GSW: 1974 MEETING MINUTES

 

Geological Society of Washington

January 9, 1974

President Zen called the 980th meeting of the Society to order at 8:06 P.M. in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium. Tom Nolan introduced Harry Burgess of Kennecott-Copper. Minutes of the 979th meeting were approved and the names of 8 new members were announced. President Zen informally announced an informal drive for new members. In another ploy to offset rising costs, he stated that the 1971 dues notices will offer the membership, particularly the beer-drinking membership, an opportunity for a tax-deductible donation. The Society's first field trip of the year took place on January 6, with about 34 participants slogging through the Watergate to Rosslyn Metro tunnel. Other field trips are planned for the spring. The Chair concluded with an appeal for speakers, either formal or informal.

The formal program began with two overlapping talks by Robert F. Schmala of Penn. State. Because of time restraints Schmalz was only able to illustrate the bare outline of his first subject, "Factors effecting gene pool mixing and somatype modification". He expressed interest, but not displeasure at the trend shown by the bust-waist ratio of college coeds between 1930 and 1960, and expressed alarm over the possible extrapolation of this curve to 1980. In his second talk, Salts and Sulfides, Schmalz defended deep-basin precipitation of evaporites and discussed the significance of this to sulfide ore deposits such as Pine Point, Canada. Hsudo (sic) basins were dismissed outright. Discussed by Stanley, Sato, Jones and French.

Phil Bethke, speaking for a USGS task force of Bethke, Barton, Steven, Roedder and Rye discussed A Model for Mineralization in the Creede District Colorado. Mineralization, largely peripheral to an exhumed caldera occurred 24.8 to 25 m.y. ago. Fluid inclusions data suggest a median temperature of filling of 250° C at a depth of 1500 feet ± 500 feet. Light stable isotope data indicate that the ore-forming solutions were meteoric waters from a climatic regime somewhat milder than the present. Discussed by Hemley and one of the frustrated non-speaking co-authors.

Tom Wright, speaking for a smaller USGS task force of Wright, Swanson, and Helz described the Geology of the Columbia River Basalts, Southeastern Washington: a Progress Report. Mapping tools included hand specimens, petrography, chemical analyses, and a flux gate magnetometer. The authors have been able to interrelate rates of uplift, erosion, and eruption in the Late Miocene. Questions by Ulmer (twice), Stewart (twice), Roedder (twice), W.S. White (only once), Leo, French, Zen, Jones, Fiske, Shaw, Kuntz, Toulmin, and a semiquestion by Peck. For the record, that is 15½ questions. Meeting adjourned 10:03 P.M. Attendance 121.

Douglas W. Rankin

Secretary

 

Geological Society of Washington

January 23, 1974

The 98lst meeting of the Society vas called to order by President Zen at 8:03 p.m. in the John Wesley Powell auditorium. Dr. Andres Maldnado of the University of Barcelona was introduced by Dan Stanley. Fred Wilson introduced Robert Smith and Jeffrey Barren of Howard University and Larry Ward of the Washington Gas and Light Company was introduced. Minutes of the 980th meeting were approved. President Zen announced the death of John D. Gassaway of the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office.

The regular program opened with a report "by Peter Ward, USGS, Menlo Park, on "Results from a prototype network for monitoring global volcanic activity using satellite telemetry." Seismic event counters and tilt meters are monitored by satallite 6 to 10 times per day on 15 volcanoes. While the prediction of an eruption is not feasible at present, the information received can pin point volcanoes that should be visited. After a conversation with Toulmin, the paper was discussed by Doan (twice), Melson (twice), Simkin, Sato, and Robertson.

Thomas E. Krogh of the Geophysical Laboratory, who said he really should have had Gordon Davis as a coauthor, discussed "The effects of regional metamorphism (l b.y.) on U-Pb systems in zircons and Rb-Sr whole-rock systems in Grenville paragneiss (1.8 "b.y.)." By careful analysis, he was able to demonstrate that the pinched-off ends of zircon crystals were 5 m.y. younger than the main part of the crystals. One wonders what would have happened if the opposite had been true. Discussed by Melson.

The program concluded with a talk by William J. Perry, USGS, on the "Development of Western Valley and Ridge fold belt, Pendleton County, West Virginia." Fancy manipulation of cross sections demonstrates that shortening present in folds at the surface in the Appalachian Plateau to the west, is accounted for by faulting in the subsurface Middle Cambrian to Ordovician carbonate section in Pendleton County. Discussed by Jackobson, Robertson and an unidentified gentleman.

Meeting adjourned 9:56. Attendence 99 until the late arrival of Tina Zen rescued the meeting from falling into the attendance category of less than 100.

Douglas W. Rankin

Secretary

 

Geological Society of Washington

February 13, 1974

President Zen called the 982nd meeting of the Society to order at 8:03 p.m. in the John Wesley Powell auditorium.  Hans Schminke of the University of Bochum, Germany and Harold Sigurdsson of the University of Rhode Island were introduced by Bill Melson.  Henri Got of the University of Perpignan, France was introduced by Dan Stanley.  Ilmari Haapala of the Geological Survey of Finland was introduced by Ed Roedder.  Minutes of the 98lst meeting were approved.  The names of 16 new members were announced.  President Zen welcomed back Dan and Peggy Appleman, a prodigal son and daughter.  In view of the President's now requisite daily commute from Reston, the welcome sounded remarkably sincere.

The death of Douglas Alverson, USGS, was announced.

As required by the constitution, a proposed amendment to Section 5 of the By-Laws was read, so that it might be voted upon at the following meeting.  For reasons not entirely clear, Dan Appleman of the Public Service Committee, announced a forth coming meeting of the Gulf Coastal Geological Association, He also made the annual pitch for volunteer judges for local Science Fairs.  Jim O’Connor outlined the USGS program for minority groups in earth science.

Next the Chair, with some trepidation (having been forewarned), recognized Tom Dutro who lodged two protests.  First, speaking for the Paleontological Society of Washington (PSW), he noted that the Geological Society of Washington (GSW) in straying from its traditional meeting dates of the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month, had selected meeting dates in April and May that conflicted with meetings of the PSW.  Paleontologists are not gutless, observed Dutro.  The President, not being gutless either, accepted responsibility for the regrettable situation, but following an even higher precedent, did not offer to do anything about it.  Dutro, speaking this time for himself, next protested that a nomi­nation for membership in GSW had been rejected by the Secretary because it was written on a cocktail napkin.

Bill Melson introduced Ian McGreggor of the University of California at Davis who announced an open meeting the following day at the National Museum to discuss the results of Leg 34 of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, and to plan Leg 37.

At this point President Zen thought the meeting was successfully diverted from the paleontologists.  But, no.  Greg Sohn demanded recognition and then moved that the chairman of the Committee on Communications attempt to change the dates of the 2 GSW meetings that conflict with PSW.  The motion was defeated, but this time the President said he would not only accept responsibility, but would try to do something about it.

The regular program opened at last with a formalized informal communication by Francis R. Boyd on the first international kimberlite conference, held in South Africa in September, 1973.  Questions by Peggy Appleman and Sato.

B.W. Blackwelder discussed research of his own and L. W. Ward, USGS, on The concept of the 'Formation' in the Atlantic coastal plain: evolution, extinction, changing environments, and stratigraphic foppery (dignus vindice nodus).He made a strong case for the necessity of studying biostratigraphy along with lithostratigraphy.  Discussion by Owens (twice), Sohn, Reinhardt, Melson, Doan (who commented in reference to the title, "The logic of this escapes me"), Wilson, and Whitmore (four times).

The final paper of the evening was by John Wood of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, A Survey of rock types found on the moon, and a comparison of the crusts of the Earth and Moon.  Prior to his paper, however, Wood was informed by President Zen that he was the first recipient of an honorary corresponding membership in the Society as an out-of-town speaker — a new policy set in effect that day.  Wood, properly appreciative, reviewed the types of samples returned from the moon — big rocks, tiny rocks, and glass particles, and the techniques available for determining their bulk compositions.  He showed us a variety of not quite 3-dimensional chemical plots, which to the uninitiated looked like so many pins and needles.  A major difference between the earth and moon is that the moon, with a nonconvecting mantle may have been able to float calcic plagioclase (hence the anorthositic highlands), whereas the earth with a convecting mantle may not have been able to float plagioclase.  Discussed by Roedder, Melson (twice), Warren, Boyd, French (twice) and Wones.

Meeting adjourned 10:04 p.m.  Attendence 145.

Douglas W. Rankin

Secretary

 

Geological Society of Washington

February 27, 1974

President Zen called the 983rd meeting of the Society to order at 8:01 p.m. in the John Wesley Povell auditorium.  Sam Goldich was intro­duced by Tom Stern. Jurgen Reinhart introduced collectively a group of students from Johns Hopkins University who didn't want to be intro­duced individually.  Minutes of the 982nd meeting were approved.

The proposed amendment to Section 5 of the By-Laws passed unanimously. Three words have been added at the end of a sentence. These are "and the President." The new wording is effective immediately.

President Zen announced two forthcoming field trips for the Spring. One on April 28 to the Coastal Plain led by Peter Stifel.  One on May 11 to Harpers Ferry led by David Elliott. President Zen pronounced that henceforth no one shall help himself to beer during the formal program.

Joshua Tracey presented an informal communication on a drilling program on Eniwetok Atoll designed to determine the effects of nuclear blasts of more than a decade ago. Discussed by French and Roedder. Ellis Yochelson presented an informal communication on Salterella that aren't from South America, Antarctica, and Southwest Africa.  Discussed by Sohn and Douglass.

The regular program followed. V. R. Macgregor, of the Geological Survey of Greenland and our newest Honorary Corresponding Member, gave a well illustrated talk on the "Earth's oldest known rock:  3.7 billion year gneiss from Godthaab, West Greenland." He noted that these oldest rocks, the Amitssock Gneisses look very much like the later (2.6 b.y. old) Archean gneisses that surround them except that the Amitssock is cut by amphibolite dikes. Added interest was provided by a sizeable chunk of the Amitssock gneiss on display at the front of the auditorium, Discussed by Chayes, Bell, Wones, Zen, Ross and Hadley.

Ian G. MacIntyre of the Smithsonian Institution presented a talk on "Annual bands in tropical reef corals; a record of colonial growth and changing environmental conditions." He noted rather disturbingly that evidence of man's mucking up his environment can be noted in the annual bands. Discussion by Chayes, Douglass , Roedder and French.

Richard Arculus of the Geophysical Laboratory talked on "The Alkali basalt, andesite association of Granada, Lesser Antilles island arc." He concluded that the unusual features of Granada could be accounted for by a low rate of subduction and hence a low rate of heat release in subjacent upper mantle.  Discussed by French, Yochelson, (who wanted to see the first slide again), Sato, and Chayes. Meeting adjourned 10:03 p.m. Attendance 109.

Douglas W. Rankin

Secretary

 

Geological Society of Washington

March 13, 1971

President Zen called the 984th meeting of the Society to order at 8:04 p.m. in the John Wesley Powell auditorium. No visitors admitted being present. Minutes of the 983rd meeting were approved.  The names of ten new members were announced. President Zen apologized for the last minute or non-arrival of meeting notices saying the Postal Service isn't what it used to be. Members were warned in advance that in the future they may only "be able to learn of future programs by having been at the previous meeting.

For several meetings, the Society has used George Erickson's personal electric pointer. President Zen expressed his own and the Societies appreciation for this and announced that the Cosmos Club had purchased a new pointer, hence, hopefully ending the crisis.

Dan Appleman again asked for volunteer judges for Science fairs. Bob Tilling presented a spectacularly illustrated informal communication on the very recent activity of Mauna Ulu which has been in nearly constant eruption since May 1969.

Porter M. Kier of the Smithsonian opened the formal program with a 22 minute color film on "The wonders of Echinoids" and wonderful they were.

Through time lapse photography we saw various Echinoids scurrying hither and yon, burrowing in the sand, eating sand dollars and all the while we had the enthusiastic running commentary of the speaker interspersed with comments by D. B. Stewart.  Discussion by George Helz and Stewart.

Leonard Johnson of the Naval Oceanographic Office talked about "Arctic Geology: recent marine geological/geophysical investigations in the Labrador Sea, Reykjanes Basin, and Norwegian/Greenland Sea." With continuous echo sounding the cruise mapped a channel off the east coast of Greenland.  Could it have been formed sub-aerially? Discussed by Neuman, Sato and Stewart.

Peridotite Thayer, USGS, concluded the program with a talk on "Sheated dikes swarms in ophiolites: dogma vs reality." After defining geological dogma as the actualistic model proposed by the speaker, he once again outlined the reasons why Canyon Mountain is so difficult to understand. Discussed by Helz, Pavlides, Stewart, Hadley, Fiske, Altschuler, Barton, Sato, Wright and Lee. Meeting adjourned 9:52. Attendence 101.

Douglas W. Rankin

Secretary

 

Geological Society of Washington

March 27, 1974

President Zen called the 985th meeting of the Society to order at 8:04 pm and extended the traditional call for visitors: whereupon Bob Neuman introduced Dave Holloway, Ralph Miller introduced Jack Medlin, Anna Jesperson introduced Dr. Lester Lewis, Paul Keller introduced Jerry Kline, Cynthia Sturtz introduced Barbara Lovelace and Eric Force introduced David Swartzman. Minutes of the 984th meeting were read and approved.  Jim O’Connor requested volunteers to lead an April 27th field trip for local secondary school teachers and Dan Appleman extended an invitation for volunteers to judge the Prince Georges County Science Fair.  Gene Robertson reported that the D.C. Science Fair contained about 20 earth science exhibits out of a total of 272 and 1st Prize in Earth Science was awarded to Donna Ship for her exhibit entitled "What do you think when you see soil?" Pete Stifel announced the upcoming Coastal Plain field trip at 8 am on April 28th. President Zen thanked Dick Fiske for taking pictures of the Society in action and George Helz for assembling the pictures into an effective recruiting poster displayed at the Northeast Section meeting of GSA in Baltimore; Helz, obviously embarrassed by the large standing-room-only crowd in the Powell auditorium, immediately passed the thanks on the George Greenborg.

Alexander McBirney of the University of Oregon and the Geophysical Lab opened the formal program with a new geologic and geophysical look at the Skaergaard Intrusive.  In a beautifully illustrated talk, McBirney outlined the problems of obtaining an average composition in layered rocks, of determining the initial composition of the magma from a highly variable chilled margin, the granophyre dilema, and how to submerge plagioclase in an iron rich melt. He concluded that two relatively small feeder dikes fed a thin sheet-like intrusive mass that may have vented to the surface. Questions by Sato, Sohn, Fisher, Chayes (who suggested that Skaergaard might be the first "streaking" intrusive - having gone from a body 10% exposed to one only 10% hidden), Robertson, French, Zen, and Thayer.

Next, Don Brobst of the USGS discussed, at great length, the composition and diagenesis of Colorado oil shale pointing out that it was neither oily or shaley. He outlined the possibility of using dawsonite and analcime in the oil shale as a source of aluminium.  Question by Sato.

In the final paper Dennis Wood of the University of Illinois presented a most stimulating talk on the Precambrian correlation in the North Atlantic region. After showing fantastic examples of Late Precambrian tillites from Angelsee and Fennoscandia he offered the qualified conclusion that the Wissahicken Formation also might be part of this Avalonian glaciogenic province.  Questions by Fisher, Fisher, and Fisher.

The meeting adjourned at 10:10. Attendance a whopping 178.

D.S. Harwood for D.W. Rankin,

Meetings Secretary

 

The Geological Society of Washington

April 17, 1974

President Zen called the 986th meeting of the Society to order at 8:02 p.m. in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium. Dave Wones introduced Robert Siebert of the University of Missouri.  Blair Jones introduced Peter Fritz of the University of Waterloo, Canada. Minutes of the 985th meeting were read and approved. Two new members were introduced. President Zen announced the deaths of William W. Rubey, a past president of the Society; also the deaths of Raymond C. Moore, David R. Waldbaum and Ivan Wilson.

George Helz reported that six prizes in Earth Science were awarded at the Prince Georges, Maryland Science Fair.  First prize went to Richard Eddington for his exhibit, "Miocene Fossils of Maryland".  Bill Leo reported that first prize in Earth Sciences in the Northern Virginia Science Fair went to David Layton for an exhibit on radiocarbon dating by a photoscintillation technique.

President Zen reviewed plans for field trips for the remainder of the Spring: a Coastal Plain field trip on April 21 led by Peter Stifel, and a Harper's Ferry trip on May 11 led by David Elliott. He also reminded the audience of a field trip organized by Jim O’Conner for local secondary school teachers on April 27 to Theodore Roosevelt Island. Mackenzie Gordon informed the Society of the International Congress on Carboniferous Rocks to be held August 25-30, 1974, in Moscow, USSR.

The formal program opened with a talk by Richard E. Smith of the Naval Oceanographic Office on "Harbor Muds and Man - geochemical monitoring of sediment dredging." Silting up of harbors is a process that man has long coped with by dredging. However, as man's activities continue to foul the harbors, what to do with the dredged muck becomes an increasingly difficult problem. Discussed by Sellers, French, Henbest and an unidentified gentleman.

Mel Kuntz of Amherst College discussed the "Petrogenesis of a composite ring complex (tonalite thru quartz monzonite), central Colorado".  The Buckskin Gulch intrusive complex in Precambrian country rocks of Mosquito Range consists of 5 principal intrusive phases. Mel concluded that the original parent magma of andesitic composition was changed by assimilation and the the process was twice repeated. Discussed by Roedder, French and Toulmin.

In the final paper of the evening, Richard P. Sheldon of the U.S. Geological Survey discussed “FY75: A revolution in U.S.G.S. Geologic Division Programs". After some discussion of the USGS tree with its strong roots, periodic pruning and grafting of the upper branches, and spring leafing, Sheldon announced that the Geologic Division could expect an increase of $35 million for FY 75. He noted that this was in part accounted for by the tremendous inflation rate, but also pointed out that USGS was undergoing a fundamental change in that ratio of constant dollars to professional geologists was increasing. He predicted that this would impose a major grant-giving function on the Survey. Finally, he predicted that the future main form of publication would be magnetic tape, although he said nothing about how to cope with potential gaps in those tapes. Discussed by Erickson, Taylor (twice), Guild, and unidentified gentlemen on the right, Bob Neuman, Tracey, George Helz, Henbest and R. E. Smith.

Meeting adjourned 10:06 p.m. Attendance 145.

Douglas W. Rankin

Secretary

 

The Geological Society of Washington

May 1, 1974

The 987th meeting of the Society was called to order by President Zen at 8:05 p.m. in the John Wesley Powell. Auditorium.  In order to compensate for the lack of visitors to introduce, President Zen wished the attendees a Happy May Day.  Minutes of the 986th meeting were read and corrected by Dutro.  Later investigation, however, re­vealed that Mackenzie Gordon's name had been correctly written. Ap­parently the Paleontologists had simply cast a spell over the Secre­tary's reading ability, which is poor enough at best.  The names of 9 new members were announced.  President Zen thanked Peter Stifel and Jim O'Connor, the leaders of the two recent Society-sponsored field trips, for jobs well done.

Peter Stifel presented an Informal Communication allegedly about dinosaurs but, in fact, a guise for launching a new career as the Bard of College Park.

The regular program opened with a talk by Brian Mason of the Smithsonian Institution, on "High-Ti lunar basalts: a possible source in the Allende Meteorite".  Mason noted that interstitial pyroxene from chondrules of the Allende meteorite have many com­positional similarities with the older lunar basalts, such as those of the Apollo 11 site.  Both are rich in Ti and other refractory elements such as Ba, Nb, and Rare Earth elements.  He suggested that these older high-Ti lunar basalts are partial melts of Allende-like material.  Discussed by Wones and Bass,

Next, Steven M. Stanley of Johns Hopkins University talked about, "The sudden late Precambrian diversification of multicellular life; new evidence and a new theory".  Stanley dismissed free oxygen and sex as the cause of the explosive diversification because both had been around too long.  Instead, he proposed as the cause, the greedy habit of eating one's neighbor rather than manufacturing ones own food.  Discussed by Towe, Sellers (twice), Kauffman (twice), and Towe again.

The final paper of the evening was presented by Larry M. Cathles— "Glacial rebound and elastic properties of Earth's mantle." Nature has been conducting its own experiment for the past 20 thousand years or so on the driving mechanism for plate motions.  Cathles attempted to model this experiment and to use these observations to determine the viscosity of the mantle.  From the time distribution of terminal moraines and consideration of ice mechanics, he determined the glacial loading. By extrapolating from measurements of glacial rebound, he calculated the influx of mantle material back under the continents. Then assuming that the mantle is a Newtonian fluid of uniform viscosity, he calculated a viscosity of 1020 poise.  Discussed by Chayes, Sellers, Tracey, George Helz, Bass (twice), Shaw (thrice), Roedder, and Robertson.

Meeting adjourned at 9:52 p.m. Attendance 85.

Douglas Rankin

Secretary

 

The Geological Society of Washington

May 22, 1974

Vice President Tracey called the 988th meeting of the Society to order at 8:04 pm. Charles Milton gave an informal communication on his visit to the University of Costa Rico and volunteered to coordinate all shipments of geology books to that university if members wished to donate any.

The first paper of the evening, given by Arthur C. Tarr of the USGS, was on Recent Global Seismicity. Tarr indicated that 23,000 seismic events of magnitude 4.5 or greater recorded by 600 stations over a 9.5 year time period went into the new map of global seismicity. Discussion by Sohn, Pavlides, Roedder, Wones, Mrs. Jack Dorr and two or three other unidentified members.

Next, Marshall Kay of Columbia University discussed the Closing of an Ancient Ocean - Ordovician Subduction in Central Newfoundland. Kay suggested that the mafic volcanic rocks, siliceous argillite and manganiferous argillite of the Campbellton sequence may represent oceanic floor material subducted along the Dunnage trench in late Cambrian and early Ordovician time. Discussion by Espenshade, Dorr, Pavlides, French, Sellars, and an unidentified gentleman on the left bank.

In the final paper of the evening Gordon Eaton of the USGS gave us A Look at the Magma Chamber Beneath Yellowstone National Park. Gordon showed that the gravity and magnetic gradients mark the outer limit of rhyolite in the Park and encircles the post caldera plugs, vents and hydrothermal alteration zones. He concluded that if Yellowstone is part of a mantle plume the hot spot apparently migrated along a pre-existing, northeast-trending structural zone in the basement rocks. Discussion by French, Leo, Bass, Robertson, Sato, and Simkin.

The meeting adjourned at 9:50pm. Attendance 120.

Repspectfully,

David S. Harwood

for Douglas W. Rankin

Meetings Secretary

 

Geological Society of Washington

October 9, 1974

President Zen called the 989th meeting of the Society to order at 8:07 pm with the traditional call for visitors: Louis Conant introduced Sam Frazier of Gulf Oil Company and Doug Kinney intro­duced Gene Anderson of Bureau of Mines. Ernst Cloos was remem­bered with a reflective moment of silence.

President Zen and Finance Committee chairman Mac Ross presented a black picture of the Society's impending fiscal peril and pro­posed the following remedy to be considered by the Society and voted on at the next meeting:

1)      Dues increase to $7.00 for active members, $4.00 for corresponding members, and $2.00 for retired members.

President Zen announced that, effective immediately, there will be a voluntary contribution of 50 cents per drink for refreshments. These contributions totalled $33.00 for the October 9th meeting.

It was also announced that meeting's notices would not be mailed to members who failed to remit their dues after a suitable grace period. Peter Stifel announced that John Dennison would speak at a University of Maryland seminar on Eustatic Sea level changes and their relationship to the Oil and Gas Potential of the Atlantic OCS. Pete also tried to stimulate interest in a Washington to Miami Char­ter flight for the annual meeting of GSA. Pete Toulmin made a gallant try for the Great Dane Award by presenting President Zen with something alleged to signify membership in the Sleepy Bear Club, but all the membership really saw was the transfer of an unknown item in an unmarked, brown paper wrapper. It makes one suspicious.

Charles Drake of Dartmouth College opened the formal program with a discussion of Geodynamics. Chuck's talk contained two main thrusts - first, a plea for better communications through restricted use of coxial-tongued jargon - after all one man's olistostrom might be another man's melangenitic diamictite - and never the t'wane shall meet. His second point was to call attention to the major problem of explaining the relationship between vertical epirogenic move­ments and horizontal plate motion.  Discussion was by Melson, Sohn, Clarke, Perry and two unidentified gentlemen.

Next, James V. O'Connor of the USGS and Washington Tech. led us on a tour of Backyard Geology using Rock Creek Park as a labora­tory for studying surficial geologic processes. He presented an interesting account of the changes in land use and drainage patterns along Rock Creek - Discussion by Segovia.

Bill Melson of the Smithsonian concluded the evening's program with a report on sediment/flow relations, gabbro/peridotite complexes and other "delights of deep penetration" on DSDP Leg 37. In addition to the major accomplishment of drilling 582 m into basement on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Bill reported that the upper part of the base­ment in all four holes was vesicular extrusive basalt, and that one hole penetrated gabbro-peridotite about 60 m beneath the extrusive basalt, and that there-is about 1000 m of vertical displacement in the basement outward from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Discussion by Sato, Toulmin, Yngvar Isachsen, Bass, Yoder, Thayer, and Hart.

The meeting adjourned at 10:15. Attendance 160.

David S. Harwood     

for Douglas Rankin

Meetings Secretary

 

The Geological Society of Washington

October 23, 1974

The 990th meeting of the Society was called to order by President Zen at 7:58 p.m. in the John Wesley Powell auditorium. Bill Oliver introduced Jim Cooke of Tulane University and Elizabeth King introduced Susan Caplin of the University of Maryland and George Coflee of the U. S. Bureau of Mines.  Minutes of the 989th meeting were approved. President Zen read the list of nominees for offices of the Society for the coming year. He then re-read the proposed amendment to Section 3 of the Bylaws to raise the dues of active members to $7 and of corresponding members to $4. The proposed amendment would also set dues for retired members in good standing for at least 10 years immediately prior to retirement at $2. The President's defense of the dues increase was so eloquent that during the discussion someone asked why the proposed increase was so small (40%). After the amendment had passed overwhelmingly, President Zen announced that in gratitude no additional dues in­crease would be instituted before this one could be put into effect.

Jerry Goldberg informed the Society of the recent publication of the "Shore Protection Manual" by the Coastal Engineering Re­search Center, available from the GPO. At $11 for 1200 pages it promises to rival the old USGS Annual Reports in cost-weight ratio.

The formal program opened with a paper by Richard S. Fiske (USGS) and Othmar T. Tobisch (University of California, Santa Cruz) on "Volcanically triggered chaos deposits in the Sierra Nevadan Orogen." In his traditionally superbly illustrated talk speaker Fiske showed what can be done in interpreting complex rocks in an area of almost total exposure. He suggested that these deposits form when the entire upper part of a volcano slumps and becomes dissipated, probably a more important process in mobile belts than is generally recognized. Discussed by Peck, Thayer, Stewart, Roedder, Bass (twice), Toulmin, Leo, Sato, Towe, Zen, Clarke and Neuman.

Maurice Terman of the USGS followed with a paper on "East Asian tectonics since the Paleozoic: Implications for the western Pacific." He showed us reconstructions of plate positions for many, many times between 200 m.y. before present and the present. He suggested that a sedimentary basin may develop on the trailing edge of a plate in response to uplift and the formation of a magmatic arc on the leading edge. Discussion by Arculus, Zen, Doane and Sato.

The program concluded with a talk and movie by Thomas R. Waller of the Smithsonian on "Living habits of some marine bivalves." We saw sitting bivalves, walking bivalves, swimming bivalves, scared bivalves and inscrutable bivalves. Discussed by Roedder, Stewart, Henry Bell (who had hoped to see flying bivalves), Peck, Bass, Cox, Doane, Toulmin, Sato, Anita Epstein, Stanley, Towe and Peggy Appleman (who asked the most cruel of all questions - Why?)

Prior to adjournment President Zen again mentioned the problem of late delivery of meeting notices. He suggested that another source of delay, in addition to the Postal Service, might be the printer. Spilhaus was heard by some to exclaim loudly, "Impossible" and by others "____" (expletive deleted).

Meeting adjourned 10:05 p.m. Attendance 145. Income from   refreshments $59.60.

Douglas W. Rankin

Secretary

 

The Geological Society of Washington

November 13, 1974

President Zen called the 991st meeting of the Society to order at 8:02 p.m. in the John Wesley Powell auditorium.  Harry Ladd introduced Professor Alan Cohn of the University of Washing­ton.  Penny Hanshaw introduced Don Nichols, Bob Schuster and John Maberry of the U. S. Geological Survey.  Minutes of the 990th meeting were approved.  The death of Frank Cuttitta was announced. President Zen, in consultation with Dan Appleman, appointed Gene Roseboom of the U. S. Geological Survey and Doug Rumble of the Geophysical Laboratory to the Public Service Committee.  The names of thirty-five (35) new members were read.  In response to this new-member-bonanza, former President Kinney made a valiant but unsuccessful attempt to get a rebate on his refreshment pay­ments.

Jack Reed of the U.S.G.S., opened the formal program pre­senting a paper by himself and Bob Zartman on The Teton Range, Wyoming:  a Precambrian Geochronology.  This was, of course, after assuring us that the days of the green mountain meadows were over. In spite of a lucid discussion of the Rb-Sr dating method, un­certainties remain in the age of some rocks and events in this greater than 2.4 b.y. old province.  There was no discussion.

Next, A. G. Coates, of George Washington University, pre­sented a talk on Caribbean Mesozoic island arc system - Faunas and, Sedimentary environment.  The sedimentary apron on each side an island arc shows great lateral variation in thickness, lithology and the preserved fauna.  Discussed by Fiske, Guild, Sohl, Towe, and Oliver.

Donald W. Peterson of the U.S.G.S. - Hawaii Volcano Obser­vatory concluded the program with a beautifully illustrated talk, Recent eruptiye activity at, Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii.  The 5-1/2 years of the nearly continuous activity of Mauna Ulu, a parasitic shield volcano on the East Rift zone of Kilauae, had led to the following modifications of thoughts on the development of a shield volcano:  1) lava tubes are important and contribute to the gentleness of slope of a shield volcano, and 2) Rift eruptions may last a long time.  Peterson ended with an eloquent plea for uniformitarianism.  Discussed by Peck, Hatch, Sato, Toulmin, Zen, Simkin and an unidentified gentleman in the left rear.

Meeting adjourned at 9:43 p.m.  Attendance 167.  Income from refreshments $41.95.

Douglas W. Rankin

Secretary

 

Geological Society of Washington

December 11, 1974

President Zen called the 992nd meeting of the Society to order at 8:02 p.m. in the John Wesley Powell auditorium. Professor Fuster of the University of Madrid was introduced by Felix Chayes. William Heroy, Jr. of Dallas, Texas was introduced by Tom Nolan and Professor R. White of the University of Texas at El Paso was introduced.

Minutes of the 991st meeting were approved and the names of 11 new members were read. At the President's request the Society stood for a moment of silence in memory of Jerry Hadley.

President Zen then turned the chair over to Vice President Tracey who gave us a brief rundown on the very active life of our President before, in turn, introducing him. The Presidential address, The last 80 million years in the Pioneer Mountains, Montana; a short story with igneous punctuation, clearly reflected the geologic versatility of the speaker, and an early encounter with the amplifying system provided yet a new challenge. The geologic story presented for the Pioneer Mountains, located between the Wyoming-Idaho thrust belt and the Montana disturbed belt, begins with the Cretaceous Kootenai Formation whose nature reflects the Sevier orogeny. A significant part of the talk concerned events crowded into a few million years of the early Laramide orogeny. Volcanism, represented by ash beds possibly correlative with the Elkhorn volcanics, was followed by thrusting and then intrusion of the Pioneer batholith. After accounts of post-Laramide sedimentary volcanic and tensional tectonic events we learned of the ghostly language of beheaded fans (past-President Stewart's comments weren't very ghostly, however), the rate of fall of the surface of a Pleistocene valley glacier, and finally the deposition of a few decimeters of light gray volcanic ash representing the eruption of Mt. Mazama about 7000 years ago. Then, after a thinly veiled plug for wilderness areas, President Zen broke with precedent and invited questions. This produced a conversation with K. Y. Lee and a question from Peck.

Meeting adjourned for beer and the Annual Meeting about 8:45.  Attendance, a disappointing 125. Income from refreshments, $49.

Douglas W. Rankin

Secretary

 

[Minutes of Annual Meeting 82 lost]