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.
Read MoreDr. 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.
Read MoreLeslie Moclock, Tina Cobb, Matthew Vaughn, Derek Clark, Mary Eichhorn, Ana Meyer, Tim Kirkpatrick, Deborah Theisen, Heather Herinckx, Greg Aitken, Jiaming Yang, Kenneth Heininge, Steve Boyer, John Kelley, Sally Wojahn have recently joined the society. Welcome!
President Sheila Alfsen called the meeting to order at the home of Rosemary Kenney. Present were board members Sheila Alfsen, Dawn Juliano, Beverly Vogt, Marty Muncie, and John Piccinninni. Quorum was not met. Also attending were GSOC members Tara Schoffstall, Bart Bartels, and Rosemary Kenney. Tara Schoffstall stood in as secretary for the meeting in place of Paul Edison-Lahm.
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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.
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
Read MoreRecent pictures from Sheila Alfsen's President's field trip to Silver Falls State Park and the Eastern Cascades. Photos & selfie courtesy Carol Hasenberg.
Read MoreOne of the joys of planning a GSOC field trip is pre-running a trip itinerary to find the best sites of geological interest. Janet and Doug Rasmussen recently returned from scouting Southeastern Oregon for Janet's Steens Mountain 2015 field trip and all indications are that GeeSockers will be in for a treat next summer!
Read MorePresident Sheila Alfsen called the meeting to order at this year’s annual picnic site at Guy Talbot State Park. Other board members in attendance constituting quorum were Janet Rasmussen, Dawn Juliano, Paul Edison-Lahm, Bev Vogt, and Marty Muncie. Also in attendance were GSOC members Dave Olcott, Bart Bartels, Carol Hasenberg, Doug Rasmussen and Peregrine Edison-Lahm. The minutes of the June 21, 2014 board meeting were approved.
Read MoreEver since the mud started spewing from the Lumpur Sidoarjo (aka “Lusi”) mud volcano in the subdistrict of Porong, Sidoarjo on East Java Island, Indonesia, on May 29, 2006, an opportunity to study the feature and, fortunately or unfortunately, become embroiled in the political controversy over it opened in the geological community. Newly appointed Assistant Professor Maxwell Rudolph of Portland State University was involved in studies related to this phenomenon during his doctoral years at UC Berkeley ending in 2012, and spoke to GSOC at the June Friday night lecture describing his work.
Read MoreNARG (North American Research Group) will be going to Wallowa Mountain this July 24-31. The trip will visit 5 fossil sites and other activities in the Wallowa Lake area. GSOC members may join this trip by joining NARG and contacting Larry Purchase (360-254-5635).
Larry reports that NARG members are also involved in a project called FOSSIL, which is building bridges between the amateur and professional paleontological communities, and creating more field opportunities for fossil enthusiasts. For more information see the website www.myfossil.org.
In the past six months GSOC members may have noted some dramatic changes in the way we are communicating to our members. I’d like to outline what has been happening and the reasons and advantages for those changes. Broadly, we are making these changes so that we can disseminate upcoming events as well as our archival information to all of our existing as well as potential members. We think that this is the way to keep our club vigorous and long lasting....
Read MoreThe meeting was called to order at the home of Bev Vogt and Bart Bartels. Vice-president Janet Rasmussen chaired the meeting in President Sheila Alfsen’s absence. Board members in attendance constituting quorum were Janet, Dawn Juliano, Paul Edison-Lahm, Bev Vogt, Bo Nonn, Marty Muncie, and John Piccininni. Also in attendance were GSOC members Dave Olcott, Larry Purchase, Bart Bartels, Carol Hasenberg, and Tara Schoffstall. The minutes of the April 12, 2014 board meeting were approved....
Read MoreA potential downside to any GSOC field trip is information overload. At every stop and around every bend, our expert guides tell us far more than we can possibly store in our brains. That's what books are for — and for our recent Lewiston trip, the book to read is Islands and Rapids by Tracy Vallier. Our trip guide Keegan Schmidt recommended it as the best book on Hell’s Canyon available....
Read MoreInterested in sharing your enthusiasm and knowledge about Geology this summer?
Kids at Home in the Wild is a summer program in the Portland area that is seeking interested people to share their knowledge with school age children ages 7-13. They want to show children the rock cycle with rock specimens and lead small groups (3-12) on afternoon field trips.
Read MoreWhen PSU hired Dr. Curt Peterson twenty-five years ago, one of the tasks they gave him was to research the geographic extent and stratigraphy of the Lower Columbia River channel. Prior to charging this task to him, Portland State University had not conducted any geologic research into this important local geologic feature, and the only geologic section that had been done of the channel was at the Astoria Bridge....
Read MoreDave Olcott led this Spring's field trip to Lewiston Basin during the week of April 30th, 2014. Keegan Schmidt gave the orientation on Wednesday April 30th at Lewis & Clark State College. Dean Garwood, and Roy Breckenridge of the Idaho Geological Survey at University of Idaho have documented the trip in their beautifully illustrated Lewiston Basin Field Trip Guide.
Read MoreNick Zentner, Senior Lecturer at Central Washington University, Ellensburg, gave a riveting lecture on the geology of the Kittitas Valley at our 79th Annual Banquet this March. Starting out with an old fashioned “chalk talk” on a large blackboard that he rolled in specially for the occasion, Nick first depicted the location of Ellensburg on a hasty but accurate drawing of Washington State. He noted that the subject of his lecture was in the center of the state, using letters to represent other points of reference such as Seattle, Spokane and Tri Cities.
Read MoreAfter outgoing GSOC President John Piccininni gave his farewell address, President Sheila Alfsen was presented with the GSOC memorabilia- the pick axe, gavel and the copy of The Two Islands by Thomas Condon that each GSOC president has signed since GSOC’s inception. Sheila then introduced the 2014 board members.
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(Jan 2025)
Eli Ahern
Amy Chomowicz
Sean Herring
Jordan (Jojo) Kihn-Stang
Paul Leistner
Carol Mclatchie
Victor Richenstein
Keith Ronnholm
Conner Smith
Gerard Veley
Interested in geology news and casual conversation with other geology fans? Attend our Monthly Meetups!
Our monthly lectures and local field trips are open to all!
Want to come on in-depth overnight field trips led by professional geologists? Become a GSOC Member!
Questions about Geology? Ask in our Facebook Group!
Concerned about earthquake preparedness? Arrange for public speaking on Cascadia Earthquake Preparedness.
Portland State University Department of Geology, our gracious host since 1971, offers undergraduate and graduate programs in geology, as well as free auditing for seniors.
Interested in Gems and Minerals?
In the Bend area? Visit our sister club Central Oregon Geoscience Society!
Interested in fossils? Check out the North American Research Group.
GSOC • P.O. Box 80133 • Portland, OR 97280 • communications@gsoc.org
