GSW: 1989
MEETING MINUTES
MINUTES OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF
1182nd meeting, 11 January 1989--Or the return to the sort of renovated and recently
progressive so to speak Cosmos Club.
President Hanshaw called the meeting to order at 8:05 PM. The minutes of the 1181st meeting were approved
as read. Visitors and guests were Wayne Gambell, Jamie Lisa, Elanor O'Leahy,
Jeremy McFine, J. K. Golpy, Dave Grove, and Judy and Tom Triblehorn. New members elected at the council meeting
were Phillip Molling (USGS), Roberta G. Dillenberg (USGS), Linda J. Winegrad
(AGI), Christopher Newhall (USGS), Virgil Frizzell (AGU Congressional Science
Fellow; USGS), and Marilyn Suiter (AGI).
Bill Leo made two
announcements. Volunteers that can demonstrate how real scientists work and
think are needed for Science Discovery Day for
Pete Stifel announced
that the Department of Geology at
President Hanshaw
mentioned that she had a quick introduction to the tough job ahead as GSW
president when on her first day she received a strongly worded complaint from
Robin Britt objecting to the awarding of the Sleeping Bear to now past
president Doug Rumble. Whether he
deserved the famed award was not questioned, only whether it could be given to
a serving president. After a thorough investigation, Hanshaw dispatched Britt,
and Rumble still has the bear.
So our loyal members
will not have to miss the annual GSA meeting in
President Hanshaw also
made several announcements regarding IGC: members who wish to provide bed and
breakfast to foreign students please see George Helz; members who wish to donate
their warm bodies as volunteers at the convention please see Jack Epstein, and
because GSW will be a sponsor; members who wish to donate anything green,
please see any officer of the society.
Finally, President Hanshaw announced that the council
voted to issue certificates of appreciation to all of our active members who
have been with the society for 50 years or more.
There were no informal
communications.
The first talk was by
Warren Wood of the USGS on Solutes, Lakes, and Groundwater and the origin of
non-marine evaporite deposits in closed-basin lakes in general and the Ogallala
Basin, Texas, specifically. Wood noted
that the compositions of many deposits are commonly not the same as the
composition of solutes that enter the lakes and that only 2 or 3 minerals are
commonly deposited, not 20 or so as would be predicted from equilibrium
geochemical calculations based on the composition. The solution: closed lakes may not really be
closed as imposed density changes drive groundwater flow between basins and
selectively remove Mg, C1, and K, in particular from the upstream lakes. This geological hand me down process is
evident in the chemistry of the Lakes in the Ogallala basin. Questions from E-an Zen, anonymous, George
Helz, Dave Stewart, Gene Robertson, Rob Robertson, Blair Jones, and Dave
Milton, all USGS.
The second talk was by
Nick Oliver of the Geophysical Lab on evidence for focused metamorphic fluid
flow in an amphibolite terrane in northern
The third talk was by
Phil Candella and Steve Bouton, both at
President Hanshaw
adjourned the meeting at 10:01 PM, 88 members and guests in attendance.
[signed R. Brooks
Hanson]
MINUTES OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF
1183rd meeting, 25 January 1989
President Hanshaw tried
to organized the meeting at 7:59:07; the
meeting would have started exactly on time, except that she continued her
policy of confrontation with past presidents of the society, this time raising
the ire of E-an Zen. Last time it was
Robin Britt. E-an, it seems, objected to such an enthusiastic
start, or needed a little extra time to situate himself. In any case, after some muffled discussion
and a quieting glance, the score is now
President Hanshaw 2, past presidents 0, and the word is out: For those who want
to imbibe in the refreshments, come early or bring a large cup.
Once E-an Zen finally
allowed the meeting to proceed, the minutes
were read and approved. Visitors Al
Dougan and Bob Height were introduced; new members Hendrik G. Van Oss and Ellen O'Leary were
elected with a rare continuous vote before during and after the meeting as
council members drifted in.
Jack Epstein again
announced that IGC is coming and volunteers are needed. Duties and Benefits
have finally been decided on until at least next week. Especially needed are
people to work in the workshops, put up posters, drive vans and translate on a
technical/nontechnical basis. Student
benefits for 1-day of work include: a waiving of the registration fee, lunch,
tickets to picnic, and the all important letter of appreciation. Students in particular are encouraged to
apply.
No informal
communications. This must be a slow
year for new short ideas.
The first talk was by
Dave Lambert of DTM on Sr, Nd, Pb--actually pronounced Os--isotopic
investigations of the Stillwater Complex,
The second talk was by
Jack C. Reed, Jr. on the Development of Continental Crust in the
Craig Schiffries next
presented a tour of hydrothermal processes in layered intrusion, specifically the Bushveld. Schiffries presented evidence that high
temperature veins that formed at temperatures up to 900C are much more abundant
in this huge intrusion than previously recognized. The primary layering in many areas is not
the classic banding, but mineralized veins. Toward the veins, igneous Px is altered, and fresh hydrothermal
Px has developed. This intrusion thus
cracked extensively as it cooled. Questions
from Doug Rumble, anonymous, Charles Gilbert, E-an Zen, and Dave Stewart.
President Hanshaw
adjourned the meeting at 9:39 without further complaints. 68 in attendance.
Respectfully submitted,
R. Brooks Hanson
Geological Society of
Minutes of the 1184th Meeting,
8 February 1989
President Hanshaw called
the meeting to order at 8:09 PM, apologizing for the late start. The minutes of the 1183rd meeting were
approved as read. New members Libby
Prueher, Charles Druitt, Roland Pool, Alan Geralniok, and Alan Batcheller were
announced. Guests included John Carter,
Jeff McCannicker, John Brady, Martha Gertes, Cortney Wilkeson, Don Collins, and
Scott Owenger. There were several brief announcements: Bill Leo made a plea for
volunteers to help with Science Fairs.
Judging is on Saturday mornings for approximately 3 hours. There was an additional comment that all
schools are desperate for science fair judges and appointments are extremely
are essentially assured upon application.
That some meeting cards were apparently
distributed late will be looked into by President Hanshaw. Finally,
the IGC is still coming.
Roz Helz presented the
first informal, but thoroughly prepared, communication of the year on data from
an ongoing melt-fishing expedition on Kilauea lava lake,
The first talk was by
Harold Borns on the ages and character of the Gondwana Talchir glaciation,
Penninsula
David Anastasio next
talked on thrusting, halotectonics, and
sedimentation in the Spanish Pyrenees.
Dr. Anastasio suggested that doubly plunging anticlines in the southern
John Filson, one of 18
U.S scientists invited by
In summary, in the 1184th meeting was concerned with things
that are not anymore: lake floors,
tillites, regional anticlines, and, alas, whole cities. The meeting was
adjourned at 10:08; 68 in attendance.
Respectfully submitted
R. Brooks Hanson
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF
Minutes of the 1185th meeting,
22 February 1989
President Hanshaw called
the meeting to order at 8:02 PM and noted that despite ominous rumors of snow,
the audience was large (91 to be exact). The minutes of the 1184th meeting were
read and approved, and guests Tim Johnson and Rich Kyle were introduced.
E-an Zen announced that
several movie/videotape field trips would be shown. If you are interested in seeing Los
Angeles-LA the movie, films of the Voyager Miranda encounter, or Viking Mars encounter,
too bad because the showing was last Wednesday.
Bruce Hanshaw next
brought us up to date on preparations for the IGC. So far there are 2200 registrant from 90
countries, 200 sponsors who have donated
1.5 million dollars, and 900 registrants for field trips. Unfortunately, some field trips had to be cancelled, but
this is really not surprising to anyone who tried to read all of the prospective
field trips in the second circular in one sitting. President Bush may open the Congress.
Ben Burden gave the
second informal communication of the year on a new synthesis of the plagioclase
phase diagram that accounts for all of the immiscibility gaps. The key structures of the diagram are a
doubly protruding immiscibility field.
The minimum between the two immiscibility gaps is created by an almost
stable phase that lowers the free energy of a particular plagioclase composition.
Donald Hoskins from the
Pennsylvania Geological Survey first talked on "A geological map
mystery. Through good luck and diligent
research, Hoskins was able to put together a fascinating geological soap opera
concerned with the publication of the first state geologic map of Pennsylvania
and the personalities, quarrels, loves
and hates, of William Rodgers, J.P.
Leslie and W. Williams. The plot is
simple, but may sound familiar: Rodgers and Leslie originally worked together,
but it seems Rodgers was taking all of the credit for Leslie's hard field
work. The twist is that he was
designated to take the credit by the
Patrick Okita next
talked on the origin of sedimentary manganese carbonate ore deposits. Deposition of these deposits is thought to occur
where a redox boundary intersects a topographic high--his was appropriately
called the bathtub ring model before some other editors had their say. These deposits are typically hosted by
marine rocks, are finely laminated, nonfossiliferous except for radiolarians
and contain trace amounts of pyrite. Deposits
are characterized by negative C and positive S isotopic anomalies and a low
organic content. These and other
geochemical data are consistent with reducing conditions during deposition and
possible interaction with pore waters.
Questions from George Helz, Sorena Sorensen, Greg McKelley, and Jeff
Mackinnon.
Anne Wiley presented the
final talk on Asbestos and the Law.
Wiley demonstrated that asbestos laws extend to much more than what
geologists would call asbestos, and this situation is causing all sorts of
legal, political, and social headaches.
In response to fears that asbestos causes cancer, OSHA, on little
scientific evidence, originally defined asbestos primarily on the basis of
particle size in minerals that potentially could have asbestiform habits. In the black and white OSHA world, all particles
with an aspect ratio of 3:1 are asbestos:
this is the law. The problem is
that as a result of this law many more particles are classified as asbestos
than actually should be, and since the law was passed in 1971, the definition has actually been expanded
even as evidence of which asbestos minerals cause cancer and what actually
characterizes true asbestos has been obtained.
This black and white situation leads to a lot of gray--that is waste--in
public policy, which may makes lawyers happier, but is a special problem for
the mining industry, which is now always producing legal asbestos, schools, and
so forth. An even stickier problem is
that most of the techniques used to detect legal asbestos do not collect true
asbestos. Questions from Charles
Druitt, Pat Ross, Pat Shoneys, Doug Kinney, E-an Zen, Jim McNeil, Anonymous,
and Tim Johnson.
Before President could
adjourn the meeting, Bill Leo, who was ignored earlier, jumped up to give a
belated announcement that judges are still needed for Science fairs
particularly on March 18. President
Hanshaw finally did adjourn the meeting at 10:05 PM.
Respectfully submitted
R. Brooks Hanson
THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
Minutes of the 1186th meeting,
8 March 1989.
President Hanshaw called
the meeting to order at 8:05 PM; this
time E-an Zen complained that the meeting was five minutes too late. At an earlier meeting he had strongly objected
to an overly prompt call to order.
Lacking an appropriate excuse, President Hanshaw simply ignored the
complaint and continued with the meeting.
The Minutes of the 1185th meeting were read and approved. New members that were supposedly elected
some time during the meeting as council members drifted in were Charles Druitt,
James Trefil, Sue Cox, Jerome Machamer, and Thomas Jones. Lee Silver, Lasa Shuta, Jeff Ryan, Jeff
Lann, Gerry Tango, Jim Emery, and Debbie Powell were introduced as guests.
George Helz mentioned
that a dozen geohosts that can house foreign visitors during the IGC are still
needed. If you did not receive a letter
describing the program and might have room for a visitor during the hectic days
of July 9 to 19 see George Helz as soon as possible because volunteers were
needed by last week.
John Slack presented an informal communication describing unusual
mineral compositions from a granulite terrane at Broken Hill Australia. This granulite terrane contains abundant
strata-bound tourmaline; On the basis of microprobe analyses and textural
relations, boron-bearing biotite seems to have formed during the retrograde
breakdown of tourmaline. Questions
from Dan Milton and Doug Rumble.
Jonathan Patchett
presented the first talk on New light on the origin of Precambrian rocks in the
midcontinent. Patchett described
isotopic data from Grenville-like rocks in Mexico and Texas, primarily, and
related the formation of these rocks to a suite of supposedly anorogenic
granites in the continental interior.
Most Grenville rocks are enriched in radiogenic Nd compared to older
Proterozoic and Archaean crust, which suggests that the Grenville crust was
derived at least in part form the mantle;
it thus represents new crust that formed about 1.1 to 1.5 billion years
ago. The age of the anorogenic granites
is similar, about 1.5 to 1.3 billion years ago, and the distribution of these
granites in approximately parallel to the Grenville belt. These relations suggest that the anorogenic
granites may actually be orogenic granites if they were related to arc-type
orogenesis forming the Grenville province along the continental margin. Questions from Dave Stewart and anonymous.
Jan Tullis next talked
on her experimental studies of the dynamic recrystallization of quartz and
feldspar in the development of ductile shear zones in granitic rocks. The experimental results show that when it
comes to deformation arena, quartz is a
wimp and feldspar is an inflexible bully.
In quartz, dislocations can easily climb whereas in feldspar, they become tangled and lock. As a result feldspar cannot decide what to
do and it rigidly holds its ground, only to get slowly pulverized from the
margin in. Because glide planes easily
form in quartz, it goes with the flow,
easily changing from one position to another.
In the end, faults are preserved in feldspar samples, but quartz is
adept at hiding them by recrystallization.
One study with two compositions
of plagioclase also demonstrated that deformation can induce
recrystallization, apparently by facilitating diffusion. Questions from Gene
Robertson, Ben Burden, E-an Zen, and Gene Robertson again.
The final talk was by
Ted Bence on the genesis of carbonate hosted Zn Pb deposits of the Reocin ore
body in northern Spain. The ore body
is stratabound and occurs only in association with dolomite reefs; it is characterized by abundant sector-zoned
sphalerite and skeletal galena; these textures suggest that the mineral grew
rapidly from solution. Bence also
presented Pb and S isotopic data. The
data suggested that ore formation was both syngenetic and epigenetic, and that
some of the fluids may be related to older Triassic evaporite deposits. Questions from Dan Milton, E-an Zen, Jerome
Machamer, and Bill Leeman.
The meeting was
adjourned at 9:40 PM. 82 members in
attendance.
Respectfully submitted
R. Brooks Hanson
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
Minutes of the 1187th Meeting,
22 March 1989
President Hanshaw called
the meeting to order at 8:07 PM. The
Minutes of the 1186th meeting were read and approved. Guests Robert Fraser, Mashashi Swui, Boris
Benke, Mike Lias, Will White, and Greg Boyce were introduced, as were new
members James Gleason, Julia Triplehorn, and David J. Harding.
There will be a spring
GSW field trip to the Triassic Culpepper Basin led by Joe Smoot on May 6. Because of less than enthusiastic turnouts
on field trips in the past, the trip
will be not run unless at least 10 people sign up. Also GSW contributions to
the IGC are now greater than $600.
Dave Spidel presented an
informal communication on geodemographics based on the North American Survey of
Geoscientists. There were several
interesting statistics: There are 17000
geofaculty at 4 year colleges, mostly in the 40 to 49 year old age group. There are more women, although still not many, in the younger age groups, hydrology,
atmospheric sciences, and oceanography. The number of undergraduate geoscience
majors declined sharply in 1983, but graduate enrollment has suffered less,
especially in geophysics. Recruitment
of minorities is pitiful: there were 2
Hispanic female Ph.D.s in the study period.
Comments from Bruce Hanshaw.
The first talk was by
Jane Hammarstrom on the origin of Emeralds of Pakistan. Pakistan emeralds occur in several mining
districts, most of which are in melange units along the main mantle thrust of
the Indo suture zone. Most emeralds have been found in quartz veinlets in
talc. Hammarstrom presented geochemical
evidence that showed that the Pakistan emeralds are low in Cr and that many are
zoned, typically with a dark Cr-rich
rim. In general, because Be and Cr do
not behave similarly geochemically, a
unique geologic setting is required for formation of emeralds. Most emeralds are associated with suture
zones, as in Pakistan, or with granitic intrusions in greenstone belts. Questions from Downing, Pete Toulmin, and
E-an Zen.
The second talk was by
Hans Seuss on Vertebrate fossils from Nova Scotia and Late Triassic mass
extinctions. Nearly as interesting as
their sudden extinction, is the sudden
dominance of dinosaurs in the geologic record.
There were 1, possibly 2 periods of late Triassic extinctions. Lizards with "cute little
overbites"--saber-toothed Crocodiles, and other mammal like reptiles are
preserved in Triassic "heavenly hash" facies in the Bay of Fundy,
where most fossils have been found.
Footprints are also preserved in these playa lake deposits. There was a very sudden transition at the
Triassic-Jurassic boundary, which led to the ascension of the dinosaurs, and a
large, but poorly dated impact site is nearby in Quebec. A search for diagnostic impact material at
the boundary has not produced positive evidence for such a holy hand grenade,
however. Question from Bill Leeman.
Bill Leeman presented
the final talk on the implications of basalt-rhyolite volcanism on the Snake
River Plain for crust-mantle evolution or how much melt can a mafic magma
make. Rhyolitic volcanism on the SRP
can be subdivided into about 8 eruptive centers that young to the NE toward
Yellowstone. Each center was active for about 2 to 4 million years. The characteristic pattern of activity at
each center is rhyolitic volcanism followed by basaltic volcanism. The felsic magmatism is characterized by
huge rhyodacite flows, and relatively small amounts of ash flow tuffs. These magmas had unusually high temperatures,
near 1000ēC, and were relatively dry, thus one possibility is that they could
have been produced by fractional crystallization of basalt. However, the composition of the rhyolites
indicates that 96% fractional crystallization from a basaltic source would be
required, and thus the required volume of basalt would be excessive. Therefore, partial melting of water-poor
lower crust may be more likely; if so
mafic magmas can make much melt. Questions
from Paul Lowman, Brooks Hanson, and E-an Zen.
President Hanshaw
adjourned the meeting at 9:57 PM. 85 members
in attendance.
Respectfully submitted
R. Brooks Hanson
MINUTES OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
1188th Meeting, 12 April 1989
President Hanshaw called
the meeting to order at 8:05 PM. Guests
included Kyler Nearshaw, Doug Neabert, and Betsy Peebles. There were no announcements.
Paul Lowman presented
the first of two informal communications on Radar imaging of the Sudbury Basin
in Canada. This oblate basin in an
impact crater found by Bob Dietz in 1964.
The question is why does it have an oblate shape? Is it a glancing
impact, or is it an enormous strain ellipse recording the Precambrian deformation
events that clearly affected nearby rocks?
The radar images reveal numerous lineaments that are not deformed, a
conclusion that provoked an audible groan of disappointment from a few
structural geologists; therefore the crater area appears to have been
unaffected by the deformation events.
Comparison with impacts on the moon and mars indicate that oblate
craters can form, albeit rarely.
Questions from Tom Wright
Paul Krantz next
presented a premature informal communication on Maryland Dinosaur fossil
localities. The communication will
mature into a talk on the 17th of May at the meeting of the Paleonotological
Society of Washington held at the Smithsonian.
It appears that Maryland dinosaurs,
including Lower Cretaceous astrodons and Psaurapods, are again nearing extinction. The fossil sites are scheduled to be
reclaimed and there are only 5 to 6 months left to excavate; therefore volunteers wanting an action packed
day on a dinosaur dig are needed to help save Maryland Dinosaurs from the
impending impact of development.
Ray Price, visiting from
Canada, presented the first talk on Metamorphic Core Complexes of the first and
second kinds in the Cordillera, with specific reference to the Canadian
Cordillera. Geophysical data indicated
an anomalous region in the vicinity of numerous core complexes in the southern
Canadian Cordillera. This region
experienced Mesozoic crustal shortening and terrane accretion followed more
recently by large scale strike slip faulting. Price suggested that given this
two-fold tectonic history, there might
be two different types of core complexes.
The first is associated with the crustal thickening and represents cores
of North American basement exposed beneath the allochthonous terranes. The
second type of complex is exposed to the west of the main overthrust belt and reflects
uplift and extension associated with two continental scale transform
fault--that is, an enormous pull apart structure. Questions from E-an Zen,
Robin Brett, and Tom Wright.
Janet Herman next
described geochemical process in groundwater mixing zones in coastal carbonate
aquifers. Herman has developed a
computer model of the various factors controlling the direction of the various
reactions and applied it to ground water mixing zones in such dreadful places
as the Yukutan and Mallorca, Spain. In these environments, mixing of marine and
groundwater can lead to complex solution/precipitation fronts and the
development of swiss cheese rocks and complex coastlines, dolomitization, and
calcite or aragonite precipitation.
One interesting result is that uniformitarianism is not applicable in
Mallorca: pumping of fresh water has resulted
in a landward dipping aquifer and thus the current mixing environment is significantly
modified from that of the past. Questions from George Helz and one other.
The final talk was by
Peter Zeitler who was supposed to talk on the thermal history of an unusual
intracratonic thrust fault in central Australia, but mostly discussed exciting
new work on possibilities of Ar/Ar dating of K feldspars. Structural and geophysical data from
central Australia indicate the presence of a crustal scale thrust faults of
Late Proterozoic age; one suggestion for the origin of such features is runaway
uplift and whole crustal failure, real "down under" tectonics. This problem provided a springboard for
investigating K feldspar dating systematics.
At first glance the Ar dates on feldspars appeared to provide little
information on dates of cooling events. However, an Arhennius plot and TEM data
suggested that the K feldspars may provide multiple cooling dates because
perthitic exsolution has resulted in a variety of effective grain sizes--and
thus closure temperatures--in single feldspar grains. Questions from George Helz, Gordon Nord,
and anonymous.
President Hanshaw
adjourned the meeting at 9:59 PM after a late introduction of new members
Marshall Reed, Don Triplehorn, Abigail Brett, and Martha Gerdes, who were
elected during the meeting; 69 members and guests in attendance.
Respectfully submitted,
R. Brooks Hanson
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON,
Minutes of the 1189th meeting,
26 April 1989
President Hanshaw called
the meeting to order at 8:10 PM; the
minutes were approved as read. New members Mark McBride and Elizabeth Peebles
were introduced as were guests Murray Gregory and Norman Churches.
Liz Cron distributed
application forms and information on GSW dues in the hopes that the subject of
the all of the talks of this meeting-~RADON--might attract potential new GSW
members. She also encouraged the 68 members
present to distribute these sheets after the meeting to unfortunate colleagues
who are not yet members. Despite the
apparent formality of the official applications, she promised to still accept
applications written on brown paper towels from the third floor mens room. This of course raises the question of why
such towels are distinctive to Liz, or for that matter, whether the USGS keeps
track of such things.
Joe Smoot next stated
that 5 more participants were needed for the field trip to the Triassic
Culpepper Basin. President Hanshaw
tried desperately to sabotage this plea by first saying that the May 6 field
trip would be on May 5, and then later changing the date to May 7. I presume Penny apologizes if anyone spent a
Friday or Sunday loitering around the USGS parking lot.
President Hanshaw
mentioned that 3000 people were registered for IGC at the time, rumors that the Washington weather would be
relatively cool for the meeting. This
can explain the subsequent surge in registrations.
There were no informal
communications. All three talks, as mentioned earlier, were centered around
the subject of RADON.
Michael Boyd presented
the first talk, entitled Radon: measurement,
risk, and national policy. Boyd
presented an overview of the Radon problem,
its historical recognition, and studies that have been done to assess
relative risk. Early recognition that
there may be a significant radon risk occurred when a worker living in the
Redding Prong set off detectors when he showed up to work at a
not-yet-operative power plant. Boyd
explained that as a result of the new indoor radon abatement act, our national
goal is to have air as clean inside buildings as outside, that is,
at least with respect to RADON.
One difficulty in assessing and mitigating the effects of radon, however, is smoking, which is a particular confounding
problem and raises the radon risk significantly. Questions form Frank Ross twice, E-an Zen,
Liz Cron, Ray Rye, and Roz Helz.
Jim Otten next talked on
Mapping radon potential in rocks and soils and presented specific examples of
the potential in Montgomery and Fairfax Counties. The latest estimate is that 8 to 12% of U.S.
homes have radon concentrations greater than 4 picocuries per liter; homes in
northern states are generally more susceptible because they tend to be built
with basements. Important aspects
controlling soil potential are soil moisture and permeability and bedrock geology. During the presentation of the county
maps, the audience became particularly
restless, perhaps because several members live in the western parts of the counties,
where the radon potential is highest.
Questions from George Helz, anonymous, Frank Ross, Tom Simkin, E-an Zen,
Gene Robertson, John Keith.
Linda Gunderson rounded
out the radiogenic evening with a talk on Radon in shear zones. Her studies showed that deformation has a
strong effect on Radon distribution, perhaps because U has been deposited in
the shear zones during or after deformation; Furthermore, deformation
facilitates emanation of radon. Shear zones in the Appalachians typically have
high Radon concentrations. Questions from Bill Bentson, Gene Robertson, Charles
Druitt, and three questions from George Helz.
President Hanshaw
adjourned the meeting at 9:40 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
R. Brooks Hanson
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1190th meeting,
October 11, 1989
President Hanshaw called
the meeting to order at 8:08 PM. Perhaps because few attendees of the 1190th
meeting remembered details of the 1189th meeting, the Minutes of the 1189th meeting
were approved as read. New members Michalann
Harthill, Jeffrey G. Ryan, Whitman Cross II, Daniel Sullivan, Andrew H.
MacDonald, and John Lennon and guests Bob Seal, Peter Hane, Gray Bebout, Candy
Balachanan, John Rawly, Gerald Martin, Henry Brunz, Margaret Chancy, Phil
Chaney, Cheryl Pattins, Mark Everett plus 2 others were introduced. Mark McBride, who was introduced as a new
member in absentia in the 1189th meeting,
introduced himself in person and was welcomed, and President Hanshaw, in response to the openness of the many
guests, asked if there were any members in attendance who had not come in
awhile and dared to admit it. None did.
President Hanshaw announced the deaths of 5 members: K. Y. Lee, Edmond B. Eckle, Henry Bell, Ted Flinn, and King Hubbert,
and a moment of silence was observed.
Bill Leo announced that
the Fall field trip would be to Rock Creek Park and was limited to about 20
people because of narrow paths and other unidentified hazards. Jim O'Conner will be leading the trip and
should be contacted for information.
Gerry Barton from the
Potomac Geophysical Society next announced that their meetings are on the third
Thursday of each month at the Ft. Myer Officer Club and that GSW members are
welcome. Unlike the strict format of the GSW meetings, people can really relax
at the Potomac Geophysical Society. As a further incentive for coming, Gerry
mentioned that their last talk was on Hurricane Surge Modeling, with an example
for Charleston, S.C.; this talk was presented
the night before Hugo hit; their next
talk was on Seismic Wave attenuation in New Madrid and Gerry hinted that the
society might be becoming a disaster predictor. Well Loma Prieta is not too
close to New Madrid, but perhaps its good enough for the Potomac Geophysical
Society. Since it now looks like they
are sort of 2 for 2, we should find out if the November talk is on asteroid
impacts and perhaps plan to attend.
Michael Harthill
announced that the Society of Women Geochemists is looking for speakers and
encouraged applications.
Penny Hanshaw finally got to say a few words about her favorite
topic this year, the IGC. The Congress
was attended by 6000 attendees from 103 Countries and finished in the
Black. She also mentioned that GSW dues
time is approaching, perhaps in the hope that if all of the guests at tonights
meeting would join, GSW might also finish in the black. She also mentioned that most of her fan mail
is from AAPG, of which GSW is an affiliate, and as a result, members can obtain
insurance through AAPG, which sounds safer than through the Potomac Geophysical
Society. Finally she announced that Liz
Cron has nothing to say.
President Hanshaw
summarized the discussion of the council meeting as basically "expenses
are rising and revenues are not," and we now have a new slate of officers.
Bob Luce presented an
informal communication on New ideas on the Murphy Syncline, North
Carolina. The rocks in the syncline
have been mapped as non-volcanic sedimentary rocks, but on closer glance appear
to be mafic tuffs associated with sulfide deposits. The association of tuffs with chert, and
carbonate units may imply that deposition occurred near a deep marine volcanic
center. A belated question from Doug
Rankin, and Liz Cron still had nothing to say.
Bilal Haq presented a
condensed version of his talk on Sequence stratigraphy and sea level
change. Haq showed how depositional patterns
in seismic sections on passive continental margins can be correlated to
identify global eustatic sea level changes.
The development of seismic stratigraphy has allowed resolution of various
stratigraphic problems and has helped in the identification of packages of
rocks likely to be enriched in petroleum.
Questions from Penny Hanshaw, Bill Howser, and Tom Wright.
Nell Irvine next talked
on A Global Framework for mantle convection.
He proposed that the distribution of major hotspots, which are oriented
90 degrees apart, and corresponding opposite poles reflect the fundamental
pattern of mantle convection. The key upwelling centers are beneath Hawaii and
Iceland, and the Belamy islands in Antarctica and the Okavango Volcanic Fields
in Africa whereas the downwelling centers are near Peru and Vietnam. A variety of geophysical patterns including
geomagnetic anomalies, apparent topography on the core mantle boundary, seismic travel times in the mantle, and
crustal tectonic patterns appear to fit this orthogonal pattern. Questions from Bill Hallager, Gene
Robertson, Dan Milton, Bruce Anjey, E-an Zen, Sorena Sorensen, and Brooks
Hanson.
The final presentation
was a movie entitled The Earth has a History; and E-an Zen first explained the
history of this movie. It started when
Pete Palmer had a debate with Creationists in Boulder Colorado and challenged
them to a field trip to the surrounding area.
The focus of the movie is on demonstrating from field evidence only that
deposition and tilting of the sedimentary rocks in the Boulder Colorado area
required many millions of years not the mere few thousand years required by
Creation Science. No questions were
asked. President Hanshaw adjourned the
meeting at 10:10 PM. 84 members in attendance.
Respectfully submitted,
R. Brooks Hanson
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
Minutes of the 1191st Meeting, 25 October 1989
President Hanshaw called
the meeting to order at 8:08 PM; The minutes of the 1190th meeting were read
and approved without revision.
New members Kevin Burke,
William F. Sledjeski, Henry Burns, K. Balachanran, Gerald Barton, Chery
Petrina, and Anne Marie Reidy were introduced as were guests Chuck McMorrow,
Barbara Frank, Catherin Geoberneck, Keith McGlouflin, who announced that he
liked to show up for at least 1 meeting in 2 years, Mark Regan, D. T. O'cuie,
and Brian Rosin.
President Hanshaw
announced that Gene Tolbert had passed away and a moment of silence was
observed. President Hanshaw also announced that the nominating committee had,
with minimal arm-twisting, nominated a slate of officers for the new GSW year;
this list was distributed at the meeting. There was also a second notice of the
fall field trip to nearby Rock Creek Park.
Randy Opdyke of the USGS
presented an informal communication updating the Loma Prieta, or informally
world series, Earthquake. Randy was "invited" (i.e., coerced) into
this presentation only a few hours before the meeting, apparently because AI
Michaels, who had provided expert commentary during the earthquake, was not
available. This worked out for the best anyway because Randy was able to incorporate
data received by FAX that day. The earthquake struck at 5:00 PM on the 17th of
October. It was upgraded the day of the meeting to M 7.1 on the basis of new
data from 18 international stations. The
initial rupture was at 18 km, an exceptionally deep event for the San Andreas.
Three teams of red-faced geologists were sent on the geologic equivalent of a
snipe hunt to find a surface break that corresponded to the fault motion; when
they could not find any such break, the seismologists brilliantly concluded
that slip did not extend to the surface. Much of the damage occurred in areas
with extensive liquefaction, as in the Marina district. Questions from Dan Milton, Sorena Sorensen,
E-an Zen and two others.
The first talk was by
Tony Coates on patterns of evolution and ecology off Panama Despite heckling
and kibitzing by brand new member Kevin Burke, Tony managed to update us on the
progress he an several colleagues are making on measuring evolutionary processes
in Panama. Species on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Panama became isolated
only about three million years ago, when the isthmus formed. Thus the sections
on the opposing coasts can be used to study the evolutionary response of
populations to geographic isolation. However, this requires careful stratigraphic
and paleontologic correlations in rocks deposited in different tectonic
environments. The Caribbean section is evidently much thinner than that on the
Pacific coast. Initial data suggest that corals are now very different on the
two coasts whereas bryozoans are rather similar. Other data suggest that the
molecular clock may be ticking at different rates in 2 slightly different snail
species. Questions from Rob Ross, E-an Zen and Kevin Burke, who wanted to know
the relation between plate tectonics and opossum wandering habits.
Claire Parkinson next
talked on measuring changes in global sea ice; such measurements may provide a
first indication of the effects of global greenhouse-related warming in that
modeling studies suggest that polar regions may be most affected. Sea ice
covers approximately 24 million square kilometers of the Northern Hemisphere,
and is important for global albedo, oceanic heat flow, and the formation of
cold bottom waters, so its responsible for important climatic processes. Sea
ice emits microwave radiation more so than open, ice-free water, and thus
satellite measurements can provide an estimate of the extent of ice cover. Although
southern ice cover decreased in the mid to late 1970s, prompting initial
warnings of impending doom to penguins and other coastal inhabitants, no effect
was seen for the northern hemisphere. Furthermore, ice cover has expanded in
the1980s. Questions from Hendrick Van Oss, Fred Simon, Geramy Barton, Rob Ross,
and E-an Zen.
The final talk was by
Nicholas Woodward on non-eularian deformation with examples from the
Appalachians. Woodward described several field studies to address the origin
and evolution of thrust faults, with specific reference to the fault tip hypothesis,
which is a eularian description of how chevron folds evolve systematically into
thrust faults. Woodward showed that the fault tip hypothesis will not work for
thrust faults in the Pine Mountain fault system of Tennessee. Instead these
thrust faults are not what they appear to be, that is their development is
shall we say Woodwardian, not eularian. The development of the faults appear to
have involved cycles of thickening and thinning, that is extension, of the
fault zone. This woodwardian concept of misperception provides a nice theory
linking key aspects of this evenings talks--earthquake ruptures that turned
geologists into snipe hunters by not reaching the surface, snails with
everready versus ran-down Ray-O-Vac batteries charging their DNA clocks, and
sea ice that was only disappearing for awhile.
Questions from Gene Robertson and anonymous.
President Hanshaw
adjourned the meeting with its 68 attendees at 10:15 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
R. Brooks Hanson
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1192 meeting, 15 November 1989
President Hanshaw called
the meeting to order at 8:03 PM The minutes were approved as read yet again.
President Hanshaw
announced that Ellis Yochelson wanted to announce that there is a Geologic
Mapping exhibit at the Library of Congress until January 7, 1990. The recent
GSW field trip to rock Creek Park led by Jim O'Conner was a glorious success;
Jim managed not to lose 20 geologists in the wilds of Rock Creek.
E-an Zen next announced
that the National Academy of Sciences has issued a report entitled "Being
a Scientist," which includes comments on plagiarism, fraud, and general
unethical behavior, that is, ways not to be a scientist.
Sparked by E-an's
announcement Penny Hanshaw mentioned that it is possible to turn even inner
city kids to geology. This conclusion was reached after enlightening young
inner-city St Louis youths to the excitement of geology during a GSA sponsored
field trip. Despite preconceived
impressions, for example one youth had proclaimed that "Field Geology is
nothing a lady should be doing," the trip was a smashing success.
President Hanshaw
summarized the report of the financial committee as "You too can fight a
dues increase," although hints on how you might fight it were put off to
later meetings. If the spirit is there substance will follow.
Dennis Krohn presented an informal communication entitled New
Ammonia Occurrences and Army Tanks.
Krohn has been mapping ammonium feldspars by satellite. The petrologists
in the audience were somewhat disappointed to learn that this is not a new
rapid point counting method, but a way to detect large ammonium deposits associated
with felsic tuffs by remote sensing. Krohn was able to find a huge ammonium
deposit 20 miles North of Tonapah in a 29-million-year-old tuff only to have
the access closed off by the U.S Army. The unanswered question is why is the
Army so interested in ammonium?
Questions were answered from Hendrick Van Oss twice, Bevin French, Dan
Milton, Pete Toulmin, and Fred Simon.
Mike Ryan presented the
first talk on the physics of the Icelandic magma system and spreading process.
Ryan described how magma wends its way from the mantle to the surface in Iceland
on the basis of geophysical data, finite-element modeling and studies of
rift-zone volcanoes. Magma is apparently stored in magma chambers at 2 to 4 km
depth, and several chambers are oriented in a left stepping en echelon pattern.
The modeling suggests that there is a nearest neighbor effect in that activity
at one center can influence stresses and activity at neighboring centers.
Beneath Iceland, a signature of the mid-ocean ridge spreading system is not
evident in the 3D structure in the mantle below about 175 km. Questions form
Gene Robertson, Brooks Hanson, Sorena Sorensen, Kevin Burke, and E-an Zen.
James Galvin next talked
on wind skimming as a mechanism of Ir enrichment. Galvin presented a hypothesis
to account for enrichment of Ir observed in certain layers, most notably, at
the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. His argument can be illustrated by the common
example of a group of people wind surfing for the very first time; think of the
surfers as little particles of extraterrestrial dust containing Ir supported by
the sail boards representing the surface scum. A basic principal of wind
surfing is that its impossible to sail upwind the first time out, or sometimes
even after that. With even a gentle wind, therefore, all of the It-rich surfers
will soon be jammed up and grounded, with the scummy boards, along a windward
shore. If deposition occurs, the near-shore deposit should thus contain more
than the average number of surfers and thus an Ir spike. Galvin showed in a
more simple experiment that small particles can be supported on surface films
and suggested that if this occurs for a reasonable length of time, some
concentration is possible. Selective
preservation associated with the continual process, might account for apparent enrichments.
Questions from Mary Hill French, Hendrick Van Oss, Leslie Rucker, Jeff
Grossman, Dan Milton, Bevin French, and Charles Basaro.
The final talk was by
Jim Beard on experimental evidence for the generation of tonalitic melts in
island arcs. Jim showed that amphibolites should not drink excessively before
driving up the path of arc magmatism. Sloshed amphibolites replete and saturated
with fluids at the lower crustal bar produce peraluminous melts unlike most arc
tonalites. Their erratic and atypical behavior includes retention of amphibole
and loss of plagioclase upon heating. In contrast, amphibolites that have
imbibed only small amounts of water-rich fluids, can easily continue to evolve
to arc tonalites while leaving a characteristic granulitic residuum. Questions
from Dan Milton, Kevin Burke, and E-an Zen.
The meeting was
adjourned at 10:05 PM. 65 members and quests in attendance.
Respectfully submitted,
R. Brooks Hanson
Geological Society of Washington
1193rd Meeting, 13 December 1989
President Hanshaw called
the meeting to order at 8:06 and, no doubt because of excessive enthusiasm and
impatience, flagrantly violated Society protocol by immediately beginning her
Presidential talk on Changing America and who will do Science. She preempted
any introduction, reading of the meetings, announcements, informal communications,
or introductions of guests and new members. She introduced herself by saying
merely that if anyone had not been to a meeting and did not recognize her (or
realize that this was the annual meeting) then tough! Despite objections all
year from past Presidents on improper procedures, the audience, which was
stacked with GSW all-time all-timers, was caught off guard this time, and not a
single voice was raised in protest, so President Hanshaw continued without
breaking stride.
In her address,
President Hanshaw's summarized the findings and recommendations of a
Congressional-delegated task force on women, minorities, and handicapped in science
and technology. Formation of this study group was prompted by concern for the
future scientific vitality of the country--a shortfall of 765,000 scientists
and engineers is predicted by the next century--and a recognition that we will
have to look to minorities and women to carry this load. Members of the task
force were largely women and minorities from 15 federal agencies and several
universities, corporations, and nonprofit organizations. The task is immediate
because changes in precollege education today, where we rank a disappointing
9th in the work in physics and 11th in chemistry may not have an impact in the
job market until some 20 years down the road.
Sparing the audience the
customary field shots of public hearings in exotic places like downtown
Washington, DC, President Hanshaw instead left some other depressing images of
the scale of the problem: Colleges are now becoming more and more dependent on
foreign graduate students, who make up nearly 40% of the science graduate
students in some universities. U.S students show a disproportionate decline in
scientific interest. In 1988 only 48 Ph.D's in science were awarded to Blacks,
even though the 25 largest school districts in the United States are 45% Black.
Needed in many communities are positive role models from these communities; one
way to help may be to involve the entertainment industry, which could promote
scientists by such shows as "LA Engineers:" an exciting look at the
tumultuous lives of scientists and engineers, when they have time between NSF
proposals. After all, look what LA Law
has done for lawyers, which we most certainly don't need more of. Other recommendations
were focused on both short and long term improvements in precollege education,
particularly in math, of particularly Blacks, American Indians, and Hispanic
students.
President Hanshaw closed
with a final uplifting demographic observation, namely that because of the aging
of the population, by 2050 there will be one person on social security for
every one person working. This sparked groans from particularly the younger
members of the audience, and when President Hanshaw prematurely adjourned the
meeting at 9:05, a rush for beer. It was a premature adjournment because Sorena
Sorensen gently but firmly reminded President Hanshaw that other meeting activities
needed to be taken care of. The minutes
of the 1192nd meeting were finally read after a 15 minute break and approved.
60 members and unidentified quests in attendance.
Respectfully submitted,
R. Brooks Hanson
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 97th Annual Meeting
13 December, 1989
President Hanshaw called
the meeting to order at 9:15 PM. The minutes of the 96th annual meeting were
read and approved by Bruce Wardlaw first and then the rest of the society. The
series of reports by officers of the council followed. Highlights included the
meeting's secretary, that's me, insertion his foot into his mouth after boasting
that there were no corrections to his minutes all year but then proceeded to
miss one death in the society in his final report. The obvious conclusion is
that no one listens to the minutes aside from Bruce Wardlaw, who tried to
approve the minutes, and Liz Cron, who interrupted Bruce to offer the correction.
Treasurer, Dick Tollo
noted that the society survived barely in 1989, but that 1990 foreshadowed a
possible dangerous situation because projected income lagged behind expenses by
about $600. Bruce Wardlaw again over-eagerly moved to accept the report; this
time he was rudely cut off by President Hanshaw because approval of the
Treasurer's report must follow the report of the Auditing committee. Bruce
Lipin then reported that aside from a missing 40 cents, Dick Tollo's mac
managed to balance the books, and Bruce was finally satiated. Liz Cron noted
that the society welcomed 48 new members for a grand total of 861. Bruce moved
to approve. Three Science fairs were judged. Bruce approved. Roz Helz won the
Great Dane award for her informal communication on the Kilauea Lava lake; and
Anne Wiley received the Bradley Award for her report on Asbestos and the Law.
Penny did not ask for approval.
All of this was, of
course, build-up for the highlight of the annual meeting-- presentation of the
coveted Sleeping Bear award! But wait! The Sleeping Bear committee was absent
from the meeting, so there was no presentation. To save face President Hanshaw
suggested that Doug Rumble certainly deserved to hold onto it for another year,
but might we guess who will get the appropriately named Sleeping Bear award
this year?
Fred Simon presented the
report of the Financial Planning Committee, who's main achievement was creation
of the Endowment Fund, which was replete with $9400 in donations and pledges at
the time of the meeting. Finally, the officers for the 98th year of the society
were approved, first by Sorena Sorensen, as Bruce had apparently dozed off by
this point. As a final thought, I have to wonder how we will make it through
this meeting now that Bruce is busily taking notes and must really pay attention
to the council reports.