GSW: 1972
MEETING MINUTES
Geological Society of
January 12,
1972
The
953rd meeting of the Society was called to order at 8:03 P.M. by 2nd
Vice-President Lynn Hoover in the absence of the more senior members of the newly
instated hierarchy, President Stewart and 1st Vice-President Roedder.
L.G.
Henbest gave a silent informal communication consisting of Webster's
definition of Kenyte - "An alkali-trachyte with phenocrysts of
anorthoclase and aegerite in a trachytic to hyalophyllitic groundmass of
alkali-feldspar laths and grains of pyroxene and amphibole rich in soda, and
usually some glass. In some varieties,
olivine is present." Henbest asked, silently, for "one on the rocks,
with olivine, please. Easy on the
glass!" The secretary used the "informal plea" in asking that discussants
of talks identify themselves by name, knowing full well in advance that the
informal plea, carrying very little weight, would be totally ignored. To a man, it was. The minutes of the preceding meeting were
read, and approved fortunately as they had been securely glued forever in the
minutes book.
The
first speaker of the regular program was W.G. Leo, who described the "U.S.
Geological Survey Program in
Tom
Dutro followed, excusing his presence and of Zeitz as fill-ins for the new
program committee, and relying more on plate tectonics than data, explained the
origin of the
In
the final talk, Zietz took the "big stick" approach in his
"Interpretation of an Aeromagnetic Strip Across the Northwestern
The
single discussant of the talk was a distinguished but unidentified gentleman
who had boldly usurped E-an Zen's usual seat, Row 2 on the aisle. The meeting adjourned at 9:38. Attendance –
102
Peter
B. Stifel
Secretary
Geological
Society of
January 26,
1972
The
954th meeting of the Society was held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium on
January 26, 1972. The real President Stewart
called the meeting to order at precisely 8:00.
No distinguished visitors, other than President Stewart, were
introduced. The secretary read the
minutes of the previous meeting and announced the election of four new members:
Albert J. Froelich of the Branch of
Atlantic Environmental Geology, U.S.G.S.; Craig T. Rightmire, Water Resources
Division, U.S.G.S.; Martin G. Seitz, a Fellow at the Geophysical Laboratory;
and Thane McCulloh, with the Outer Continental Shelf Project, U.S.G.S. The president announced the deaths of members
Charles J. Hares of
R.B.
Neuman of the U.S.G.S. modestly thanked President Stewart for his most gracious
and complimentary 5 second introduction and proceeded to discuss the
"Paleontology of Early Ordovician Volcanic Islands". It was suggested that the problem of extreme
provincialism in Early Ordovician shelly facies and the subsequent breakdown of
that provincialism into the diverse faunas found in the Middle Ordovician might
well be due to the radiation of a fauna of wel1-homogenized, real story-telling
brachiopods who had been hiding out all this time on volcanic islands, in
northeastern North America, Wales and Norway.
Migration from this volcanic environment to adjacent continental shelves
was made possible by the consumption of the intervening crustal plates
according to the tectonic model of Dewey which consumption also removed most of
the evidence for this or any other theory on the subject. The talk was questioned by Stewart, by Epstein,
by row 2 on the aisle, which seat had been summarily recovered by Zen from its
unidentified usurper of the previous meeting, by Fiske and by Dutro.
The
second presentation, by the triumvirate of John Lewis of George
Lewis
led off, describing the geological setting and history of the volcano,
especially detailing the 1902 eruption.
During his talk, the initial contact and skirmishes made previously by
Neuman with the projectionist broke out into open warfare. Lewis’ first slide was in focus, so it was
rejected immediately for another, from the end of his sequence, that was out of
focus. The fact that the first slide was
also skewed to the left was only a poorly disguised political screen by the
opposition. After a devastating salvo of
out-of-focus shots from the projection room, punctuated by minor eruptions from
the by then steaming and nearly incandescent President Stewart, a unilateral
cease-fire was called for from the floor.
A somewhat biased truce team was dispatched to inspect the enemy
position while President Stewart promised that the autocracy of the projection
booth would be severely tested if not indeed overthrown before the next
meeting.
Roy
Bailey continued on Soufriére, describing the events of the last three months
of 1971, including the warming and the lowering of the crater lake, formation
and growth of a lava dome in the middle of the lake, and the establishment of a
geodimeter survey to measure possible swelling of the cone. Two members of the geodetic crew narrowly
escaped getting themselves into hot water when a large segment of the cone, which
they had just sampled, slumped into the nearly boiling lake. The discussion of Soufriére was concluded by
Jules Friedman’s account of an infrared photographic survey, flown by the Navy,
and intended to detect and monitor any particularly hot spots on the cone. Finding none, subsequent surveillance was
restricted to the crater lake. An
estimate of the total energy involved in the current activity placed it in
class 5, equivalent to a middle sized
President
Stewart adjourned the meeting at 9:53 with thanks to Tom Wright for his many
fine programs during 1971. Attendance
142.
Peter
B. Stifel
Secretary
Geological
Society of
February 9,
1972
The
955th meeting of the Society was klunked to order by President Stewart at 8:02
in the John Wesley Powell auditorium. Mr. Stancioff introduced Orvllle Russel
of the Earth Satellite Corporation. The
minutes of the previous meeting were read and corrected. The president announced that a new projector
would be tried, and that speakers would be able to attempt to focus it
themselves from the stage. Further, that
the Zen chair would be temporarily available In E-an's absence, that Mike
Higgins would lead a field trip on Piedmont geology on the 18th of March (20 to
30 of those present showed interest in attending) and that John Hack would lead
a trip to the Shenandoah Valley in late April.
Bob Neuman announced a Pick and Hammer function starring Vince McKelvey
at the Twin Bridges Marriott Inn at 8:00 the 1st. of March. Frank Whitmore, still sweeping up after last
fall's G.S.A. Convention sold a large segment of the audience on the virtues of
Marge Hooker's gastronomical compendium "Where Shall We Eat", and a
reserved Dan Appleman, using the informal plea asked for volunteers to award
G.S.W. sponsored prizes at local science fairs in late March and April.
Dan
Krinsley of the U.S.G.S. "paid some price for progress" with the projector
but still showed very well how "Geoenvironmental Maps the cartographic
expression of applied geology" might bridge the troubled waters between
the geologist and the non-geological user of information on the environment,
natural resources, geological hazards and land evaluation. He was questioned by
Stewart and Harbour. John Dickey
followed, and with great verbal dexterity described his solution to the plight
of an undetermined number of the "the Blind Men and the
Ophiolite". It appears that the
ophiolite, a taxonomic calamity of oceanic habitat, apparently consisting of a
melange of wehrlite, harzburglte, dunite and peridotite, with a tectonitic
fabric woven in verticals and horizontals of stratiforms, podiforms, cumulates
and intrusives, is reasonably safe from comprehensive description, at least for
some time to come. Following the talk,
the president prescribed a chair for the speaker and a ten minute limit for the
properly bespectacled and encaned Thayer.
A question was asked by Blake.
Charles
Carter of
Peter
B. Stifel
Secretary
Geological
Society of
February 23,
1972
The
956th meeting of the Society was held! As the snow fell heavily outside the
John Wesley Powell auditorium, President Stewart delayed his gavel until 8:10,
in hopes that someone would show up. To
the stalwart and congenial gathering the secretary read the minutes of the
previous meeting and announced the election to membership of Mr. Donald L. Kulow,
EROS Program, U.S.G.S.; Mr. Stanley M. Remington, hydrologist with USAID; Mr.
William S. Kirk, Atlantic Environmental
Branch, U.S.G.S.: Mrs. Penelope
Hanshaw, housewife branch, U.S.G.S.; and Mrs.
Elaine G. A. Weed, also with the U.S.G.S. The president announced that we would Pick
and Hammer at the Twin Bridges Marriott on March 1st, that the Northern
Maryland Piedmont field trip would go on the 18th of March at 9:30 from the
Maryland House on Rt. 95. That transportation
is to be private cars with the exception of Rankin who was given permission to
bring his motor scooter, and that John Hack's field trip to the
Mary
Mrose spoke for herself, George Ericksen and John Marinenko of the
U.S.G.S. in describing "Crystal
Chemistry of the Calcium iodates in the System Ca(IO3)2-H2O". Samples from the northern Chilean nitrate
fields contained the anhydrous calcium iodate lauterite and a one hydrous
prismatic form, which, after synthesis of the entire system, was diagnosed as
new and named bruggenite. Questions by
Stewart, Toulmin, Leo, Peggy and Dan Appleman.
Andrew
Graham of the Smithsonian Institution in discussing "Dating the
Moon", by the use of Rb-Sr drew attention to differences in dates given by
whole rock and single mineral analyses.
Samples from Apollo and Luna expeditions gave dates of 4.6 billion years
for basaltic anchondritic soils, representing initial major differentiation on
the moon, and 3.9 to 3.3 billion for younger maria-filling lavas, with apparently
no significant activity having occurred since then. Questions by Hensen (?), Stewart, Dan
Appleman, Leo and Toulmin.
The
third momentous event of the evening, following deference to Rankin and others
for beer, was a viewing of the film "Rise and Fall of the Great
Lakes" contributed by the Canadian Embassy, done by the Canadian National
Film Board, starring woodsman and canoe and depicting, in a quazie-light
hearted vein, the geological history and subsequent demise by pollution of the
Great Lakes. Adjournment at 9:35. Attendance 38.
Peter
B. Stifel
Secretary
GEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF
March 8,
1972
The
957th meeting of the Society was called to order by President Stewart at
precisely 8:00 in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium. There were no announced
visitors. Minutes of the previous
meeting were read and the election to membership of Gordon L. Kinney, Defense
Intelligence Agency, Mrs. Sandra Holmes, Branch of Technical Illustration,
U.S.G.S., Professor Cyril Ponnamperuma, Department of Chemistry,
Tom
Wright described work done by himself, Maurice Grolier and Don Swanson of the
U.S.G.S. on "Chemical Variation Related to Stratigraphy in the Columbia
River Basalt". He showed a natural
four part stratigraphic succession; that the stratigraphic breaks are also
chemical breaks explained by low pressure fractionation during storage of
magma in the crust; that regional variation in TiO2 reflected
inhomogeneities in the mantle, and that there was sufficient similarity between
the youngest Columbia flows and the Snake River basalts to warrant further work
in that area.
Questions
by Stewart,
The
final talk, by David B. Doan of the Earth Sciences Group, Inc. described his
financially unsupported research on the "Evolution and Flow
Characteristics of Atoll Channels in the Central Pacific". The non-random,
geometrical, usually asymmetrical series of bifurcations seen in the evolution
of channels was attributed to the interaction of relatively homeostatic
hydrodynamic factors and metastatic biological factors such as coral and algal
growth, tempered by space imitations in the lagoons and by faulting parallel to
the margin of the reef. Questions
by Stewart, Fosburg, Roedder, Davis, Smith, and an unidentified friend of Coriolis. With a reminder of the weekend field trip and
the upcoming P.S.W. meeting, the president adjourned at 9:50. Attendance 139.
[signed
Peter B. Stifel, Secretary]
Geological
Society of
March 22,
1972
The
958th meeting of the Society was held in the Jonn Wesley Powell Auditorium,
called to order by President Stewart at 8:02 p.m. Mr. George Fause was welcomed
back and Darryl Dunn of the
The
President announced the Society's planned field trip April 15th and 16th to the
William
J. Sando of the U.S.G.S. traipsed all over
Dave
Harwood of the Survey showed, in discussing "Tectonic Events in the West
Side of the Berkshire Highlands,
In
concluding, Fischer described the ERTS-A satellite which will go into a sun synchronous
orbit in June. Vital information will be supplied to the broadest spectrum of
scientists, if they can dig it out of the storage bank in
[signed
Peter B. Stifel, Secretary]
Geological
Society of
April 12,
1972
The
959th meeting of the Society was held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
called to order at 8:02 by President Stewart. There were no announced visitors
or new members. The minutes of the previous meeting, number 958, were read, disguised
as those of meeting 957, whose minutes had in turn served for those of meeting
956, which meeting, under the Stifelian system, had indeed been held twice.
The
president introduced field trip leader John Hack, who suggested wading shoes
for his return to creekology in the Shenandoah valley that weekend, though in
retrospect, life jackets might have been more in order. George Helz announced
awards given by the society in the Prince Georges County Science Fair, first
prize in the Earth Science Section going to Pam Welis for her exhibit on the
geology of
On
his way to the airport, Walter Pitman of the Lamont-Doherty Geological
Observatory, lead off the formal talks discussing the extension of the
geomagnetic time scale made possible by new Pacific basin data, emphasizing a
pulse of very rapid spreading contemporaneous with the great Cretaceous
transgressions, all under the title of the "Geomagnetic Time Scale,
Sea-floor Spreading, and the Closing of the Tethys". Discussed by Helz, Tracey,
Doan and Robertson.
William
F. Cannon, of the U. S.G.S., talked on the "Interaction of Basement and
Sedimentary Rocks During the Penokean Orogeny in Michigan", and showed
that, (rather than the long-nosed folds that one might expect from the
Penokean, secretary) roughly oval exposures of Archean basement rocks were
surrounded by metasedimentary beds of the middle Precambrian that in places
were cut out and dragged to vertical dips by a system of extremely high angle
faults. The faulting was attributed by Cannon, because of its pattern, to
differential vertical movement at depth rather than to compression in the
crust. Discussion by Guild,
Metallogeny
and the New Global Tectonics was the subject of the concluding paper by Philip
W. Guild, in which he discussed the occurrence of metaliferous deposits both
within and at the margins of the major tectonic plates. Post-Eocene calk-alkaline magmas and
associated ore deposits were shown to correlate well with the 100-200 kilometer
depth contours on Benioff zones around the Pacific basin. It was proposed that similar correspondence
between older deposits and structures might be used to anticipate the margin of
former plates. Discussion
by Warren, Leo, Calkins and Tracey. With the announcement that in spite
of the A.G.U. the P.S.W. would meet on the following Wednesday, the meeting was
adjourned at 9:50. Attendance 115.
Peter
B. Stifel
Secretary
Geological
Society of
April 26,
1972
The
960th meeting of the Society was held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
President Stewart sounding the gavel at 8:05 after a valiant but vain effort to
hold out till the beer arrived.
Competition
from a chamber music recital upstairs nearly did us in, depriving us, at least
initially, of beer, chairs and a number of stalwart members. Several of the latter were noticed easing
into the room after our meeting just to make sure the second keg was not
wasted. The president introduced Horst Pentinghaus and Herbert Kroll of the
University of
Bob
Neuman brought greetings from the Pick and Hammer Club, announcing its joint
sponsorship with the U.S.G.S. of a talk by Terry Edgar, Chief Scientist with
Scripps Deep Sea Drilling Project on the Tectonic implications of the JOIDES
program, Thursday, May 11, 2:00 P.M. G.S.A. auditorium. Bill Leo gave summary in great depth
of Earth and Astronomical Science Section awards at the D.C. Science Fair. The
book Gems and Gem Minerals for first prize went to Michael Moroney, who showed
that major stream pollutants kill guppies, and a whatjamacallit prize (G.S.W.
Certificate) for second went to Rene Henkins who showed that
The
formal program was begun by Dale Ritter of
Donald
M. Burt of the Geophysical Laboratory followed, describing the "Geology of
Some Skarn Deposits in Peru" which he evaluated for Cerro de Pasco
Corporation, on a last ditch basis, before the leases were allowed to
lapse. Largely removed by glaciers and
exposed by landslides, the mountains of magnetite, massive garnet and copper
seem destined to survive modern technology.
Even the mind of a Harvard man had to leave them high and dry. Questions by Stewart, Gabelman, Leo, Hatch
and Doan.
The
concluding presentation, by a private citizen of Bowie, Maryland, described the
trials and tribulations of involvement with "Politics and Garbage
Geology", and is it not natural that one who has spent so many days of his
life scrounging bugs from roadside ditches would become incensed at the
probability of his beautiful Bellerophons
being buried by beer cans, butts and bottles.
Ellis Yochelson complained of the lack of data on litter, as well as the
difficulty of measuring it, of getting any money for it, of getting a deposit
put on it and even of getting it all back in the hole it came out of. But, at a
penny for twenty four cans, there is little wonder why Ellis has temporarily
given up bottles and gone back to bugs, carrying the standard of the future -
"Prepare to Meet Thy Recycler".
Questions by Helz and Sheldon.
With
announcement of the next meeting in two weeks, adjournment came at 9:42.
Attendance - 77.
Peter
B. Stifel
Secretary
Geological
Society of
May 10, 1972
With
a special invitation to Dave Harwood, the 96lst meeting of the Society was
called to order at 8:00 by President Stewart in the John Wesley Powel1
Auditorium. Visitors Hezi Weiler and
Tulio Prescatore were introduced by Dan Stanley. The secretary read the minutes; there were no
new members. The death of Robert G.
Bates, of the Geological Names Committee, U.S.G.S., was announced and the
audience stood for a moment in remembrance.
After announcement of the Pick and Hammer program for the following day
the formal program was begun. W. Stewart
McKerrow of
Evidence
for a Silurian proto-Atlantic included turbidite belt through
Robert
Finkelman of the U.S.G.S. discussed "the Association of Manganese Nodules
and Cosmic Spherules". In a
fascinating paper, composition occurrence and probable origins for both nodules
and spherules were discussed in detail as were the circumstances of their
association, especially the high concentrations of spherules in very slow
growing, deep water nodules with high nickel content, as found in a wide area
south and east of Hawaii. Dave Stewart,
Frank Whitmore and two suspiciously unidentified gentlemen, possibly agents
from Dow or Monsanto, questioned the paper. In the concluding paper, Patrick
Taylor, of the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office used acoustical, gravitational,
magnetic, core, and dredge data to intimately describe the "Anatomy of a
Seamount".
Located
northeast of Bermuda, in the New England chain, the Gillis Seamount produced 3
acoustical patterns: an opaque one, for the real, rather than sedimentary, rock
of the seamount itself; a structureless
transparent marginal pattern produced by foraminiferal ooze containing some reworked
warm water Cretaceous forms; and a stratified pattern from the abyssal apron,
abutting or above the ooze, attributed to relatively recent turbidities and
intervening red clays. Description of
dredged samples and topography derived from a multi beam sonar completed the
story. Questions, in depth, at least 1000 fathoms, from Stewart, Kauffman,
Stanley, Robertson, Kauffman again, going wild with two papers mentioning
fossils in the same evening, and Wu. At
9:40 Stewart adjourned one moving evening with the announcement of another in
two weeks. Attendance 102.
Peter
B. Stifel
Secretary
Geological
Society of
May 24, 1972
The
962nd meeting of the Society was called to order at 8:04 p.m., Wed., May 24 by
President Stewart in the John Wesley Powel1 Auditorium. Minutes of the previous meeting were read and
five new members were announced, including M. Clark Blake, U.S.G.S., Andrew F.
Walsh, Department of Justice; Duane Brown, U.S. Army; David J. Brooks, Allied
Research Associates, Inc.; and Miss Suzan Tufts, U.S.G.S., W.T.R.U.
Bob
Newman announced the
Reversing
the speaking order on the announcement, Bryan Isacks of Cornell, talked first
on "Recent Studies of Earthquakes and Plate Tectonics", a discussion
of suboceanic lithospheric plate behavior and forces of convection in the
mantle. Seismic evidence indicates both
continuity and discontinuity of lithospheric slabs in the mantle to a depth
limit of about 700 km. Due to phase
change at certain depths along subduction zones, great excess of mass may cause
slabs of lithospheric crust to be pulled down under their own weight. The resulting tension may then pull a slab
apart, as evidenced by large gaps in the distribution of earthquake foci along
the zone. Conformation of the zone of foci shows sharp bending of some
descending plates. Shallower quakes are largely tensional, deeper ones are
compressional, possibly providing evidence for a strong mesosphere beneath a
weaker asthenosphere. Among the numerous discussants of the paper in the
approximate order of their first appearance were Erickson, Sohn, Blake,
Stewart, Helz, Newman, Kleimmik, Zen, Woodring and Cohee.
While
Isacks drifted off to the airport, John Dewey of SUNY at Albany posed the
question "When Did Plate Tectonics Start?" and looked for the answer
by comparing various orogenic belts to each other and to the modern oceanic
floor. Special emphasis was given to the
late Precambrian to Ordovician rocks in
Questions
by Doug Rankin, Thayer and Woodring. The
154 enthusiastic attendees adjourned to the bar at 9:50.
Peter
B. Stifel
Secretary
Geological
Society of
October 11, 1972
With
the meek request of "LET'S GO!" President Stewart gaveled the 963rd
meeting of the Society to order at 8:00 in the John Wesley Powell
Auditorium. His special welcome to all
the A to W people from the G.S.A. building, whose meeting notices had not made
it past their mail room, was echoed by cries of "well done" and
"right on"; Visitors Eiji Izawa
of Kyushu University and Shungo Yui of Akita University, Japan were introduced
by Paul Barton, Bill Oliver introduced Jerzy Federowski of the Polish Academy
of Sciences, John Gableman introduced the entire Canadian Mineral Exploration
Staff of British Petroleum Minerals, Ross Aiken, Derek Taylor, Josi Nikhanj,
and Don Mustard. Frank Jacobeen introduced Bob Hiegesell of Washington Gas, Irv
Breger introduced Jose Honarez of the
Minutes
of the last spring meeting were read and approved and the election of 6 new
members was announced. They include
Morris Deutsch, EROS Program, U.S.G.S,
Dr. Bevan French, N.S.F., Mr. John McLane and Mr. Joseph Chernosky of
the Experimental Geochemistry and Mineralogy Branch, U.S.G.S., and Mr. Roger W. Swanson and Miss
Marylyn L. Hubert of the Geologic Names Committee U.S.G.S.
The
deaths of J.R. Randolf and W.T. Pecora were announced and the membership stood
silently in remembrance. The president
asked for positive response to second and final unpaid dues notices and
announced a Coastal Plain field trip for the 18th of November. E-an Zen reported on the spring Penrose
Conference on the Northern Appalachians, drawing special attention to a
brilliant aeromagnetic map and four litho-logic maps of
Starting
the regular program, B.J. Hensen of the Geophysical Lab came part way out from
behind his hair to describe "Divariant Reactions Involving Cordierite and
Garnet as Pressure-Temperature Indicators". The two minerals coexist in a
wide range of metamorphic rocks and can help determine the pressure-temperature
conditions of the rock's formation. The
changes in divarient fields induced by iron and magnesium were considered. Questions by Stewart and Zen.
John
Gabelman of the A. E.G. discussed the "Evolution of a Metallotectonic
Concept". Using a model based on
zoned ore deposits in
Gordan
Wood of the U.S.G.S., and A.A.P.G., speaking from a right height podium and
overcoming an apparent low angle thrust in his slides discussed the
"Tectonics of the Folded Appalachians of Pennsylvania as Deduced from the
Anthracite Region." Structures of the system, from southeast to northwest
were characterized, the tectonic history of the region was outlined and
conclusions reached therefrom were expanded to include the entire eastern
poverty belt. Among many consequences of
an extensive Taconic age Decollement, was the possibility of 80-100,000 square
miles of Cambrian and Ordovician petroliferous facies underlying the western
piedmont.
Peter
B. Stifel
Secretary
Geological
Society of
October 25,
1972
The
964th meeting of the Society was called to order by President Stewart at 8:03
p.m. in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium, 2170 Florida Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C.
Bob Neuman introduced Gil Killing of University College, Wales. The minutes of the previous meeting were read
and approved after correction by Avery Drake. The death of Peggy M. Berthaud of
the U.S.G.S. was announced and the membership stood in silent remembrance.
Announcement was made of the Nov. 18th field trip to
Fifteen
newly elected members were announced including Joseph M. Botbol, Allen L.
Clark, Lawrence J. Drew, and Earl Irving of the Office of Resource Analysis,
U.S.G.S.; Eric A. Force and Nancy A.
Wright of the Branch of Eastern Mineral Resources, U.S.G.S., Sandra Clark of
the Office of Mineral Resources, U.S.G.S., Lucy M. Force, Eastern Environmental
Geology, U.S.G.S., William A. Wright, Office of International Geology,
U.S.G.S., Gordon P. Eaton, Assistant Chief for Geochemistry and Geophysics,
U.S.G.S., Robert M. Hamilton, Assistant Chief for Earthquake Geophysics,
U.S.G.S., George Lewis Meyer, Office of Radiation Programs, Environmental
Protection Agency, Mrs. Penny Wetlaufer, ERTS Program, U.S.G.S. and Kenneth
McGee, E G & M Branch, U.S.G.S.
Doug
Rankin employed the informal objection in questioning the place of beer in the
chair's pitcher, apparently being unaware of its far superior fire quenching
power, especially for your smaller spontaneous type conflagrations. When duly
reminded of this fact by the chair, Mr. Rankin, momentarily thwarted, withdrew,
possibly to recoup for a future attempt against next year's regime. Remember
well, Mr. Chairman, only you can prevent podium fires.
The
regular program was begun by W.R. Keefer of the U.S.G.S. who described the
Structure and Geologic History of Yellowstone National Park an appropriate
talk, as this year is its 100th Anniversary. The talk detailed the park's
stratigraphic column, as well as the structural, volcanic, and glacial events
recorded there. And naturally, it featured your first class national park type
slides. Questions by Helz, Stewart twice, Tracey, and George Sellers.
The
second and third papers were presented consecutively by William
Questions
by Taylor, Simkin and Wood. Meeting adjourned at 9:50, attendance 133.
Peter
B. Stifel
Secretary
Geological
Society of
November 8,
1972
The
965th meeting of the Society was called to order at 8:09 in the Powell
Auditorium by a president who was fighting to suppress those well known
symptoms that any human tends to acquire when he locks his brief case in the
trunk of his car and then proceeds to loose the key to said trunk.
Dick
Sheldon introduced Omar Raup and Bill Maple both with the U.S.G.S. in Denver,
Bill Oliver introduced Yul Kriz of Czechoslovakia, King Hubbard introduced his
assistant Jerry Karaganis, George Stoert introduced Frank Clagget of the
American Petroleum Institute, E-an Zen introduced Alan Thompson of Manchester,
England and President Stewart, still stalling for time, looked around for a
friend in the audience and found Blair Jones.
The secretary read the minutes of the last meeting, announced the 5
newly elected members including William M. Reid of the Environmental Protection
Agency, Mrs. David Larrabee, Stewart Marsh, a student at George Washington
University, and Eleanor Keefer and Claire Davidson of the Office of Resource
Analysis U.S.G.S. and further announced the council's slate of Society officers
for 1973. The deaths of Patsy B. Smith
and W.D. Johnson were announced.
Malcolm
Ross, Finance Committee Chairman mentioned planned changes in the G.S,W. Health
Insurance Program and passed the buck on any problems with that to the
"Administrator" in the white pages. Dan Appleman announced a Pick and
Hammer Social Evening on December 1st. entitled China Today, and at about that
point, Rankin played his hand. Using his
uncanny ability to psych out the opposition,-recognizing the president's unabated
state of anguish, and the secretary's continued incapacitation from trying to
spell the name of yet another one of Bill Oliver's Slovakian colleagues, Rankin
advanced stealthily to the stage and in a brazen frontal assault ripped the
cloth from, and boldly raped the Chair's Pitcher, filling his glass with beer
and slinking off into the impersonality of the crowd to gloat over his conquest
of the hapless and defenseless chair.
Roy
Lindholm asked any members of the A.A.P.G. who were present to fill out a form
of questions regarding that organization, and the President, whose notes had
been miraculously extricated from the trunk of his car by the 1st. Vice
President (using your standard size, class A crowbar) reannounced the Betterton
Field trip for the 18th of November, There being no informal communications,
the regular program followed with James W. Head of Bill Labs explaining
"Geological Objectives of the Apollo 17 Mission to the Taurus-Littrow
Region of the Moon - Pre-mission Prejudices." The geological aspects of
this field trip will be greatly enhanced by having geologist Jack Schmitt
along, especially since he has already been told by the engineers exactly which
boulders to sample. Question by Stewart.
John Pojeta of the U.S.G.S. followed describing the reasons for his
recent decision to establish "A New Class of Paleozoic Bivalve
Molluscs". He adroitly retained
these fellows as molluscs, while at the same time kicking them out of all
established classes, especially clams and those tricky two piece snails. Questions by Roedder and McKelvey.
James
E. Wilson, President of A.A.P.G. and Vice President for Exploration of the
Shell Oil Company concluded the evening with a talk on "the Road Ahead in
Petroleum Exploration - Where Does It Go?", mentioning primarily the
consequences of our passing from a state of oil sufficiency to one of imminent
and rapidly increasing dependency on other nations to meet our needs. The talk may have raised a few more questions
than it answered, at least from Peggy Appleman, Ross, McKelvey, Neuman,
Roedder, Lindholm, Jacobeen and Henbest.
Adjournment
10:10. Attendance- 138.
Peter
B. Stifel,
Secretary
Geological
Society of
December 13,
1972
President
Stewart called to order the 966th meeting of the Society at 8:03 p.m. He introduced Paul Ribbe of V.P.I. & S.U.
and announced the death of W. H. Condon.
The minutes of the preceding meeting or read an approved, and election
to membership of the following eight persons was announced; Pat Lane, and
undergraduate student at the University of Maryland, John D. Frantz, Floyd N.
Hodges, Yoshikazu Ohashi, and George T. Stone of the Geophysical Lab. Miss Rita Monahan of
Frank
Whitmore announced the AAA’s meeting on December 26 -30th, the last
one for them at Christmas time, and King Hubbard, speaking on behalf of Peter
Wylie, editor of the Journal of Geology, employed the informal plea for papers,
since the Journal is in need and Wylie is tired of writing.
At
8:15, with most of the important business of the year end of the way, President
Stewart sailed off into the sunset of his term on his "spontaneous Noah's
Peter
B. Stifel,
Secretary
80th Annual Meeting
Geological Society of
Only
after the acquisition of and complete consumption by the attending membership
of an extra keg of beer, the President Dave Stewart, at 9:10 p.m. on December
13, 1972, summon the 80th Annual Meeting of the Society to order. Council Secretary Huebner and entranced most
of those present with 10.25 minutes worth of 79th Annual Meeting minutes, to
which the group plead no contest, accepting them by default. The Annual Report of the Secretaries was
followed by a brief informal moment of silence, probably from relief at the
final passing of both Huebner and Stifel from active duty at meetings.
Treasurer
Peggy Appleman’s report noted receipts for 1972 of $4469, disbursements of
$4246, a net cash balance of $223, and holdings in the endowment fund of $3676
as of December 13, 1972. Total Society
assets of $3899 were decreased by $174 during 1972. Membership totaled 1063, down 8 from the
preceding year.
Auditing
Committee Chairman, Ralph Christian reported the Society's accounts in good
order
Malcolm
Ross noted, for his Finance Committee, that there appeared no reason to have to
raise dues in the next couple of years.
He also noted the Society's inability to raise money, citing our $300
deficit on guidebooks for the 1971 G.S.A. meeting, while that society was
clearing $30,000. Past-President White
moved acceptance of the two preceding reports and they were duly approved.
On
behalf of the public service committee, Chairman Dan Appleman thanked science
fair judges and proclaimed the success of a two-day, Montgomery County Earth
Science Teacher and Supervisors Seminar on Catoctin Mountain.
The
awards committee, under the table guidance of Dave Harwood, presented the great
Dane award to Mary Mrose for her eloquent plea for rocks, and the best paper
award to John Dickey of
After
the President's call for the sleeping Bear Award, Steve Huebner, finding
himself no longer able to control his emotions, got up quietly from his chair
and, with as little commotion is possible, walked once around the room. With his nerves of us assuaged, he returned
to his seat. Blair Jones then arose to
present one of the most cherished awards the Society can bestow. After excuses for attempting to stack his
committee with geochemists and explaining the nature of the award, Blair
proceeded to summarily dismiss such obvious contenders as President Stewart,
Secretary Stifel, A.A.P.G. President Wilson, and a host of deserving
paleontologists including Dutro, Newman, Sando, and Yochelson. Harwood, Thayer, Burt, and the protectionist
met similar fates. The award finally
went to Doug Rankin for, and I quote "boldly marching forward to establish
the right of the membership to quench the fire of a consuming thirst from the
privileged sanctions of the executive extinguisher." Having been ridiculed by this little caper,
the present lame-duck Council Secretary gives fair warning to the Meeting
Secretary elect take heed Mr. Rankin, in a few minutes the shoe will be on the
other foot.
With
no new business to conduct, the meeting proceeded to the election of officers
for the coming year, with the membership giving unanimous support to the
Council slate. Past President Stewart
thanked outgoing Program Chairman Hatch and council members Allen, Douglas
Finger, Roedder and Huebner, handed over the Budweiser gavel and unopened
Roberts Rules to President Kinney and sat back to enjoy Kinney’s
"inaugural address."
After
reminding the membership that Stewart and Stifel had presided during the Year
of the Rat, announcing a field trip for the coldest day in March, proclaiming
sleeping Bear Rankin Program Chairman for the coming year, and promising great
endeavors by the incoming administration, Kinney adjourned meeting at 10:10
p.m.
Respectfully
submitted
Peter
B. Stifel,
Council
Secretary