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Episodes of Death and Destruction - a recap of the Wasco County Geology Field Trip

June 7-9, 2024

In the June 2024 field trip, GSOC participants were treated to explore some of the geological fieldwork and mapping done by Jason McClaughry and field trip leader and GSOC Past President Clark Niewendorp of DOGAMI over the years 2014-2020. The main subject of the field trip was volcanic materials that originated in the Mt. Hood area of the High Cascades and were deposited on the eastern flanks of these mountains in Wasco County between The Dalles and Tygh Valley from the Late Miocene onwards. All this volcanic material is underlain by a platform of Columbia River Basalt. Also, the group examined the effects of folding and faulting associated with the Yakima Fold and Thrust Belt. Late Pleistocene surficial deposits – notably wind-blown loess and megaflood sediments – completed the surface geology they saw in the area.

Tribute to GSOC Past President Rosemary Richartz Kenney (1926-2024)

Another important long-time GSOC Past President has passed away. Rosemary Kenney (1926-2024) would have been 98 years old if she had lived 6 more days. She was also GSOC’s longest membership at the time of her death, having joined the society in 1962 (according to her presidential write-up). Rosemary was GSOC President in 1989, which, unsurprisingly, was also the year she retired.

Rosemary was a strong and independent woman who loved to travel. Rosemary Richartz was born on a dairy farm in Touchet, Washington, and was the valedictorian of her high school in Umapine, Oregon. She then attended Oregon State University and received her BS in Home Economics in 1948, then a certificate in Food and Nutrition 1949. She used this education to become a dietician, a ubiquitous profession which proved to be a handy career for someone who loved to travel.

Most of this year’s field trips will be SELF-CATERED, which means participants will be arranging their own food, lodging, and transportation. Preliminary trip descriptions have been uploaded to the field trips page and final descriptions and registration links will be added as they are completed.

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