you do not have it.

Proterozoic and Paleozoic evolution of the Blue Ridge geologic province in northern Virginia

Bill Burton, Steve Schindler and Alan Pitts, USGS

Saturday, May 14 at 9 AM, starting in Haymarket, VA

A one-day trip across the northern Virginia Blue Ridge geologic province highlighting published geologic mapping and geochronology of Mesoproterozoic rocks that constitute the core of the Blue Ridge anticlinorium and Neoproterozoic cover-sequence rocks on the fold limbs.

 Directions to meeting place from I-66 W:  Take I-66 W in the direction of Front Royal.  Take exit number 40 to US-RT 15 N.  Turn right onto Heathcote Blvd.  Take the next right into the Heathcote Blvd Park and Ride.  This is a VDOT commuter parking lot where we can leave cars safely for the day. There are no restroom facilities or food services at this location. For restrooms or snacks, plan to stop before arriving at the meeting point–for example, at the Sheetz Gas station on the south side of I-66 just 5 mins from this location, which is part of a larger shopping center with a Subway, Aldie Grocery Store, and others.  Arrive early if you need to use these services.  Introductory remarks in the parking lot will start at 9 AM.  We will need to consolidate cars before leaving—please carpool to the meeting place if you can. 

—Field guide only available in advance – email PDF request to burtonwc5@gmail.com

(To download this announcement as a Word doc, click here: GSW fieldtrip 2022, second announcement)

It will feature a full slate of three talks. Join us to learn what super deep diamonds can tell us about the causes of deep focus Earthquakes, about volcanic climate warming, and about the initial analysis of the asteroid Ryugu. If you come to the Cosmos Club, please remember to bring your Covid vaccination card. It will be checked. And don’t forget to save some room for the beer. Non-members are welcome! Details of the talks, including the Zoom link, have been sent to members. Contact Michael Ackerson (ackersonm[at]si.edu) for the Zoom link if you do not have it.

Please find attached here the draft minutes of the April 6th meeting for members to evaluate. If you have any additions or corrections please email them to our meeting secretary, Beth Doyle, at edoyle[at]nvcc.edu.

Please find attached here the draft minutes of the March 23 meeting for members to evaluate. If you have any additions or corrections please email them to our meeting secretary, Beth Doyle at edoyle[at]nvcc.edu.