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

/ Multnomah Athletic Club/
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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Board Meeting Notes

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President 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.

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LUSI Mud Eruption: Natural or Man-Made Disaster?

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LUSI Mud Eruption: Natural or Man-Made Disaster?

Ever 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. 

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NARG trip to Wallowa Mountain

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NARG (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. 

Website v3.0: GSOC Communication in the 21st Century

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Website v3.0: GSOC Communication in the 21st Century

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....

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Board Meeting Notes

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The 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....

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Recommended Hell's Canyon Book: Tracy Vallier's Islands & Rapids

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Recommended Hell's Canyon Book: Tracy Vallier's Islands & Rapids

A 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....

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Volunteer Opportunity: Summer Geology Program with Children Ages 7-13.

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Volunteer Opportunity: Summer Geology Program with Children Ages 7-13.

Interested 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. 

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Studying The Columbia River and Its Sediments

/ Cramer Hall S17, Portland State University/
Studying The Columbia River and Its Sediments

When 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....

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