Geological Society of Washington

Minutes from the 1468th Meeting

Wednesday, January 9th, 2013

John Wesley Powell Auditorium

Cosmos Club, Washington, DC

 

Speakers

 

The U.S. NRC's actions following the M5.8 Virginia Earthquake on August 23, 2011 and analysis of strong motion recordings from the North Anna Nuclear Power Plant.

Stephanie Devlin, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

 

Rediscovering our roots: Undergraduate field education in Scotland

Wendy J. Harrison, Colorado School of Mines and National Science Foundation

 

Coastal Hazards: How can science help

Marcia McNutt, Director of the U.S. Geological Survey

 

President Burruss called the 105 attendees of the 1468th meeting of the Geological Society to order at 20:03. The minutes from the 1467th meeting were read and approved without corrections. Although there were  no explicit corrections, in regards to the reminder in the minutes about members not using the valet parking, Dr. Toulman did point out that there are many Cosmo Clubs all over the world with free parking, but that most of the Cosmos Club members cannot use them anymore.

 

There were seventeen guests introduced: 

                Zac Reeves (University of Maryland)

                Jesse Kolb (University of Maryland)

Glen Maitiou (UNAVCO)

Charles Meertens (UNAVCO)

Meghan Miller (UNAVCO)

Brian Teoneboehn (JHU/APL)

Kevin Teoneboehn

Erik Hankin (AGU)

Rachel McLaughlin (AGU)

Myrna Justus

Tom Dagenhart (N. VA Community College)

Carol Raymond (JPL/Caltech)

Ben Philips (DOE)

Gabrielle Dreyfus (DOE)

Charles Esterbrook (NSF)

Terry Davies (NSF)

Sunny Gill (Stephanie Devlin’s fiance)

 

No new members were announced.

                 

President Burruss read the obituary for GSW member Mel Podwysocki who worked for the USGS for over 25 years. 

 

The first speaker of the evening was, Stephanie Devlin, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission – The U.S. NRC's actions following the M5.8 Virginia Earthquake on August 23, 2011 and analysis of strong motion recordings from the North Anna Nuclear Power Plant.

Stephanie explained that the earthquake was recorded at an epicentral distance of ~18 km at the power plant by accelographs inside the plant’s containment. Response spectra recorded at the basemat levels exceed the SSE for the Units 1 and 2 of the nuclear power plant. Post-earthquake investigations indicated no significant damages to safety related structures and the plant’s functionality and operability were maintained. This fortunate result can be explained by the short duration of strong shaking and significant safety margin in original seismic design. Long term actions include permanent seismic monitoring installed by Dominion, and updating and revising the seismic hazard analysis by the NRC.

 

Questions: Craig Jeffries, Bill Leese, and Karl Helz, and a question about free spectra in regards to rock spectra base spectra etc. – didn’t get the name.

 

The second talk of the evening was given by Wendy J. Harrison, Colorado School of Mines and National Science Foundation – Rediscovering our roots: Undergraduate field education in Scotland. Wendy described the field school she and her husband teach in Scotland that combines a curriculum of geologic mapping and field identification in classic field locations and a rich international cultural experience. Wendy’s spectacular slides from all over Scotland illustrated student field projects at sites spanning Archean to Tertiary geology, and including famous type localities of the Barrovian and Buchan metamorphic zones, the Scourie dykes, and the Moine thrust just to name a few. Student self assessments revealed that the students not only learned a great deal of geology and mapping skills but also developed a much greater respect for the history of geology and felt lucky to have tread on such hollowed geologic ground.

Questions: Dr. Toulmon, Dick Fisk, Sandy Neuzil, and a question from someone from the USGS about carbonate beaches.

 

The last speaker of the evening was Marcia McNutt, Director of the U.S. Geological Survey – Coastal Hazards: How can science help. During President Buruss’s introduction we learned that in addition to Marcia’s impressive list of academic accomplishments and awards she has also received special training from Navy Seals on use of underwater explosives – thus providing further evidence to the suspicion by many of her former students that she is in fact a super hero – we already knew that she is superhuman. Marcia’s talk focused on the vulnerability of the coastal zone to the increased frequency and intensity of mega storms combined with sea level rise. She used the recent superstorm Sandy as an example. She emphasized that short term varience superimposed on sea level rise is a larger concern than simply long term sea level rise.  She outlined how science can help in mitigating problems by improving models that enable us to issue warnings and designing resilient coastal communities. After reporting some of the recent successes of USGS models in predicting areas that were inundated during hurricane Sandy, she concluded by pointing out that in addition to restoring natural processes in coastal zones, we need to prepare for flooding and coastal storms to a similar degree to what we have done in earthquake prone zones.

Questions: Jamie Allen, Karl Helz, Nancy Price, Eric Hanky, Brooks Hanson, and P. Toulmin.

 

President Burruss announced the speakers for the January 23rd, 2013 meeting and the 1468th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 22:00.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Meg Coleman

 

 

Geological Society of Washington

Minutes from the 1469th Meeting

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013

John Wesley Powell Auditorium

Cosmos Club, Washington, DC

 

Speakers

 

First-row transition elements and the petrogenesis of oceanic island basalts

Fred Davis, Smithsonian Institution

 

Linking Mn(II)-oxidizing bacteria to natural attenuation at a former U mining site

Denise M. Akob, U.S. Geological Survey

 

Using exhumed faults as tools to investigate deformation at the base of the seismogenic zone

Nancy Price, University of Maine

 

President Burruss called the 75 attendees of the 1469th meeting of the Geological Society to order at 20:02. The minutes from the 1468th meeting were read and approved without corrections.

 

There were 16 guests introduced: 

                Ashley Yang (Northern Virginia Community College)

                Marc Levinrad (NVCC)

                Andy Campbell  (U.S. NRC)

                Tyler Newton (University of Maryland)

                Caitlin Brown (University of Maryland)

                Dana Borg (University of Maryland)

                Julia German (University of Maryland)

                Irene Kadel-Harder (University of Maryland)

                John Kemper (University of Maryland)

                Grant Jiang (University of Maryland)

Tom Wood (George Mason University)

Ann Vroom (Unaffiliated)

Brian Toenboehn (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab)

Darren Dunlap (USGS)

Kaylene Charles (USGS)

 

Six new members were announced:

Gabrielle Dreyfus (DOE)

Benjamin Phillips (DOE/SRA)

Erik Hankin (AGU)

Lydia Stepanek (FTI Consulting)

Margo Corum (USGS)

Denise Akob (USGS)

                 

Informal Communication:

Wilson Bonner, policy associate at AGI, gave a very informative informal communication about the pending (and now happening) impacts of budget sequestration on the geosciences. For those who may have been confused he kindly defined both geologic and legal sequestration. Wilson described the history of budgetary challenges leading up to sequestration and included the total cuts required over 5 years for balanced sequestration (which at the time seemed completely surreal and now seems entirely too real) these include:

DOE – $4.6 billion

NSF – $2.1 billion

NASA Science – $1.2 billion

USGS - $253 million (equivalent to entire Mineral Resources Program)

NOAA – $218 million

NIST – $208 million

Moving right along to more positive topics:

1.             Fred Davis from the Smithsonian gave the first talk of the evening “First-row transition elements and the petrogenesis of oceanic island basalts.” Fred shared results from his high pressure and temperature experiments that indicate that formation of ocean island basalts is more complicated than partial melting of mantle peridotites. Comparison of major element partition coefficients from his experiementally partially melted peridotites and OIB’s indicate that OIB’s are derived from a non-peroditotic source and partial melting models would be improved with better constraints on the compositions of potential sources of lithosphere in the mantle.

 

Questions from Jamie Allen (NSF), Bill McDonough (U. MD) and Dan Doctor (USGS)

 

2.  Second talk of the evening given by Denise M. Akob, U.S. Geological Survey “ Linking Mn(II)-oxidizing bacteria to natural attenuation at a former U mining site”. President Burruss introduced Denise and described some highlights of her outstanding career and resulting publications, including appearing in a publication Science Ink “Tattoos of the Science Obsessed” – something involving uranium molecules. Denise went on to give a fascinating talk about her bio-geochemical experimental work on Mn oxidizing bacteria from a former U mining site in the Ronneburg mining district of Germany. This is an area that despite the mining heap being removed in 1990’s experienced groundwater contamination and soil enriched in Mn, Co, Ni. Denise identified a unique microbial population in the Mn- rich soil layer which oxidizes Mn at an unexpected pH of 5.5. Little is known about the mechanism for Mn oxidation and metal tolerance of these bacteria and we look forward to hearing more about her findings in the future. Her work has important and encouraging implications for bioremediation.

 

Questions from Jamie Allen (NSF), Kevin Marvel (AES), John Gens (Army Geospatial Center), Dan Doctor (USGS), Brooks Hanson (Science)

 

The final talk of the evening was given by Nancy Price, University of Maine –“Using exhumed faults as tools to investigate deformation at the base of the seismogenic zone”. Nancy showed results of her structural analysis of the Nurembega fault zone in Maine. The Nurembega fault in the study area was exhumed from 10-15 km depth - between the brittle and ductile zones, corresponding with the seismogenic zone. She concluded from detailed study of pseudotachlytes and regional structural analysis that deformation at the base of the seismogenic zone is variable over time with the seismic cycle. She left us with question “can the study of the architecture, composition, and strength of rocks from the base of the seismogenic zone inform studies focused on other depth levels?”

 

Questions from Kevin Marvel, Dan Milton, and Jamie Allen.

 

Meeting was adjourned at 21:45.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Meg Coleman

   

 

 

 

Geological Society of Washington

Minutes from the 1470th Meeting

Wednesday, March 13th, 2013

John Wesley Powell Auditorium

Cosmos Club, Washington, DC

 

Speakers

 

Ca isotopes as a tool to understand the relationship between mountain uplift, silicate weathering, and long-term CO2 consumption

Joel Moore, Towson University

 

Lessons from Earth’s deep past for future exoplanet observations

Shawn Domagal-Goldman, NASA

 

The engineered geomorphology of urban landscapes and transformation of the hydrologic cycle

Andrew J. Miller, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

 

President Burruss called the 70 attendees of the 1470th meeting of the Geological Society to order at 20:03. The minutes from the 1469th meeting were read and approved with minor corrections.

 

There were 9 guests introduced: 

                Ashley Yang (Northern Virginia Community College)

                Marc Levinrad (NVCC)

                Tyler Newton (University of Maryland)

                Irene Kadel-Harder (University of Maryland)

                John Kemper (University of Maryland)

                Grant Jiang (University of Maryland)

                Tom Doody (University of Maryland)

                Jon Arthur (Florida Geological Survey)

 

3 new members were announced:

John Singleton (George Mason University)

Charles Estabrook (NSF)

Brian Toeneboehn (JHU)

                 

Informal Communication:

Dan Doctor, of the USGS, gave an informal communication on sinkholes following the March 1st sinkhole collapse in Seffner Florida that resulted in tragedy and gained widespread media coverage.  Dan explained how sink holes form by soil void propagation, and why they are so round – failure of a 3-D arch that forms over the soil void.  Examples included Devil’s sinkole in Texas, Devil’s Punchbowl in Guam, and a perfectly round sinkhole in the middle of Guatemala City that formed in 2010.

Question from Chris Sweezey (USGS)

 

1. The first talk of the evening was given by Joel Moore (Towson University) “Ca isotopes as a tool to understand the relationship between mountain uplift, silicate weathering, and long-term CO2 consumption”. Conclusions of this study challenge the widely held idea that mountain uplift is a mechanism that accelerates atmospheric CO2 consumption by chemical weathering, thereby cooling climate.  The study compared river Ca isotopic compositions across the Southern Alps of New Zealand, and apportioned Ca between carbonate and silicate sources.  Results include that carbonate Ca increases as uplift and erosion rates increase. They concluded that the highest long-term atmospheric CO2 consumption rates are no higher than the global mean and that uplift-induced changes to silicate weathering are insufficient to impact global climate.

                Questions from Carl-Henry Geschwind, Sean Domagal-Goldman (NASA), Bryn Kimball (USGS), Brooks Hanson (Science), and Nick Geboy (USGS).

 

2. The second talk of the evening was given by Shawn Domagal-Goldman, National Aeronautics and Space Administration – “Lessons from Earth’s deep past for future exoplanet observations.”  Using data from the Kepler Mission, NASA scientists are looking at >2000 planet candidates that are in the  “life hypothesis zone”- an area where there are earth-like candidates based on their size and energy emitted. Rather than look for oxygen, methane and ozone as indicators of life on other planets, Shawn uses the Archean Earth as an example of where life existed in the absence of oxygen until 2500 Mya. Instead organic sulfur gases (also called sorg gases) were made by life. Shawn is exploring the questions “can sorg gases be used to detect anoxic biospheres?” and “Is it possible to have detectable O3 concentrations on Planets that do not have oxygenic photosynthesis?”

Questions from Berg Helz, Andy Miller (UMBC) and Joel Moore (Towson University)

 

3. The third talk of the evening brought us back from far reaches of the galaxy to present day earth and was given by Andrew J. Miller, University of Maryland, Baltimore County “The engineered geomorphology of urban landscapes and transformation of the hydrologic cycle”. Andrew described collaborative research on the urban water cycle in the Baltimore watershed using, enhanced sensors such as high resolution LiDAR, modeling platforms and legacy data sources that make it possible to explore urban systems in ways we could not do before. Summarized conclusions included: 1) The engineered geomorphology of the urban landscape modifies not only local flow paths and residence times, but also the shapes and sizes of watersheds 2) Widespread adoption of Best Management Practices to manage urban runoff needs to be accompanied by data  collection to identify both intended and unanticipated outcomes 3) High-resolution spatial and temporal data collected from multiple sources will allow us to fingerprint sources and assess pathways and residence times.

                Questions: from Carl-Henry Geschwind, Mark McBride, Dan Doctor, and Jon Embry.

 

President Burruss announced the speakers for the April 10th meeting and the meeting was adjourned at 21:45.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Meg Coleman

 

 

 

 

Geological Society of Washington

Minutes from the 1471st Meeting

Wednesday, April 10th, 2013

John Wesley Powell Auditorium

Cosmos Club, Washington, DC

 

Speakers

 

High-frequency sensing of water quality in Clear Creek, IA

John V. Loperfido, USGS

 

Building a Forest from the leaves: molecular and isotopic methods for reconstructing forest structure of the past

Heather Graham, Pennsylvania State University

 

Isotopically Fingerprinting the World’s First Nuclear Weapon Using Post Detonation Materials

Jeremy Bellucci, University of Notre Dame

 

President Burruss called the 66 attendees of the 1471st meeting of the Geological Society to order at 20:03. The minutes from the 1470th meeting were read and approved without corrections.

 

There were 9 guests introduced: 

                Ashley Yang (Northern Virginia Community College)

                Marc Levinrad (NVCC)

                Grace Toeneboehn (Brian Teoneboehn’s wife)

                Caitlin Brown (University of Maryland)

                Julia Gorman (University of Maryland)

                Irene Kadel-Harder (University of Maryland)

                John Kemper (University of Maryland)

                Andrew Hyslep (NASA Goddard)

                Michael Simpson (Dakota Consulting)

 

No new members were announced

               

President Burruss started the meeting with sad news that long time GSW member Isidore Zietz passed away. Michael Purucker of NASA gave a tribute to Dr. Zietz that included his many contributions to both GSW and to the geosciences during his long career at the U.S. Geological Survey. Isidore gave 14 talks at GSW meetings over the years and was instrumental in both development and application of magnetic field mapping including contributing to the World Digital Magnetic Anomaly Map.

Question: Erik Henkin (AGU)

 

Informal Communication:

Maeve Boehlen (AGI) shared results of an online sequester survey (first four weeks). Main impacts so far include 1) reduced support for existing funding 2) delays in finalizing budgets 3) cancellation of planned projects, contracts, cooperative agreements, or grants 4) restrictions on attending conferences and meetings. All are encouraged to complete the survey.

Questions: Bill Burton (USGS) and ?? (AGU)

 

Announcement:

Callan Bentley announced that he is the new Web Master – he’s asking for input ideas for what members would like to see on the web site.  This is great news for the GSW website -if you are familiar with Callan’s blogs and other online communications he’s very skilled at communicating all things geological and has an excellent sense of humor we might enlist his cartooning skills to spice things up a bit too – this may be GSW’s chance to go viral.

 

1.       The first talk of the evening was given by John Loperfido, USGS: “High-frequency sensing of water quality in Clear Creek, IA”. John presented the results of his Ph.D. thesis at University of Iowa where he constructed and operated an environmental sensing station. He analyzed high-frequency water quality data (including dissolved oxygen & turbidity) to gain new understanding of in-stream processes. High-frequency DO & Temp data were used to gain insight on nighttime increases in DO and how these effects scale throughout an agricultural watershed. High-frequency turbidity data revealed a diel trend which allowed for the characterization of particles and testing of hypotheses for its cause.

 

Questions: from Carl-Henry Geschwind, Dan Doctor (USGS), Bill Burton (USGS), Sean Kennedy (Summit International Relations), Bill McDonough (U. MD), Dick Smith ( USGS), and John Kemperer ( U. MD).

 

The second talk of the evening was given by Heather Graham a Ph.D. student at Penn State, titled “Building a Forest from the leaves: molecular and isotopic methods for reconstructing forest structure of the past”. Heather is studying the effects of isotopic composition of CO2, relative humidity and irradiance on carbon 13 in a seasonal canopy forest in Maryland and a perennial closed canopy site in Panama. She has found that mean carbon 13 signatures are indicative of canopy type. Using extant forests as a model she extends these observations to fossil leaves to identify canopy coverage in paleoflora. This work ultimately seeks to quantify above-ground carbon storage in past climates.

 

Questions from Carl-Henry Geschwind, Nancy Price (unaffiliated), Barbara am Ende, Bob Burruss (USGS) and Bill Burton (USGS).

 

2.       The third talk of the evening shifted from green tropical canopies to a rather darker topic “Isotopically Fingerprinting the World’s First Nuclear Weapon Using Post Detonation Materials” given by Jeremy Bellucci, University of Notre Dame. Jeremy and colleagues are developing tools for post detonation nuclear forensic by 1) resolving nuclear device components in post-detonation materials 2) determining  provenance of nuclear materials 3) developing rapid, accurate, and precise analytical protocols in order to determine attribution of nuclear weapons. They have been able to isotopically fingerprint post fission U and Pu in trinitite from the Trinity test site concentrated in alpha track ‘hot spots’.

Questions: from Carl-Henry Geschwind, Nick Geboy, Barbara am Ende, Dan Doctor, Mark McBride, and Mark Zerniak who asked “ Now that you have told us this do you have to kill us?”.

On that note the speaker commented that he hoped to not have to use these tools and then wished us all a good night’s sleep.

 

President Burruss announced the upcoming Bradley Lecture on April 24th and the meeting was adjourned at about 21:45.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Meg Coleman

 

 

Geological Society of Washington

Minutes from the 1472nd Meeting

Wednesday, April 24th, 2013

John Wesley Powell Auditorium

Cosmos Club, Washington, DC

 

Bradley Lecture

 

Climate Challenges: climate change in the Arctic and Sea-level rise

Thomas Cronin, USGS

 

President Burruss called the approximately 90 attendees of the 1472nd meeting of the Geological Society to order at 20:02. The minutes from the 1471st meeting were read and approved with minor corrections.

 

President Burruss kicked off the meeting by calling to the stage the five student winners of the Earth Science division of the regional science fairs. Student poster presentations were on display before the meeting during refreshment hour.

 

There were 18 guests introduced: 

                Ashley Yang (Northern Virginia Community College)

                Marc Levinrad (NVCC)

Mercer Parker (NVCC)

Robin Rohback-Shivone (NVCC)

Grant Jiang (UMD-CP)

Tom Doody (UMD-CP)

Tyler Newton (UMD-CP)

Stephan Ginley(UMD-CP)

                Carl Seastrum (Husband of Betsy Seastrum)

John Ryan MacGregor (Advanced Resources International -ARI)

Nicholas Fox (ARI)

John Hornbuckle (ARI)

Callie Sadler (unkown affiliation)

Travis Johnson (Peace Corps)

Miriam Jones (USAS)

Megan Malone (Natural Resource Management Division FCPA)

Emily Cole (Natural Resource Management Division FCPA)

Sara D. Jens (John C. Jens spouse)

 

Two new members were announced:

Anna Henderson (AGI)

Daniel King (AAAS/DOE)

               

President Burruss shared sad news that two GSW members passed away. Dave Diadato a Hydrologist with USGS and Frederick Doyle, Head of National Mapping Division when he retired.

 

Announcement:

Dan Doctor announced that it was Virginia Cave Week and that information could be found at www.vacaveweek.com.

 

The Annual Bradley lecture was given by Thomas Cronin of the USGS titled “Climate Challenges: climate change in the Arctic and Sea-level rise”. Tom provided an overview of key data sets and studies that have lead to current understanding of the record for climate in the Arctic and sea-level rise. Topics included Arctic-ocean circulation, Cenozoic Greenhouse to Icehouse, the extent of seasonal sea ice during warm periods spanning from 400Ka to 5Ka, and evolution of Arctic Ocean ecosystems. Conclusions from the Arctic climate change record include that Arctic sea ice is spatially and temporally variable, “Modern” sea ice developed ~ 5ka after Holocene thermal maximum, and a review of the constraints on the timing and extent of glacial and interglacial periods. Conclusions about sea level included that sea level can rise at rates exceeding 10 mm/yr, 21st century rate of SL Rise may reach or exceed 10 mm/yr (3 times rate since 1993; 5 times rate since 1960), the main cause of global sea level rise is melting of sea ice due to warming ocean temperature, both process-based and semi-empirical models are not yet adequate to understand the multiple causes of regional Sea-Level rates.  He ended with questions: What is future land ice mass balance? What regional processes influence east coast sea level? 

 

Questions: from Carl-Henry Geschwind, Ted Rasmusin (NVCC),Victor Zabielski (NVCC), Wilson Bonner (AGI), Greg Chang ( UMd)

 

President Burruss announced the speakers of the upcoming May 8th meeting and the meeting was adjourned at about 21:45.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Meg Coleman

 

 

 

Geological Society of Washington

Minutes from the 1473rd Meeting

Wednesday, May 8th, 2013

John Wesley Powell Auditorium

Cosmos Club, Washington, DC

 

Speakers

 

The microbial ecosystem of the 3.5 Ga Dresser Formation, Pilbara, Australia

Nora Noffke, Old Dominion University

 

Antarctica and the onset of Late Pliocene global cooling: A biogeochemical perspective from Ross Sea sediments

Christina Riesselman, University of Otago

 

Darker, wetter and faster: Evidence and analysis of recent records over the Greenland ice sheet

Marco Tedesco, City College of New York

 

President Burruss called the 57 attendees of the 1473rd meeting of the Geological Society to order at 20:02. The minutes from the 1472nd meeting were read and approved with minor corrections.

 

There were 11 guests introduced: 

                Ashley Yang (Northern Virginia Community College)

                Marc Levinrad (NVCC)

                Grace Teoneboehn (Towson University)

                Caitlin Brown (University of Maryland (UMD))

                John Kemper (UMD)

                Irene Kadel-Harder (UMD)

                Julia Gorman (UMD)

                Andrew Hyslop (NASA Goddard)

Michael Simpson (Dakota Consulting)

David Bayland (DOE)

Meghan Miller (UNAVCO)

 

One new member was announced:

Nick Fox (Advanced Resources International)

 

Announcement:

Bryn Kymball announced that she was leaving USGS for a post doctoral position at Queens University and that GSW was looking for someone to take over her role as Program Chair (position has since been filled by Nancy Price).

 

Informal Communication:

1.       Doug Duncan of the USGS gave an overview of sinkhole formation and monitoring in the Bayou Corne of Assumption Parish, Louisiana. A sinkhole formed in this region a few months after methane emissions were observed and trees started disappearing in 2012. Methane emissions were first observed bubbling up from swamp areas in May 2012, followed by collapse of sinkholes in August 2012. Shortly after methane emissions were detected residents felt tremors and the USGS started monitoring seismic activity in the area. Gas emissions and seismic monitoring of the region continues and Doug showed a conceptual cross section model of the sinkhole region that shows a collapse structure adjacent to a salt dome and several natural gas and brine injection wells.

 

Formal Presentations:

 

2.       The first formal presentation of the evening was given by Nora Noffke of Old Dominion University, titled “The microbial ecosystem of the 3.5 Ga Dresser Formation, Pilbara, Australia”. Nora shed light on microbial processes that formed the oldest unmetamorphosed fossils on record, by comparing the fossil morphology, geochemistry and sedimentary structures of the fossils to modern day microbial mats in sandy coastal environments. Nora illustrated the similarities of the radically different aged microbial ecosystems using several lines of compelling evidence (including a slide in German with which she reminded us “don’t worry German is good for you!”). She explained how modern cyanobacteria form microbial mats and how bacteria respond to physical processes including erosion, deposition, and latency. Nora concluded that ancient fossil microbially induced sedimentary structures strongly resemble modern ones.

Questions: Chris Swezey (USGS), Cara Santelli (Smithsonian), Nancy Price, Mark McBride (NRC), and Bob Burruss (USGS).

 

3.       The second talk of the evening was given by Christina Riesselman from the Departments of Geology and Marine Science at the University of Otago, NZ, titled “Antarctica and the onset of Late Pliocene global cooling: A biogeochemical perspective from Ross Sea sediments”. Christina began by illustrating how the Antarctic continent plays a fundamental role (now and has through geologic time) in the modulation of global and regional circulation, climate and sea level, and she pointed out from satellite images that it is indeed shaped just like a pork chop.  She showed results from biogeochemical analyses of ANDRILL cores of sedimentary stratigraphy beneath the Ross Ice shelf, including evidence for cooling at 3.2 Ma.  ANDRILL cores record dramatic glacial/interglacial fluctuations throughout the Pliocene cooling, when boundary conditions are within the range predicted for the coming century. 

 

Questions followed from Victor Zabielski (NVCC) and Carl-Henry Geschwind.

 

4.       The last talk of the evening was given by Marco Tedesco, from the City College of New York, titled ”Darker, wetter and faster: Evidence and analysis of recent records over the Greenland ice sheet.” Marco showed how 2012 set new records in most of the summer parameters related to the mass and energy balance, including surface temperature, albedo, mass balance, and melt extent and duration. Data presented included satellite observations, in-situ field measurements, and model outputs.  From ice core data it was determined that this was an extreme event, occurring only every 150 years or so. He explained that the records are due to a combination of exceptional atmospheric conditions and warming occurring in the Arctic and that feedback mechanisms on the surface are crucial for enhancing melting and setting new records.

 Questions followed from Victor Zabielski (NVCC) and Carl-Henry Geschwind.

 

President Burruss announced the speakers of the upcoming September 11th meeting and the meeting was adjourned at about 21:50.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Meg Coleman

   



 

 

 

Geological Society of Washington

Minutes from the 1474th Meeting

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

John Wesley Powell Auditorium

Cosmos Club, Washington, DC

 

Speakers

 

Geothermal Resources for the Eastern United States

Wendy Kelly, Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy

 

Between Hot Rocks and Hard Places

Doug Hollett, U.S. Department of Energy

 

Induced Seismicity Potential in Energy Technologies

Elizabeth Eide, National Research Council

 

President Burruss called the approximately 90 attendees of the 1474th meeting of the Geological Society to order at 20:01. The minutes from the 1473rd meeting were read and approved without corrections.

 

There were 11 guests introduced: 

                Jonathon Mead (Kleinfelder)

Min Han

Michell Ayarzu

Cathy Hanke (University of Alaska Fairbanks)

Chelsea Saber (George Mason University)

David Boehnlein (Fermilab/DOE)

Roxanne Shively

Wendy Rosati

Maxwell Betham

Faith Fiene (Retired KY Dept Military Affairs Environmental Office)

Frank Ettensohn (University of Kentucky, Dept . of Earth and Environmental Sciences)

Brendan McCormick (Smithsonian)

 

 

Two new members were announced:

Christopher Gellasch (Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences)
Roger Humphreville (BP)

 

Announcements:

1.       Sandy Neuzel informed the group that The Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences published GSW Field Trip Guide lead by Jack Sharp last year and the guide can be purchased through the WAS.

2.       Bill Burton announced that the GSW fall field trip will be Sunday October 13th. Peter Krans will lead the field trip “Dinosaur and other fossil localities in Washington DC area”. The field trip is open to families and children.

 

Formal Presentations:

 

5.       The first formal presentation of the evening was given by Wendy Kelly, Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy, Division of Geology and Mineral Resources titled “Geothermal Resources for the Eastern United States”. Wendy described a DOE funded three year collaborative project that includes state agencies in Maryland, Delaware, Georgia, and North Carolina, and the USGS. Results from the project include a digital warehouse for geological and geophysical data, temperature at depth maps, and a preliminary heat flow map. The current heat flow map is a draft version that they will continue to refine and hope to have a final map at the end of December.

 

Questions: Bill Burton (USGS), Chris Swezey (USGS), Brooks Hanson (Science), Carl-Henry Geschwind, Jamie Allen (NSF), and Mike Purucker (NASA).

 

6.       The second talk of the evening was given by Doug Hollett, Director of Geothermal Technologies Office, U.S. Department of Energy, titled “Between Hot Rocks and Hard Places”.  Doug gave an overview of DOE supported R&D that focuses on the potential for expansion of geothermal resources out of the traditional “hot” regions in the US – an area where there is opportunity for significant growth. Much of his talk focused on Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) that use advanced technologies to access the heat of the earth and produce electricity.  Examples of EGS technologies include hydraulic fracturing to enhance permeability in regions adjacent to hot rocks similar to technologies being used by oil and gas companies in tight formations. The EGS core program includes six EGS demonstration projects in western states with budgets ranging from $3.4 to $21.4 million.  Doug started his talk by asking the compelling question “Why are hot rock systems so often the subject of disaster movies?” accompanied by slide with movie posters from disaster classics such as “Disaster Zone: Volcano in New York… the next Pompeii is an eruption away”. 

 

Questions from Mike Purucker (NASA), Dick Fisk (Smithonian), Dick Smith (USGS), Wendy Harrison (NSF), and Meg Coleman (EIA)

 

1.       The last talk of the evening was given by Elizabeth Eide, Director of the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources, National Research Council, titled “Induced Seismicity Potential in Energy Technologies”. This study was conducted by the NRC and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy at the request of Senator Bingaman in 2010. The main report themes included the what, which, why and how’s of induced seismicity. The study concluded that the biggest influence on induced seismicity is total balance of fluid introduced into and/or removed from the subsurface and that energy projects that maintain fluid balance may produce fewer felt induced seismic events. Perhaps not too “earthshaking” for this audience. The full report is available at the national academy press website.

 

Questions followed from Carl-Henry Geschwind and Nick Geoboy (USGS).

 

President Burruss announced the speakers of the upcoming October 9th meeting and the meeting was adjourned at about 21:53.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Meg Coleman

   

 

 

 

Geological Society of Washington

Minutes from the 1475th Meeting

Wednesday, October 16th, 2013

John Wesley Powell Auditorium

Cosmos Club, Washington, DC

 

Speakers

 

Morphology, composition, and trace element leaching from US coal fly ash

Amrika Deonarine, USGS

 

Remote Sensing Analysis of a Selected Wetland in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan

Siddiq Kalaly, USGS

 

Lunar Archeology, the Search for Ancient Space Vehicles

Jeffrey Plescia, Johns Hopkins University

 

President Burruss called the approximately 63 attendees of the 1475th meeting of the Geological Society to order at 20:03. The minutes from the 1474th meeting were read and approved with minor corrections.

 

There were ? guests introduced: 

                Teresa (?)– AGI intern

 

2 new members were announced:

Dave Boehnlein (DOE)

Jonathon Mead (Kleinfelder)

                 

Announcements:

1.       Bill Burton announced that despite the government shut down the field trip for the following weekend was still on.

2.       President Burruss announced that the GSW was required over the past year to revise the organization’s bylaws. There were no substantive changes to the bylaws and the council approved the final revised version.

3.       President Burruss also announced that the GSW is looking for interested volunteers for the Archivist position.

4.      Jeff Plescia announced that the Washington Academy of Sciences is hosting the Capital Science meeting in 2014 and he encouraged GSW members and guests to consider submitting an abstract for this meeting. In the past earth science has been underrepresented at WAS Capital Science meetings.

 

Informal Communication:

Bill Burton presented a first hand account of the devastation experienced by the Jamestown Colorado region from the recent range flood (September 11th) (also the location of his family’s cabin). Bill showed photographs of debris flows, redirected river channels, along with destruction of several homes, roads and much of the Jamestown infrastructure. Bill was there shortly after the flood, and he and his family took part in the relief effort for the many displaced residents of the area.

 

1.       The first formal presentation of the evening was given by Amrika Deonarine  titled “Morphology, composition, and trace element leaching from US coal fly ash” from her postdoctoral work at USGS.

Amrika began by pointing out that coal ash is one of the largest waste streams in the U.S. and approximately half of the coal ash produced annually is stored in impoundments or landfills. Accidental spills and leaching can mobilize coal ash and its leachates to potable water sources. Amrika’s study characterized coal ash particle morphology, composition, and location of trace elements. She found that arsenic leaching from coal ash is controlled by As speciation in coal ash, and environmental conditions such as redox potential.

 

                Questions from Carl-Henry Geschwind, Dan Doctor (USGS) Russ (USGS), and Nick Geboy (USGS).

 

2.       The second talk was given by Siddiq Kalaly (USGS) titled “Remote Sensing Analysis of a Selected Wetland in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan”. Siddiq began by outlining how both wetland science and remote sensing have changed and flourished since the 1960’s. Conversely, Afghanistan has been through successive armed conflicts since 1979, which have not only destroyed the infrastructure of the country but also stopped any scientific studies from taking place since the 1970’s. Using Landsat data acquired since 1972, Siddiq has delineated the largest wetland in Afghanistan, the Nawar Wetland and he has documented nearly four-decades of temporal changes within the ecosystem. This analysis is not only useful for understanding wetland science and ecosystems of Afghanistan but also for providing decision makers with a basis for recommending sustainable management plans for the wetland during the current period of development and reconstruction of Afghanistan.

 

Questions from Mike Purucker (NASA), Chris Sweezey (USGS), Jamie Allen (NSF), Bill Burton (USGS), Carl-Henry Geschwind, and Meg Coleman (EIA).

 

3.       The last talk of the evening was given by Jeffrey Plescia of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics lab titled “Lunar Archeology, the Search for Ancient Space Vehicles”. For over 50 years the United States and Soviet Union sent robotic and human spacecraft to the Moon to collect data, explore and return samples. Using data and images from the Lunar reconnaissance Orbiter, Jeff showed the locations of most of the lunar vehicles and craters. Space craft, craters and space vehicle tracks from Luna, Apollo, and Surveyor missions specifically were examined. Some of the vehicles made soft landings on the surface, others impacted forming craters, and some such as Luna 16, landed on the “dark side of the moon”. In addition to the coolness factor, locating these vehicles is critical for understanding the geologic context of the observations and samples.

 

Questions: Bill Burton (USGS), Nancy Price (Program Chair), Brooks Hansen (AGU), Mike Purucker (NASA)

 

President Burruss announced the speakers for the October 23rd meeting.

 

Meeting was adjourned at 22:00.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Meg Coleman

   



 

 

 

Geological Society of Washington

Minutes from the 1476th Meeting

Wednesday, October 23rd, 2013

John Wesley Powell Auditorium

Cosmos Club, Washington, DC

 

Speakers

 

Zircon U-Pb Geochronology Links the End-Triassic Extinction with the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province Terry Blackburn, Carnegie Institute

 

The Link between Tectonics and Continental Margin Brine Factories: A New Perspective on the Distribution of Clastic-Dominated (SEDEX) Zn-Pb-Ag (zinc-lead-silver) Deposits in the Rock Record

David Leach, University of Western Australia

 

Introducing a New Kind of Geochemistry: Cryogenic Fluvial Geochemistry on Titan

Christopher Glein, Carnegie Institution

 

President Burruss called the approximately 75 attendees of the 1476th meeting of the Geological Society to order at 20:04. The minutes from the 1475th meeting were read and approved without corrections.

 

There were 3 guests introduced: 

                All from Northern Virginia Community College:

                Dylan Clark planning on majoring in mineralogy, Daniel who came for extra credit and their friend Luke (who just wandered in).

 

No new members announced

                 

Announcements:

1.       Reminder to renew membership.

 

Informal Communication:

The multi-talented talented Dick Fiske gave an informal communication on the crooked nature of the Smithsonian – something he’d suspected all along. With USGS quadrangle maps, aerial photos taken from above JFK stadium and actual field measurements, he demonstrated that the Washington Monument is not exactly on an E-W axis but is actually slightly SE- NW (unlike what is illustrated on tourist maps), and in addition the Natural History Museum (where Dick works in case you didn’t know) is also crooked. And in true Renaissance style Dick concluded his presentation with a poem.

 

Formal Presentations:

            1. The first formal presentation of the evening was given by Terry Blackburn of Carnegie titled “Zircon U-Pb Geochronology Links the End-Triassic Extinction with the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province”. Terry and his colleagues work permits for the first time a causal relationship between Central Atlantic Magmatic event and the end-Triassic extinction.  They have been able to refine timing of key events in large part through increased precision of zircon U-Pb dating techniques that have lowered uncertainties by an order of magnitude. Their work provides a key first step towards understanding causes of extinction.

 

 

Questions from Larry Mienart (USGS), Jamie Allen (NSF), Brooks Hansen (AGU), Meg Coleman (EIA), John Repteski (USGS), and Brent Grocholski (Smithsonian).

 

2.       The second talk of the evening was given by David Leach, a private consultant and adjunct professor at University of Western Australia, titled “The Link between Tectonics and Continental Margin Brine Factories: A New Perspective on the Distribution of Clastic-Dominated (SEDEX) Zn-Pb-Ag (zinc-lead-silver) Deposits in the Rock Record”. David showed examples of clastic-dominated ore settings from around the world and explained the chemical and physical controls on their distribution and genesis. CD ores are located in the siliclastic-dominated sequences of passive margins and a few marine-filled rift-sag basins.  These fertile mineral belts spent part of their life span in evaporative latitudes and David’s work on them provides new insights both for understanding evolving Earth systems and for mineral exploration.

 

Questions from Bill McDonough, Chris Glein and Meg Coleman

 

3.       The final talk of the evening was given by Christopher Glein of the Carnegie Institution, titled “Introducing a New Kind of Geochemistry: Cryogenic Fluvial Geochemistry on Titan”. Chris provided a fascinating talk during which he made the case that theoretical exploration of cryogenic fluvial geochemistry on Titan is now possible and showed evidence for a “methane hydrologic cycle” on the surface of Titan which has a nitrogen-methane atmosphere.  Chris’s geochemical model put in a terrestrial context makes it possible to interpret Cassini-Huygens data from Titan, and plan future missions to Titan.

 

President Burruss announced the speakers for the November 13th meeting and concluded the 1476th meeting of the GSW.

 

Meeting was adjourned at 22:00.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Meg Coleman

   



 

 

 

 

 

Geological Society of Washington

Minutes from the 1477th Meeting

Wednesday, November 13th, 2013

John Wesley Powell Auditorium

Cosmos Club, Washington, DC

 

 

Speakers

 

The Unusual Lithosphere Beneath the Sierra Nevada, results from the first major Earthscope seismic deployment

Andrew Frassetto, IRIS

 

The Biogeochemistry of Precambrian Black Shales

Clinton Scott, U.S. Geological Survey

 

New age techniques applied to the age-old problem of metallic mine waste

Bryn Kimball, Queen’s University

 

President Burruss called the 75 attendees of the 1477th meeting of the Geological Society to order at 20:02. The minutes from the 1476th meeting were read and approved with minor corrections.

 

There were 4 guests introduced:

Andy Scott (USGS)

Mark Larson

Jennifer (NSF)

Sue Lee (University Michigan)         

 

3 new members were announced.

Jessica Lodwyk (IRIS)

Max Bethan (Geotech Associates)

Frank Ettensohn (University of Kentucky & State Department)

 

Announcements:

1.       The Geocare Program is available to all GSW members.

2.       Bob Burruss announced the slate of GSW officers for 2014.

                 

Informal Communication:

Jamie Allen made his annual pitch for all GSW members when renewing their membership to consider donating generously to the general fund so we can all enjoy the pre-meeting networking social time guilt free (but he said it much more eloquently than that – thank you Jamie!).

 

Formal presentations:

 

1.       Andrew Frassetto of IRIS gave first formal presentation “The Unusual Lithosphere Beneath the Sierra Nevada, results from the first major Earthscope seismic deployment”. This study relates the seismic study of the central and northern Sierra Nevada to the evolution of the continental lithosphere following the emplacement of an 85 Ma batholith.  Based on the distribution of variations in seismic signatures they propose that dense, seismically fast mafic-ultramafic residue has foundered beneath the east-central and southern Sierra but still resides under its western portion. These findings advance the understanding and models of how felsic continental crust originates within Cordilleran batholiths.

Questions: Brooks Hansen (AGU), Jamie Allen (NSF), Carl Henry- Geschwind, Vedran Lekic (UMD)

 

2.       Clinton Scott, of U.S. Geological Survey gave results from his research on, “The Biogeochemistry of Precambrian Black Shales” which provides clues to the nature and timing of the oxygenation of the Earth’s atmosphere. Geochemical data suggests oxygenation proceeded in two broad steps at 2500 Ma and 542 Ma, the latter coinciding roughly with the appearance of animals. He presented a new perspective of oxygenation development passed on redox-sensitive molybdenum in sulphidic black shales and demonstrates that atmospheric O2 may have approached Phanerozoic levels between 2.4 and 2.1 Ga but fell rapidly by 2.0 Ga, and remained low until the Neoproterozoic event.

Questions: Carl Henry-Geschwind, Brooks Hansen, Brent Grocholski (Smithsonian), George Helz, and Vedran Lekic (UMD).

 

3.       Bryn Kimball who is now a postdoctoral fellow at Queen’s University and was the previous program chair for GSW, gave the last but not least talk “New age techniques applied to the age-old problem of metallic mine waste”.  Bryn presented preliminary results from a study that is quantifying the composition, stability, and distribution of metal-bearing phases in mine waste from the Ely Copper Mine, in Vermont. Metal-bearing phases in the mine waste are Cu sulfides, dissolved Cu, and secondary Cu. One of the challenges in studying these metals are detecting very low levels that are still environmentally significant. Bryn used a variety of cutting edge tools to look at Cu speciation in stream sediments including  X-ray absorption spectroscopy, XRF, and , XAS, and was able to identify important differences in CU speciation in upper area of stream near mine site compared with and areas downstream. Although still a work in progress they obtained important pieces of information at different scales from which to move forward on and make recommendations for remediation.

Questions: George Helz, Larry Meinart (USGS), Carl Henry Geschwind, Jamie Allen (NSF), Brent Grocholski (Smithsonian), Steve (?).

 

President Burruss announced the program for the December 18th meeting and annual business meeting and the 1477th meeting was adjourned at 20:00.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Meg Coleman

 

 

 

 

 

Geological Society of Washington

Minutes from the 1478th Meeting

Wednesday, December 18th, 2013

John Wesley Powell Auditorium

Cosmos Club, Washington, DC

 

Presidential Address

 

Beyond the fog of fracking: Physical geochemistry of unconventional petroleum systems

Robert Burruss, USGS

 

President Burruss called the 53 attendees of the 1478th meeting of the Geological Society to order at 20:03. The minutes from the 1477th meeting were read and approved without corrections.

 

There were 4 guests introduced:

Elena (GMU student)

Chris (NOVA student)        

Janet Cranton( former GSW member)

Doug Rumble ( 25th Anniversary GSW Speaker)

 

1 new members was announced.

Faith Fiene, Kentucky Dept of Military Affairs (Retired)

 

Formal presentations:

Timothy Mock the First Vice President introduced the speaker, GSW President Robert Burruss. President Burruss gave the Presidential Address titled “Beyond the fog of fracking:  Physical geochemistry of unconventional petroleum systems”.  Bob contrasted three of the “hottest” petroleum systems including the Marcellus, Eagle Ford, and Bakken in terms of physical geochemistry and highlighted some of the interesting questions and research he is working on in these low permeability rocks.  Topics including the unusual nature of dry gases with isotopic reversals, unanswered questions about oil to gas cracking, and how oil and gas is mobilized in rock with very, very low matrix permeability, just to name a few. He also considered the impact of basin tectonics and uplift on fluid properties, and concluded with thoughts about resource estimation in unconventional oil and gas resources.

 

In keeping with tradition, there were no questions following the Presidential Address.

 

President Burruss announced the speakers for the January 8th, 2014 meeting and asked the attendees to reconvene in 10 minutes after a beer for the 121st GSW annual meeting.  The 1468th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at approximately 21:00.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Meg Coleman