Draft Minutes for the 1529Th Meeting of the Geological Society of Washington

Draft minutes for the 1529th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington

April 4, 2018

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

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

Minutes

The meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting (1528th). The minutes of the 1528th meeting had been posted on-line and a Minute’s Minute was read aloud at the 1529th meeting. The Minutes were approved with one correction to change EST to EDT.

Guests and New Members

There were ten guests introduced at the meeting: William Deb (?, UMD), Andre (UMD), Elisa Mills (UMD), Jason Chase (UMD), Gwen Sullivan (UMD), Jerris Labelle (UMD), Hope Toustamin (UMD), Helen Lynn (affiliation?), David Prester (Forrest Environmental Services). Four people signed the guest book but did not introduce themselves: Verity Flower (NASA), Scott Wieman (affiliation?), William Nguyen (affliation?), and Michelle Lorah (USGS).

No new members were announced.

Announcements

There were three announcements at the 1529th meeting:

1)Jamie Allan (NSF) announced the death of Maurice ‘Ric’ Terman on March 22, 2018. A former employee of the USGS and principal compiler of “The Tectonic Map of China and Mongolia”.

2)Kori Newman, of the Public Service Committee requested members donate SWAG for the Science Fair winners. The SWAG should be brought to the April 18, 2018 GSW meeting. Kori also solicited volunteers for mentoring science fairs. You can contact Kori at .

3)Callan Bentley announced that Steve Reynolds, a speaker at the next GSW meeting, will be giving a workshop at 2-4pm at NVCC (Annandale campus) on April 18, 2018 titled Cognition-Guided Learning, Instruction and Curriculum in Introductory Science Courses.

Informal Communications

There were no informal communications at the meeting.

Formal Program

The formal program commenced at 20:17 EDT and consisted of three speakers (James Farquhar, Emmy Smith, and Michelle Lorah) each presenting 20 minute talks. The talks were as follows:

James Farquhar (UMD) presented a talk titled “The Significance of Sulfur Isotope Variability in Meteoritic Materials” Dr. Farquhar’s research focused on sulfur isotope geochemistry in a variety of terrestrial and extraterrestrial systems. Work by Farquhar’s laboratory with sulfur spans the modern to the ancient and extends from the atmosphere to the oceans and solid Earth. Farquhar and coworkers are best known for the discovery and interpretation of mass independent sulfur isotope signatures in samples from the early Earth that trace the evolution of oxygen and chemistry in the early atmosphere. Similar signatures for Mars tell of different conditions and reflect different reactions. On both planets, they provide tracers that track sulfur from surface reservoirs into other planetary reservoirs. Farquhar and coworkers have also used sulfur isotopes to trace metabolic and biogeochemical transformations for inorganic and organic sulfur compounds using laboratory experiments and ab initio approaches. Work in the not-too-distant future will shift to studies of atmospheric gases with a focus on regional and continental methane in modern systems with the establishment of the University of Maryland high mass resolution mass spectrometry facility.

Questions were asked by: Jay Kaufman (UMD), Richard Walker (UMD).

Emmy Smith (Earth and Planetary Sciences Department, Johns Hopkins University) presented a talk titled “The Ediacaran-Cambrian Boundary in the Southwest United

States”. Most work on the Neoproterozoic (1000-500 Ma) Ediacaran Fauna relies on studies from a limited number of well-known sites across the globe, most of which are inaccessible for frequent visits by scholars in America. Emmy Smith searched sites in the American Southwest, namely Nevada and California, which had been noted for deposits from the late Proterozoic but were thought to be absent of significant fossil assemblages. She instead found many fossil rich sites which contained many worm-like calcareous fossils in addition to the standard soft-bodied fossils more typical of the Ediacaran Fauna.

Questions were asked by: Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Scholar), Murray Hitzman (Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO), Victor Zabielski (NVCC), Member of General Public, Jay Kaufman (UMD), Brooks Hanson (AGU), Karen Prestegaard (UMD).

Dr. Michelle Lorah is a Research Hydrologist and has been with the U.S. Geological Survey in the Maryland Water Sciences Center since 1985, where she directs the Fate and Bioremediation Team. Dr. Lorah presented a talk titled “Contaminant Fate and Bioremediation in Groundwater Discharge Areas”. Her research focuses on contaminant fate and bioremediation in complex hydrogeologic environments, including wetlands and fractured rock. Dr. Lorah has studied the breakdown of chlorinated volatile organic compounds to non-chlorinated compounds under anaerobic conditions. Her field sites have included the Aberdeen proving ground and McGuire AFB.

Questions were asked by: Karen Prestegaard (UMD), Carl-Henry Geschwind (Independent Scholar), Karen Prestegaard (UMD, again), Joe Kanney (NRC).

The meeting was concluded at 21:46 EDT.

Respectfully submitted,

Victor Zabielski (GSW meeting secretary)