GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF THE OREGON COUNTRY

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF THE OREGON COUNTRY

2007-2008 ADMINISTRATION

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President: Directors:

Richard Bartels - 503/292-6939 Jan Kem (3 years) – 503/246-2275

Vice-President: Larry Purchase (2 years) – 360/254-5635

Janet Rasmussen – 541/753-0774 John Newhouse (1 year) – 503/224-2156

Secretary

Beverly Vogt – 503/292-6939 Past Presidents:

Treasurer Bonnie Prange – 360/693-8396

Marvel Gillespie – 503/246-2368 Charles Carter – 503/469-8353

THE GEOLOGICAL NEWSLETTER

Editor: Business Manager:

Carol Hasenberg – 503/234-0969 Jan Kem - 503/246-2275

Calendar: Assistant Business Manager:

Beverly Vogt – 503/292-6939 Rosemary Kenney – 503/892-6514

ACTIVITIES:

ANNUAL EVENTS: President’s Field Trip—Summer or Fall; Banquet—March; Annual Business Meeting—February.

FIELD TRIPS: About 6 per year. Fees: see field trip announcements on the calendar next page.

GEOLOGY SEMINAR: Usually held on the third Wednesday of some winter months, 8:00 p.m., Rm. S17, Cramer Hall, PSU. See calendar for details

GSOC LIBRARY: Rm. S7, Open 7:30 p.m. prior to meetings.

PROGRAMS: Second Friday evening most months, 8:00 p.m., Rm. S17, Cramer Hall, PSU, SW Broadway at SW Mill St., Portland, Oregon.

MEMBERSHIP: Per year from January 1: Individual--$20.00, Family--$30.00, Junior (under 18)/Student--$10.00.

PUBLICATIONS: THE GEOLOGICAL NEWSLETTER (ISSN 0270 5451), published monthly and mailed to each member. Subscriptions available to libraries and organizations at $15.00 per year. Individual Subscriptions $13.00 per year. Single Copies: $1.00. Order from:

Geological Society of the Oregon Country, P.O. Box 907, Portland, Oregon 97207

TRIP LOGS: Write to the same address for names and price list.

WEBSITE: www.gsoc.org. Email address: gsoc@spiritone.com.

APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP-

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF THE OREGON COUNTRY

Name________________________________________________ Spouse____________________________

Children under age 18______________________________________________________

Address __________________________________________ City _____________ State ___ Zip________-______

Phone (_____)_____-__________ Email address___________________________________

Geologic Interests and Hobbies____________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

Please indicate Membership type and include check for appropriate amount:

Individual $20.00 ___________ Family $30.00 _____________ Student $10.00 _____________

Make Check Payable to: The Geological Society of the Oregon Country

PO Box 907

Portland, OR 97207-0907

FOSSILFEST INFORMATION

Hatfield Marine Science Center

Newport, Oregon

February 9, 2008

FOSSILFEST ACTIVITIES

FOSSIL IDENTIFICATION

Bring in your fossils for expert identification by Dr. William Orr of Univ.of Oregon and “Oregon Fossil Guy" DiTorrice.

FOSSIL SWAP

Tables will be set up for trading those extra fossils you may have. Bring in your specimens for identification and labeling. Bring in your own fossils for trading with fellow bone-bugs (these are rock-hounds who are into fossils). Pick up a fossil or two from the samples' table.

FOSSIL DISPLAYS

Representative fossils from the local Astoria and Nye formations (15-20 million years ago) will be on display. Table displays include fossils collected locally by the ³Oregon Fossil Guy" DiTorrice. A large table-top display showcasing highlights of fossils folks can find on Oregon beaches will be featured in addition to the multi-media presentation. DiTorrice will also display some Florida specimens including skate and ray plates, corals, snail and clam shells, dugong and whale bones, as well as a wide variety of shark teeth. A highlight of the Florida shark teeth display will be a number of large Megaladon teeth between five and seven inches in length!

A returning feature of Oregon State University's FossilFest is a table of donated beach fossil specimens for attendees to select samples to take home, along with printed copies of the OSU SeaGrant Fact Sheet "Fossils You Can Find On Oregon Beaches."

The North America Research Group (NARG) will display fossils from both Oregon and Washington and there will be a special display from Oregon Paleo Lands Institute (OPLI).

ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN

The North America Research Group (NARG) will bring several kids activities including digging for shark teeth, making a shark tooth necklace, painting a fossil replica, and an ammonite toss.

PRESENTATIONS IN THE HENNINGS AUDITORIUM

"Discovering Beach Fossils From America's Two West Coasts," 11:30 a.m.

This is a multi-media presentation featuring beach fossils from Oregon's Pacific Coast & the Gulf Coast of Florida. Newport fossil enthusiast Guy DiTorrice presents an entertaining and educational program with a focus on comparing and contrasting readily-available and legally-collectible specimens.

"Quality of the non-mammal vertebrates in Oregon's fossil record," 1:30 p.m.

Oregon's superb fossils of mammals often outshine the less common birds, reptiles, fish and amphibians. Despite this in the past few years some spectacular finds of all of the latter forms have come to light. New varieties of large Mesozoic marine reptiles have turned up in Eastern Oregon while fossil fish as a swordfish, birds including eggs, frogs and salamanders have been extracted from Tertiary and Pleistocene intervals of western Oregon. Entering these lesser known vertebrates into our fossil record fills in critical gaps in our knowledge of there lower vertebrate orders. Renewed interest in paleontology has stimulated systematic fossil hunting expeditions into all corners of the state with wonderful results. In addition to adding new taxa to the already diverse lists of prehistoric animals, many of these new animals significantly strengthen some of our theories of the geologic origins of the state. Presented by Dr. William Orr of Univ. of Oregon.

by William Hanshumaker

Public Marine Education Specialist

Extension Sea Grant Faculty

Hatfield Marine Science Center

2030 Marine Science Dr.

Newport, OR. 97365

541.867.0167

541.867.0320 (fax)

GSOC ACTIVITIES FOR THE FOSSILFEST

Lodging and Dinner Get-together

For lodging, the Econolodge (514/265-7723) or Days Inn (514/265-5767) motels in Newport are recommended as being conveniently located next to one another on Hwy. 101 and approximately $50 per night. Some GSOC members are already planning to stay at one or the other. Others may want to try the Sylvia Beach Hotel (888/795-8422) for its proximity to the beach and unique bookish charm, priced at $97+. Contact Janet Rasmussen (503/347-8787) for meeting place and time for Saturday dinner at a local restaurant.

NARG Field Trips

NARG is planning some field trips and GSOC members may contact Larry Purchase (360/254-5635) for more information.

UPCOMING GEOLOGICAL LECTURES AT HATFIELD MARINE SCIENCE CENTER

Thursday, January 31, 2008, 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Dr Laurence Padman, Senior Scientist, Earth and Space Research (ESR), Corvallis, OR, "Polar Ice and Global Sea Level Rise"

Thursday, February 7, 2008, 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Chris Goldfinger, COAS, OSU, “Holocene Great Earthquakes along the Cascadia subduction Zone: Riddle of the Sands”

For a complete lecture schedule and other information refer to the HMSC website at http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/events.html.

and for the FossilFest

http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/visitor/current.html

IN MEMORIAM – two northwest geologists

Paul Lawson (1918-2007)

“LAWSON, Paul Fredrick

Paul Fredrick Lawson passed away on Christmas eve at the age of 89. He was a husband, a father and a man of many interests, but most of all, he was a military man - an Army officer. He fought throughout the entire U.S. engagement in World War II,...[and] received a Silver Star and three Bronze Stars ... for his heroism. ... After retiring, he returned to college, receiving a degree in geology from Portland State University. He taught briefly at Portland State before becoming a geologist for the State of Oregon Bureau of Mining and Land Reclamation, retiring in 1987. He knew every inch of Oregon and most of Washington from his activities as state geologist and from his lifelong interest in rocks and minerals. He also had a passion for Native American history and its preservation. He was an outstanding photographer and took many photographs of Native American rock paintings as a volunteer archeologist. He also greatly enjoyed working as a volunteer at the Fort Vancouver National Historic site for 16 years. Last year, he donated over 1500 rare books and journals on Northwest history and archeology to the Fort, doubling the size of their library. He donated his extensive collection of books on geology, mineralogy, and paleontology to Portland State University's earth sciences department and his large collection of rocks and minerals to the Rice Museum in Portland.”

“He was a lifetime member of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers and a member of the Oregon Archeology Society. He was most happy exploring the great beauty of the Pacific Northwest.”

Excerpted from The Oregonian, 12/28/2007.

Larry Chitwood, well known Bend geologist, dies at 65

A heart attack recently claimed the life of Portland State University alumnus and US Forest Service geologist Larry Chitwood, while taking a winter hike on Pilot Butte in Bend, Oregon. As a geologist for the Deschutes National Forest, Chitwood was known for his information on Newberry crater volcanic hazards, caving in the Bend area, and monitoring the bulge in the South Sister volcano area. Larry was warmly regarded and respected by his colleagues, and will be missed.

BOARD MEETING NOTES

January 12, 2008

GSOC members present included Richard ‘Bart’ Bartels, Janet Rasmussen, Beverly Vogt, Marvel Gillespie, Larry Purchase, Jan Kem, John Newhouse, Bonnie Prange, Tara Schoffstall, Charlie Carter, Dave Olcott, Doug Rasmussen, and Rosemary Kenney.

Upcoming speakers and topics were discussed. Janet Rasmussen reported that Christina Hulbe will be the speaker in February. Information is being collected on upcoming speakers for geothermal energy and a fossil collecting seminar.

The FossilFest will be from 9 to 4 on February 9 in Newport. Presentations will be at 11:00 and 1:30. GSOC will have a table, which will be staffed by GSOC members who are available. Jan and Larry will get supplies and set up the table. Bart will contribute a rock and geological map display. NARG has field trips scheduled for Sunday.

GSOC Field trips for 2008 were discussed. Bart and Bev will lead a three-day camping/geology trip to volcanic features in southeast Oregon in late June or early July. Janet is planning the President’s trip to eastern Oregon gold mining country for September 3-10. Several other ideas were discussed.

Banquet plans were discussed. The banquet will be on March 9 at University Place at 3rd and Lincoln. Richard Hill will be speaking on Science and the Media. To encourage larger attendance, the board voted to set the price for the banquet at $24.50, which doesn’t quite cover the cost of the dinner and expenses. A banquet ride service will be organized for members who are unable to drive or want to carpool. Members are encouraged to bring a friend, and nonmembers are welcome. Rosemary needs books and maps, which we hope will help defray the extra costs of the dinner. A raffle was discussed but not organized.

The annual GSA meeting will be in Portland on Oct. 2009 at the Convention Center. GSOC board voted to plan spouse events for the meeting.

Rosemary resigned from her positions as historian and hospitality chair. Jan Kem plans to bring newsletters and calendars to the Friday night meetings.

The next Board meeting will follow the Annual Meeting on February 8, and the next Saturday meeting will be on Saturday, April 12. The meeting was adjourned.

Edited from board meeting minutes by Beverly Vogt, GSOC Secretary.

PSU GEOLOGY COLLOQUIUM

Winter 2008 Seminar Series

2008 Winter Term

Portland State University Geology Department

Wednesdays: 3:30pm, S-17, Cramer Hall

Topic for the colloquium is “Isotopic geochronometers and geochemical tracers”.

Schedule is available online at http://www.geol.pdx.edu/.

Baker County Geology

How I Want to Spend My GSOC Field Trip!!

January’s Friday Night lecture speaker was Vicki S. McConnell, PhD., R.G., State Geologist. Dr. McConnell first came to Oregon through the Baker City office as a field mapper. Even though she has since moved to the Portland area, she was kind enough to offer her extensive knowledge on the area where we are going for the next President’s Field Trip in early September.

Her talk centered on three main geologic time frames, which are broken down from oldest to youngest as follows:

MESOZOIC ACCRETED TERRANES AND ASSOCIATED BATHOLITHS

These are the oldest units in the Blue Mountains, and geologically the oldest events. In pre-Tertiary times, three major terranes slammed into the west side of the North American craton. Even though these terranes accreted onto the craton in the Mesozoic, they include rocks that are as old as the Paleozoic.

Baker Terrane

This terrane is composed of deep ocean sediments. It is the first suture onto the North American craton, and therefore the oldest event. It was later metamorphosed, and argillites are the type rock for the locality.

Wallowa Terrane

The Wallowa was the second terrane accreted. This terrane is composed of island arc material, with mainly limestones, metavolcanics, and metavolcanic sediments. The shallow marine deposits include the Martin Bridge limestone, which is full of fossils that are complexly folded and somewhat metamorphosed. The best exposures can be found in Hells Canyon.

Olds Ferry Terrane

This youngest terrane is also composed of island arc volcanics, but it also includes evidence of associated fore-arc marine deposits. The age of these rocks range mainly in the Mesozoic.

It is unknown if each terrane collided onto the craton separately, or if they crashed into each other and then accreted as a group. There is also another oddity when following the geology of the terranes from Alaska to California. While Alaska and California line up stratigraphically, the portion in Oregon is either completely missing or rotated. Exposures of the terranes are almost absent in the northeast corner of Oregon, and mainly start farther south in Baker County. The reason for this apparent absence is because farther north of Baker County, these terranes are covered on the surface by the next group, Miocene Volcanics - mainly Columbia River Basalts (CRBs).

MIOCENE VOLCANICS

Initially, these Miocene Volcanics were all lumped together as CRBs. However, field work established that certain flows are almost pure rhyolite, which is not typical for CRBs. This lead to the conclusion that at least two separate but concurrent events occurred to pour lava fields throughout the area, with the rhyolitic event being named the Powder River Volcanics.

Columbia River Basalts

These flows are known as LIPs: Large Igneous Provinces. There are not many of these huge outpourings of volcanic materials, considered flood basalts or flood volcanism, found around the world. In fact, at 200,000 sq. km and 25,000 cu. km., the CRB floods in the Oregon Territory are not the largest in the world. The Siberian and Ethiopian floods are much larger, with other floods found in Deccan, Etendeka, Parana, Karoo, and Southeast Greenland. Even the smallest flood of these massive flows eclipses the volume generated by the Hawaiian hotspot. Although the CRB flows occurred between 16-6 mya, impressively, most of the CRB’s volume erupted within the first million years. The typical rock type is basaltic andesite.

Powder River Volcanics

When researchers mapped the so-called CRBs around the Baker City valleys, they found that they were not basaltic andesite, but instead rhyolite. There were other differences as well, although the time frames for both events are the same. While the CRBs erupted with a gradual chemical evolution from basalt to dacite, PRV erupted chaotically, with olivine basalts (pure basalts) and pure rhyolites erupting at the same time.

PLIO-PLEISTOCENE GLACIATIONS AND PROCESSES

As time was growing short, Dr. McConnell quickly reviewed some photographs of areas where clear evidence of glacial processes has taken place, such as U-shaped valleys, and different examples of moraines that are still in good shape and easily identifiable. She also discussed the possible event that carved Hells Canyon. In an event similar to the Missoula Floods, Lake Bonneville also had a catastrophic failure. This led to a build up in Lake Idaho, which backed up and catastrophically failed in order to create Hells Canyon. There is some idea that Lake Idaho may also have backed up into Baker Valley.

There is a notable Plio-Pleistocene deposit behind the popular Baker City motel, Always Welcome. The sediments dip softly, sloping to the west. The material is mainly silts and sands, but amazing fossils have been found that may be able to tell what happened to create the unit. The current puzzle is figuring out where the Always Welcome unit fits into the stratigraphy of the surrounding area.

At the end of the talk, Dr. McConnell answered a few questions, including how the mechanism for the mineralization in the area is most likely associated with the intrusion of the Mesozoic batholiths along the suture zones and not black smokers, which one might think considering the Baker terranes were made of deep sea sediments. The lecture attendees are now looking forward to seeing all the Baker County geology next summer on the President’s Field Trip. We would like to thank Dr. McConnell for introducing us to it.

Tara Schoffstall

GSOC Annual Banquet Notes

Rides to Banquet.

Would you like a ride to the GSOC banquet March 9? Contact Clay Kelleher at 503-775-6263 (if no answer leave message) or email clayr2236kher@comcast.net. We already have five drivers signed up, including one from Vancouver and one from the Willamette Valley. Also call to add your name to the list of volunteer drivers.

Donations

Rosemary Kenney will be accepting donations of books, maps and other geology/natural history related items for the sale at the upcoming Annual Banquet.

Rosemary asks that you do NOT donate the following:

· NO rocks

· NO textbooks older than 5 years

For more information call Rosemary at 503/892-6514.