Welcome GSOC's New Public Outreach Coordinator Sheila Alfsen!

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Welcome GSOC's New Public Outreach Coordinator Sheila Alfsen!

The GSOC board has created at new Public Outreach Coordinator position to address our objective of supporting and promoting geologic study and research, Outgoing GSOC President Prof. Sheila Alfsen has volunteered to staff the position in keeping with her love of public education. She has given numerous public talks to civic groups and schools throughout her term as president — and looks forward to keeping the public’s interest and curiosity for Geology alive. Contact her for speaking engagements!

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Charter GSOC member Lon Hancock was first to discover vertebrate fossils in the Oregon's Clarno Formation

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Charter GSOC member Lon Hancock was first to discover vertebrate fossils in the Oregon's Clarno Formation

By Viola L. Obserson, GSOC President 1984. Reprinted with permission from Oregon Geology, Oregon Dept. of Geology and Mineral Industries, December 1979.

Paleontologists the world over know of the work of Alonzo Wesley "Lon" Hancock (1884-1961). Professional men from the universities and museums of the world came to his door to study the fossils he found. He considered himself an amateur, attained no college degrees, and published no scientific papers, but the fossils his persistence enabled him to find have been the subjects of numerous papers, master's theses, and doctoral dissertations. And part of the geologic history of ancient Oregon has had to be rewritten because of his discoveries.

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Evolutionary Flight Paths (Dr Orr: "There were many")

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Evolutionary Flight Paths (Dr Orr: "There were many")

Over 100 of us gathered in Cramer Hall 53 – a big upgrade from the smaller classroom – to hear a former aeronautical engineering student now turned paleontologist share the geologic evidence on how the ability to fly has come to evolve.  He described the various modes of flight and the thresholds between what humans might define as “true flight” and all the ways evolution has developed gliding, falling, and powered flight.  The idea of flight is a major part of American culture, along with automobiles.  The idea of flight goes back to ancient times.  How did the wing evolve?  Unlike a simple airfoil, a bird-wing is a complex venetian-blind like structure and with an opening-and-closing folding motion. 

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Rhyolites, CRBs & the Yellowstone Hot Spot — Research by Dr. Martin Streck

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Rhyolites, CRBs & the Yellowstone Hot Spot — Research by Dr. Martin Streck

Martin Streck spoke to a standing room only GSOC crowd about the work that he and a number of his graduate students have done in advancing our knowledge of the Columbia River Basalt (CRB) flows of the Miocene. His team has focused upon the rhyolite flows that occurred as a result of heating by the basalt magma that produced the CRB.

Miocene rhyolite flows in eastern Oregon have long been studied by geologists. The relationship between the rhyolitic magma and the massive amounts of CRB basaltic magma is not precisely known, although they are spatially close so infer that the rhyolite is a result either of partial melting of the crust by or fractional crystallization of the CRB magma. In fact, the spatial distribution over time of the rhyolite can give geologists ideas about the origin of the CRB magma itself.

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Nominating Committee Results

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The following slate of officers has been selected by this year’s nominating committee:

President ............................... Janet Rasmussen

Vice President ......................................Bo Nonn

Secretary ............................ Paul Edison-Lahm

Treasurer .................................... Dawn Juliano

Director, 3 years ......................Larry Purchase

Director, 2 years ......................Martha Muncie

Director, 1 year........................Kirben Smoody

Nominations will be closed for this year’s slate of officers after the January meeting of the society. The slate of officers will be voted on and approved at the February monthly meeting.

The Nominating Committee members were Richard Bartels, Janet Rasmussen and Sheila Alfsen. Our thanks to the selected members and members of the Nominating Committee!

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Chris Carvalho's Killer Vegan Guacamole

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Chris Carvalho's Killer Vegan Guacamole

That was a fun holiday party!!! Thanks again to Carol for hosting and everyone who pitched in and who brought yummy dishes! Here is Chris's Carvalho's Guacamole recipe.

  • 5 medium avocados
  • 2 medium tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
  • 1 4-oz. can La Victoria fire-roasted diced green chiles (mild)
  • 1 tsp. white vinegar
  • juice of one lime
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. Tabasco
  • 1/4 tsp. black pepper
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 tsp. chili powder
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Rik's G.S.O.C. (Gooey-Seedy-Oatmeal-Cookies) Recipe

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Rik's G.S.O.C. (Gooey-Seedy-Oatmeal-Cookies) Recipe

Former GSOC President Rik Smoody's Holiday Cookie Recipe

I saw this recipe below open near the mixer and used it as a jumping-off point. I made a quadruple batch: why bother to heat the oven for only 15 cookies? *** REMEMBER ANNUAL HOLIDAY PARTY is next week Friday December 5th for GSOC Members and their guests, at 614 NE 114th Ave. Set-up starts at 6:00 p.m. More info at http://www.gsoc.org/field-trips/2014/12/12/annual-holiday-party. ***

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Radon in the Willamette Valley: An Unexpected Hazard

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Radon in the Willamette Valley: An Unexpected Hazard

At the end of the last ice age 18,000 to 15,000 years ago massive hydrologic floods ran down the Columbia River Gorge.  Originating from a huge glacial lake near Missoula, Montanta around forty floods were large enough to flood the entire Willamette Valley to a depth of 400 ft.  These floods did not just bring huge volumes of water, they brought huge amounts of rocks and sediments from the continental batholiths.  A large percentage of these rocks and sediments are composed of granite.  Granites from the Idaho batholith are high in uranium bearing minerals.  This high uranium content brings with it an unexpected hazard, radon.

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GSOC President Addresses Rotary Group on the Big One

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GSOC President Addresses Rotary Group on the Big One

President Sheila Alfsen addressed the Pearl Portland Rotary Club on Nov. 11, 2014. Her talk entitled, The Great Subduction Earthquake- A Collection of Evidence from the Oregon Coast presents the discoveries that geologists have made in recent decades, revealing the undeniable truth that the Pacific Northwest is at risk for a major earthquake. This body of evidence makes a strong case for the need for preparation, both on a personal and community level. Sheila has spoken to many groups in the local area and is always ready to share the news in the belief that a prepared community is one that will fare best.

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GSOC Seeking Volunteers to bring Geology to Life for Young People.

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GSOC Seeking Volunteers to bring Geology to Life for Young People.

3rd graders in Salem Get Hands-On with Fossils

Friday, Nov. 7th: Third Graders at Chapman Hill Elementary School in West Salem got a treat for their unit on the study of fossils. Their teacher, Maureen Foelkl, searched the internet to find someone who would enrich the students’ experience and found the GSOC website. Current GSOC President, Sheila Alfsen, answered the call and visited the school to show them pictures of Ice Age mammals that had lived in the Willamette Valley. She enlisted the help of GSOC member, Dr. William Orr, who brought in a real deer skeleton that the students articulated on the floor.

GSOC is seeking members who are willing to share a few hours occasionally to bring geology to life for these young people.

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GSOC 50 Years Ago, 1964 Annual Campout

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GSOC 50 Years Ago, 1964 Annual Campout

Friday, September 4th, 1964, GeeSockers began to gather at the Rujada Forest Camp. As shadows vanished in the twilight, the dancing council fire drew everyone to exchange views with the stars and each other. Trip Chairman Truman Murphy wore out his thumb with his guitar accompaniment of the songfest from “Barney Google" to 'Goodnight Ladies", while Echo II sailed overhead. 

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Slide Identification and Evaluation in Norway

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Slide Identification and Evaluation in Norway

Dr. Adam Booth, Portland State University Department of Geology, spoke to GSOC on October 10 about his research with the Norwegian Geological Survey (NGU). Norway is a country with a landslide problem on its western shore. There some of the world's highest escarpments of gneiss and schist tower over steeply carved glacial fjords. Towns and villages huddle at the bottom of these steep slopes on flat land created by the rock falls and debris flows which come from the slopes above. Blocks of material catastrophically fail periodically along steep foliation planes, sending material plummeting into the fjord below and creating immense waves. Three such events occurred in the twentieth century, leaving a wake of destruction and taking nearly 200 lives.

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Want more details on last spring's Snake River trip? Idaho Geological Survey Lewiston Basin field trip guide is now available.

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Dean Garwood and Roy Breckenridge of the Idaho Geological Survey at University of Idaho have released their beautifully illustrated Lewiston Basin Field Trip Guide documenting our spring field trip to the Snake River area. Additional photos taken by trip organizer Dave Olcott and GSOC master photographer Julia Lanning are here.

NW Energy Assn. Meeting to Discuss Alaska's North Slope

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NW Energy Assn. Meeting to Discuss Alaska's North Slope

Dave Hite, consulting geologist, with Northwest Energy Association will speak on "Alaska’s North Slope: present and future potential & its significance to the Cherry Point Refinery in supplying fuel to Oregon and Washington" on Sept. 18, 2014, 11:45 a.m. at the Multnomah Athletic Club.

NASA photo: Landsat 7 false-color image of the North Slope

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