Draft minutes for the 1531st meeting of the Geological Society of Washington

May 2, 2018

John Wesley Powell Auditorium, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.

President Karen Prestegaard called the meeting to order at 20:02 EDT

Attendance

There were 57 attendees.

Minutes

The meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1530th). The minutes of the 1530th meeting had been posted on-line and a Minute’s Minute was read aloud at the 1531st meeting. The Minutes were approved with no corrections.

Guests and New Members

There were five guests introduced at the meeting: Wilson Sauthoff (Pacific Architects and Engineers), Michael Weber (University of Bonn), Yasmina Martos (NASA Goddard), Liz Saccoccia (World Resources Institute), Samantha Kuzma (World Resources Institute). There were an additional four guests who signed the guest book, but did not introduce themselves: Anne Thompson (affiliation?), David Smolhurf (sp? affiliation?), Susana Hoyos (affiliation?), Abraham Padilla (USGS).

No new members were announced.

Announcements

There were three announcemnets at the meeting:

1)Brooks Hanson announced the passing of former AGU Executive Director A.F. “Fred” Spilhaus Jr. on April 30 at age of 79. A moment of silence was observed in remembrance.

2)Callan Bentley announced the launch of a new GSW website and the date for the GSW Spring Field Trip (June 2, 2018) to Catoctin Mt.

3)Beverly Walker announced the formation of a Washington D.C Chapter of the Association of Women Geoscientists (AWG), the organization in all-inclusive and accepting of all genders.

Informal Communications

There were no informal communications at the meeting.

Formal Program

The formal program commenced at 20:12 EDT and consisted of three speakers (Helene le Mevel, Richard Ortt, and Anne Thompson) each presenting 20 minute talks. The talk were as follows:

Hélène le Mével (Carnegie Institution) presented a talk titled “Volcanic Unrest in the Southern Andes of Chile”. Since 2007, satellite geodesy has revealed high uplift rates at Laguna del Maule volcanic field in the southern Andes of Chile, indicating the inflation of the rhyolitic magmatic reservoir at depth.Dr. le Mével presented data from recent geodetic, seismic, and gravity studies of the unrest as well as modeling results that probe its underlying causes.

Questions were asked by: Mike Purucker (NASA), Bill Burton (USGS), Ben Mandler (AGI), Victor Zabielski (NVCC), Dan Doctor (USGS).

Richard Ortt (Maryland Geological Survey) presented a talk titled “State Geological Surveys: Applied Geological Science for Guiding Policy”. State Geological Surveys serve as the main earth science consultants to State governments. Surveys throughout the nation are all different; however, they routinely keep the same fundamental study areas of geologic mapping, groundwater quantity and quality, and geologic hazards assessment. In Maryland, an additional program is included in the structure for coastal geology. Applied science projects including land subsidence from groundwater withdrawal; shoreline erosion assessments; and potential carbon dioxide storage in Triassic basins are a few of the current projects that were discussed.

Questions were asked by: Karen Prestegaard (UMD), an unidentified individual, Mike Purucker (NASA), Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Scholar).

Anne Thompson (NASA) presented the final talk of the evening titled “Environmental Success Stories – The View from Space”. Climate change, ozone depletion and choking pollution around the globe are all familiar stories. Less well known are the great strides that have been made on fighting pollution and the threat to the ozone layer. Using NASA data, examples successes and remaining challenges were shown. Since 2005 NASA’s Aura spacecraft has recorded great improvement in pollutant emissions over all US and European cities and even many urban areas of Asia. Exceptions include regions of oil and natural gas growth. The ozone layer has been “saved,” thanks to the remarkable and flexible Montreal Protocol, hailed as the most successful environmental treaty of all time. However, the “Kigali Amendment” to phase out a group of ozone-destroying chemicals that are also Greenhouse Gases, is yet to be ratified by most nations.

Questions were asked by: Bill Burton (USGS), George Helz (UMD), Dan Doctor (USGS), Karen Prestegaard (UMD), Bill Burton (USGS), Brooks Hanson (AGU), Dan Doctor (USGS).

The meeting was concluded at 21:42 EDT.

Respectfully submitted,

Victor Zabielski (GSW meeting secretary)