Sand injectites and other soft sediment deformation features formed by megafloods in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho

The Missoula Floods left behind thousands of curious soft-sediment deformation features in their wake. Join us for a photographic tour of these striking features which include sheeted sand dikes, T-shaped mud squirts, flame structures, and rubbly injectites. We will journey down the entire length of the floodway - from Priest Lake to Portland - discovering along the way where each type of feature formed and the geologic reasons why. 

Register for the Zoom event here

Speaker Bio:

Skye Cooley grew up on Samish Island in northern Puget Sound. He received degrees in Geology from Whitman College (BA) and University of Wyoming (MS). He is a field geologist interested in ancient soils, geomorphology, and the interplay between tectonics, topography, and climate. He is currently mapping the glacial deposits in the Mission Valley, MT. He is employed as the Hydrologist for the federally-owned Flathead Indian Irrigation Project in Mission Valley, MT.

Join us for the GSOC Banquet at the McMenamins Kennedy School on Sunday March 9th from 12 - 3.  

Registration will begin on February 16th and will continue through March 1st. Cancellations will be refunded up until February 28th. You do not have to be a member to attend.  More details on price, etc. will be available toward the end of January.

GSOC is excited to host Dr. Barb Dutrow, professor of mineralogy at Louisianna State University, as our keynote speaker. Dr. Dutrow has a M.S. degree in paleontology and a Ph.D in mineralogy, both from Southern Methodist University. Her main area of research involves understanding the complex metamorphic history of rocks through field and laboratory research. She has also studied tourmaline occurrences around the world and is an expert on the complex crystal chemistry of the tourmaline group. Dutrow holds many honors, including having a new mineral of the tourmaline group named for her in 2019: dutrowite.  She is co-author of the Manual of Mineral Science (after James Dwight Dana), which is commonly used in introductory university mineralogy classes, and is now in its 23rd edition.  She has served as president of both the Mineralogical Society of America and the Geological Society of America. She also currently serves on the Board of the Gemological Institute of America.  Dutrow is an exceptional public speaker, who weaves the hard science of the field and lab into the story of the relevance of geology in our daily lives. Her banquet address is not to be missed.

We hope you will be able to join us for this event!  

Hazards of Volcanic Ash to Aviation and the 50-Year Effort to Mitigate them

The 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption was a watershed moment in our understanding of volcanic eruptions and their hazards. Among the lesser-known events during that summer was the first documented case of in-flight engine damage from volcanic ash on May 25, 1980. Two years later, a 747 nearly in Indonesia when it flew into an ash cloud from Galunggung volcano and lost power to all four engines. A similar event in 1989 at Redoubt volcano in Alaska finally convince meterologists, air traffic controllers, and volcanologists that we need a global infrastructure to detect volcanic ash clouds and communicate their trajectory to aviators. By around 2010 the infrastructure was in place. But it was shaken up again when the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull sent an ash cloud to Europe, shutting down the world's heaviest airspace, costing $5 billion in economic loss. 

This talk summarizes the ups and downs of these crises, and describes our efforts to mitigate the hazard through better technology and communication.

Register for the Zoom event here.

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Larry G. Mastin has spent much of his career working to understand, assess, and mitigate the hazards of volcanic ash. He obtained a B.S. in Geology from University of CA, Davis, a M.S. in Engineering Geology from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in Geomechanics from Stanford University.

Dr. Mastin has been at the Cascades Volcano Observatory since 1990. From 1990 - late 2000's, he concentrated on the role of water in the style and timing of eruptions. Since the late 2000's, he has been involved primarily in volcanic ash hazards. He has worked with emergency managers, Volcanic Ash Advisory centers, and specialists from more than a dozen volcano observatories around the world to improve the accuracy of volcanic ash forecasts. From 2010 - 2020 he served as co-chair of the World Meteorological Organization's Volcanic Ash Scientific Advisory Group.

Look for field trip description postings about 3 weeks before each trip!

Hazards from the Nevado del Ruiz and Mount Rainier volcanoes — Leveraging lessons learned to prevent future disasters

Mount Rainier in the central Cascade Range of the U.S. and Nevado del Ruiz near the northern end of the Andes volcanic chain in Columbia exist a hemisphere apart. Similarities in their geographies, structures, eruption processes, and hazards make them an ideal couple for comparison and instruction. Both edifices contain weak and collapse-prone rock mantled by glacially distributed rock debris. Five major rivers descend each volcano within narrow valleys that serve as conduits for lahars. 

At Mount Rainier, evidence of a lahar 500 years ago comes alive in a scant extent of oral traditions. At Nevado del Ruiz, memories remain tender and just below the surface for survivors of a 1985 lahar that caused an estimated 25,000 fatalities. During this 40-year anniversary of that catastrophic lahar, we examine an exchange program that brings together public officials and educators of each nation for purposes of education, motivation, and exchange of best practices. We demonstrate that for improvements in risk reduction, commitment to motivating populations may be as important as understanding the nature of a volcano, and that a whole community approach is necessary to maintain preparedness for high consequence/low frequency volcanic events.

Register for the Zoom event here

Speaker Bio:

Carolyn Driedger is a Hydrologist now working in Scientist Emerita status at the U. S. Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO) in Vancouver, Washington. Her science career began in 1978 with research on glaciers and glacier-related hazards in Alaska and the Cascade Range. Carolyn witnessed the May 18, 1980 catastrophic eruption of Mount St. Helens and participated in the scientific response. The experience provided an opportunity for observation and reflection about the roles of scientists in society. It set the course for participation in multiple projects across science and societal disciplines. As the USGS-CVO long-term Outreach Coordinator, Carolyn has worked in partnership with public officials, emergency planners, media, park interpreters, and educators to advance the cause of eruption preparedness.