Here's the group photo from the field trip to the Boring Volcanic Field (before GSA in Portland, Oregon, this year). Credits: Diane Johnson-Cornelius (photographer) and Bill Leeman (camera).

Labels: meetings, oregon, volcano

On the day before the GSA meeting began, I participated in a field trip to the Boring Volcanic Field, a zone of anomalously-located volcanic vents around Portland, Oregon. The field is named for the Boring Hills, adjacent to the town of Boring, Oregon, which is named for a dude named "Boring." Kim Kastens noted this funny name on the Earth and Mind blog recently. The USGS maintains an information page on the field here.

Today, some photos...

Atop Rocky Butte, field trip leaders Rick Conrey (WSU) and Russ Evarts (USGS Menlo Park) orient the group with a map highlighting the various units comprising the Boring Volcanic Field:


Mount Hood hides its peak in the clouds:


At our first outcrop stop, the field trip participants get out and look at the Boring rocks:


Here, a Boring lava flow overlies Troutdale Formation fluvial gravels:


Annotated version for the untrained eye:


In places, a "baked" zone of contact metamorphism can be seen in the Troutdale as it got scorched by the lava that flowed on top of it (bright red), but the characteristic red color was missing underneath one spot, the central overhang in this photo:

Weird, huh? Maybe the metamorphosed sediments need a certain amount of rain-mediated chemical weathering before they "blush"?

Well-rounded clast from the Troutdale: vesicular basalt from the Columbia River Plateau:


Another nice Columbia River flood basalt boulder, this one with phenocrysts of plagioclase, and a concentric zonation of texture (massive in the center, vesicular towards the edges):


Plus, you can find cobbles derived from further afield: gneiss (from Idaho?), quartzite (Belt rock?), etc:


Between cobbles of the Troutdale, you can see hyaloclastic sand (immature sand with lots of hydrated basaltic glass fragments, apparently produced by interactions of magma and water in the source area, upstream):


More hyaloclastic sand:


Oooh! A "crack panel" on the side of some cooling columns at another stop! These horizontal slats are produced in individual fracture-propagation events, and each one concludes with a little ridge called an arrest line.


Mafic pyroclastics that underlie the lava flows at this second stop:


More mafic pyroclastics, on a cinder cone in Mount Tabor Park.


This is a pretty neat outcrop: you can see normal faults cutting these angle-of-repose inclined volcanic strata, presumably forming in slumping events.


Annotated version of this same photo, highlighting a marker layer and its offset along the fault:


The weather was pretty grim for this trip, so that was a bummer. But it's Portland, right? What did we really expect? Anyhow, I enjoyed being introduced to this suite of rocks -- boring out of context, but interesting given their location well west of the main axis of Cascade volcanism. Unfortunately, the field trip didn't really address why the Boring rocks are there. I was expecting some sort of detailed discussion of the possibilities: an evaluation of different models for their generation and passage to the surface... but that really didn't happen in any substantive way. So it wasn't the most amazing field trip I've ever gone on, but it was a nice day of checking out a cool suite of rocks.

Labels: meetings, oregon, pleistocene, pliocene, sediment, volcano

Here's a photo of 18 of the 19 geobloggers who assembled on Monday night in Portland:



I had to do some photoshopping, as you might have deduced. Not everybody was in the same place at the same time: herding geobloggers is worse than herding cats! So... I've had to be creative to get them all in the same jpg space.

In alphabetical order, those pictured are:

• Andrew Alden, About.com
• Jessica Ball, Magma Cum Laude
• Callan Bentley, NOVA Geoblog
• "Silver Fox," Looking for Detachment
• Steve Gough, Riparian Rap
• Anne Jefferson, Highly Allochthonous
• Kim Hannula, All My Faults Are Stress Related
• Kyle House, Geologic Froth(ings)
• Erik Klemetti, Eruptions
• Jim Lehane (younger of the two Jims), Dino Jim's Musings
• Chuck Magee, Lounge of the Lab Lemming
• Marcella, Pooh's Thoughts
• Mary, a geo-Twitterer
• Jim Repka (older of the two Jims), Active Margin
• Brian Romans, Clastic Detritus
• Ron Schott, Ron Schott's Geology Home Companion Blog
• Peter Selkin, Oblate Spheroid
• David Williams, Stories In Stone

MAK was there too, but for some reason I don't have him in any of my photos... Sorry!

Labels: blogs, meetings, oregon

My final day at GSA was fruitful. I started off in the "Earth, et al." session hosted by ODU's Nora Noffke. It was devoted to the Precambrian, and had some interesting talks about fluctuating oxygen levels, mineral evolution, microbially-induced sedimentary structures, and Neoproterozoic glaciation. This last one was most interesting to me: UMD's Jay Kaufman talked about field work he conducted in Siberia last summer, documenting a diamictite unit between Ediacaran strata and Cambrian strata. There's even a carbon isotope excursion to match up with it! Cool... literally.

I had lunch with my friend David Dantzler, who I hadn't even realized was at the conference, until I saw him come in to one of the Darwin-focused sessions. In the afternoon, I attended another eight talks, including some on greenstone belts in South Africa, some on geological education, and a couple about the evolution of orogens, with an emphasis on South America. (One of these was an excellent talk by Brian Romans about his field area in Patagonia.) I finished up with Kim Hannula's talk about the geoblogosphere's role in supporting women geoscientists. Then it was time to bug out: back to the hotel, then to the airport, then to Los Angeles, then to Dulles, where I arrived this morning at 6:30am. On the flight, I took an Advil PM, put in earplugs and wore one of those little eye-masks so I could get some decent amount of sleep... Mixed success on that front. Once I got to Dulles, I got some coffee, and headed straight to work! It's good to be back in the familiar environs of my office and lab again. Thanks for a great conference, everyone!

Also: GSA is maintaining a webpage summarizing the various posts from registered geobloggers. It's incomplete, but a useful idea: a repository for all the stuff being said about the conference from the various attending geobloggers.

Labels: archean, blogs, geology, hadean, meetings, oregon, patagonia, proterozoic, snowball earth

Whew! A busy day at the Geological Society of America meeting in Portland, Oregon. I started off the day in the two-year-college session, culminating (for me, anyhow) in my talk about the role that field trips play in my geology classes at NOVA. I believe in spirited presentations, so I moved away from the lecturn and spoke extemporaneously about my images and data, and the talk was well-received by the audience -- or at least that portion that chose to tell me what they thought. After the talk, I was really tired out (I hadn't realized I was stressing about the talk, but apparently I must have been.) I went back to the hotel and took a shower, dealt with some mortgage stuff (I'm buying a condo in DC), and then semi-refreshed, headed back to the fray at the Convention Center.

I've met another several geobloggers: Brian Romans and Kim Hannula. Geoblogger Lockwood Dewitt sent me a rock (natrolite in calcite! likely from a pillow basalt!) via roaming geoblogger "Silver Fox." Cool. I dig it. I had some people come up to me out of the blue and tell me that they read this blog, and that is super cool to hear. Thanks!

In the afternoon, I went to a few sessions about volcanism and the end-Permian extinction, history-of-geology, and I forget what else.

In the late afternoon, the beer began flowing. I started off at the W.W. Norton publishing company's beer bash, where I brushed shoulders with Walter Alvarez, met the author of my Physical Geology textbook, Steve Marshak, and chatted at length with Bob Lillie of Oregon State University about getting the National Park Service better educated about their geological resources. Then it was off to the AGI reception, where I won a bottle of wine and got to chat with David Williams, author of Stories In Stone. Meg Sever, the editor of EARTH, with whom I've e-mailed a zillion times, but never met. Turns out Meg went to William & Mary, like me (and Jessica Ball, also at the AGI reception), so the three of us trooped upstairs to the William & Mary alumni reception. It was good to see Brent Owens, Heather McDonald, and Chuck Bailey there, as well as other W&M geology grads (including Graham, who reads this blog! Hi Graham!).

The evening's final event was the much-ballyhooed geoblogger's meet-up. At 8pm, about fifteen of us assembled at Tugboat Brewing Company, a cozy, charming little pub in downtown Portland. Every time someone walked through the door, a rousing, "Yeeeaaaahhh!!!" cheer went up. And every time someone left, they got booed! It was terrific fun meeting everyone that I've had these online geoblogging relationships with over the past ~1.5 years, and I think a good time was had by all. I'll put some photos up later... [Other online reminiscences about the meetup: Chuck and Jessica.]

Labels: books, geology, meetings, national parks, nova, oregon

The Sunday afternoon sessions were not as diverse for me as the morning sessions, but there was some fun stuff in there.

I started off with the "digital advances" session co-sponsored by geobloggers Kyle House and Ron Schott. Working with several other organizers, Ron and Kyle put on quite a show. Kyle gave his "Get with it, Luddites!" spiel, Ian Jackson evangelized about OneGeology (a global geologic map), geoblogger Lee Allison talked about geoblogging and geotweeting (and featured the blog title banners of several GSA-attending geobloggers, including mine), and Declan De Paor (from Virginia's own Old Dominion University) showed off many of the myriad very cool digital techniques he is using. He began his talk by putting his iPhone number up on the screen and then encouraging the audience to text him their questions as he spoke, so he could read them off the iPhone propped there on the lecturn and answer them as a seamless part of his talk. Then Ron demonstrated a virtual field trip that integrated Google Earth with Giganpan imagery. When it worked, this really awed the crowd. Unfortunately, Google Earth crashed repeatedly during the demo -- which must have been frustrating for Ron. Then the talks stopped an the informal demonstrations and playing around with the technologies began on the edges of the room. Milling around in the crowd, I met for the first time fellow geobloggers Jim Repka and "Silver Fox," and chatted a bit with Kyle and Lee.

(I should also mention that I ran into Bryan of In Terra Veritas and Andrew Alden earlier in the day: geobloggers galore!)

Then I went to see Bob Hazen talk about how mineral surfaces could have provided a template for organizing biomolecules as a prelude to the origins of life. It was cool, but more of an overview talk rather than a presentation of new research.

I went to a couple of very well-attended but lackluster presentations on Sierran uplift, and then closed out the day in the structural geology session, which included an interesting study about detrital zircon populations presenting skewed age populations if the basin from which they were derived had experienced landslides. Finally, Doug Burbank of UCSB gave an invited lecture and the feedbacks between geomorphology, climate, and mountain building. I checked out a few dozen posters, and then called it a day.

Labels: geology, meetings, oregon

The Annual meeting of the Geological Society of America is underway!

I enjoyed a nice field trip yesterday, investigating some anomalous igneous rocks around Portland; more on that in a later (illustrated) post.

Last night, I had dinner at the Deschutes Brewpub with Michelle Arsenault of NSF, volcanological blogger Erik Klemetti and his wife, and a fan of NOVA Geoblog, Dennis M. This was a fun and eclectic group of people, with all sorts of unexpected connections! And the Obsidian Stout was lovely...

Today the meeting proper began, and I have been delighted to attend talks on topics as diverse as geoscience education, the 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake, biomarkers (chemical "fossils"), uplift of the Teton range, oxidation of the shallow ocean before the "Great Oxidation Event," and the recently-much-hullabalooed plumbing system beneath a Permian "supervolcano" in Italy. Wow! Such interesting topics, such skilled speakers, such inspiring scientists. I heard one geologist tell firsthand about his experiences living through the Hebgen Lake quake, and another put forward the suggestion that Ediacaran fossils are lichens, not animals. Several workers presented evidence that there was a substantial land biota in the Neoproterozoic. When ideas like that are being batted around, it's hard not to catch the excitement. More later... Now it's time for me to head off for another round of talks!

Labels: geology, meetings, oregon

Last night on my flight from DC to Portland, there were five GSW members ... About one-twelfth of the population of Wednesday's meeting! Plus I ran into the geologist from Blue Ridge Community College and a grad student from Virginia Tech. Cool!

Labels: gsw, meetings, oregon

I'm in the office this morning, taking care of a bunch of last minute details before I depart this afternoon for the Geological Society of America's annual meeting. It's held this year in Portland, Oregon, and I'm pleased to be going in spite of the many responsibilities I'm temporarily putting on hold back here in DC and NOVA. Meetings like this are a great opportunity for professional scientists to catch up on the latest ideas both inside and outside their specialties. I'm also going to be participating in a field trip to the awesomely-named Boring Volcanic Field tomorrow, and maybe doing a little self-guided tour of Portland's geology on my own. I will be presenting a paper of my own (on the role field trips play in geology education*) on Monday. I'm looking forward to meeting many of my fellow geology bloggers Monday night, and not looking forward to the red-eye flight back to DC Tuesday night/Wednesday morning... and then going straight back to work. Fortunately I think I've got all my stuff set for next week, so it should be "plug and play" upon my return... but I've got a hunch I'm going to be pretty tired, regardless.

So... take a deep breath, Bentley... here we go!
______________________________________
* subject of my MSSE capstone research project.

Labels: meetings, oregon, travel

In case anyone has not been following the thread at the old post on this topic, here's the plan for geology bloggers who want to meet up and quaff some ale at the GSA meeting in Portland the week after next: let's meet up 8pm at Tugboat (link to map) on Monday night, October 19.

If anyone is around on Friday Saturday, I'll also be at the Deschutes Brewery (link to map) on Friday night, October 16, at 8:30pm: A fan of NOVA Geoblog invited me out for a beer! (Why don't the rest of you do that?) You're welcome to join us: The more, the merrier.

Saturday night and Sunday night are wide open for me. Give a shout if you want to make a plan.

Labels: blogs, meetings, oregon

Kim already gave GSA a shout-out about this, but in the unlikely event any Portland-meeting-attending geobloggers see this first, go register your blog at their "dynamic blogroll."

Labels: meetings, oregon

Yet five more of the maps I scanned from my recently-entered-the-public-domain copy of Vernon Quinn's book A Picture Map Geography of the United States. As before, clicking on the image will take you to a bigger version of the map. Enjoy!

Labels: art, books, connecticut, maps, maryland, new york, oregon, washington

Hello to the other geobloggers who read this blog!

I'm making my plans for GSA (Portland, Oregon) this week, and wondering if when we should get together for libations, conviviality, and rocks (and perhaps recording a podClast?). My talk is Monday morning, and I think I'll come out for a field trip the Saturday before the meeting. And of course the big digital innovations session is Tuesday. I may have to leave after that though... remains to be seen whether I can get people here to proctor an exam in my absence.

Anyone know a good pub in Portland? Anybody have field trip recommendations?

Labels: meetings, oregon