GSW: 1975 MEETING MINUTES

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON

January 8, 1975

The 993rd meeting of the Society was called to order at 8:07 p.m. in the John Wesley Powell auditorium by First Vice-President Dallas Peck who apologized for being caught unprepared a year early. Two unformal communications were presented to the officers on stage by an unidentified Hanshaw. The length of these was not recorded but the volume was 171 milliliters including foam. No informal communications were presented. Minutes of the 992nd meeting were read and approved. The Society was pleased to receive a card of thanks from bartender Jimmie Caviness. George Switzer introduced Tomas Feininger of Quito, Ecuador.

The first paper by Dick Doell (USGS-Menlo Park) discussed "System dynamics modelling in environmental geology", the purpose of which is to decide what kind of environmental geologic studies are most needed for solving social problems. Interacting variables in the model were capital, population, food, pollution, and energy. A slide illustrating some complexities of just one variable, namely capital, resembled alphabet soup spilled on a blue rug. Growth curves for some of these variables (pollution and material standard, for example) tend to become linear rather than exponential after the year 2000. At about the same time Doell showed that economic chaos would result from increased energy costs, Vice-President Peck decided to conserve energy by dispensing with the PA system. Questions by Leo, Sato, Doell, B. Hanshaw, Neuman, and E. Zen.

Anita Epstein (USGS-National Museum) described her work on "The conodont—A metamorphic index fossil". Unaltered conodonts are pale yellow to light amber but when heated show a color change to black that is progressive, cumulative, and irreversible. Her maps (a creative blend of the cartographic and the photographic) showed that these changes reflected past depths of burial of Ordovician, Silurian to mid-Devonian, and Mississippian rocks along the Appalachians. The darkening comes from fixed carbon in pore spaces and has immense application for determining oil and gas potential, structural anomalies, and metamorphic effects, to name a few. Slides of various geochemists (with faces) who were fondling conodonts and of local paleontologists doing geochemistry on larger-than-life conodonts showed that the team approach is successful, especially when the team has T-shirts labelled Conodont Research Applications Program. Questions by G. Helz and Sato; then questions 18-22 by B. Hanshaw, Leo, Vidale, E. Zen, and Towe.

Ben Harte (U. of Edinburgh and Geophysical Lab) told us about "The Banff-Tay nappe (and below) in the eastern Scottish Dalradian". Late Precambrian to lowest Ordovician sediments-, as much as 6 miles thick and bounded by the Highland Boundary and Great Glen faults, were metamorphosed and folded in six phases. The Iltay is a triple nappe overturned to the northwest with a long cockscomb pointing southeast, as beautifully illustrated in a bright blue, yellow and red cross section which, however, bore such an uncanny resemblance to Woody Woodpecker that I expected it to sprout bird feet and run off the screen any moment. Such tension was relieved by viewing a well known native product-Scotch on the rock. Harte proposed that the thrust sheet over the Tay nappe shown by Reed is unnecessary and observed relations can be explained instead by erosion having exposed overturned beds of an anticline beneath the Tay nappe. Questions by Wones and a loud, raspy, but unidentified voice from front center who wanted to know where to buy the Scotch locally.

Past President Zen's return to civilian life was commemorated by an embroidered chair cover from an unidentified needleperson which read "The E-an Zen Memorial Chair". We applauded Tom Simkin and his committee's efforts for this their penultimate meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 p.m.

Attendance—126. Income from refreshments—$34.91.

Respectfully,

Penelope M. Hanshaw

Meetings Secretary

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

January 22, 1975

The 994th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was called to order at 8:07 p.m. in the John Wesley Powell auditorium by President Tracey. Sam Frazier introduced Dr. Linden R. Scott, of Gulf Research, and Dave Wones introduced Dr. Joseph V. Chernosky, University of Maine, Orono, Maine. Minutes of the 993rd meeting were read and approved and eight new members were welcomed into the Society. A letter from Oslo, Norway from Ellis Yochelson informed us that he is working from sunup 'til sundown (but will do better in '75) and that he is accepting the Sleeping Bear award with characteristic modesty for the third time.

President Tracey expressed concern about the beer deficit but felt that beer before the meeting produced a desirable camaraderie which more than offset additional snores during the meeting.

We stood for a moment in remembrance of our deceased colleagues Mark Pangborn, Frank Calkins, Don Wolcott, Richard W. Bayley, and Max White.

Bill Prinz called for help with the Survey's traditional spoof, the Pick and Hammer show. There were no informal communications. If the Society had a hero medal, it would have gone to Frank Lesure who loaned his meeting notice card to President Tracey so he could announce the evening's papers.

Bill Ruddiman of the Naval Oceanographic Office, CLIMAP project, presented the first paper - "Quaternary climate changes: a study of deep sea cores from the North Atlantic". From the relative abundances of 25-30 different species of forams he modelled temperature distribution in the North Atlantic back to an 18,000y.b.p. minimum. At that time there was a very steep temperature gradient between the central U.S. coast and Spain with polar water extending 2000 miles further south than at present. That cooling started in Europe and worked westward was shown by polar fauna transgressing an ash layer dated at 9300 y.b.p. Temperature in the North Atlantic changed much faster than previously suspected—cooling occurred within 5000 years, warming within 3500, and most change within less than 2000 years. The good news was thinking about all that cold water in years gone by; the bad news was that we're due for a cooling period now. Questions by G. Helz, Chernosky, an unaffiliated Stewart, E. Zen, Toulmin, Robertson, and Everett. Someone in a Meyer Rubin costume stood up and said this was the most exciting piece of Pleistocene work in 20 years.

Dallas Peck told us about the work done by himself, Herb Shaw, and Margaret Hamilton—"Thermal modelling of Alae lava lake, Hawaii". The August 1963 eruption in the East Rift Zone left a lava lake, later conveniently buried in the 1969 eruption. Maximum temperature measured was 1135° C.; at 1065° a 50-50 mixture of crystals and melt existed at the base of the crust. Vesiculation of lava caused uplift in the center and subsidence around the edges—these areas being separated by the 1000° isotherm. Conductivity (the major means of cooling) increased with temperature and varied with olivine content and porosity. Core density was about 40% at surface and 10% at a depth of 10 feet. Curves of observed and calculated temperature versus depth showed that an early period of cooling required a different diffusivity from a later period. A year of heavy rainfall caused rapid cooling. For do-it-yourselfers who wish to model their own personal lava flows, Peck proposed cooling rates of 1 year for a 50' thick flow, 4 years for a hundred foot flow, and 100 years for a 500 foot flow. Questions by Wones, Robertson, G. Helz, French, Tracey, and Simkin and a raised Fiske fist from the projection room.

Robert Regan (USGS) presented "A new global magnetic anomaly map from satellite data". POGO has gone a long way, baby, from the Okeefinokee Swamp. From 1966-70 he was the Polar Orbiting Geophysical Observatory which produced magnetic data with 2-5 gamma accuracy. A 12 gamma low anomaly in central Africa showed up on both satellite and conventional airborne surveys. Our satellite data correlate well with those of the Russians. These anomalies are real, internal and lithospheric; shield areas have positive anomalies, ridges and trenches— complex patterns. Questions by French, Sato, Stewart, and G. Helz.

President Tracey mentioned that special plans are brewing for our 1000th meeting in April. He adjourned the meeting at 10:15 p.m. with a plea to drink beer rather than Coke because it's better for your teeth.

Attendance: 92. Income from refreshments: $32.75 and one paper clip.

Respectfully submitted,

Penelope M. Hanshaw

Meetings Secretary

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

February 12, 1975

The 995th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was called to order at 8:04 p.m. in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium by President Tracey. Bruce Hanshaw introduced a professional guest, Dr. John L. Haas, a chemist with the U.S.G.S. at Reston. The minutes of the 994th meeting were read and approved; there were no announcements or informal communications.

Rosemary Vidale (Geophysical Lab and SUNY-Binghamton) told us about "Dutchess County pelites—changes in veins and other metamorphic segregations". She described veins as cracks or fissures which opened slowly and filled with material from surrounding layers. Penetration layering in amphibolite facies rocks on a scale of a few millimetres formed in a manner similar to the veins. Light layers are composed of quartz and plagioclase, dark layers, biotite, muscovite, garnet, and ilmenite. Boundaries are sharp and layers wrap around noses of folds. A small pressure gradient causes diffusion through pore spaces. Experiments with iron-free two-mica schist showed that first quartz and then feldspar dissolved in higher pressure regions and precipitated in lower. She proposed that continuous flexing and reflexing over tens of thousands of years produced this differentiation. Questions by Hatch, Sato, E. Zen (twice), Lee, Luce, and Jones.

Farouk El-Baz (Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum) described "Lunar Stratigraphy". The mare or lunar seas are impact features although the Soviets still believe mare have a subsurface cause. The following sequence occurred at Copernicus: formation of the basin, ejection of material to surrounding area, filling of the basin by dark rock, and impacting of basin fill. He showed an early geologic map in the pointillistic style of Utrillo with perhaps minor influence by Jackson Pollock. Mare material from Apollo 11 was dated at 3.7 b.y. The origin of the Hadley Rille is still unknown which proves that sending a geologist to the field once doesn't solve everything. Apollo 16 found that rocks thought to be siliceous in elongated vents were actually impact breccias. The orange rock from Apollo 17 was probably formed by meteoric impact and reduction—not by oxidation. Heavily cratered terrain appeared on a map of the far side of the moon. Questions by Wones and Brett.

Robert Hamilton (USGS) described "A Seismologist's visit to the Peoples Republic of China". His visit in the fall of 1974 was part of an exchange agreed upon during Nixon's trip. An historic earthquake in 1556 killed more than 820,000 people. During the Cultural Revolution in 1966 geological publication ceased but a large earthquake that year triggered a massive earthquake program. Our seismic zoning for land use is irrelevant to China because population there is so dispersed. They have about 10,000 trained full-time earthquake researchers—we have about 1,000. They have 17 high quality seismic stations, many portable seismometers, and 5 laser ranging devices. Slides of incredible karstopography in the Kuelin region and of healthy, well-fed Chinese people were included for general interest.

Questions by Leo, Roedder, Terman, Hatch, Lee, E. Zen, Ross, Bass, Chao (twice), French, Chayes (twice), L. Force, Vidale, and Simkin.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:10 p.m.

Attendance: 106 Income from refreshments: $50.34

Respectfully submitted,

Penelope M. Hanshaw

Meetings Secretary

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

February 26, 1975

The 996th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was called to order in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium at 8:00 p.m. by President Tracey. Doctors Hugh and Mary Barnes of the Pennsylvania State University were introduced by Dave Wones, Tom Bergner and John Robinson of N.O.A.A., by Bob Dill, and John Wood of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory of Cambridge, by Gene Robertson. Minutes of the 995th meeting were read and approved. Ben Harte of the Geophysical Lab and the University of Edinburgh was welcomed into the Society. Tom Dutro made a plea for volunteers to judge science fairs in Prince Georges County and Northern Virginia. He said also that his Public Service Committee is trying to spur interest in producing popular publications and maps of the local area. Ralph Christian requests suggestions for local G.S.W. field trips and reminded us to think about the forthcoming meeting of Northeast and Southeast G.S.A., Spring 1976 and national A.A.P.G. in June 1977. Gene Robertson read a letter from Bob Tilling who appreciated receiving the Great Dane Award and had spent it on Hilo berries for the volcano goddess Pelee (seeing as she had a lot to do with his success) and on (well-deserved) gin for himself. Gene then presented the silver bowl and check for the best paper award to John Wood.

Wendell P. Woodring (Smithsonian) presented a colorful talk on "Former Central American sea-level canals" in which he cited the following three lines of evidence for a wide mid-Miocene canal across Panama: 1) the distribution and zoogeography of Tertiary marine mollusks and other fauna on two sides of northern South America, 2) distribution of marine Miocene and Pliocene formations in central America, and 3) the history of land mammals. The Cariphiles turned out to be "Caribbean-loving" rather than "Detroit-loving" species. That canals and land bridges were political structures even in the Tertiary was shown by signs saying Yankees stay home and a ground sloth thumbing his nose northward. It makes one wonder what kind of signs the animals carried when boarding the Ark, but no one asked that, or any other question.

Peter Scholle (USGS-Reston) dispelled the notion that chalks don't change thru his talk "Diagenesis of chalks: paleotemperature and salinity". Decreasing porosity and an increasing mosaic of crystals occurred in a series of Late Cretaceous core samples from 1,000-11,000 depths in the North Sea. Shifts in oxygen isotope values reflect paleotemperatures and pressures. In Ekofisk, overpressurization and introduction of oil preserved the mineralogy and thus allows determination of the time of oil accumulation. Primary differences in original salinity may be a useful correlation tool for rocks lacking fossils. Questions by Hugh Barnes (three times), the blue jacket far left center, Lindholm, Robertson, and Wones.

Cyril Ponnamperuma (University of Maryland) discussed "The origin of life: the geochemical approach." The oldest microfossils now are 3.5 b.y. from South Africa so the period just before that should be most interesting chemically. 3.8 b.y. metamorphosed sedimentary rocks from Greenland show no evidence of organic molecules. There probably is no way to be sure that extracted organic molecules are as old as the rocks containing them. Apollo 11-17 samples showed no evidence for molecules significant for pre-biological chemical evolution. D and L isomers can be separated from carbonaceous meteorites to find amino acids. Radioastronomers have found 41 different molecules intermediate in chemical evolution, therefore, the processes of chemical evolution are cosmic in nature and may be taking place now out there somewhere. Hopefully, Viking will bring us new evidence from Mars on July 4, 1976.

A question by G. Helz. Adjourned 9:35 p.m.

Attendance: 118 Income from refreshments: $40.38

Respectfully submitted

Penelope M. Hanshaw,

Meetings Secretary

Geological Society of Washington

Wednesday, March 12, 1975

The 997th meeting of the Society was called to order by President Tracey at 8:03 p.m. in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium. Barbara Walsh of Bryn Mawr was introduced by Karen Shaw and Elaine Weed introduced her son Johnathan. Minutes of the 996th meeting were approved with President Tracey noting that John Wood had paid his own way to the 996th meeting to pick up his silver bowl. Other announcements included noting that the first fall meeting of October 8 was inadvertently omitted from the list of future meetings appearing on the current meeting notice and that AAPG had recently attempted to contact the Ladies Auxiliary of the Society in preparation for the 1977 Annual Meeting, President Tracey suggested that any one who wished to form such an organization could start the process of amending the By-Laws by submitting a letter of request signed by 5 members. There were no volunteers.

The formal program opened with a paper by Joseph G. Arth of the USGS - Reston, on "Trace elements in island-arc magmas of Rabaul and Talasea, New Britain." Arth concluded that because of the trace element compositions, these magmas could not have been derived from the melting of crustal material or by the mixing of primitive magmas with continental material. He suggested that the basalt was derived from partial melting (about 25%) of mantle peridotite above a descending slab at a subduction zone. The more silicic magmas arose from the fractionation of the basalt. Questions by Hearn, Lewis, Osburn, Wones, and Robertson.

The second and final paper was a 40 minute presentation by Paul L. Weis, USGS - Reston, on "The channeled scablands and the Spokane flood; or was Noah a Nez Perce?" This well illustrated discussion was complete with melodrama, heroes and villains. J. Harlan Bretz's concept of a diastrophic flood was reluctantly accepted by the profession but only after several decades of controversy. The speaker suggested as a moral thought, if you are right and know you are right, don't shut up. Questions by G. Helz, Hubbard, Bill Newman, E. Zen, Denney, and Warren.

Meeting adjourned 9:35 p.m. Attendance, a disappointing 85. Income from refreshments $26.82.

Douglas W. Rankin

for Penelope Hanshaw

Meeting Secretary

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

March 26, 1975

The 998th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was called to order at 8:15 p.m. in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium by President Tracey.

Visitors introduced to the Society were Winn Coder of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute by Bevan French, Ian Carmichael of University of California Berkeley by Tom Simkin and himself of the same university, anonymously, by Herb Shaw.

Minutes of the 997th meeting were read and approved, with President Tracey noting that the AAPG attempt at contacting the Ladies Auxiliary of GSW was a powerplay aimed at increasing attendance at this year's Dallas AAPG rather than to get our ladies to do something for the 1977 AAPG meeting here. Ralph Christian announced a May 10th GSW field trip to Bear Island to be led by George Fisher. Someone suggested that paleontologists be admitted to the 1000th meeting on the same terms as other earth scientists. The call for informal communications brought forth a welter of words from both the identified and unidentified displaced Berkeleyites. Informal it was, communication it really wasn't.

Wesley Hildreth, U.C. Berkeley, spoke to us about the "Magma Chamber of the Bishop Tuff, California: gradients in P, T, and xH₂O." This mid-Pleistocene rhyolitic ash flow sheet is about 500 feet thick and cooled as two units simultaneously, the lower at 720-725°C and the upper at 737°-790°C, showing an inverted eruption sequence. The top of the chamber was at a depth of 3-5 km , the material erupted from an area at 4.5 kb pressure or 15 km depth. Saturation occurred only at the top of the chamber so water is not considered an eruptive mechanism. Questions by Arculus, Fiske (twice), Wones (twice), Toulmin, Sato, Brett (twice), Osburn, and Carmichael.

John D. Bredehoeft (USGS, Reston) told us about "Regional tectonic stress: measurements at depths in the Piceance Basin, Colo." About 30 hydraulic fractures to a depth of 1700 feet were "viewed" with a sonic device which showed that at shallow depths the least principle stress is vertical and fractures are horizontal, but at depths greater than 500 feet, the same stress was horizontal and produced vertical fractures. They plan to do stress measurements across the San Andreas next. Two questions each by Robertson and Doan.

Neil Irvineof the Geophysical Laboratory described "The Polaris ultramafic complex, British Columbia," a Jurassic complex about 160 m.y. old, which is similar to other "Alaskan" type complexes in being concentrically zoned and having the same differentiation trends, but which was tectonically squeezed so that ultramafics are separated from gabbro by a thrust fault. A suture zone separates Alaskan from Alpine type complexes on the west side of the Coast Ranges; the same situation exists further east with the Polaris and marks early Mesozoic subduction. Questions by Arculus, Harte, Peck, French, and Osburn. The chair invited a question from a remarkably reluctant Tom Thayer. The meeting was adjourned at 10:15 p.m.

Attendance: only 81. Income from refreshments: $36.00

Respectfully submitted,

Penelope M. Hanshaw

Meetings Secretary

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

April 9, 1975

The 999th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was called to order at 8:10 p.m. in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium by President Tracey.

Guests introduced were Dr. Antonio Arribas of the University of Salamanca, Spain, by Bob Schmidt and Dennis Krohn of the U.S.G.S. Eleven new members were welcomed into the Society. We observed a moment of silence in honor of Wilbur Burbank who passed away April 1st.

Minutes of the 998th meeting were read and approved; announcements concerned the Bear Island Field trip, local science fairs, and the 1000th meeting.

Informal communications were presented by Charles Warren on alined wind-eroded gullies in Alberta and by Roz Helz on redrilling of Kilauea Iki which produced hotter, more mafic and less differentiated rock than predicted.

Robert Fudali of the Smithsonian discussed origin of alined impact features, Vredefort Dome, South Africa and Richat Semsujat and Tenoumer and other craters, Mauritania. Linear amphibolite bodies at right angles to concentric glass impactite dikes formed by rapid preferential melting. The tremendous energy from impacting also produced faulting, intrusions, and extrusions in prestressed crust. Questions by French, Peck, Robertson, and Vidale.

Bob Sigafoos, U.S.G.S., showed slides of deposits from lahars on Mt. Rainier, which dated from 400 to 6600 y.b.p. These mass flowage deposits may move as fast as 200 m.p.h., may be triggered by steam vents high on the volcano and may extend up to 70 miles from the source. Four lahar surfaces were recognized by tree-coring. Questions by Standoff, Doan, Kinney, and Norton.

Richie Williams, U.S.G.S., showed ERTS images and ground photos of spectacular Icelandic geothermal, volcanic, and glacial areas. Catastrophic glacial outburst floods (as much as 15,000 m³/sec - the same as the Mississippi) occur as ice up to 1000 m thick collapses over geothermal areas. Glacial surges of 2 m/day can be measured from ERTS data. Questions by Morton. The meeting was adjourned at 10:35 p.m.

Attendance: 102 Income from refreshments: $32.94

Respectfully submitted,

Penelope M. Hanshaw

Meetings Secretary

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

April 23, 1975

On April 23rd the Geological Society of Washington celebrated its 1000th meeting with standing room only and a special program of invited speakers. President Tracey called this meeting to order at 8:03 p.m. in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium.

Guests introduced were Dick LeFevre of Grand Valley College, Michigan, by Doug Carter; Hans Suess of Scripps by Meyer Rubin; Matthew Salisbury of N.S.F. by Tom Thayer; Gerj . Perovski of Posnan, Poland, by Bill Oliver.

Minutes of the 999th were read, corrected, and approved.

We stood in silent tribute to Clarence S. Ross and John B. Hanley, both of whom passed on during April.

The Cosmos Club disposed of our proposed May 14th meeting in the same way it did of women recently so our 1001st meeting was rescheduled to October 8th.

Frank Whitmore chronicled the birth and growth of our Society, dropping the names of Walcott, Emmons, Holmes, Cross, Becker, Gilbert, and many others. John Wesley Powell spoke at the first meeting, March 8, 1893 which was attended by 49 people. I wish I could tell you more of what Frank said but in deference to his wistful comment about the minutes having been shorter in the past.....

George Wetherill described the history of age-dating from Becquerel's discovery in 1896 through isotope dating and magnetic reversals with their consequent plate tectonic theories to chronology of the universe by dating of craters.

Jack Schmitt, in a talk that could have been subtitled "Let's take two more giant steps for mankind", detailed five stages of lunar history before 3.1 b.y. ago. He said that since 3.1 b.y. not much has happened to the crust of the moon but internal changes have taken place. He prophesied that the lunar exploration will be remembered as the first time man has made a major change without war.

Fred Vine - speaking for himself and Matthews, described the growth of plate tectonic theories from the recognition of offset magnetic lineations and contrasted the models of Jason/Morgan and J.T. Wilson.

The formal meeting was adjourned at 9:50 p.m. and was followed by a social event featuring wine, cheese, and lots of conversation. Record-setting attendance was somewhere around 350.

Respectfully submitted,

Penelope M. Hanshaw

Meetings Secretary

GEOLOGICAL SOCLETY OF WASHINGTON

October 8, 1975

The 1001th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was called to order at 8:06 p.m. by President Tracey in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium. A comment that the 647th meeting had been omitted and therefore this was the 1000th meeting caused momentary discomfiture but was ultimately ignored. Nametags, for the sake of Gemueltlichkeit with newer members not regimentation of older members, were a novelty at this meeting. There were no guests, distinguished or otherwise. The minutes of the 1000th meeting were read, corrected, and approved.

We observed a moment of silence for our deceased members Louis Ray, Marshall Kay, G. E. Manger, and Thomas E. Mullens.

The names of eleven new members were read.

Tom Dutro favored us with five and two-thirds informal communication on his trip to the 8th International Congress on Carboniferous stratigraphy Moscow which actually were thinly disguised commercials for his forthcoming talk at the Paleontological Society.

Willard Moore of the Naval Oceanographic Office described hydrothermal manganese deposits from the Galapagos Spreading Center. The growth rate of these zoned nodules, 2mm. per thousand years, is much faster than normal, they have a vanishingly small iron/manganese ratio, thorium is almost absent, manganese content is high. Their origin is hydrothermal as a precipitate from a non-sea-water solution. Questions by G. Helz, French, Toulmin, Benson, and E. Zen.

William Reid of Earth Satellite Corporation discussed groundwater withdrawal, active faulting and subsidence in Houston, Texas. Slides of cracked houses and pavement showed the immediate problem and prompted the observation that a real estate agent who kept grouting materials handy could do very well. Episodic movement, both negative and positive, was due to compaction and expansion of clays with changing groundwater level. Questions by Sam Frazer and G. Helz.

Charles Warren, USGS, talked about varves, seafloor spreading and deglaciation. He proposed a method of correlating glacial drift by comparison of treads and risers of stepwise retreat of outwash in the Woronoco quad, Massachusetts. From this, the pattern of retreat was found to match in two areas, and the lowering of Lake Lizzie described. Questions by Denny, G. Helz, and French.

And now, courtesy of two anomymous poets:

Famous Crimes Depicted in the Rocks:

40(41?). The HATCHet Murders.

Lizzie's Borders, as by an axe

Had spillways cut with mighty whacks

Now the waters out have run,

And Charlie counts 'em, one by one!

The meeting was adjourned at 9:55 p.m.

Attendance: 93 . Icome from refreshments $36.46

Respectfully submitted,

Penelope M, Hanshaw

Meetings Secretary

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

October 29, 1975

The 1002d meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was called to order at 8:06 p.m. by President Tracey in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium.

Visitors introduced were: Frank Spear of the Geophysical Lab by Doug Rumble, and Clarence King and John Wesley Powell in their present reincarnations by Doug Rankin.

The minutes of the 1001st meeting were read and approved. Bill Benson gave an informal communication on the latest cruise of the Glomar Challenger-to Blake Nose, and E-an Zen announced the Douglas Alverson Collection on Russian Geology now in the USGS Library at Reston and the naming of Mt Alverson in the Pioneer Range, Montana.

Robert Popp (USGS) talked on "Amphibole-pyrrhotite phase relations: application to massive Appalachian ores" in which he showed that these minerals coexist stably and changes in the amphibole composition from non-ore to ore suggest that host rocks may be an integral part of ore-forming processes. Questions by Toulmin, H. Shaw, and E, Zen.

Ken Towe (Smithsonian) presented a paper by himself and C. Hemleben (Univ. of Tubingen) on "Diagenesls of magnesian calcite: evidence from modern and fossil foraminifera". Diagenesis shows up under the electron microscope as a random array of magnesium calcite needles and then a gradual transition from needles to mosaic before any change in the biological boundaries of the fossil can be seen under the light microscope. Questions by G. Helz, H. Shaw, Henbest, Ross, Shaw to Ross, E-an Zen answered Shaw by a question to Towe so E-an won this round.

Robin Brett (USGS) provided "Speculations on the composition of the Earth's core" using four models: one in which the Earth accreted little sulfur, one with sulfur in the core, one with sulfur in the mantle and one in which the core accreted before the mantle and is in disequilibrium with it.

Questions by Peck, Towe, and Shaw.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 p.m.

Attendance: 79 Income from refreshments $38.62

Respectfully submitted

Penny M. Hanshaw

Meetings Secretary

Geological Society of Washington

November 12, 1975

The 1003rd meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was called to order at 8:15 p.m. in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium by President Tracey.

Visitors introduced were Robert Hatcher of Clemson University by Gil Espenshade, Peter Lyttle of the USGS by Bill Leo, and Phil Osberg of the University of Maine by Bob Newman. Minutes of the 1002nd meeting were read and approved.

President Tracey read the slate of officers proposed by the Nominating Committee: First Vice President and President Elect - Francis R. Boyd; Second Vice President, Mary E. Mrose; Meetings Secretary, William E. Davies, Treasurer, Bevan French; Councillors-at-larqe, Peter B. Stifel, Richard S. Fiske, and Thomas L. Wright; Representative to the Washington Academy of Sciences, Marian M. Schnepfe.

Robert Tilling gave an informal communication on the July eruption of Mauna Loa.

Roger Larson (Lamont-Doherty) described "Magnetic amplitudes in oceanic crust as a function of geologic time". He proposed a strong inversion correlation between the amplitude parameter of the earth's main field and the average frequency of reversal over Geologic time as far back as 160 m.y. Questions by King, Robertson, Peck, Sato, and Spiker.

William A. Oliver Jr. (USGS-Smithsonian) described "Biogeography of Devonian corals and the timing of continental drift". He said that the waxing of Rugose coral endetnism was related to continuing development of the Old Red Continent and the waning, to breaching of the Transcontinental Arch and influx of western corals into the East. The coral data suggest an earlier Pangea closing than previously supposed. There were no questions

David B. Stewart (USGS) in Part II of a 3-part talk described "Paleozoic continental collisions - the Ellsworth structural block, Maine" (Part I never got beyond a feldspar crystal on the Maine coast, Part III is promised to be "Tomorrow the Moon"). The Ellsworth block is one of three sub-parallel fault-bounded belts in the Maine coastal volcanic belt and consists of feldspathic gneiss in the lower part and greenstones in the upper. This section is about 510 m.y. in age, metamorphism is pre lower Silurian and is the same or similar to the Brown's Mt. group.

Questions by Rankin and Tilling.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:10 p.m. Attendance: 107 Income from refreshments: $45.31.

Respectfully submitted,

Penelope M. Hanshaw

Meetings Secretary

Geological Society of Washington

December 10, 1975

The 1004th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was called to order at 8:05 p.m. by First Vice President Dallas Peck, in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium.

The minutes of the 1003rd meeting were read and approved. We stood in silent tribute after the death of John Huddle was announced.

The following new members were elected: Chalmer Dunbar, Francis Witkege, Eugene Hampton, Kenneth Vanlier, Robert Luce, .Fred May Marilyn and David Lindstrom, Robert Rowland, and Roger Amato.

Peck introduced the speaker for the Presidential Address, entitled "Measuring rods in the open sea", to cries of "Keep it short!" from President Tracey himself. He described five studies concerning sea level changes: studies of drill hole records from atolls, of stepped reef terraces, of submerged flat topped seamounts, of deep sea cores and of Pleistocene solution unconformities with paleosols. The minimum Holocene sea level curve shows a lowering of sea level in the last 2000 years and a sea level the same as present day at 6000-7000 ybp. Eniwetok subsided 6 metres from 6000 to 3000 ybp, has risen 1 metre since, and probably will subside in the next few thousand years.

The meeting adjourned at 8:55 p.m. in favor of beer and the 83rd Annual Meeting.

Attendance: 105 Income from refreshments: $45.97

Penelope M. Hanshaw

Meetings Secretary

Respectfully submitted

Geological Society of Washington

83rd Annual Meeting

The 83rd Annual Meeting of the Society, on December 10, 1975, was called to order at 9:20 p.m. in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium by President Tracey. Minutes of the 82nd Annual Meeting were read by Douglas Rankin and approved. The annual report of the secretaries for the year 1975 was read. Helen Withers read the Treasurer's report which stated that 1975 was the first year since 1971 in which there was no drain on the savings account. The Auditing Committee (Fred Wilson and Pamela Wetlaufer) was not present because Izzy Zietz had scheduled an exam that evening (loud boos were heard) so their report was read by the President and was accepted, as in its turn, was the Treasurer's Report. Alice Allen presented the Report of the Committee on presentation of Awards with bouquets for Dan Appleman and his Communications Committee for the outstanding variety and excellence of programs this year. No Great Dane Award was presented because no informal communication stayed within the 5 minute time limit and to award a prize for a longer one would have encouraged same in the future - clearly an undesirable trend. Second prize for the Best Paper Award went to William Ruddimann for his January 22nd talk entitled "Quaternary Climate Changes: a study of deep-sea cores from the North Atlantic". First prize went to Anita Epstein for her talk "The conodont: A metamorphic index fossil" presented on January 8th, so it was all down hill after the first two meetings. Bill Prinz appeared to be making a late plea for informal communications when actually he was waking up a Sleeping Bear to receive his award. The person so favored turned out to be Tom Dutro in recognition of his 5 simultaneous but different informal communications on October 8th. So close and yet so far... Prinz was in the act of handing the cup to Dutro when a bearded interloper loped up on stage, one Ellis Yochelson who, though he was the legal recipient of the cup last year, had never seen it because he was in Norway. He demanded, at least, the satisfaction of having the cup pass through his hands on its way to Dutro.

There was no new business. Procedures for the election of officers and council were a bit shaky until Wendell Woodring came to President Tracey's rescue with a "repeat after me" sequence that sounded more like a marriage than an election ceremony. Anyway, it worked and the Society's 1976 slate was adopted. There were no written nominations to the Council nor nominations from the floor. In passing the gavel to new President Peck, old President Tracey remarked that '75 was "not a taught ship". Well, maybe not - but I learned a lot.

Respectfully submitted

Penelope M. Hanshaw

Meetings Secretary