GSW: 1951 MEETING MINUTES

 

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

Secretary's Report

January 10, 1951

The 695th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club, Wednesday, January 10, 1951, at 8:10 p.m., President Sayre presiding.

The minutes of the 694th meeting were read and approved.

The Secretary announced the election of James J. Norton and Allison R. Palmer, both of the U. S. Geological Survey, to membership in the Society.

The Secretary read a letter from Arthur A. Baker, Chairman of the Local Committee on arrangements for the 1950 annual meetings of the Geological Society of America, the Mineralogical Society of America, the Paleontological Society, and the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.  The letter expressed the thanks of the Local Committee for the active support provided by the Geological Society of Wash­ington. Also read was a joint resolution, transmitted with Dr. Baker's letter, of the presidents of the four societies expressing appreciation for the effort all individuals and organizations that contributed to the successful conduct of the Annual meetings.

J. S. Williams introduced Dr. Helen M. Muir-Wood of the [illegible] of Great Britain.

President Sayre reported that the Council, in response to the motion adopted at the 58th Annual meeting on December 13, 1950, has done some research on the possibility of serving a better grade of beer, and will continue the research as provided in the amendment to the original motion.

The President also explained the electrical system provi­ded for notifying speakers when their time is up, and expressed the hope that the speakers would stay within their allotted time.

The regular program followed:

G. A. Cooper – Facies in the Glass Mountains, Texas. Discussed by Williams and Sayre.

H. E. Rothrock - "Faulting in the anthracite fields of Pennsylvania". Discussed by Woodring.

J. B. Mertie, Jr. – “Monazite deposits of the southeastern Atlantic States”. Discussed by A. J. Stose, John P. Marble, and E. S. Larsen, Jr.

Attendance: 145.  The Meeting was adjourned at, 9:42 p.m.

[signed Charles L. McGuinness]

Secretary

 

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

Secretary's Report

January 26, 1951

The 696th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club, Wednesday, January 24th, 1951, at 8:00 p.m., President Sayre presiding.

The minutes of the 695th meeting were read and approved as amended.

The Secretary announced the election to active membership of Laurence P. Buck, U. S. Geological Survey, Paul Bunton, Spencer Lens Division, American Optical. Co., Richard W. Flach, Technical Laboratory, Federal Bureau of investigation and R. H. Nesbitt, Office of the Chief of Engi­neers.

P. E. Cloud, Jr., announced that in response to the request for papers sent out by the Committee on Communications, only 23 replies had been received, 6 of which were from members who did not have papers to present.  Anyone who had or might prepare a paper was urged to turn in the form or notify a member of the Communications Committee. Some of the papers scheduled for forthcoming meeting were mentioned briefly.

The regular program followed:

W. P. Woodring - Extraordinary Eocene foraminifera from Panama. Discussed by Bradley, Pecora, and Burbank, with further remarks by Woodring.

Randolph Y. Chapman - The training of geologists in Great Britain.  Discussed by Woodring, Cloud, Manger, E. S. Larsen 3rd, Postel, Whitmore, Chaterji, Yagi, and Marble.

C. S. Denny - Wisconsin frost-action in north-central Pennsylvania. Discussed by Woodring, Bradley, Pecora, Miller, Burbank, Black, Cloud and Butler.

Attendance: 118

The meeting adjourned at 9:37 p.m.

W. G. Pierce

Secretary

 

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

Secretary's Report

February 14, 1951

The 697th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club, Wednesday, Feb. 14, 1951, at 8:00 pm, Vice President Lohman presiding.

The minutes of the 696th meeting were read and approved.

The Secretary announced the election to active membership of Dr. A. L. Washburn, Executive Director, the Arctic Institute of North America; John Imbrie, Yale University, now engaged in research work at the U.S. National Museum; and the following members of the U. S. Geological Survey: J. Thomas Dutro, Harold Saunders, Raymond A. Lewandowski, Ruth Todd, Donald E. Outlaw and Thomas E. Eakin.

Lloyd G. Henbest gave an informal communication on How to prevaricate with Statistics, with special reference to statistical analysis in paleontologic systematics where the error of sampling has enormous proportions. Discussed by Cloud and Chayes.

The regular program followed.

Henry Faul and A. Y. Sakakura - Radon and helium in natural gases. Discussed by Mertie, Stieff, Ingerson, Miser and Milton.

J. I. Tracey, Jr., - Field relations of the Arkansas bauxite deposits. Discussed by Lohman Butler, Coats, Carroll, Pecora, W. K. Andrews and Henbest.

Mackenzie Gordon, Jr.- Origin of the Arkansas bauxite deposits. Discussed by Altschuler, D.A. Andrews, Tracey, Pecora, Manger, Wood­ring, Cloud, Bridge, Sohn, Fleischer, Miser and McKelvey.

Attendance 142

The meeting adjourned at 10:01 pm

W. G. Pierce

Secretary

 

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

Secretary's Report

February 28, 1951

The 698th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 1951, at 8:00 pm, Vice-President Lohman presiding.

The minutes of the 697th meeting were read and approved.

The Secretary announced the election to active membership of William Hill, Bureau of Plant Industry, and the following members of the U. S. Geological Survey: John H. Christensen, Mrs.Margaret M. Saunders, Mrs. Elizabeth Hill Grayson, Fred Hildebrand, Manual N. Bass, Joseph H. Kerr, Joseph R.Houston and Louis Pavlides. Miss Verde M. Doughtery, U.S. Geol. Survey, Austin, Tex. was elected to corresponding membership. H. E. Hawkes and E. N. Goddard were transferred from active to corresponding membership.

Vice-President Lohman informed the Society that the American Geological Institute has announced that the sixth television program of the current Johns Hopkins University series will be broadcast over WTTG and stations in six other cities from Chicago to New York from 8:30 to 9:00 pm on March 6th. A panel consisting of David Dunkle, G. A. Cooper and David Delo will have as its subject "Fossils tell the story".

The regular program followed.

Wilbert H. Hess - Age of the Arkansas novaculite. Discussed by Sohn, Monroe, Chalmer, Cooper, Pecora, Ladd and Williams.

Delos E. Flint - The Ryukyu arc. Discussed by Williams, Cloud and Woodring.

William E. Davies - Terrace systems of the Potomac Basin. Discussed by Hack, Denny, Pecora, Cloud and Murata.

Attendance 138

The Meeting adjourned at 9:55 pm.

W. G. Pierce

Secretary.

 

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

Secretary's Report

March 14, 1951

The 699th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club, Wednesday, March 14, 1951 at 8:00 pm, President Sayre pre­siding.

The minutes of the 698th meeting were read and approved.

The Secretary announced the election to active member­ship of: Harry Perry, Dept. of Engineering, Pioneer Branch, Engineer School, Ft. Belvoir,Va.; Master Sgt. Kirk D. Dunan, Water Supply Board, Engi­neering Research and Development Laboratory, Ft. Belvoir, Va. (now assigned to Military Geology Branch, U.S.G.S.); Edward W. Majewski, David P. Pitts, Arthur D. Watt, U. S. Geological Survey; Helen M. Strong, Oak Park, Ill., was transferred from active to corresponding membership.

The regular program followed.

Harold Jeffreys - The structure of the earth. Discussed by Adams, Lovering, Cloud, D. E. Flint, A.L. Washburn, Faul, Coates and Yagi.

Attendance 224

The meeting adjourned at 9:40 pm.

W. G. Pierce

Secretary

 

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

Secretary's Report

March 28, 1951

The 700th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club on March 28, 1951 at 8 pm, Vice President Lohman presiding.

The minutes of the 699th meeting were read and approved.

The Secretary announced the election to active member­ship of the following: Robert G. Pike, Paul M. Johnston, George Plafker, Military Geology Branch, U.S.G.S., Washington, D.C.; R. W. Stallman, R. C. Vorhis, Sidney J. Spiegel, Ground Water Branch, U.S.G.S., Washington, D.C.; Dr. Luna B. Leopold, Technical Coordination Branch, U.S.G.S., Washington, D.C.

I. G. Sohn gave an informal communication on the upward progression of certain ostracode protuberances through a part of the Paleozoic era.

Regular program followed.

William A.Fisher – Photogeology of northern Alaska. Discussed by H. I. Smith, Hack, McKelvey, Pecora, Dempsey, Lohman, Lovering and an unidentified gentleman.

Louis C. Peltier -  Pleistocene terraces of the Susquehanna River. Discussed by Denny, McKelvey, Pecora, Black, Van Alstine, and Bronner.

Richard W. Flach – Geology in crime detection. Discussed by Lovering, Brokaw, Whitmore, Murata, Jevan (FBI), Van Alstine, Bronner, Davis, Mertie and Crittenden.

Attendance 162.

The meeting was adjourned at 10 pm.

[signed Charles L. McGuinness]

Secretary

 

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

Secretary's Report

April 11, 1951

The 701st meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club on April 11, 1951 at 8:00 pm, President Sayre presiding.

The minutes of the 700th meeting were read and ap­proved.

Mr. Goldman made the suggestion that in view of the large and diversified membership of the Society, a critic or com­mentator who wished to discuss a paper, first state his name. Considerable discussion ensued, which culminated in the suggestion being presented as a motion which was approved by a majority vote of the members-present (62 for, 35 against).

The regular program followed.

Philip B. King - The base of the Cambrian in the Southern Appalachians.

Chester R. Longwell - Lower limit of the Cambrian system in the Cordilleran region.

A. R. Palmer - The doctors' dilemma - the base of the Cambrian system.

The program chairman asked that discussion of the three papers follow the last paper. The papers were discussed by Marble, E. Cloos, Wilbur Nelson, Ralph Miller, Del Flint, Cloud, Carroll, Berman, Pipiringos, Woodring, Johnson, E. S. Larsen Jr., Lohman, Pecora, Ladd, Williams and Reeves.

Attendance 178

The meeting adjourned at 10:15 pm.

W. G. Pierce

Secretary

 

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

Secretary's Report

April 25, 1951

The 702nd meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club on April 25th at 8:00 pm President Sayre presiding.

The minutes of the 701st meeting were read and approved.

The Secretary announced the election to active membership of James Double, U. S. Geological Survey, Dr. Nelson C. Dale, recently retired as head of the Dept. of Geology, Hamilton College, and Marry M. Travis, Federal Power Commission.

Informal Communications:   

Dr. H. G. Raggatt, Recent eruption of Mt. Laynimgo, Papua. 

Michael Fleischer, New methods for making chemical analysis of rocks.

T. S. Lovering, Stratigraphic revisions in the East Tintic Mountains, Utah.

The regular program followed:

Donald E. Outlaw, Ground water problems of the Winter Garden area in Texas. Discussed by Cloud, Pecora, Sohn, Lovering, Sayre, Manual Bass and McKelvey.

D. F. Hewett - Progress in the study of Mohave Geology. Discussed by Lovering, Thayer and Butler.

Atteidance 155

The meeting adjourned at 10:12 pm.

W. G. Pierce

Secretary

 

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

SECRETARY'S REPORT

October 24, 1951

The 703rd meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club, on October 24, 1951, at 8:08 pm, President Sayre presiding.

The minutes of the 702d meeting were read and approved.

Informal Communications:

J.S. Williams gave a brief report on the proceedings and conclusions of the 3rd Heerlen Congress of Carboniferous stratigraphy and geology, held at Heerlen, the Netherlands, June 25-30, 1951. Discussed by Sayre.

The regular program followed:

Harold V. Anderson, - Mississippi River mud lumps. Discussed by Denny, H. Johnson, Van Alstine, Cloud, Del Flint, Goldman and Ladd.

John T. Hack, - Origin and development of the Plateau deposits of Southern Maryland. Discuss­ed by Woodring, Sayre, Thomas, McGuinness, McKelvey and Cobb.

Thomas A. Steven, - Emplacement and deuteric alteration of the Sherman granite in the Northgate district, Colorado. Discussed by Hunt, McKelvey and Pecora.

Attendance: 115.

The meeting adjourned at 10:08 pm.

W. G. Pierce

Secretary

 

Geological Society of Washington

SECRETARY'S REPORT

November 14, 1951

The 704th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club on November 14, 1951, at 8:15 pm, President Sayre presiding.

The minutes of the 703rd meeting were read and approved.

The Secretary announced the election to active membership of: Maj. J. W. Wyckoff, Research & Development Board, Department of Defense, Lewis O. Quam, Office of Naval Research, Miss Elizabeth Warren Olmsted, formerly Assistant Professor of Geology and Geography at Smith College and now in Washington, and the following members of the. U. S. Geological Survey: Robert G. Schmidt, Sergius Mamay, Arthur Boucot, Miss Margaret J. Irwin, Miss Katherine Williams, S. S. Subitzky.

The Secretary requested that, in the future, sponsors of nominees for membership in the Society furnish the nominees' full addresses.

The Society was privileged to be the host of the Colorado Scientific Society for a brief ceremony in which A. H. Koschman of that Society presented to Dr.­Walter Curran Mendenhall a silver certificate announ­cing his election as the third honorary member of the Colorado Society.

The regular program, including admonitions by President Sayre regarding adherence to scheduled time limits, followed:

Leason H. Adams: Current status of knowledge of the interior of the earth. Discussed by Lovering, Balsley, Rubey, Sayre, and H. Johnson.

Arthur J. Boucot: Stratigraphy and structure of the Moose River area, Maine. As proof that minerals do occur in this area, Mr. Boucot passed out and requested the return of a specimen of stilpnomelane. It is not recorded whether the specimen was returned.  The paper was discussed by H. Johnson, Cloud, and two others.

Henry R. Joesting: The future of geology.  Discussed briefly by an unidentified gentleman and ardently by Wells.

Attendance: 171

The meeting was adjourned at 10:05 pm.

[signed Charles L. McGuinness]

Secretary.

 

Geological Society of Washington

Secretary's Report,

Nov. 28, 1951

The 705th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmas Club on Nov. 28, 1951 at 8:00 pm., President Sayre presiding.

The minutes of the 704th meeting were read and ­approved.

The Secretary announced the election to active membership of Richard E. Byrd: U. S. Navy Hydrographic Office and the following members of the U. S. Geological Survey: Martha C. Bryant, Mary Frances Byrd, Robert E. Davis Donald H. Kupfer, Thomas D. Murphy, Jane E. Pollock, Daphne D. Riska.

The regular program followed:

George W. Tyrrell: Geochemistry of sediments. Discussed by Andrews, Stadnichenko, Coates, Pecora, Fleischer, Cloud, Sayre and Murata.

Attendance: 176

The meeting adjourned at 9:30 pm.

W. G. Pierce

Secretary

 

Geological Society of Washington

Secretary's Report

December 12, 1951

The 706th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club on December 12, 1951 at 8:05 p.m., President Sayre presiding.

The minutes of the 705th meeting were read and approved.

The Secretary announced the election to active membership of Ernest I. Rich of the U. S. Geological Survey.

Vice-President Lohman then took the chair for the regular program which followed:

A. Nelson Sayre: Our water supply, 1951.

Attendance: 102.

The meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.

W. G. Pierce

Secretary

 

Geological Society of Washington

59th Annual Meeting

December 12, 1951

The 59th Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of Washington held in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club, was called to order by President Sayre at 9:15 P.M. with 59 members present.

The minutes of the 58th Annual Meeting were read and approved.

The Annual report of the Secretaries for the year 1951 were read and approved.

The Annual report of the Treasurer was presented by Treasurer Marie Lindberg. The report of the Auditing Committee, consisting of Earl Ingerson (Chairman), Michael Fleischer and George Faust was read by the Secretary.  R. H. Coates raised the question as to whether it was the correct accounting procedure to add the bad checks to disbursements or subtract it from income.  Mrs. Lindberg stated that she was not the Treasurer at the time they were entered as disbursements, but that this procedure was the same as that which was followed by the Mineralogical Society.  P. E. Cloud called attention to the fact that the Treasurer and the Auditing Committee are all from the Geochemistry and Petrology Branch, and commented that this looks like collusion.  The Treasurer stated that one of the bad checks was from a member of Mr. Cloud's Paleontology and Stratigraphy Branch. At this point J. S. Williams moved that the Society proceed with the regular order of business. A motion that the reports of the Treasurer and Auditing Committee be accepted was approved.

The committee for awarding a prize for the best paper of the year 1951, consisting of W. P. Woodring (Chairman), W. H. Bradley and W. W. Rubey (Deputy for T. B. Nolan) announced the award of $25, to Mackenzie Gordon, Jr. for his paper on "Origin of the Arkansas bauxite deposits" which was presented at the meeting on February 14, 1951. President Sayre explained that the anonymous donor of first and second prizes for the past several years had not established a prize for the current year but that the Council had provided this year's award from the funds of the Society.  He expressed the hope that some public spirited person would provide the donation and that the awards would be continued.  Mr. Rubey remarked that since the prize donation has been made continuously for 25 years, he thought that the donor had died.  Mr. Sayre replied that he didn't believe this was so, but that there was room for 2 schools of thought. The anonymous donor still remains anonymous.

The Society then proceeded with the election of officers for the year 1952. President Sayre appointed J. H. Balsley, Al Subitzky, Frank Whitmore, Alvin Van Valkenburg, Jr., J. J. Fahey, Arthur Butler and John Eric as tellers.

The nominations that had been announced by the Committee on Nominations were presented, and the election of President was called to order. It was moved and seconded that nominations be closed and that the Secretary cast a unanimous ballot for Josiah Bridge. Motion carried.

Election of First Vice-President was called to order.  Tom Thayer made a short campaign speech in behalf of candidate Wells.  It was moved and seconded that nominations be closed. Motion carried. F. G. Wells was elected.

The election of 2nd Vice-President was called to order. A motion that the nominations be closed was approved. Donald H. Dow was elected.

The election of Secretaries was called to order, one for one year to fill the vacancy of W. G. Pierce resigned, and one for the regular term of two years. President.Sayre announced the decision of the Council that the nominee receiving the most votes would serve for two years, and the nominee receiving the second largest number would serve for the one year unexpired term. It has previously been announced by the President that the Council had accepted the requests of Martha S. Carr and W. T. Pecora that their ­names be withdrawn. On a call for additional nominations Garald Parker and Charles Denny were nominated from the floor. Garald Parker was elected for the one year term and Paul Averitt.was elected for the 2 year term.

The election of Treasurer was called to order. There were no additional nominations and it was moved that the Secretary be in­structed to cast a unanimous ballot for Marie L. Lindberg. Motion seconded and carried, with Cloud dissenting.

Election of Members at Large of the Council was called to order. Woodring asked for the affiliation of the candidates and the infor­mation was supplied by Fahey.  President Sayre announced that three members of the Council were to be elected for 2 year terms and one member was to be elected for a 1 year term to fill the vacancy of Joshua I. Tracey, Jr., resigned.  A motion that the nominations be closed was approved. Margaret D. Foster was elected for 1 year and Mackenzie Gordon, W. H. Heers and G. G. Lill were elected for 2 years.

It was moved that nominations for Vice-President of the Wash­ington Academy of Science, representing the Geological Society of Washington, be closed, and that the Secretary be instructed to cast a unanimous ballot for A. N. Sayre. Motion recorded and carried.

Meeting adjourned at 10:10 P.M.

W. G. Pierce

Secretary