Helicopter Trip to Mt. St. Helens

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Helicopter Trip to Mt. St. Helens

A small party of GSOC members braved the iffy weather on September 9, 2017, to take a new view of Mt. St. Helens, aboard a helicopter owned and piloted by Hillsboro Aviation Company, on a trip of geologic discovery organized by Sheila Alfsen. The flight was launched from North Fork Survivors tourist complex on Spirit Lake Highway east of Toutle, Washington.

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High School Teacher Emphasizes the Scientific Method in his Geoscience Class

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High School Teacher Emphasizes the Scientific Method in his Geoscience Class

Frank Hladky, registered geologist who worked for DOGAMI (Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries) for 22 years, came to talk to GSOC about how he used his geological background to transform himself into a high school science teacher. He has been teaching high school in southern Oregon for over a dozen years now and is a member of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers.

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Future Solar Eclipses in Oregon

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Future Solar Eclipses in Oregon

We will never see another total eclipse in our lifetime unless we leave Oregon, however eclipsewise.com has links to small scale world maps, each showing paths all eclipses in a chosen 20-year interval, with the date of each.

If the above website yields a date you are interested in, use the following Nasa Eclipse Website map with the exact date substituted for yyyymmdd. This will display a Google map with the eclipse path that you can zoom in on.

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New Info on the Origin of Bimodal Volcanism on Oregon’s High Lava Plains

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New Info on the Origin of Bimodal Volcanism on Oregon’s High Lava Plains

April’s Friday night lecture was given by a truly distinguished Oregon geologist and highlighted recent research into an area that has long intrigued geoscientists about Oregon. Dr. Anita Grunder has led a team of researchers, including PSU’s Martin Streck, exploring the possible origin of the magma that has peppered Oregon’s High Lava Plains geologic province in the last 12 million years. This magma includes both rhyolite and basalt eruptions in a swath of territory between Steen’s Mountain region to the southeast and Newberry Volcano to the northwest. 

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Thomas Condon's Fossil Collection

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Thomas Condon's Fossil Collection

Professor Emeritus and Condon Collection Curator Dr. William Orr spoke to GSOC on May 12 about Thomas Condon’s fossils. This collection was assembled for teaching and reference and ranks with the best collections for stratigraphic continuity and taxonomic breadth. Many specialists from around the world come to the University of Oregon to study its fossils.
Photo: Thomas Condon with his pals Dr. Bill Orr (left) and GSOC President Rik Smoody (right).

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Climbing Through Cascades Geology

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Climbing Through Cascades Geology

GSOC Past President Bo Nonn delivered the 82nd Annual GSOC banquet speech on March 12 to a fascinated crowd at Ernesto’s Italian Restaurant in Beaverton. He has a unique perspective on the geology of the Cascade Mountains: he has witnessed it in person by climbing all 16 Cascade peaks more than once, and has received several certificates of achievement from the Mazamas, as well as being a climbing instructor with that organization.

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Speaker Mike Collins Provides Dramatic Visualizations of Hotspot Evolution

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Speaker Mike Collins Provides Dramatic Visualizations of Hotspot Evolution

Mike Collins, a retired administrator in manufacturing, and an avid mountaineering and geology enthusiast, presented his slide show “Flood Basalts, Hot Spots, and Spreading Centers and the Creation of the Western Landscape,” to a full house last month at the GSOC Friday night lecture. His show was based upon a manuscript he has produced explaining the evolution of the Western landscape in terms that non-technical people can understand. It is lavishly illustrated with scratchboard drawings that he has drawn, which take the reader back to scenes he describes in the book. 

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February Board Meeting Notes

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President Bo Nonn called the meeting to order at the home of Rosemary Kenney. We thank Rosemary for having graciously hosting our board meetings since 2000. Board members present constituting quorum were Rik Smoody, Dawn Juliano, Paul Edison-Lahm, Marty Muncie, Larry Purchase, Janet Rasmussen, and Sheila Alfsen. Other members present included Carol Hasenberg, Dave Olcott, Jane Walpole, Peregrine Edison-Lahm, and Doug Rasmussen. The minutes from our December meeting were approved. 

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Holiday Party Wrap-up

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Holiday Party Wrap-up

Ho, ho, ho! This party rocks! 

It was 3 weeks before Christmas and all was joyous at the 2016 GSOC Holiday Party. A good selection of entrees and salads, and a vast array of desserts were gobbled up by the participants. Then our fine musicians led a selection of Christmas standards and provided a magical atmosphere. The eating and singing were followed by a slide show of this past year’s field trips.

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Post-Election Turmoil Disrupts GSOC Lecture

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Post-Election Turmoil Disrupts GSOC Lecture

GSOC members coming to attend the November Friday night lecture were dismayed that the scheduled speaker, Harish Palani of Sunset High School, was unable to attend due to the nearby riots occurring in downtown Portland as a result of the recent national election. GSOC VP Rik Smoody quickly came up with the idea of holding a science bowl with the audience. That was followed by a discussion by GSOC President Bo Nonn about his September trip to the south Oregon coast. 

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