UpperCrust 2010 by Warren Huff

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Cincinnati, Ohio Permit No. 133

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Letter from the Department Head...................................................... Page 2 Faculty & Staff News.. .............................................................. Pages 4 - 10 Student Awards....................................................................... Page 12 - 13 In Love & Geology..................................................................Pages 14 - 15 Alumni News..........................................................................Pages 17 - 51 4-Day Field Trip: Cascade Volcanoes............................................... Page 33 NAPC Conference 2009.................................................................. Page 37 Geology Colloquium 2009 - 2010.................................................... Page 38

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Dear Alumni,

ope everyone is doing really well and that your year was as successful as ours. It is really hard to believe that another academic year is almost over and that it was a year ago that I wrote a letter for The Upper Crust. This is probably because we have all been so busy with numerous teaching, research and professional activities, and it seems like we have hardly had any time to take a breath. It is no understatement to say it has been a fun and productive year, and this is a good opportunity to reflect on it and tell you a little about our achievements. However, please read through The Upper Crust to learn many more details about what we have been doing. You might also like to read about our activities in our weekly informal newsletter, Rolling Rocks, which you can download from our department website. I compile Rolling Rocks every Thursday evening and then rushing to e-mail it out early on Friday morning; so please forgive me for my awful use of the English language and any mistakes that it may contain. Hopefully it gives everyone a flavor for what is going on in the Department. As you probably know, I agreed to take on the headship last September after serving as Acting Head for a year. This was a very easy decision to make because it is a really privilege to help serve in this capacity in such a wonderful department (excuse my bias here). In fact, it is a very easy job because my colleagues, staff and students are so helpful and proactive in so many ways that I really do not have too much to do (don’t let

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them know that though). This has meant that I have been able to continue to run fun research and teaching program. But enough about me; let me tell you a little about some of the highlights of this year. The year started spectacularly with more than 550 scientists visiting our campus to take part in the North American Paleontological Convention (NAPC). Arnie Miller, Carl Brett, Dave Meyer, Tim Phillips and numerous graduate students did a wonderful job hosting this prestigious meeting. There were over 10 field trips associated with the NAPC, many of which our faculty and students were involved in before, during and after the meeting, including trips on Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian sequence stratigraphy, paleoenvironments and paleoecology in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. The meeting got a lot of local and national media coverage, and stimulating lots of exciting debate and new research. Probably the biggest highlights of the past year were the appointments of an Academic Director, Krista Smilek, who joined us last September and two new Assistant Professors, Amy Townsend-Small and Aaron Diefendorf, who will be joining us this coming year. Our other major highlight was having our paleontology program ranked 6th in the country by the US News graduate rankings. This places us one spot higher on the list of best paleontology programs from the last time we were reviewed. This is a consequence of the wonderful research and teaching that is being done by our paleontologists and their colleagues, and our graduates and staff.

Clearly our graduate program continues to flourish. This past year we have graduated eleven students, five with Doctorates and six with Masters degrees in geology. This coming year we will be taking on ten new graduate students at both Masters and Doctorate level. Our graduates have been incredibly successful in the past year in obtaining grants from such organizations as the Geological Society of America and the Paleontological Society, and many of our students have received several grants. Also this year, several of our students have won awards for their research within our university and externally. The details of all these are outlined in the pages that follow. Our students frequently present at national meetings, and some at international meetings, and it is not uncommon that before graduating they many have already published one or more papers in the leading journals. In short, our graduates are a very impressive bunch of young scientists who undoubtedly have very successful careers ahead of them. Our undergraduate program continues to thrive, and we currently have about 55 majors. We attribute this healthy enrolment to the revived interest in geology as a consequence of increased awareness and the importance of environmental geology, a new freshman seminar series that we have recently developed, and the increased academic and social involvement of graduates and faculty with undergraduate students. Our colloquium program continues to thrive. We have brought in many eminent speakers this year including, for example, Professors Dolf Seilacher and Steve Stanley. We also have had many field trips over the year. Our fall fieldtrip took us to the Cascades where we examined volcanic landforms, debris flows, fossil beds and glacial deposits. In late June, Krista Smilek and Dave Meyer will be leading a field trip with about a dozen undergraduate and graduate students to Florida and the Bahamas to examine the geology and biology of ocean margins. It seems like we have field trips to local areas every other week, and many times during each week in the Spring. Our research is flourishing. This year we have obtained over $1,000,000 of new funding from federal agencies including NSF and NASA. Rarely a week that goes by when we have not published at least one paper in an internationally peered reviewed journal including Sci-

ence, Geomorphology, Quaternary Science Reviews, Journal of Geophysical Research and Paleobiology. Again this year, our research activities continue to take us to distant parts of the world, included fieldwork in China, Argentina, Himalaya, United Kingdom, Southern California, and wildest Kentucky and Tennessee. Our activities have also included events such as the Cincinnati GeoFair and an exhibit in our University on the local geology entitled “Beneath the Streets, Under the Cleats”, which depicts many of the Ordovician organisms that may be unearthed at the site of the new Jefferson Avenue Sports Complex. Of particular note was the recognition by the university of Professor Carl Brett for outstanding research when he was given the Rieveschl Award for his professional achievement in science. Our Department was extremely please this year when the College bestowed the Distinguished Alumni Award on Dr. Aureal Cross. Many of you know of Dr. Cross’ who obtained his doctorate from our department in 1943 and was a former faculty member with us. We really enjoyed his visit to UC to receive his award from the College. In the coming year, we look forward to the possibility of searching for two new faculty members, one with interested in numerical modeling of Earth systems and the other in geologic biomarkers. Our two new faculty members will be working hard to establish two new laboratories for organic geochemistry and stable isotope geochemistry, and to develop new courses for our students. We are all very excited about the coming year. Please keep us informed of your activities, and I will add them to Rolling Rocks and/or next year’s edition of this newsletter. Also please talk with our Alumni Advisory Committee and us about what we can do to help keep you informed of our activities and/or any way you can be involved in our department. I should like to thank Warren Huff again this year for his extraordinary efforts to maintain contacts with all of you, and together with Tim Phillips for their hard work in compiling and producing this newsletter. Best wishes, Lewis Owen

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C raig D ietsch 2010 was a fine year. Last September, Kate Hedrick successfully defended (and finished) her Master’s degree, “Towards defining the transition in style and timing of Quaternary glaciation between the monsoon-influenced Greater Himalaya and the semi-arid Transhimalaya of Northern India”. This June, Kate submitted a paper (she is first author, with the usual suspects as coauthors) back to the journal Geomorphology. Kate has joined our Ph.D. program, yea! In May, Jason Dortch successfully defended (and finished) his Ph.D. dissertation, “Rates of landscape development in the Transhimalaya of northern India: a framework for testing the links among climate, erosion, and tectonics”. Lewis, of course, was Jason’s advisor, but I stood in for Lewis to hood Jason during the University’s ceremony for finished M.S. and Ph.D. students. Congrats, Double-D! Jason and I (and Lewis and the suspects) wrote a paper on strath terraces in the western Himalaya which is in review at the Journal of the Geological Society. Jason, thanks for teaching me about fluvial incision, uplift, Holocene climate cycles, and more. Now, about that rappelling… I am now advising, with Lewis, Emiko Kent who is doing her Ph.D. research on tectonics, climate, and the evolution of alluvial fans in the Coachcella Valley and the Mecca Hills of southern California. We were in the field in December, along with Dr. Shuhab Kahn and Shams ul-Hadi both from the University of Houston; as usual, learned a lot of new things about fans and the semi-arid landscape of southern CA. I have come to really enjoy being in this type of landscape (saw incred-

Visitors

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Departmental Laboratories

e had quite a few visiting researchers working in departmental geochronology laboratories over the past year. Several are working on collaborative projects with Lewis Owen and his students in the geochronology laboratory, examining various aspects of tectonic geomorphology and landscape evolution. These include: Dr. Madhav Murari (India) Professor Chaolu Yi from the Institute for Tibetan Plateau Research who has been working on glaciation in Tibet; Dr. Ana Cristina Londono, one of our former graduate students and now on the faculty at St Louis University, who is working of river terraces in Peru; Shams ul-Hadi, a graduate student at University of Houston, who is working on the Chamen Fault in Pakistan; and Kristian Bergen, a graduate student at Harvard University, who is working on blind thrust faults in the Los Angeles Basin.

ible desert pavements). I have maintained research projects with two undergraduates. Spencer Young has been looking at thin-sections and discussing geology, petrology, and tectonics of southwestern New England, with a focus on migmatites from the Waterbury dome. Spencer was awarded the Pryor-Motl Fellowship for next year. Nick Bose has been working on making zircon separates from meta-sediments from western and central Vermont; we will analyze suites of detrital zircons whose U-Pb ages will document the provenance of lower Paleozoic Laurentian margin-to-volcanic arc sediments. My collaboration with Paco Martinez continues, centered on the tectonic evolution of Variscan flysch basins in the Catalan Coastal Ranges and the Pyrenees. I spent ten days with Paco in the field last October, including three days in the high, central Pyrenees — another spectacular Alpine chain — and a short visit to wonderful Menorca. For our project, I gave a talk at the National GSA Meeting in Portland last October, dug Portland’s street cars and trolleys and all the great, hoppy beer out there (started home brewing this year), and did another five night shifts on the SHRIMP-RG at Stanford in May. Our 4-day in the Cascade Range last fall, including a day-trip to Newberry Crater (thank you, David Sherrod!) was great. The obsidian flow at Newberry was incredible! (I have newfound respect for you, obsidian.) Special thanks for the 4-day to Barry Maynard. Taught six courses this year (phew!) and begin my tenure as DGS. Our grad students are the BEST! q

This academic year Attila Kilinc had three visiting scientists working with him. Demet Kiran Yildirim from the Istanbul Technical University spent a year with me on her doctoral research project. We presented three posters in the GSA and AGU meetings. Dr. Erkan Bozkurtoglu came here as a visiting scientist for six months and continued ion his research project. Dr. Tawab Khan, a Fulbright scholar came also to work with me on 65 million years old volcanic rocks in Pakistan. While we were working on this project, a new volcanic activity started. This is really exciting and we are working as fast as possible to get a paper on this activity after 65 million years. During the spring, Arnie Miller was visited for a few days by Peter Allison (Imperial College, London), to discuss and plan a collaboration on the biological and physical dynamics of the Laurasian seaway during the Jurassic.

W arren H uff This past year has seen the continuation of three project areas that I’m involved with. Brian Nicklen is making good progress on his dissertation research in the Guadalupian Series in west Texas. The three Global Stratotype Sections and Points (GSSPs) for the Middle Permian (Guadalupian) are located in Guadalupe Mountains National Park in west Texas and are contained within one of the most one of the most frequently researched carbonate margins in the stratigraphic record. However, time control for the type sections remains poor and key stratigraphic relationships are still debated. To address these problems, a tephrochronological framework for several layers of bentonite beds that occur throughout the Guadalupian type area will be established. Brian is generating U-Pb age data with the very helpful cooperation of the Park geologist, Dr. Gordon Bell. In addition, the Isotope Geochemistry and Geochronology Laboratory at the University of Geneva in Geneva, Switzerland has graciously provided Brian with the facilities and support to do his zircon dating.

period (443-417 million years ago) in three disparate, although related areas that have potentially broad application throughout geologic time, namely: a) the linkage of sea level cycles between active foreland basins and continental platforms; b) timing, dimensions, and geographic span of migrating depocenters, foredeeps and forebulges in response to tectonic flexure; and c) the synchronous or asynchronous behavior of shallow marine biotas in response to these processes. I’m involved in a collaborative project with Dr. Wenbo Su of the China University of Geosciences in Beijing. We are using Mesoproterozoic K-bentonites to interpret the tectonic and paleogeographic histories of several of the major cratonic segments of northern China. Beyond this, I continue as an associate editor for both the American Mineralogist and Clays and Clay Minerals as well as serving as Secretary to the Clay Minerals Society. Finally, on a personal note, I still get together with some friends once a week to play bluegrass music. It’s just plain fun. q

Work continues with colleagues Carl Brett and Pat McLaughlin on our NSF-funded Silurian project. This work involves a test of conceptual models for the Silurian

A ttila K ilinc 2009/2010 academic year has been very different for me. Despite the fact that I have had colon cancer surgery followed up by chemotherapy, I was able to continue my teaching and research. My chemotherapy ended in June and everything is fine. On the teaching front, I continue to teach Graduate Research (the only required graduate course for all graduate students) and Environmental Volcanology in the fall quarter. In the winter quarter I taught the Physical Geology and in the spring quarter I taught Modern Methods of Mineral Identification course, I enjoy teaching and use the skills I gained from the NSF workshop on Designing Effective and Innovative Courses in the Geosciences.

My PhD student Gokce Ustunisik completed her degree and joined Hanna Nekvasil of Stony Brook University as a post-doc. She is working on alteration of Martian rocks at high pressures. On the service front, I continue to serve as the Press Officer of the Volcanology, Geochemistry and Petrology section of the American Geophysical Union. This year, AGU had a new President, Dr. Michael J. McPhaden and he asked me to serve a two-year term on the Bucher Medal Committee of the AGU. I am really excited about this appointment, especially considering the Dr. Walter Bucher was a faculty member of our department. I wish everyone a good and productive year. q

L ewis O wen During 2008-2009, I continued my work on paleoenvironmental change and landscape evolution in active mountains. For my sins, I took over as Head of Department in September after a year of being Acting Head. As a consequence it has been a pretty busy year, but great fun. Starting with last June, one of my Masters students, Ghazanfar Ali Khattak, graduated and moved back to Pakistan to teach at the University of Peshawar. In January, we published his thesis work on the development of earthquake-triggered landsides in Kashmir in the journal

Geomorphology. You can download this and my other papers from my website if you are interested in reading more about the science we have been doing over the past year or so. In August, I was fortunate to visit the Pamirs at the western end of Tibet to begin a new NSF funded research project on the Karakoram and Karakax faults. This is a joint project with Dr. Alex Robinson (University of Houston), Dr. Lindsay Schoenbohm (University of Toronto) and Professor Chen Jie (Institute of Geology, Chinese Earth-

L ewis O wen (continued)

quake Administration). We were also joined by many of Professor Chen’s students and one of our own students, Emiko Kent. Later in the summer, I spent a week in Argentina working on a project to assess seismic hazard for one of Argentina’s two nuclear power stations. I made a second trip to Argentina in November, accompanied by my new doctoral student, Kate Hedrick. On that trip we examine active faulting in the Precordillera. This is part of a NSF project in collaboration with Tom Rockwell (San Diego State University), Andrew Meigs (University of Oregon) and Carlos Costa (Universidad Nacional de San Luis). The geology of Argentina is spectacular, supplemented by the fine wine and excellent steaks. I think we all gained a good 10 lbs in the field.

in Death Valley, Mojave Desert and Tibet. Over the period, I have had about half a dozen papers published and have another half dozen or so in press. I particularly enjoyed working with Jason Dortch, one of my doctoral students, this year as we worked on writing several research papers on the Himalaya and Alaska as part of his doctoral research. Jason successfully defended his doctorate in May and will be joining Lindsay Schoenbohm on a post-doctoral fellowship in Toronto that start in September. With Lindsay, Jason will be working on tectonic geomorphology in Argentina and will be continuing some of his Himalayan work. In August 2009, a film crew from the History Channel visited our geochronology laboratories. They filmed me at work in the lab and interviewed me about our work in the Himalaya. As a consequence I appeared on an episode on Mount Everest in the series “How the Earth was Made”. This first aired on the History Channel in January. You might like to watch the show if you are interested in what we are doing in the Himalaya and want to see how nervous I was in front of the cameras. You can download it from the iTune store for $1.99.

In December, Craig Diestch, Emiko Kent and I undertook a short field trip to southern California. This was to start Emiko on her doctoral research on the tectonic geomorphology of the Mecca Hills and for us to continue some work on the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults. We were joined Sally McGill (California State University, San Bernardino) and Shams ul-Hadi (University of Houston graduThis coming summer, I ate student) and plan to spend a couple of Professor Shuhab weeks in the Pamirs introKhan (University of ducing Kate Hedrick to Houston). We colthe region. Kate will stay lect cosmogenic on in Tibet after I leave and samples for dating A view of Mustag Ata in the Pamir and of us collecting samples for will spend about six weeks along the San An- cosmogenic nuclide surface exposure dating on a moraine displaced in the field as part of her dreas and San Ja- by the Karakoram Fault. doctoral studies on alluvial cinto faults to define fans. In September, Craig rates of fault disDietsch, Bill Haneberg, Amy Townsend-Small, Jason placement, and helped train Shams for his doctoral work Dortch, our news graduate student Todd Longbottom on the Chamen Fault, which straddles Pakistan and Afwill join Milap Sharma (JNU Delhi), Markus Fuchs (Bayghanistan. reuth University) and I in Nanda Devi to undertake a study of the glaciation and landscape evolution. The project is During the past year, I have been busy writing up several supported by a grant that we received from the National research papers to finish off a number of projects we have Geographic Society. I am hoping this field work will help me recently been conducting. Fortunately, I manage to get quite a few papers submitted, including ones on our work loose the 10 lbs. that I gain in Argentina! q

A rnie M iller With NAPC safely in the rearview mirror (see article elsewhere in the newsletter), it’s been nice to be able to focus a bit more on research! Shortly after the meeting, Michael Foote (University of Chicago) and I did a final set of analyses comparing rates of diversification and mass extinction in epicontinental seas versus open-ocean-facing settings in the Permian through Cretaceous, and we sent it off to Science, where it was published in November. To help underwrite continued research on this topic, I submitted a grant proposal in September to NASA’s program in Exobiology and learned recently that it will be funded for the next three years. At about the same time as the Science paper came out, I published a paper in Paleobiology analyzing the Phanerozoic history of the global geographic differentiation of marine biotic composition through the Phanerozoic (dubbed geodisparity). If nothing else, this paper was noteworthy because it contains three color figures that bear more than a passing resemblance to primitive string art (superimposed on paleogeographic maps)! Several of my former students were co-authors, including : Kate Bulinski (Bellarmine University), Devin Buick (University of Hawaii), Chad Ferguson (BP Houston t), and Austin Hendy (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institution in Panama). Speaking of Devin and Chad, they both defended their doctoral dissertations last summer, and Jackie Wittmer defended her M.S. thesis. Jackie is now a Ph.D. student at Virginia Tech, where she is working with Mike Kowalewski on a project on the Po Plain of Italy (bet she doesn’t miss those Cincinnatian tentaculitoids!). Sarah Kolbe, who passed her Ph.D. preliminary exam in February, has taken a leadership role in an interdisciplinary project that I’ve gotten involved in with colleagues in biology and geography to investigate transitions in plant composition at a range of spatial scales along an urban-to-wildland gradient in the Cincinnati region. Yup, it’s gradient analysis applied to present-day plants instead of the fossil record, but this

is poetic in a way, since this is where gradient analysis got its start….Ich bin ein botanist! And censusing a forest floor bears more than a passing resemblance to censusing a reef. Sarah quantitative acumen and creativity have not only propelled our data analyses, but have also added unanticipated new dimensions to the project. Annie Lagomarcino is in the latter stages of her M.S. thesis investigating the relationship during the Late Cretaceous between the size of the area encompassed by a given marine region and the number of genera it contains (a.k.a. genus-area relationships). This is a twopronged effort, involving a computer-bsed analysis of data from The Paleobiology Database, comparing g-a relationships in epicontinental seas versus open-ocean settings; and a field component for which Annie collected a suite of paleontological samples last summer in the Santa Ana Mountains of California. We’ve gotten used to the dust veneer in my lab as she methodically processes the samples! I am very much looking forward to welcoming three new Ph.D. students to my lab next fall: Kelsey Feser, who is currently finishing her Bachelor’s degree at Cornell College; Andrew Zaffos , who recently defended his M.S. at the University of Georgia, and Gary Motz, who is finishing up his M.S. at the University of Akron. More on the new students and other projects next year! With the departure of Nate to Bowdoin College last fall, Mary Jo and I are now officially empty-nesters (and a one-vehicle family…..we are minivan-less for the first time in 17 years). Nate had a great first year at college, and we’re looking forward to having him home for the summer. Vanessa is nearly done at Tufts University, but has held off two courses short of graduation so she can play basketball next year; she has an extra year of eligibility after shredding her ACL during her freshman season. And Chico lives on q

T homas A lgeo I continues my work on understanding environmental change in conjunction with the Permian-Triassic boundary mass extinction event. I will return to China to collect additional boundary sections in the field this summer, adding to sections sampled during the past few summers. I will also be teaching a short course at the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan as well as attending the International Geobiology Conference in the same city in May

and June. My Ph.D. student, Wan Zhenzhu, passed her oral prelims this past February and is making good progress on her study of C isotopic variation in Devonian land plants and its relationship to water-use efficiency. More information about these projects is available at my website (http://homepages.uc.edu/%7Ealgeot/), and I can be contacted at Thomas.Algeo@uc.edu.

K rista S milek

T homas L owell

B ill H aneberg

Aug. 7, 2009

UC Geologist Studies Historic Patterns of Climate Change

A few of you may already know me from my years as a graduate student in the department during the 1980s (MS ‘85, PhD ‘89). I have to admit that coming back to Cincinnati wasn’t on my to-do list for this millennium, or even the next one, but my wife Lisa received an attractive job offer here and we decided to make the move. So, after a decade at New Mexico Tech and then another decade as an independent consulting geologist in Seattle, we headed east to the Queen City in 2009.

Dear Colleagues, I am very pleased and excited to let you know that Ms. Krista Smilek has just signed the contract to join us as Academic Director. She will start on Monday, August 24. Krista has just completed a Masters in Geology at the Ohio University in Athens. She focusing on paleontology, and actually started her Master’s degree in education, but got so stimulated by geology she decided to pursue a career in it. She completed her Masters in under two years having to do many extra courses to qualify for a degree in geology. Krista has a BS in Biology, which I hope will help her strengthen our links with biology and enhance and help develop a joint degree between biology and geology. The references for Krista were outstanding, all expressing her organizational and person skills, and all the work she did as Head TA at the Ohio University. We are also excited about Krista’s other skills: she has organized diving expeditions and many other outdoor experiences with high school age kids, which will hopefully lead to some innovative and exciting field experiences for our students and help attract freshman into our program. I am sure you will all welcome her to our department and include her in all our activities. Best wishes, Lewis

In case you haven’t seen it, the March 24 edition of E-Currents carries a nice article about the significance of fossil-bearing bedrock exposures at the Jefferson Ave. sports complex construction site that David Meyer and others have been heavily involved in. See http://www. uc.edu/News/NR.aspx?id=11609.

UC geologist Tom Lowell is part of a team studying the effects of melting ancient glaciers. The research has implications for global warming, as published this week in “Science Express.” Lowell, a professor of geology in the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Cincinnati, is part of a team that for years has been researching the melting of ice sheets along what is now the border between Canada and the United States around the Great Lakes region. http://www.uc.edu/News/NR.aspx?id=11831

B arry M aynard Big geological event last year was leading the dept field trip, this time to Oregon. Had a great time setting this up in September when it was sunny and running it in October when the rains had started. Big event for this year is a scheme being promoted by Paul Potter and me, along with Mark Bowers in engineering, to drill and core two holes through the complete Cincinnatian section on the campus. We would run a complete set of geotechnical and geochemical properties on one core and preserve the other as a stratigraphic reference section. Our hope is to produce an engineering and geological record at high frequency for this critical interval, replacing the fragmented and largely covered type sections, and keying physical and chemical properties to the detailed sequence stratigraphic pattern. We have most of the project in hand except the wire-line logging. If anyone wants to volunteer running the logs to have first access to the log-rock correlation data, please let us know WVXU’s Mark Perzel interviewed Attila Kilinc, a professor in UC’s Geology Department, about Iceland volcano Eyjafjallajökull, which erupted on April 14, 2010. http://www.uc.edu/News/ NR.aspx?id=11811

My day job is still my consultancy. I work mostly as a senior level specialist in engineering geology and applied structural geology on projects involving things like airborne lidar, 3-D digital outcrop modeling, virtual mapping, geologic hazard assessment, and computational geology throughout the country and, when the opportunity arises, internationally. I also accepted

Lewis Owen’s generous offer to join the department as an Adjunct Professor, in which capacity I’ve been organizing the weekly colloquium series, teaching structural geology, and continuing to collaborate with the department’s active Himalayan research group. I’ve particularly enjoyed the opportunity to teach structural geology and develop a series of all-digital lab exercises using some cutting edge software this spring. No more pencil-smudged drawings or tracing paper stereo net overlays! In addition to being geologically fascinating, semi-regular Himalayan trips have motivated me to get into fairly good shape and I recently finished (albeit slowly) my second consecutive Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon. I’m also volunteering my time on the board of trustees for The Hillside Trust, a local nonprofit group that has had ties to the department since the days of Richard and Lucile Durrell. This coming year I will be going on the road as the 2010-2011 AEG-GSA Richard Jahns Distinguished Lecturer in Engineering Geology, so perhaps I’ll have the chance to meet some of you in my travels or at a conference. In the meantime, I’ll be here enjoying the fact that this time around I can afford to live in a house with air conditioning during the summer! q

G lenn S torrs Glenn Storrs is once again spending the summer out west as he leads the Cincinnati Museum Center Dinosaur field school to Montana. This will be the eleventh anniversary of community involvement in the project and the twelfth year at the site. The program invites community members, who pay a program fee to cover costs, to join paleontologists on-site at a dinosaur excavation as active participants in the excavation of a Jurasssic sauropod bone bed. This catastrophic assemblage represents a herd of juvenile animals killed by drought and buried as a result of an ancient debris flow. The crew learn the basics of hypothesis construction and testing, data collection, and dinosaur excavation, as well as regional history and ecology. A discussion of the evolution of North America is facilitated by visits to unparalleled exposures of Archean to Tertiary rocks in the Beartooth Mountains and the northern Bighorn Basin. For additional information visit http://www.cincymuseum.org/information_center/programs_events/ dig_for_dinos.asp, become a fan of the Cincinnati Museum Center Dinosaur Field School group on Facebook, or follow our blog at http://cincymuseum.blog-

spot.com/. Glenn’s team will be joined by longtime volunteers and undergraduate majors Sara Oser and Mackenzie English. With the help of Mackenzie English, Glenn recently collected a large sample of cannel coal from the famous Ohio Diamond Coal Co. tip at the former Linton, Ohio. Preliminary examination of the material indicates that among the specimens are partial examples of the coelacanth Rhabdoderma elegans, teeth of the freshwater xenacanth shark Orthocanthus compressus, and other Pennsylvanian fossils. The trip was spurred by the discovery by Mac of a rare fossil amphibian, the nectridean Ptyonius marshii, in unprocessed samples collected by Glenn fifteen years ago! With any luck, the new collection will turn up similar surprises and in a more timely manner!

G lenn S torrs (continued) Glenn, when not hunting dinosaurs, fossil amphibians, or dealing with museum issues as CMC’s Assistant Vice President for Collections & Research, still pursues research on a variety of vertebrate fossils. A recent focus is on an important specimen of rhizodont fish collected from the Kentucky Mississippian. This 5-6 m long basal tetrapodomorph represents the best known example of this type of lobe-fin (sarcopteryigian). He is working with a variety of European and Australian colleagues on its description and analysis. Similarly, a new species

of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur is represented by a fabulous skull, now in Cincinnati, that was collected by a team from Marietta College from Utah’s San Raphael Swell. Paul Barrett from London’s Natural History Museum will visit in the autumn to collaborate with Glenn and Larry Witmer of Ohio University in the study of this unique specimen. He hopes to edit, along with Carl Brett and Brenda Hunda, the field trip guides for this past year’s NAPC as a Museum Center book later this year. q

2009-2010

GRAduateS

Devin Buick, PhD (M i l l e r ) Defen ded S u mme r 2 0 0 9 , G ra d u a te d S p r i ng 2010, D i ssertati on ti tl e d “ T h e R i s e a n d Fa l l of the Cucullaeidae : I n v e s t i g a t i n g Tr a n s i t i o n s i n Speci es Ri ch n e s s , G e o g ra ph i c R a n g e , M orph o l o g y, a n d E c o l o g y” Chad Ferguson, P hD (M i l l e r ) Gradua te d Su m m e r 2 0 0 9 Dissertati o n ti tl e d “ E n vi ro n m e n ta l c h a n ge a nd molluscan death a s s e m b l a g e s : a n a s s e s s m e n t of eco l o g i cal hi sto ry a l o n g a c a rb o n a te b a nk i n F l o ri d a .” Jacalyn Wittmer, MS (M i l l e r ) Gra du a te d F a l l 2 0 0 9 Thesi s ti tl ed “T he re g i o n a l a n d g l o ba l div e r s i t y of tentacu l i to i d s : a n e w l o o k a t th e s p a t i otemporal and p a l e o g e o g r a p h i c h i s t o r y o f a n eni g m a ti c g ro u p .” Gokce Ustunisik, PhD (Ki l i n c ) Gradua te d Su m m e r 2 0 0 9 Dissertati o n titl e d “ Ap p l i c a ti o n o f m a g ma rech arg e, pl ag i o c l a s e zo n i n g a n d c rys ta l s i z e di stri bu ti o n (C SD ) th e o ry to n atu ral s o l i d- l i qu i d e q u i l i bri a .”

Bradley Deline, PhD ( B ret t ) Gr a d ua t e d S umme r 2009, D i s s e r t at io n t it led “ The e ff e c t s of s c a l e , c ommuni t y s t ruct ure, a nd e nv i ronme nt on Ord ov i c i a n t hro ug h Early S i l ur i a n La ure nt i a n c r i noi d d i s p a rit y. ”

Justin Stroup, MS ( Lo w ell) Gr a d ua t e d S p r i ng 2009, The s i s t i t le d “G lac ia l La k e Oj i b wa y, l a c us t r i ne s t r a t i gr a phy and imp l i c a t i ons f or d r a i na ge . ”

Geology Club Updates M ike O estreich The Geology Club continues to be a fun, community-oriented organization. During the 2009-2010 school year, the club was able to provide volunteers for two major geology-oriented events plus it organized a student-run 3-day field trip, continued the development of our website, the graduateundergraduate student mentoring program, and the tradition of hosting the departmental holiday party and spring picnic. UC’s main website announced that the Science and Engineering Expo, which took place in the spring, was the most successful ever. The Geology Club was proud to be a part of the event, hosting two tables with posters, fossil displays, and our venerable old geode crusher, which was put to good use to the delight of hundreds of high schooland younger-aged children. Based on the interest in our booth at the Expo, we were cordially invited to participate in a similar but much larger local event called Space Day. Unfortunately Space Day took place at the same time as the annual Geofair (http://geofair.com/) and we did not have enough volunteers to staff both events this year, but it was encouraging to know that off-campus educational groups are interested in working with the Geology Club in the future. The Cincinnati Geofair was a major event as usual with the club doing more work than in previous years. With the many volunteers we fielded over 3 days doing load-in/load-out,

plus working the show itself, we estimate spending approximately 50 volunteerhours for the event. Spring was a busy time for the Geology Department, but our club was able to organize and operate a 3-day field trip to Ohiopyle State Park in southwest Pennsylvania over Memorial Day weekend. The well-attended trip involved numerous stops at outcrops along the way, interrupted only by a day spent whitewater rafting (and occasionally swimming in) the Youghiogheny River. The trip was a success, and we hope to be able to run more student-organized field trips in the future. Our inter-campus website continues to operate smoothly with only minor changes, as does the mentoring program. There are so many new undergraduates that graduate mentors now have several “mentees” each. Last year’s hat and water bottle sale has been quite successful as we are now sold out of nearly all items. Our water bottles have already appeared in photos from all over the country, and with this summer’s field season might turn up in places like Argentina, India, Greenland, and Scotland. The Geology Club appreciates all those who helped make ’09-’10 a successful year for us, and we look forward to building on that next year and beyond. q

Joanne Ballard, MS ( Lo w el l) Gr a d ua t e d S umme r 2009, The s i s t it le d “A l a t e g l a c i a l p a l e o f i re re c o rd f o r E a st-Central M i c hi ga n. ” Kathryn Hedrick, MS ( O w en ) G r a d u a t e d S u m m e r 2 0 0 9 a n d n o w working on P hD , The s i s t i t l e d “ Towa rd s d efining t he t r a ns i t i ona l i n s t y l e a nd t i mi ng f or qua t e r nary gl a c i a t i ons b e t we e n t he mons oon-influenc ed Gre a t e r H i ma l a y a a nd t he s e mi - a r id Transhima l a y a of N or t he r n Ind i a .” Ghazanfar Khattak, MS ( O w en ) Gr a d ua t e d S umme r 2009, The s i s t i tle d “Ev o lut i on of e a r t hq ua k e - t r i gge re d l a nd s lides in t he K a s hmi r H i ma l a y a , N W P a k i s t a n. ”

Jason Dortch, PhD ( O w en) G ra du a te d Sp ring 2009, D i s s e r t a t i on t i t l e d “R a t e s o f l a n ds c a pe de v e l op me nt i n t he Tr a ns hi ma l a y a of n o rth e r n I n di a : a f r a me wor k f or t e s t i ng t he l i nk s a m o n g c l i ma t e , e ros i on, a nd t e c t oni c s. ”

Emily Wendler, Sara Oser, Megan Moore and Matt Nemecek riding the rapids along the Youghiogheny River, PA.

Theses/dissertations defended

Student grants and awards

PhD

GSA

Devin Buick — postdoc at University of Hawaii

Emiko Kent, Tom Schramm,

Gokce Ustinisik — postdoc at SUNY Stony Brook

Tanya DelValle, Esteban Sagredo

Chad Ferguson — geologist at BP

URC

U N D E R G R A D U AT E S T U D E N T

HONORS AND AWARDS

GRADUATE STUDENT AWARDS Graduate teaching assistant awards

John L. Rich Outstanding Senior Award Sara Oser

Sarah Kolbe Nathan Marshall

Cook Scholarships to Rising Underclassmen

Departmental Good Spirit Award Zhenzhu Wan

Rising sophomore: Katherine Finan

Brad Deline — tenure-track faculty position at the University of West GA

Tom Schramm

Rising junior: Daniel Sigward

Jason Dortch — postdoc at the University of Toronto

Sigma X

Rising senior: Adam Leu

Kenneth Caster Award Anne Lagomarciano

Bill Honsaker

Cook Fund for Undergraduate Scholarships for summer camp

Special thanks

MS Jackie Wittmer — PhD student at Virginia Tech

Paleotonolgy Society

Justin Stroup — PhD student at Dartmouth

Tanya DelValle — The Richard Osgood Award

Elizabeth Cola: Wasatch-Uintah consortium

JoAnn Ballard – U.S. Government

Zhenzou Wan — The Schopf Award

Lindsay Farmer: Indiana University

Kate Hedrick — PhD student at UC (Choose Ohio First) Nathan Marshall — Entering the PhD program at the University of Utrecht

PhD qualifying exams passed Zhenzou Wan Sarah Kolbe Esteban Sagredo John Nealon

GSGA Emiko Kent, Brian Nicklen, Tanya DelValle

Dry-Dredgers Tom Schramm — A Paul Sanders Grant

International Throughflow Project: Nathan Marshall

Jay Zambito: Received a Research Scholarship from the DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst = German Academic Exchange Service) to spend some time in Germany this summer collaborating with a colleague at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg. And next year he will be on a Distinguished Dissertation Completion Fellowship from the Graduate School.

Marion Atkinson: Southern Oregon

Max Hadley: Univ. Minnesota-Duluth

Annie Lagomarcino, Jay and Sarah Zambito, Zhenzou Wan, and others for a very successful Graduate Recruitment Weekend.

Daniel Sigward: Indiana University

Graduate Poster Forum Brian Nicklen won one of 8 eight outstanding poster awards in Physical Sciences and Engineering

Mallory Stanton: Southern Oregon

UC Science & Engineering Expo

Andrew Schneider: Indiana University

Alex Tomlinson: Univ. Minnesota-Duluth

Cincinnati GeoFair

Myles Redder Award: Mike Oestreich

Recognitions Graduating with Departmental Honors: Emily Wendler Graduating with High Honors: Joel Hecker, Phi Beta Kappa and Sara Oser, Phi Beta Kappa Keck Program Participants 2009-2010: Sara Oser, Jessa Moser (09 alumna) Pryor-Motl Award Spencer Young

Kolbe holds an interest in paleontology like Zambito, but her research has taken an interdisciplinary route so far not traveled in the department. Working in conjunction with UC’s Departments of Biological Sciences and Geography, Kolbe is looking at the impacts of urbanization on forests in southwest Ohio.

By: Kim Burdett, Asst. Public Information Officer, Office of Marketing & Communications, McMicken College of Arts & Sciences

wo graduate students find love and success in UC’s Department of Geology.

he says. “But still—at least most field assistants get paid for this kind of work.”

The couple that conducts fieldwork together stays together.

Kolbe is quick to respond: “Having your spouse as your field assistant gives you a bit of extra leverage.”

Or so must be the motto of Jay Zambito and SarAnd maybe a bit of luck. Both Zambito and Kolbe ah Kolbe, two PhD students in the Department of are noted as exemplary students by their advisors Geology who married last fall. The and others in the department. two even spent their two-week honOnce we have an idea of eymoon traipsing through Carib“Jay is an excellent scientist with a bean islands collecting samples for exactly what the extinction well-focused research prospectus,” levels are and what is goone of Kolbe’s research projects. says Zambito’s advisor and Geology ing extinct, we can underProfessor Carl Brett. “In all my deal“It’s the life of a graduate student,” stand what’s driving the ings with Jay I have found him to be Kolbe says with a laugh. “We’re extinctions. a very bright, ambitious and motivated pretty busy.” student.” The two met at the University of Cincinnati when Kolbe enrolled in the graduate program a year after Zambito arrived—Kolbe from a Fulbright trip at the University of Copenhagen immediately after earning her BS from William and Mary, and Zambito from the University at Buffalo where he earned his master’s. The two became close while taking courses and doing fieldwork together, gathering samples in places like New York, Colorado and Alabama. While fighting off fist-sized spiders and hauling samples up steep hills in Vicksburg, Miss., Zambito began complaining about the weight of the rocks he was carrying for Kolbe. That was when she reminded him the load was only half of what the soldiers carried as they climbed that same hill in the Siege of Vicksburg during the Civil War. “I stopped complaining when she told me that,”

dient, will be truly groundbreaking.”

Zambito and Kolbe are earning those praises all over the department. They have both received funding by the Paleontological Society, the American Museum of Natural History and UC’s University Research Council, as well as graduate teaching awards. In addition, Zambito has obtained funding by “Our group is looking at a number the Evolving Earth Foundation and a of different forest sites from really urban distinguished dissertation completion felsites close to Cincinnati to the more rural and lowship by UC. He is also the graduate student repwild outer areas,” Kolbe explains. “We’re trying to pick resentative for the Paleontological Society. Kolbe has apart what environmental factors influence those comearned her own set of accolades, including funding by munities and how they’re structured. Which of these the Paleontological Research Institute, the American variables are natural and which are rePhilosophical Society, the Geological UC is the best place to Society of America and a grant-in-aid lated to human disturbances? Which of the human impacts are having the greatfrom the Society of Sigma Xi—a combe a graduate student, est effects on these urban forests?” petitive, science-wide competition. especially in geology... She’ll spend her summer studying characteristics of leaf physiology, including photosynthetic rates and stomata density, to uncover how they adapt to changes resulting from human disturbances.

They are so supportive in giving feedback on projects, making sure we have funding to do fieldwork over the summer.

“One of the neat things about Sarah’s work is that it’s moved her into the environmental realm. She’s taken a leadership role in our uniquely interdisciplinary project that has won her the respect of faculty in three different departments,” says Arnie Miller, geology professor and Kolbe’s advisor. “Sarah has been the point person for a wide array of data analyses. I think her analyses of leaf physiology and characteristics, and how they change with climatic and even atmospheric conditions along the urban gra-

Both are quick to return praise to the department.

“UC is the best place to be a graduate student, especially in geology,” Kolbe says. “They are so supportive in giving feedback on projects, making sure we have funding to do fieldwork over the summer, and giving us our last year off to write our dissertations which helps us get publications out the door.” Zambito adds, “The faculty here and the department in general do everything possible to help the students have a successful career.” And a successful marriage? Just an added bonus!

Zambito, beginning his fifth year at UC, researches an extinction interval during the middle of the Devonian Period of the Paleozoic Era. He spent his master’s studying a portion of the evolutionary stasis period preceding this mass extinction, and is now focusing his dissertation on the follow-up period of extinction and new speciation. “Once we have an idea of exactly what the extinction levels are and what is going extinct, we can understand what’s driving the extinctions,” Zambito says. “One of the things that has been hypothesized to be responsible is climate change, in particular global warming.” Zambito will visit Scotland this summer to look at the record of climate change preserved in the Old Red Sandstone, then Germany to work in a lab to reconstruct temperature changes during this extinction.

William Meyers.................................................................... Editor-in-Chief Harry Braunstein............................................................ Business Manager

1918 The original McMicken Hall, 1918.

Nevin Fenneman In the 1930’s Nevin Fenneman, who was then Head of the Department of Geology & Geography, published a series of advisory notes to students in the department. You might enjoy reading what he had to say. They are posted at http://homepages.uc.edu/~huffwd/Fenneman_Notes/Notes_to_students.htm

s our mark of ex-libris we offer a few excerpts from The Cincinnatian of 1918. This yearbook from the WWI years contains, “its portion of those frank joys and youthful sorrows which we are able to grasp from the fleeting path of time – and, having grasped them, to render their impress for the coming years.” Throughout this issue you will see images of campus life in those days. The University of Cincinnati was

incorporated in 1870 and instruction began in 1874, “with a small faculty of teachers from Woodward High School.” The first university building was located on the site of the old McMicken homestead on Clifton Avenue. By 1918 UC had 3000 students, compared with 40,000 that it has today. We hope you enjoy the perspective that these views of the past have to offer.

Dr. Fenneman’s Physiography Class - May, 1939.

There is a different kind of interest in subjects which we know we are going to need and which are studied for that reason. In this case our hopes and ambitions clothe the subject with interest. It might or might not attract us otherwise, but when the mastery of something becomes part of our successful career we go at it with a will often quite unconscious of whether we like it for its own sake or not. A good deal of geology is studied in this way. Dr. Nevin Fenneman

D istinguished A lumni A ward N omination

David Sommers (BS ’59) Hello Warren:

Larry Lattman (MS ’51)

Aureal T. Cross (MS ‘41, PhD ‘43)

Hi:

August 18, 2009 To:

I just received the Upper Crust for Spring 2009. I read it with mixed emotions - delighted to hear of the Department’s activities and accomplishments but deeply saddened by the passing of Kees DeJong. Gordon Frey taught me introductory exploration geophysics and I “read” metamorphic petrology with him, i.e. we both read Tyrrell’s text and worked through it together- fun! They were both delightful gentlemen. I’ll be 86 this November and it does not seem right to me that persons younger than me should pass away. That’s why I feel particularly badly about Kees.

Lindsey Theobald, A&S Development Office

From: Warren D. Huff, Professor of Geology Dear Lindsey, I would like to submit the name of Prof. Aureal T. Cross as a candidate for the McMicken College Distinguished Alumni Award. Prof. Cross received his MS in 1941 and PhD in 1943, both from the University of Cincinnati. Since 1986 he has been Professor Emeritus of Geology and Botany at Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI. Rather than submit the standard nomination form I have chosen to attach a very extensive biography of Prof. Cross written by Prof. Tom Phillips in 2006 and published in the International Journal of Coal Geology. As Prof. Phillips so eloquently points out, Prof. Cross is truly a world-class scientist and educator and has a remarkable record of achievement as a scholar. A photo of him at one of our departmental alumni receptions in 2008 is shown below. Prof. Cross is the one in the center. If additional information is required, please let me know.

Tom Klekamp, Aureal Cross and Bob Garrison.

Nothing much new with Hanna and me. We are both busy with all sorts of pro bono efforts. I lead birding tours at the local Nature Center and they are becoming very well attended. I cannot help but toss in some geology while birding. We will be going up to Churchill, Manitoba this November to enjoy polar bears, etc. We do hope all is well with your families. Best to you both. Please remember me to Maynard, Miller and Nash. Larry

Warren Huff

Edward S. Gilson Jr. (BS ’51, MS ‘53) Published in the Lexington, KY Herald-Leader on April 30, 2009. GILSON Edward S. Jr, 83, died Mon, April 6, 2009 after a short illness. He was the son of the late Edward S. Gilson, Sr. and Elva M. Gilson. He was an attorney in Lexington. Gilson is survived by his two sons, Andrew (Becky) Gilson, and Edward V. (Laurie) Gilson, two grandchildren, several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his wife, Susan V. Gilson. Gilson was a veteran of the US Army in the Second World War, and earned Bachelor’s and Masters’ degrees from the University of Cincinnati and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Kentucky Law School. He practiced law in Kentucky for over thirty-five years, and was active in his practice until his illness this year. A memorial service will be held at 10 am May 2, 2009 at the First Presbyterian Church, 171 Market Street, Lexington. In lieu of flowers, a memorial fund has been set up in Gilson’s name at the American Diabetes Association.

I guess over the years we have corresponded, but I also met you briefly at the Department 100 year Anniversary a couple years ago. However, I probably corresponded more with Arnie Miller. First, let me compliment the Department on the fine issue of Upper Crust. It is really professional as well as newsworthy interesting. It is amazing to me all the important research that is now being conducted in the Department on worldwide basis. Keep up the good work. The basic reason for the email is to notify you that the missing person’s name (#3) on the photograph on page 20 of the 1971 GSA meeting in Washington, D.C. is me! I am surprised that John Pojeta didn’t recognize me as he was in grad school at UC while I was a senior and I recall we talked extensively at that meeting. I think at that time I was working as a consultant with a company that no longer exists as such and was merged with a larger company known now as URS Corporation. I am still actively involved as a professional geologist working mostly on an interesting project in Alaska. I serve as the senior scientist/advisor for a Native-owned environmental consulting firm, APC Services, LLC (APCS), in Anchorage. The Native corporation owing APCS is the Alaska Peninsula Corporation (APC) with vast land holdings adjacent to the Northern Dynasty-Anglo American partnership’s controversial Pebble Project for a proposed copper-gold mine (volcanic porphry deposit) near Iliamna, Alaska. In 2009, APCS conducted monthly stream discharge measurements for 17 surface water stations and collecting monthly water samples for analyses from these stations on these major salmon-spawning surface water streams that drain through the Pebble Project and through the Native APC lands. Almost all stations are outfitted with continuously recording transducers monitoring water levels every 15 seconds. In addition, APCS has done biological work tracking tagged salmon and is currently managing a remote camp for the fish catchment studies involving construction and daily use of two towers for observers to continuously count salmon for two months. Other than that, I am becoming more involved in my Gemology work. About 6 years ago I started classes to become a certified Gemologist, which I now am. I also started to facet gemstones in my spare time and see this as my future hobby-vocation as I gradually phase out the professional geology work over the next year or two. I plan trips to Tanzania and other places to find raw material and possibly even prospect to find a gemstone deposit and just have lots of fun doing all this. Well, that fills you in a bit on David Sommers, so I will sign off now. Sincerely, David

The following obituary appeared in the December 9, 2009 edition of the Bloomington, IN Herald-Times:

Norman C. Hester (MA, PhD ‘68) Fred Schwartz (BS ’59) Hi Warren, Trust you are doing well. We are taking the family on a beach fossil collecting trip in a couple of weeks. Do you think that the Paleontology group at UC would like to add to their Miocene marine collection? Guy Detorres, the

Moolack Beach, North of Newport, Oregon.

Gerald Schaber (PhD ‘65) Oregon Fossil Guy is leading this trip for our family and tells me that the beach cliff where we will be collecting is a pretty rich strata. (Editor’s note: Some photos from Fred’s trip are posted here) Fred M. Schwartz

Kicking cobblestones on top of Astoria Formation.

Warren, I have been more or less overwhelmed with media requests etc. for months leading up to the 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11. But Apollo 15 probably meant the most to me because I was very active in the (1) selection; (2) detailing geologic mapping of the landing site by Hadley Rille; (3) geologic field-training of the prime and backup crews; (4) in designing the crew’s lunar traverses; and (5) designing and seeing to the production of the Lunar Geologic Map Package that they took to the lunar surface and used on board the first lunar rover Apollo. I published a rather massive USGS on-line E-book (USGS Open-File report 2005-1190 (“The U.S. Geological Survey, Branch of Astrogeology: A Chronology of Activities from Conception through the End of Project Apollo (1960-1973”) that is available on the USGS web site http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2005/1190/. I have also added below some web links below that you can use to access some of the articles written about the project. http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/HotTopics/index.php?/ archives/184-An-Interview-with-Gerald-G.-Schaber.html http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story. php?storyId=106692863 http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/knau/news.newsmain/article/0/13/1530442/KNAU.and.Arizona..News/ Flagstaff%E2%80%99s.role.in.Apollo.11 http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2009/jul/20/ apollo-11-moon-landing-space-exploration Jerry

Farewell to Wendy With great reluctance we bid farewell to our friend and close supporter Wendy Beckman in the University Communications office. After six years of serving as our primary link to both the campus and the public news media she is leaving UC to seek other opportunities. We will miss her greatly and we wish her well and much success in her future endeavors.

MAY 21, 1933 — DEC. 7, 2009 Norman Curtis Hester, 76, of Bloomington, went home to be with the Lord after a long battle with Leukemia, on Monday, December 7, 2009, at the Bloomington Hospital. Born, May 21, 1933, in Jeffersontown, KY, he was the son of Thomas Jefferson and Frieda (Roemele) Hester. Norman was a U.S. Navy veteran, serving during the Korean War. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Louisville, and a Master’s Degree and Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Cincinnati. Norman was a professor of Geology at Eastern Kentucky University, University of Illinois Geological Survey, Assistant State Geologist at the University of Kentucky, Indiana State Geologist and Professor Emeritus. He finished out his career with CUSEC, a division of the USGS. Throughout his career, he had a passion for geology that never wavered. Though he received many awards, two were quite special to him. The Sagamore of the Wabash and The Distinguished Hoosier Award (presented to him within the last weeks of his life). Family was the cornerstone of his life and these are his beloved survivors, his wife of 49 years, Ruth (Collins) Hester; daughters, Cheryl Lynn Kerr (Kevin), Cindi Marie Lewis (Troy); grandchildren, Taylor Ann Kerr, Jordyn Marie Kerr, Ryen Elizabeth Kerr, Reagan Marie Lewis, Ashlee Keith Kerr; his brother Rod Hester (Barbara); sister Pat Spierdowis (Walt); nieces and nephews, Steve Hester, Greg Hester (Carrie), Susan Humbert (Steve), Paul Hester (Kim), Terra Murphy (Jerry), Lisa Volz (Alan), Craig Langford (Amanda), Danielle Mann (Jason), Matt Stigger, Nick Langford (Kelly), Eryn Shaw (Misty), Elizabeth Dendy (James); and many loved great-nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, brother Don Hester and nephew Mark Hester. Services will be on Friday, December 11th, at 1 p.m. at The Funeral Chapel of Powell, Deckard and Costin, 3000 E. Third Street, Bloomington, with Tom Ellsworth officiating. Visitation will be held on Thursday at The Funeral Chapel from 4-8 p.m. Memorial Contributions may be made to Youth For Christ. Online Condolences may be made to the family at www.pdcfuneralchapel.com.

Henry Schoch (BS ’66) Warren: Here’s proof that pioneering earth scientists get no respect. I was with some of the grandkids at a museum here in western C o l o rado and saw this photo, which was part of an exhibit relating to earthquakes. The statue had been standing on the campus at Stanford University, I believe, when it was toppled by the great San Francisco quake of 1906. The visible parts of the statue appear remarkably intact, but I can’t imagine that the buried part was wearing much of a smile after impact. If you get a chance, you might let Ed O’Donnell know that the unidentified guy in the picture on page 21 of the Spring 2009 Upper Crust is Dave Anson. He wasn’t a geology major, but for some reason beyond my comprehension opted to take Caster’s two-week field trip course. He wore army fatigues and cap all the time, managed to grow a beard by the end of the trip and sported a monstrous novelty cigar about a foot long which he found at some tourist trap along the way. The whole effect was very evocative of Fidel Castro, to say the least.

ure out that the odds were always stacked in f a v o r of our being cauterized by the sun before finding a fossil jellyfish -- a fossil jellyfish, for Pete’s sake (I know, somebody’s obviously been able to find them, but that’s way outside my realm, as are most things). I’ve never had such a sunburn. We leave for Cincy on October 6th so I can attend my fiftieth high school reunion. I’ll try to swing by campus while in town to say hello. Best regards, Hank

St. Georges from Old Tech, 1961.

Edward O’Donnell (PhD ‘67)

Ric Caster (BS ‘68)

Letter to Warren Huff

Hi Dr. Huff,

Thanks for letting me know about Norm Hester. We were in Harvey Sunderman’s Optical Mineralogy class along with Larry Rowan, Bob Jones, Jorge Portugal, Phil Ziegler, and Gerry Schaber. You know those fellows and can well imagine the chemistry among us. It may have been the all time greatest class for Sunderman because of all the laughs generated by us.

My little cooking tip came from my sister and she often just forgets about the dinner and finishes the wine. Maybe we should trade some recipes sometime. I have learned to make a killer Morrocan tagine with either chicken or beef. Great for parties.

Editor’s note: Ed has also sent some photos from his UC days. The Warren Hotel, 1961.

As regards that two-week field trip, the apogee of our trajectory was Denton, Texas. Caster’s sister was on the faculty at North Texas State in those days, and the town was also conveniently located near some outcrops of particular interest to him. As a result, he had us spend a few hours under a blistering sun looking for fossil specimens of some Cretaceous coelenterate called Kirklandia texana Caster. It didn’t take long for me to fig-

I am now living in Dubai and while it’s a bit of a cultural desert the rest of the area is astounding to travel through. Oman is especially interesting. We do a lot of camping throughout the region and just traveled the length of Oman over Christmas. Have a look at some of my recent photo gallery posts. Anyway, hope you are well and still having fun. Ric

Stanford University, Francisco, CA. 1906.

San

Lawrence C. Rowan USGS Mapping Expert The Washington Post, May 11, 2010

Lawrence C. Rowan (Phd ‘64), 76, an expert

in using remote sensing to map the geology and mineral deposits of the Middle East and other world regions, died May 2 of cancer at his home in Reston. Dr. Rowan joined the astrogeology branch of the United States Geological Survey in the mid-1960s. He worked in Flagstaff, Ariz., using photographs taken by spacecraft to map the surface of the moon in preparation for the Apollo lunar mission. In 1972, he moved to Reston, now home to the national USGS headquarters. He became an expert in using remote sensing to study plate tectonics, mineral resources, landslide hazards and pollution. He wrote or co-wrote more than 70 scientific papers. He retired in 2004 and remained active as an emeritus scientist. He received a distinguished service award from the USGS and the William T. Pecora Award,

given jointly by NASA and the Interior Department in recognition of achievements in the field of remote sensing. Lawrence Calvin Rowan was born in Charlottesville and raised in Lovingston, in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. He graduated in 1955 from the University of Virginia, where he also received a master’s degree in geology in 1957. He received a doctorate in geology from the University of Cincinnati in 1964. Through the years, Dr. Rowan came home to join his wife every day for lunch. He enjoyed fishing in the Chesapeake Bay for rockfish from his second home in Reedville, VA. Survivors include his wife of 51 years, Frances Ferguson Rowan of Reston; two sons, Yorke Rowan of Chicago and Shannon Rowan of McLean; three sisters; and seven grandchildren.

o you have any recollections of field trips, social events, classroom experiences or other experiences during your UC days that you would like to share with your alumni colleagues? Send them to Warren Huff, email: WARREN. HUFF@UC.EDU or Dept. of Geology, UC, Cincinnati, OH 45221 and we’ll include them in next years’ issue.

U David

and

Donna Lienhart (MS ’65)

I n

Hi Warren, Here we are - another year gone. Each year seems to be passing faster than the year before and there seems to be less and less time to get the things accomplished that we want to accomplish. Last June Donna and I went to Spain with some friends and spent 10 days on the island of Menorca about 160 miles off the coast of Barcelona. We had a ball and found the geology very interesting, particularly the carbonate ramp on the southeast side of the island. Of course the clothing - optional beaches were also interesting. I had a hard time adjusting to the 3 or 4-hours of siesta time at first but found out it was a great time to catch up on some reading. The little outdoor cafe next to the condo was also a benefit. Donna threw a big surprise party for my 70th birthday in September. Luckily she had it at our son’s house in Madeira (about 2 miles from us and across the street from a couple who were close friends

David and Donna Lienhart.

of Kees DeJong). Our son is a real wine and beer connoisseur so everybody got to benefit from his knowledge of fine wines. I a m once again under a long-term contract so the consulting business continues. I am also involved in a paper on dam leakage and we are lucky enough to have a couple of great examples within a day’s drive so I’m able to continue to work (I don’t think I could ever really retire). We are getting ready to go to the Virgin Islands in about 3 weeks with our daughter and her family. Donna is leaving right afterward for San Diego with some of her girlfriends for a week of relaxation. We are both looking forward to Denver the end of October for GSA and have been contemplating driving out so we can do a little collecting along the way. Our best to you and everyone in the department. Dave

Linda Ewers and David Lienhart.

T h e - D a i l y - R e c o rd . c o m

Frank Koucky Jr. February 2, 2010 BURBANK -- Wooster’s “Indian Jones,” archaeologist, mapmaker and geologist Dr. Frank L. Koucky Jr., died peacefully in his sleep in front of his fireplace at his home on Friday, Jan. 29, 2010. Born in Chicago on June 24, 1927, his adventures took him to dozens of countries, entered him in “Who’s Who in American Men of Science” and set him in harm’s way on many occasions. As a youth he was an Eagle Scout and later he served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, soon teaching at the Montana School of Mines, mapping uncharted mountain ranges for the U.S. Geological Survey by air and on foot. He then taught geology at the University of Illinois and spent summers with the Geology Field Camp in Wyoming and Montana, sometimes clearing dozens of rattlesnakes from geological sites, fighting forest fires or searching for lost hikers in dangerous terrain.

With Harvard’s team in Jordan, he helped unearth the famous “Golden Calf” covered in “National Geographic,” but his work also included such projects as the earthquake-buried city of Kourian, Roman tin mines in Cornwall

Top left: Frank Koucky and Hal Bohmer. Top right: Frank Koucky and Jerry Schaber. Left: Len Larsen and Frank Koucky.

R e m e m b e r a n c e

He become Professor of Geology at the University of Cincinnati and was selected as staff geologist for the Harvard Archaeological Expedition, spending 19 years in the Middle East, returning to teach in the winter. His ‘digs’ often took him into war zones: he was nearly shot by teenage militia in Lebanon, was rescued by British commandoes in a Cypriot war and was brutally interrogated by Saddam Hussein’s secret police for his cases of maps.

Ralph and Linda Ewers.

and extensive excavations in Israel, Cyprus and Iraq. He spent a winter in Wales in the 1960s studying microfossils and then became Professor of Geology at The College of Wooster, continuing his field work in the Middle East every summer with the Harvard Archaeological Survey, the American Expedition and others. He published many academic papers and was elected to numerous honorary societies, but Dr. Koucky’s loves was always teaching and field work -- he once turned down a top corporate position at five times his professor’s pay to stay with his ‘digs’ and his students. A skeptic of “global warming,” his climate research was the subject of an international article in “Barron’s.” His retirement was spent far from the harsh deserts of his earlier adventures, in his vegetable and flower gardens near Wooster with his wife, Virginia, with whom he celebrated 60 years of marriage and his old dog Bonnie. Surviving are his wife, Virginia Falconer Ruhl Koucky; sons, Frank Louis Koucky III, David Blair Koucky, Walter Falconer Koucky and Jonathan Ruhl Koucky; grandchildren, Nicole, Jordan, Morgan, Michael, Christopher, Nicholas, Daniel, Andrew and Jonathan Koucky; greatgrandson, Aaron Koucky; and brothers, Charles and John Koucky. He was preceded in death by his parents, Frank Louis and Ella (Harshman) Koucky Sr.; a son, Daniel John Koucky; and a grandson, Frank Louis Blair Koucky. Frank was buried Monday, Feb. 1, at Foxfield Preserve near Wilmot. The family would like to hear from any of Frank’s students or friends who may have an interesting story to share at jon@koucky.com. Murray Funeral Home in Creston handled arrangements.

Graduate students Scott Reynhout (left) and Tanya DeValle (right) presenting at UC’s 2010 Graduate Forum.

NewRecord article from 6/8/1962.

Dear Warren, We received the Upper Crust today. No change in the Fairfield address. Over the years you have produced a wonderful and informative newsletter. Thanks and Congratulations. We are also busy as ever. The farmer planted soybeans (on the front 35 acres) this year and the extra rains have produced a truly lush field. Of course, it helped that soybeans are the GMT variety and said thanks after the roundup treatment.

Kristen is now a Sophomore at Rocky Mountain High School. This year it became a 4 year school and is very crowded. This is her first year at the actual High School building which is just over 2 miles up the street. I think she’s a little intimidated, but has lots of friends to commiserate with. She has her temps and has put in a number of hours driving Maryann and me around town, into the mountains and up into Wyoming.

Raman & Sharon

Bob Babbs (BS ‘73) Hello Friends and Family,

(Editor’s Note: The published review of Roy’s book reads, “This new volume from The Geological Society of America presents the geologic history of the central Mississippi River Valley and the surrounding area from Precambrian through Holocene times. Its focal point is the New Madrid seismic zone that both threatens and intrigues. Written to engage a wide range of geologists, from beginners to those thinking of conducting research in the Mississippi River Valley, the book’s conversational style makes it a pleasure to read.”)

Another summer gone here in Colorado. I had a good quick visit to Cincinnati in June and got to see a few of you. After that, the family took a trip to Yellowstone where it rained most every day, but we still had a great time. Earlier this month I rode up to Sturgis. Other than that, I’ve pretty much hung around Fort Collins, playing some golf, doing patrols for the PWV (Poudre Wilderness Volunteers) and doing things with the family when they were around. Ah yes, family.

Maryann started her 4th year here with the Poudre School District and is getting to keep the same schools she had last year. That makes it great as they are close

and she gets to know the staff better and can follow the progress of kids through the system. She rides her bicycle to one of the schools that is about 8 minutes away by that method. She found a hiking partner during the summer and got in a few hikes that were more strenuous than I cared to do. Hopefully they can keep that going this fall.

Raman Singh (PhD ’71)

Well....I’m baaaaaack !!! Been a while, but I’ll try and get these things up and going again on a weekly basis. I’ve given it a lot of thought and decided this is nothing more than a Twitter with pictures. Hmmmm, I don’t care for twitter, and if you don’t, please let me know and I’ll remove you from the mailing list. And thanks to all those that kept in touch over the summer!

Sean is gone !!! I moved him into the Dorm at CSU last week. He’s staying in the Honors Dorm, which is presently the nicest and newest on campus. He has one roommate from Longmont, CO. and is on a co-ed floor with young ladies right next door. Hmmm, they never had that when I was in school! He is still working at the CSU Engines and Energy Conversion Lab and has developed some new design for their charcoal stoves that they are actually thinking of patenting. It’s a little strange not having him around, but last year with school, work and friends, he wasn’t here much anyway. Ok, enough about the family. Hope you are all doing well!

Roy Van Arsdale (MS ‘74) Colleagues,

Many of you knew that I have been working on a book about the Mississippi River valley with an emphasis on the New Madrid seismic zone. I am happy to tell you that it has been published as GSA Special Paper 455. Although I have not yet received my complimentary copy I have been told that it looks good. It remains to be seen if it reads as well as it looks. Regards, Roy

William B. Harrison (PhD ‘74) Bill received this very distinguished award at the AAPG Annual Convention held April 11-14, 2010 in New Orleans. Congratulations Bill!

2009 AAPG Public Service Award Almost single III, brought into ern core and

handedly ,

Professor William B. Harrison, existence a first - class , well equipped , mod subsurface data repository at W estern M ichigan

University. The only large repository of its kind in Michigan, the facility archives more than 400,000 feet of core from Michigan wells. These cores were previously archived at sites both inside and outside of Michigan. In addition to cores, the archives include impressive collections of geological publications, geologic and subsurface maps, drillers’ reports, electrical/mechanical logs, mudlogs, porosity and permeability analyses, and assorted other well data. Most of these essential data would otherwise have been completely lost, or, at best, scattered at multiple sites throughout the state and elsewhere and thus would not have been available or easily accessible to industry and academic researchers. The Repository is designed to serve the entire public domain--petroleum and mining professionals, engineers, members of governmental agencies, the general public, and, of course, students. Researching visitors from other states and from Canada are very common. In 2008, the Michigan Geological Repository for Research and Education (MGRRE) welcomed some 66,500 on-line visits to its web pages, and on-site visits from about 130 students from several universities, about 200 K-12 students, and over 400 professionals. Since the formal opening of the new facility in 2006, Bill has conducted over 20 interviews with the media and has led numerous workshops that have focused on selected geological formations, resource plays, and important themes of Michigan geology. His long involvement with the Petroleum Technology Transfer Council (PTTC), in conjunction with his ongoing passion for making the Michigan Geological Repository for Research and Education (MGRRE) a state-of-the-art repository for subsurface geological data, has benefited both scholarly research of Michigan Basin geology as well as exploration and development of the basin’s oil, natural gas, and mineral resources. Moreover, that work has provided an outstanding regional forum for shared dialogue on these topics among professionals from industry, government, and academia. Through Dr. Harrison’s pioneering development of the Repository, he has shown that he is indeed an outstanding “citizen of geology,” who richly deserves the AAPG’s Public Service Award.

Ralph Ewers (MS ’72) Warren, The now not so new digs of the department are marvelous, but most of my memories of the department were associated with Old Tech Building. They include folks back as far as John L. Rich. I don’t really remember Nevin M. Fenneman, but as a grade school youngster I met Otto von Schlichten and several other early faculty members at the long-gone Baden Café there in Corryville. My father worked nearby, lunched there, and struck up acquaintance with them. I lunched there with him occasionally on Saturdays and met the geologists. I had a special interest in Otto von Schlichten. The Second World War was concluded on my 9th birthday, gas rationing ended, and my parents took me to the Rocky Mountains in our 1934 ford. I began picking up “rocks” as kids do, and my folks bought me one of those boxes with rocks and minerals glued in the bottom. I had little luck matching what I was finding with the specimens in the box, beyond granite and quartz. That prompted them to buy a larger box containing more examples. The latter came with a little booklet authored by Richard M. Pearl, which I promptly memorized the next day. Alas I no longer have it. When we returned to Cincinnati The Sunday Enquirer Pictorial Section contained a feature article on the Saturday classes in minerals and fossils being offered by the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, and taught by Ralph Dury and Gay Brammer. The next Saturday I went down and signed up for all of ‘em, and before my 10th birthday I had decided I was going to be a geologist and a museum director. Alas, I have nothing left to live for!

Chesapeake is the only company having a number one or two position in leasehold and production in the top 4 shale plays in the U. S. (Haynesville Shale, Louisiana; Marcellus Shale in Appalachian Basin; Barnett Shale in Texas; and Fayetteville Shale in Arkansas). Due to time delays, lack of quality control, and data confidentiality issues with outside vendors, CHK decided in the fall of 2006 to build its own state-ofthe-art core and sample analysis lab, the Chesapeake Reservoir Technology Center (CRTC). We utilize CRTC for conducting our own petrophysical measurements (for example, porosity and permeability, water saturation, gas-filled porosity, bound water, mobile oil saturation, grain and bulk density, etc); organic geochemistry analyses; and petrology (XRD, SEM with Argon-ion polisher), all in the quest to identify and quantify micro/nanno-pores and nanno-permeabilities in shales. We took our knowledge and experience in the major U. S. shale plays in search of possible shale-gas resources worldwide. In addition to reviewing commercial, marketing, and political risks with our partner Statoil (Norway), we analyzed the following data in our initial screening of 300 basins: size of basin, age, lithology, %TOC, %VRo, thickness, depth, and availability of outcrop/well data and samples. We attended numerous international conferences, and held meetings with government and private entities to review these data, and then ranked the basins, which resulted in 50, then 10 basins, having what we considered to be excellent shale-gas potential. We are currently working out the details in our preferred basins. As for me, Dr. Huff, I’ve held a variety of technical and managerial positions in over 30 years working for major and independent petroleum companies and service

Ralph

Doug Jordan (MS ‘79) Dr. Huff: Here are some items that I promised for the newsletter. First, Natural gas is clean, abundant, affordable, and American, and my employer, Chesapeake Energy Corporation (CHK), is a leading producer of this resource in the U. S., with over 2.3 bcf/day (about 3.5% of U.S. production), and is the most active driller (in 2008, we spud a well every 5 hours). We currently employ 112 rigs (most of which we own) and currently have 12 tcfe of proved gas reserves.

Left, Almerio Franca (PhD ’87), center Paul Potter and right Douglas Jordan (MS ’79) in Rio in Almerio’s apartment in November, 2009. All were there for the AAPG South Atlantic meeting. Almerio directs a large group for Petrobras. Paul still works every day after retiring in 1992, and Doug, who works for Chesapeak, directs a group that researches gas shales worldwide. Almerio’s art deco apartment fronts on Rio’s Guanabara Bay and is directly at the base of Sugar Loaf, a spectacular setting.

Jordan (continued) vice organizations. After receiving an MS in Geology from UC I began my career in 1979 in the research facility at Cities Service Company in Tulsa and, later, as an explorationist in Cities Service International. I later worked as a Supervisor of Regional Studies at Reservoir’s, Inc., and then at ARCO in Research and in International Operations for over 11 years, where I was Supervisor of Development Geology in Plano and Manager of Geology in Caracas, Venezuela. After short tenures with ORYX Energy Company, Veritas Exploration Services, EOG Resources, and as a petroleum consultant, I joined Chesapeake Energy Corporation as a senior geologist, where I now work in the Unconventional Resources Group, after having nearly 100 wells drilled in the Granite Wash of the Texas Panhandle. I’ve been fortunate to have worked on many diverse projects, and co-authored over 50 papers and abstracts on aspects of sedimentology, sequence stratigraphy, trace fossils, organic-rich black shales, outcrop logging techniques, and exploration and development geology. Debbie, my wife of 32 years, and I live in Edmond, Oklahoma. My son Lucas is a junior in Mechanical Engineering at Oklahoma State University and daughter Melissa has a degree in Interior Design, working and living in Dallas. Best wishes, Doug

Charlie Kuntz (MS ‘72) Dear Prof. Huff: I read with interest Wayne Goodman’s recounting of Dr. Caster’s Paleo Seminar (Spring 2009 Upper Crust), which triggered flashbacks of my own trials by fire, and the extinguishing relief frequently enjoyed with fellow students at Mother’s tavern. I also have a correction for the picture on page 20 (Who’s Who?) of UC students at the 1971 GSA meeting in Washington D.C. The last person on the right in the back row (#17) is misidentified as Andy Harman - it’s actually me, another flashback from 38 years ago. After leaving UC, I spent 29 enjoyable years after graduation as a geologist working on a wide variety of engineering and environmental studies, ranging from seismic suitability of proposed and existing Midwestern nuclear power station sites in the 1970s to the fate and transport of spilled crude oil from the Exxon Valdez in Alaska in the early 90s. Two of the nuclear plant projects I worked on involved stratigraphic age dating: one site near Morris, IL and the other near Rockford,

IL. The projects were about 5-6 years apart (1975-77 and 1981-82, if I remember correctly), and your fellow researcher, Dennis Kolata, provided expert thirdparty data analysis and critique on behalf of the ISGS. The Morris site, within the Sandwich fault zone, involved the Penn. Spoon Shale horizontally overlying fault blocks of Ord. Ft. Atkinson Limestone. It was critical we show that last displacements were older than 35,000 years, and we successfully demonstrated to the NRC that the faulting occurred 250+ million years b.p. The other project was at the Byron station site under construction at the time, and in jeopardy of delaying, or not getting, an operating license if sinkholes at the site were due to post-Pleistocene displacements of underlying Ordovician bedrock. There were some antagonists stirring the pot here, so we began the trenching investigation in a fishbowl. I quickly wanted the ISGS to provide independent oversight from the start in this situation, and Dennis came with Leon Fullmer. The whole argument hinged upon showing that the glacial clays in the bottoms of the sinkholes were undisturbed, and through supplementary directional drilling, we also demonstrated that the bedrock was not like Swiss cheese (phantom caverns we called them) as our opponents claimed. Leon took the lead on age dating for the State on this one, and again, we were successful. My longest tenure of 20 years was with the firm of Dames & Moore (now URS) in Chicago, Charleston, WV, and Cincinnati; and I spent 7 years with Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, and 2 years with an engineering firm also in Columbus. While at Battelle, I moved from their nuclear waste division in 1986 to the environmental assessment department in the Columbus Lab division. Within days of the Valdez spill in April 1989, Exxon called and wanted a team of Battelle scientists to come and make an independent field assessment midst the headlining pandemonium. From that assessment, Battelle moved into the role of collection, management, and analysis of environmental sampling data, and reviewers of the numerous sampling and remediation plans. My involvement came when I returned from vacation in September, and was asked to temporarily re-locate to Anchorage (lesson: don’t go Continued on Page 32.

Cincinnati: Beneath the Streets, Under the Cleats Exhibit –

and

N e w C o n s t r u c t i o n – E x p o s e C i n c i n n at i ’ s U n i q u e U n d e r g r o u n d

By: M.B. Reilly. Photos By: David Meyer, Lucy Cossentino-Sinnard, Jeff Weimar

– Bellevue, CorEden, Fairview, Mt. Auburn – are used the

Construction recently began on a new University of Cincinnati football practice field – the Jefferson Avenue Sports Complex – and that work will almost certainly uncover a small treasure trove of fossils for geologists.

In fact, so famous are the Ordovician fossils and rocks of the Cincinnati region that geologists worldwide use the term “Cincinnatian” for the fossil layers that date back some 450 million years (250 million years before the dinosaurs lived) when a shallow sea covered North America. And major layers within that “Cincinnatian” are similarly identified worldwide by the local place names where they were first uncovered in the 19th century: the Bellevue, the Corryville, the Eden, the Fairview and the Mt. Auburn layers. There are also layers known as the Miamitown, Waynesville, Whitewater and more.

So, the timing could not be better for an unusual exhibit – “Cincinnati: Beneath the Streets, Under the Cleats” – to run April 1, 2010, to May 14, 2010, in the University of Cincinnati’s Philip M. Meyers, Jr. Memorial Gallery, located in the Joseph A. Steger Student Life Center.

Most local residents who have picked up fossils in their back yards don’t realize the rarity of what – for them – is a commonplace experience. Most of the world has nothing to rival the fossil riches of our region, and fossils from Cincinnati can be found in every major museum in the United States and overseas.

Get up close and hands on with fossils – the shells and skeletons of plants and animals like coral, sea lilies, sea stars, brachiopods (shellfish), trilobites, mollusks and more. Touch and see a 16foot long “Cincinnatian” layer of fossils. The layer is so named because these fossils from the Ordovician period were first found in large numbers right here in Cincinnati.

So, why was Cincinnati so lucky? Well, it can be ascribed to “locationlocation-location:”

incinnati and its place names

ryville ,

world over as the scientifically prescribed identifiers for fossil layers .

Come

and find out why

some hands - on experience

–

at an upcoming

and get

ex -

hibit .

Get the big picture via aerial photographs and a geologic time scale. And view lighted columns that recreate the soil layers of the Ordovician period of 450 million years ago. FOSSIL FOCUS ON CINCINNATI “Beneath the Streets, Under the Cleats” will also bring to light the city’s internationally acknowledged heritage and leadership in the field of geology.

n The abundant marine life that settled into the region’s sea beds during the Ordovician period weren’t subsequently buried deeply. n Major mountain ranges didn’t emerge in our region to disrupt fossil and rock formations.

But a very gentle uplift did occur (known as the Cincinnati Arch). This gentle uplift (a ripple of the rise of the Great Smoky and Blue Ridge mountains) continually eroded soil, stripping away layers above the Ordovician fossils embedded in the region’s hard limestone, which itself was resistant to erosion. n

And so, making fossils from 450 millions years ago readily available today throughout the Cincinnati region.

COMMENTS AND QUOTES ABOUT CINCINNATI FOSSILS n About Cincinnati, 700 feet of shaly limestones of Hudson age contain abundant fossils. – Albert Perry Brigham, A text-book of geology, 1903

Despite the great age of these formations exposed in the Cincinnati Arch, upwards of 400 million years, there is an amazingly perfect preservation of the life types which lived in the oceans in which were built up the limestones and shales of our bed rock. Fossils of beautifully complete preservation are not only found actually by the millions, but there is a great variety of forms. – William H. Shideler, The Cincinnati Arch: A Creator of Early Geologists, 1952 n

n Of the many prolific collecting grounds in the continental interior, none excels the Ohio River bluffs at Cincinnati, Ohio. Here the Upper Ordovician rocks are almost literally made of fossils; many are as perfectly preserved as fossils can be. The river banks, road cuts and even the soil in the gardens are replete with fossils more common than pebbles. Almost every museum in the world has specimens from this locality. – William Lee Stokes, Essentials of Earth History, 1966 n Cincinnatian. The youngest of three epochs of the Ordovician Period; also the series of strata deposited during that epoch. – The American Geological Institute, Dictionary of Geological Terms, 1975 n Cincinnati…is built on a veritable storehouse of fossils, a storehouse that seems inexhaustible. The Cincinnati area has been a collecting ground for a century or more… . – Aurele La Rocque and Mildred Fisher Marple, Ohio Fossils, 1977

…Cincinnati with profuse exceptional fossils in its Ordovician hills. – John McPhee, Rising From The Plains, 1986 n

n In contrast to these barren deposits are others in which fossils are abundant or actually form most of the rock. Limy shales from the Cincinnati region and southeastern Indiana are crowded with shells. – Carroll Lane Fenton and Mildred Adams Fenton, The Fossil Book, 1987

Any museum worth its weight in salt has a collection of Cincinnati fossils. – Cincinnati Magazine, 1996 n

n The Cincinnatian is famous for the abundance and quality of the fossils. All are marine invertebrates, but there is a tremendous variety. – Erich Rose, New York Paleontological Society, 2000 n The Upper Ordovician of North America is the Cincinnatian Series, named for the richly fossiliferous beds...surrounding Cincinnati, Ohio. – William I Ausich, Fossil Crinoids, 2003

An illustration by John Agnew of the shallow sea that was Cincinnati 450 million years ago. The illustration was completed for the book, “A Sea Without Fish: Life in the Ordovician Sea of the Cincinnati” by UC’s David Meyer and MSJ’s Richard Davis.

Kuntz (continued) go on vacation), and manage our growing staff there. I spent 5 months through the dead of winter, and fell in love with Alaska. If it had been 15 years earlier, I probably wouldn’t have come back, and moved my family there. In 2000 I retired from the profession, and began a rewarding career working with high school students as a science intervention specialist in the school district from which my son and daughter graduated. Most of the students I work with are low achievers with a history of failure, or for whatever reason, don’t learn well in a classroom setting - attention deficit disorder, learning disabilities, disrespect for authority (passive-aggressive behavior), or emotional problems (dysfunctional home and family). By the time I explain a three-variable problem for force and motion (let alone, stoichiometry, or kinematics), and have blank stares because the freshman students didn’t learn pre-algebra skills or can’t read for content the given problem, it seems too late. We’ve started a readiness effort in science this year, trying to ease the freshman kids into improving their math and reading cognitive skills. What we’re seeing in the strugglers is either a lack of retention or a lack of understanding of core skills initially presented (as opposed to taught) in elementary and middle school. To be fair, probably a third to half of my students do just fine, but since I specialize in what I call the “lower academic quartile”, my experiences are unquestionably skewed. Please tell the Ed folks to put the best and brightest in early learning - that’s where we need the most help - more standardized tests don’t measure achievement, they only tell us what we already know. Rarely does a day go by that I don’t make a difference

Top row (L to R); Micheal Fein (BS ’73), William B. Harrison (PhD ‘74) and Michael Lewan (PhD ‘80).

in one or more student’s understanding and awareness of the sciences, and the occasional “Eureka moments” that occur are rewarding. By getting off the treadmill that limited my free time for so many years, I truly enjoy the relaxing hours of late afternoons and summer vacations that I have as an educator. In a few years when I retire, I’ll add mornings to my collection of available time to pursue new interests.

Annual 4-Day Field Trip

Regards, Charlie

Michael Fein (BS ‘73) Re p o r t i n g o n t h e 2010 A A P G m eetin g i n Ne w O r l e a n s , L A Hi Dr. Huff, It was a wonderful gathering of industry, academia, and government representatives with a common UC legacy. AAPG 2010 was a wonderful meeting with a lot of great information exchanged, lots of good food consumed, and plenty of libation. Eighteen UC grads and spouses got together for geocamaraderie at the Grande Isle Restaurant in New Orleans on April 11th to talk geology, oil and gas, and good times of the campus days. Wayne Goodman came up with the idea to further honor Bill Harrison, AAPG honoree. Pure genius, but it came off even better than we could have anticipated. Attached are some pictures of the evening, and there are probably a few more in some others’ cameras. We realized that at our table were all three living NOGS presidents, but there was also a fourth, the late Gordon Frey.

T h e Vo l c a n i c L a n d c a p e s o f We s t e r n Wa s h i n g t o n a n d O re g o n

The northwest coast of America was formed over

what, to Midwesterners used to thinking in 10 million year increments, was an incredibly brief and incredibly active period in the recent geological past by the movement of the Juan de Fuca oceanic plate beneath the continental North Americanplate, a movement that produced the vast amounts of andesitic volcanic material that now covers western Washington and Oregon and provide the rich soils that foster the fruit and wine growing regions along the Willamette and Columbia River Valleys. Combine these events with a major eruption of Miocene flood basalts and catastrophic Pleistocene erosion and you have some of the most spectacular scenery

and some of the best spots for the study of volcanic processes in the USA. Taking advantage of the Geological Society of America annual meeting in Portland, the UC Geology Department took 47 faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and alumni on a tour of these world-class sites. Starting with a fogged-in Mt St Helens, the sun came out for the Columbia Gorge. We stayed on the slopes of Mt Hood, travelled to the spectacular Newberry volcano and the intracanyon flows of the Crooked River. The third day again saw heavy rain for visits to several lahars and finally sunlight again at the Columbia Gorge Hotel where erosional remnants of the powerful Missoula floods are on display.

Bottom row (L to R); Dr. & Mrs. Thomas Algeo, Igor and Betty Effimoff (PhD ‘72), Mr. & Mrs. Tom Klekamp (MS ‘71) and Paul Potter & Tom Klekamp.

Wayne Goodman (MS ‘76)

Lou Sabo (Class

Hi, Warren and Lewis,

Prof. Huff,

Before we all break for the holidays, I was just wondering what’s transpired to date on resumes and follow-ups for the two faculty position searches. (Editor’s note: two successful hires) Keep me apprised if the department wants any input from the Alum Committee in the near term. I was sorry to see Coach Kelly lost to Notre Dame-whether you consider it a plus or minus, it’s fact that success in athletics stirs the a l u m n i and gets the public at large talking about the university like nothing else can, and Brian was always good for a notable sound bite to go along with the results he brought. (Not to mention that the campus is a lively place for the kids when there is a team of national stature.)

(Re: The Grand Canyon) Santa Fe RR built, owned and ran everything for the park service until 1954. They contracted Fred Harvey Company who provided hotel and restaurant service on their RR line to do the same at the canyon while they designed and built almost everything that is there. In 1954 they gave utility buildings to the NPS while the lodges, barns and all other related buildings for practically nothing to the Fred Harvey Company. Most of the modern expansion was done while they owned it until 1968 when a company from Hawaii bought them out.

There’s little of consequence to report from “up north,” except that we have nearly 2 feet of snow on the ground and winter came at us rather quickly as we flipped from November to December. Things are busy here, and I’m getting a daily dose of new mind candy from the projects we have in play at the present! I’m sure that Paul has shared with you the fact that alum Dr. Bill Harrison (PhD. in mid-1970’s) will be awarded the AAPG Public Service Award at the organization’s national convention next spring. Paul and I put together the package for Bill’s nomination, and are most pleased that we backed the winning horse in the race! Bill’s accomplishments as an academic who has had a life-long liaisonship relationship linking industry, academia, and government is something very special and his prominence as an alumnus of our department is a story probably not trumpeted enough! If Paul hasn’t shared with you our nomination packet, ask him! My best to everyone in the department as we break for holidays. Pass along my regards, I hope to see everyone some time in early 2010. Cheers, Wayne

D o you have any recollections of field

trips, social events, classroom experiences or other experiences during your UC days that you would like to share with your alumni colleagues? Send them to Warren Huff, email: WARREN.HUFF@UC.EDU or Dept. of Geology, UC, Cincinnati, OH 45221 and we’ll include them in next years’ issue.

’74)

By 1988 they were absorbed by a real estate company who divided their operations into divisions by the late 1990’s. The U.S. park concessions division filed bankruptcy about 2002 and renamed itself Xanterra, LLC. In 2007 they bought the Grand Canyon RR that runs between Williams and the park, and here is where oil comes in. That guy that bought the mineral rights in western Wyoming and then made a killing when they developed (not discovered) huge gas reserves in the 70’s and 80’s bought it early last year. All the rustic architecture comes from the Santa Fe ownership, which is sorely missed. Most of my days there were as a Porter at Maswik Lodge from 3p -11p. I filled in at Bright Angel and El Tovar on others. I believe I logged at least two miles every eighthour shift at Maswik. One evening I was called to a room. When the guest pulled the covers back on the bed a baby squirrel jumped out. Not able to direct the critter out of the room (he was going in circles) the guest was given another room. The doors are open while attendants make up the rooms. You can see some of my photos at http://lousabo.net/ grdcange.html. The only thing NPS operates is the entrance gate, park HQ, ranger office, back country desk and ranger talks at the rim or amphitheater. Yavapai Observation Station, the Information Center and Van Camp’s Studio are staffed by the Grand Canyon Association, who also publishes many excellent books on the canyon. I do not know who operates Lookout Studio. Another contractor operates the shuttle bus service but not the Fred Harvey tour buses and another contractor operates the General Store. NPS operates and maintains the housing developments there for all but Xanterra employees. If you view the park from satellite you will see how big the residential housing development is - it is HUGE. Lord only knows where they work because as you said Xanterra operates most everything.

40 years after Kent The April 30, 2010 edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer ran an article on campus life in the spring of 1970 following the shootings at Kent State University. You can read it at http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100430/NEWS/304280017/ A+real+graduation+-+40+years+after+Kent+ along with some photos from that time.

Best wishes, Lou

Tim Carter (BS ’74)

Gary Taylor (MS ’74)

Editor’s note: If you haven’t seen it already you should check out Tim’s enormously successful syndicated news column and website at http://www.askthebuilder.com/. Tim has just relocated to New Hampshire and has posted some photos of the lovely area that he and his wife live in at http://picasaweb.google.com/ AskTheBuilder/NewHampshire2008AsktheBuilder?fe at=directlink#

Hi Warren,

J. Todd Stephenson (MS ’79) I have elected to take early retirement from BP effective March 31st. It was a financial intelligence test and I took it Pass/ Fail and it looks like I passed!! Becky and I have decided to take some time off to smell the roses and maybe some grapes while we are at and head out to Napa Valley for some R&R during the month of April. I hope you have a good turnout of UC alums at the AAPG and give my congratulations to Bill for achieving AAPG’s Public Service Award. Very well deserved.

Mike Effler (MS ‘76) Sandy and I lived in New Orleans for 11 years and always enjoy coming back but this year we are in Hannover Germany where I am working on an assignment with ExxonMobil. My congratulations to Bill Harrison for achieving AAPG’s Public Service Award. Grüße/Regards, Mike Effler

It was nice to hear from you. Glad to hear you are keeping your hand in the music biz. You must be the grand old man of the department by now! TC and I are still performing, even though we are far apart. I am slated to be down in Houston and San Antonio 3 or 4 times between now and summer and she will be coming to Colorado three times. We perform in Guildford and Oxford, England in July for a couple of weeks. Come stay with us in Westcliffe, if you get out this way. I have a dobro hanging on the wall that could use some playing. I am on the board of the radio station here, KWMV, and am doing a show twice a month so trying my hand at DJing. I have also started a house concert series in my home for traveling singer/songwriters. Life is busy which is good. Best regards, Gary (Editor’s note: Most of you know Gary through his career as a petroleum geologist with ExxonMobil, but for those of you who have not followed his parallel musical career you might check out his latest CD at http:// www.amazon.com/Maybe-Its-Because-Missing-You/ dp/B001490FBK/ref=sr_shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid =1272900530&sr=301-1)

2009 – 2010 Donor List M adeleine B riskin , P h .D. M rs . M aria R. R ufe M r . E ugene J. A maral BP F abric of A merica F und M s . B ecky C arter J ohn L. C arter , P h .D. M r . R obert F erree M r . S tephen J. F olzenlogen M s . A ndrea J. H aas A lexandre G. H aralampiev , P h .D. M r . L awrence P. K arasevich M r . F rancis E. L a M ore M r . D avid A. L ienhart and M rs . D onna P. L ienhart M r . A nthony L imke M r . J ohn M. M asters M r . J ohn P. M c A naw M rs . S usan R. R eisbord M rs . C ornelia K. R iley M r . T od W. R oush R ichard B. S chultz , P h .D.

M r . J. T odd S tephenson S ally J. S utton , P h .D. R oy B. V an A rsdale , P h .D. M r . W illiam L. M. W ilsey M rs . W endy H art B eckman M r . L eland W. B urton M r . J ohn A. C rompton M r . E ric M. R edder E state of L ucile and R ichard D urrell D anita S. B randt , P h .D. R obert J. E lias , P h .D. A rnold I. M iller , P h .D. N orthern L ights E nergy P aul E. P otter , P h .D. M r . M ark P. F isher C raig D ietsch , P h .D. M r . J ohn D. H oholick P aul E. P otter , P h .D

Thank You!

UC Geology Hosts the Ninth North American Paleontological Convention By Arnie Miller

During June 2009, shortly after the previous edition of the Alumni newsletter went to press, we were privileged to host NAPC 2009 on campus at UC. An amazing array of people collaborated to produce what was the best-attended and most eclectic NAPC ever, with some 550 participants from more than 25 countries. As chair of the organizing committee, I will be eternally grateful to all of them. During the weeklong meeting, there were: • 33 (!) symposia, technical sessions and poster sessions covering all manner of things paleontological (in all, some 500 presentations). • A broad slate of regional field trips, overseen and organized by Carl Brett, before and after the meeting and on a “break day” at midweek. More than half of the meeting registrants participated in at least one field trip! • A special “Education-and-Outreach” day built into the meeting on Thursday, overseen by Dave Meyer. This was open to area teachers, who got to participate in a morning plenary session, noon-time “hot topics sessions”, and special afternoon symposia, focusing on the Evolution-Creationism controversy and other issues related to public face of evolution and paleontology, including a workshop on the teaching of paleontology in classrooms. • A Thursday-evening banquet in the rotunda of the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union terminal, during which registrants were provided with free admission to museum exhibits and a pair of Omnimax movies.

• A special Tuesday-evening party for graduate students and postdocs organized by Ph.D. candidate Jay Zambito, who is currently the national graduate-student representative to the Paleontological Society Council. Those of you who know the bar scene around UC will be pleased to learn that the party, attended by more than 100 people (mostly) under the age of 30, was held in the backyard area of Fries Café. • Exhibits hosted by the Dry Dredgers, each of the three State Surveys in the region, the Cincinnati Museum Center, several paleontological societies and institutes, and a range of private companies, including several book publishers. So many people affiliated with UC and with various institutions throughout the region and beyond were instrumental to the success of the meeting that it would be difficult to acknowledge them all in this brief article. But I did want to mention the work of our own graduate and undergraduate students who shouldered the day-to-day logistics of the meeting with great aplomb, anticipating and solving any number of problems as they arose. Our students are a creative, dedicated bunch! A number of meeting-related items (the program and abstract volumes, field trip info, photos, etc.) have been archived at the NAPC 2009 website: http://www.napc2009. org/ . In addition, various blogs and news articles were written about the meeting, several (but not all) highlighting the visit of 70 registrants to the Creation Museum located in Petersburg, Kentucky. A partial list is provided below.

Visit to the Creation Museum: The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/science/30muse.html and http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/creationism-evolution/ Cincinnati Magazine: http://www.cincinnatimagazine.com/article.aspx?id=82732 Associated Press: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31569042/ns/technology_and_science-science/ In the Blogosphere: http://thislifesafiction.blogspot.com/2009/06/what-i-did-at-napc.html http://jdorcutt.blogspot.com/2009/07/paleo-road-trip-09-napc-cincinnati.html http://thislifesafiction.blogspot.com/2009/06/what-i-did-at-napc.html http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2009/07/attending-the-n.html http://scienceblogs.com/evolutionblog/2009/06/cincinnati_part_one.php#more A somewhat whimsical review of the meeting written by Nikita Jacobsen and Martha Koot (University of Plymouth, UK), and can be found on Page 50 of the Palaeontological Association Newsletter: http://newsletter.palass-pubs.org/pdf/News72.pdf

2009

Bill Haneberg, Consulting Geologist and University of Cincinnati “Livin’ la Vida LiDAR: How Airborne Laser Scanning Just Might Revolutionize Geologic Mapping, Bring World Peace, and Lead to Universal Spiritual Enlightenment. Or not.” Barry Maynard, University of Cincinnati Four Day Field Trip & GSA Annual Meeting Ralph Ewers, Ewers Water Consultants “Shallow Groundwater and DNAPL Movement Within Slightly Dipping Limestone, Southwestern Kentucky” Patricia Gensel, University of North Carolina “Advances in Understanding Tempo and Mode of Early Land Plant Evolution” Dolf Seilacher, Yale University “Evolution in the Deep Sea” Susan Erikkson, UNAVCO “Geodesy— It Ain’t What It Used To Be!” Chris Stohr, Illinois Geological Survey “Geologic Outcrop Characterization for 3D Modeling: Using Technology to Reach What We Cannot Otherwise Grasp” Paul Potter, University of Cincinnati “Global Miocene Events and The Modern World” Drew Andrews, Kentucky Geological Survey “Origin of the Kentucky River Palisades: Pleistocene Geologic Controls on a River System” Phil Meyers, University of Michigan “Mediterranean Sapropels: Near-Modern Analogs for Deposition of Mesozoic and Paleozoic Black Shales” Craig Johnson, U.S. Geological Survey “Overview of Giant Deposits of Zinc, Lead, and Silver in Carboniferous Sedimentary Rocks in the Western Brooks Range, Alaska”

2010

Tom Algeo, University of Cincinnati “Advances in the Use of Trace-Metal Proxies for Paleoceanographic Research Sarah Johnson, Northern Kentucky University “Tumalt Debris Flow and Debris Avalanches, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon” Arne Winguth, University of Texas-Arlington “The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum: Mysteries of a Hothouse World” Pamela Hallock Muller, University of South Florida “Goldilocks and the Three Biogenic Carbonate Minerals: What Determines ‘Just Right’?” Peter Mozley, New Mexico Tech “Importance of Microbes in Calcite Cementation of Clastic Sediment” Alexander Stewart, St. Lawrence University “Soldier and Scientist: a Geologist in Afghanistan” Arjun Heimsath, Arizona State University “Eroding the Earth: Quantifying Rates and Processes” Kate Freeman,Pennsylvania State University “Plants, Rain and Climate in Plio-Pleistocene East Africa and Links to Early Hominid Evolution” Steven Stanley, University of Hawaii–Manoa “Relation of Phanerozoic Stable Isotope Excursions to Climate, Bacterial Metabolism, and Major Extinctions”

George Rieveschl Jr. Geo Lecture Series: Interdisciplinary lectures for the physical and life sciences on earth processes and their consequences for humanity. Each lecture is sponsored by two or more disciplines from the physical and life sciences, open an free to all the University community and general public. There will be ample opportunity to meet the speaker. This series is named for Dr. George Rieveschl, Jr., a Cincinnatian, UC PhD in chemistry and inventor of Benadryl.

Laurel Goodwin, University of Wisconsin “Toward Predicting Fault-Zone Architecture and Permeability Structure in Clastic Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks” Abdul Tawab Kahn, University of Balochistan “Geology of Volcaniclastic Sediments in the Ziarat area, Pakistan” “Old Chief” the skeletal elephant in the Geology museum, wears a cotton beard and tinsel necklace to his belated holiday spirit. The “ghost of Christmas past” rides appropriately on “Old Chief’s” back.

David Jennette (MS ’86) Co-authored a paper entitled, Concepts learned from a 3D outcrop of a sinuous slope channel complex: Beacon Channel complex, Brushy Canyon Formation, west Texas, U.S.A., that was recently published in v. 80 of the Journal of Sedimentary Research.

Dale Kramer (BS ’85)

field trip, the first one I took just after arriving in Cincinnati for my Ph.D. I am sending you this message because you asked for more information about the picture. I am honored that Prof. DeJong used to have it on his office. Here the people I rememb e r the names (sorry for some misspelling). Prof. Larsen was also in that trip. However he drove his car. You can see his old car parked by the road in one of the pictures I have sent you.

Letter to David Nash I have received the recent newsletter. I remember Dr. DeJong well. The humpin’ to Please 69 trailer photo was as I recall taken while on structural geology trip to the Appalachians.   I can remember seeing the trailer (from the van) and Dr. DeJong liked the photo background!! I can identify Bill Haneberg, Bill Harrar, BIG Ben, Cathy Johnson, Sally ?, Carol (grad asst) (ash research with Dr. Huff).  I also remember Dr. DeJong asking us in the field (near Grandfather Mtn.) .....How does one find a fault (or was it fold propagated fault!!) without an outcrop anywhere in site?   I started looking in mini burrows (moles?) and then scraped deleterious material from the ground surface.....bingo........a soil contact, red to the east and brown to the west.  Dr. DeJong congratulated me. Hope you are well. Kramer

Almerio Franca (PhD ‘87) Dear Prof. Huff, The newsletter picture on page 19 showing UC group of students was on the way going to Turkey Pen Resort in Tennessee during the four-day field trip in 1984. I still have the negative and a slide - I took it using a tripod, of course and still have good memories of that

The family picture, September 2009.

Here are some more pictures from the same field trip (photos). I have identified one more student in the group picture: Tom McComb (the guy with the red cap - just underneath the number 66 in the truck). I am still with Petrobras. I have been working as the rock lab manager since early last year. It has been a great experience working with more than 100 people and hundreds of meters of cores from our important offshore pre salt discovery in carbonates. The reservoirs are in water depth around 2000 meters and below salt layers as thick as 2000 meters.

Photo showing (not in order); Holly Huyck, Mike Trippi, Prof. Attila Kilinc, Chuck Zax, Tiebing Liu, Zeki Camur, Almerio França, John Dereamer, Jennifer Thies, Tom Hudson, Ben Greenstein, Prof. DeJong, Prof. Pryor, Cathy Johnson, Andreina Isea, Sally Sutton, Prof. Barry Maynard, Bill Haneberg, David Jennete, Sylvia Walters, Eric May, Winston Norrish, Rob Ferree, Cesar Jacques, Jeanie (?), Jennifer Johnson, Bill Harrar, Randy Kertees, Prof. David Meyer, Amy Lamborgh, Pat Okita, Ken Cruikshank, Jesus (?), Prof. Warren Huff, Kay Tauscher.

Almerio (continued) I am glad that Professor Paul Potter is active and in good health – I have seen him quite often in Brazil. In his last trip last November, we had the pleasure to meet Douglas Jordan, currently with Chesapeake Energy.

Left: Ben and John Haynes: four-day field trip in Kentucky, 1986 Below: Kees D j o n g : Te c t o n i c s Field Trip in the Appallaches - 1985.

All the best, Almerio (Editor’s note: Almerio has posted photos of campus life from the ‘80’s. Visit hhtp://homepages.uc.edu/~huffwd/ Cincinnati_Memories/1984-1987.htm

Bruce Savage (MS ’85) Letter to Attila Kilinc Glad to hear of your activities. Your work sounds familiar to me, but I admit now it’s kind of distant to me now. But I haven’t forgotten the meaning of liquidus temperature! Has anyone done more work on the Ison Creek kimberlite? I’m glad to have been able to learn from and work with you. Thanks to your time and efforts, I was able to start my professional career on the right foot. Carol and I have three grown kids: Mike is 26 and is an officer with Fifth Third Bank in capital markets (bonds). Celeste is 23 and is a communications professional with Quick Solutions, Inc. Molly is 20 and a sophomore art student at Columbus College of Art and Design. I’ve been at the same company since 1989, working on environmental investigations and remediation. My current work has mostly to do with Brownfields, working with cities and their development partners. We work on determining the extent of underground contamination, then mapping out cleanup plans. Lots of geologists do the work, as I’m sure you already know. Lately, we’ve been getting Clean Ohio Fund grants for adaptive re-use of old industrial properties in Central Ohio (my hometown). I hope to be able soon to hire FrX-Inc. (Larry Murdoch’s company), to install hydraulic fractures in shale to aid a chlorinated solvent cleanup. Fun stuff. Glad to hear from you. Bruce A. Savage, CPG

Wayne Pryor, and his students in Corpus Christ 1985.

Michael Roberts (MS ‘84) Warren: Greetings to you as well. I had seen Dr. Potter’s abstract along with Peter Szatmari in the program but wasn’t sure if he would be there (AAPG meeting in Rio). Much to my surprise as I left the registration desk and turned around, he was walking by. We had several nice chats during the conference. He gave a very thought provoking presentation on the middle Miocene and how the many tectono-stratigraphic events during that time period have shaped the modern world. Overall, a very nice conference. Convention center was a bit remote but Rio is a very fun city and I did see many other colleagues who I have lost contact with. As for me, I’ve been working several major projects a year doing New Venture work, which usually involves a new country entry or a major investment in a country

Roberts (continued) where we have existing operations. As these opportunities present themselves, I lead technical teams doing the regional geology, prospect generation and initial resource estimates, commercial and geologic risk etc. Not an easy thing to pull it all off as the hurdles are pretty high for a large company like Chevron and the competition is stiff, but the work is very challenging and I am still able to interpret real data on occasion! I’ve seen some really amazing geology in my 25 years with Chevron, certainly no regrets going to the oil patch. I’ve been working projects in Africa and Latin America most of the past 10 years and have been in my present role as Area Manager for the past 2.

Pat Okita (PhD ‘87)

Mary Riestenberg (PhD ‘87)

Letter to Barry Maynard

(From David Nash)

Hi Barry,

Hi Warren,

Graham Wheelock (MS ‘87) and I got together for a couple of hours in DC today! He was in town for a brief meeting and low and behold I was in town too. Graham is still living on airplanes as he searches for dollars and diamonds. I’ve been more fortunate in staying near home since last Fall with only short trips to Egypt, Trinidad, Canada, Golden, and Albuquerque. Both of our families are doing well – the kids are teenagers!

Mary Riestenberg sent me the attached photo a while back. It was taken by Bell’s Tavern by Cave City, Kentucky. One of the photos in the set is dated 10-1995 (which would be about right since my son Nathan looks to be four years old). Mary and I both brought a class down so not all the folks are ours (although I think the majority were). I recognize Fred Fredrick, Sophie Su, and Michelle Overway. Others look familiar but I can’t place the names.

All the best, Pat

David

Janet is a very active volunteer at our local high school where our youngest daughter is now a junior. Our oldest is a freshman at Texas A&M University. The house will be empty soon so we are contemplating an overseas assignment in another 18-24 months. Not sure if that will work out but we’re interested in one last position with a chance to see more of the world. We’ll be simplifying our life either way. We hope to make it up to UC again one day, we really loved the city and have lots of fond memories and friends there. Best wishes to the friends of UC Geology. Mike Roberts

Graham Wheelock and Pat Okita, Wash. D.C.

Jeffrey Spencer (BS ’80) Jeff recently left Black Pool Energy and is now working for Midstates Petroleum, prospecting in South Louisiana. He still commutes to Houston from the small town of Bellville, TX where he resides with his wife and two daughters. Jeff is the current vice-president of the Petroleum History Institute and was the 2010 co-chair for their Oil History Symposium and Fieldtrip in Lafayette, Louisiana. Tentative plans are to hold the 2011 symposium in Marietta, OH. Patrick Galvin (BS ’80)

W e d o n o t h av e c ur r en t m a i l i n g a d d r e s se s for the following alumni. C an you help?

Michael Armstrong

Glenn King

Danny Sims

Kelleen D. Beach

Andrew Kosse

Kimberly Williams Skinner

Ping F. Chen

Byron M. Lester

Amy Smith

Martin Clifford

Shuguang Mao

Ann Smyth

Krista A. Collins

Richard V. Martin

Mr. Kenneth Sparks

Shelly Cooker

Susan Parrett

Timothy P. Stevenson

Paul R. Court

Kathryn Pritchard

James I. Streeter

James Devine

Robert Rhoades

David Trowbridge

David J. Green

Terry Rowekamp

Benjamin A. Uhl

Michael A. Honnert

Mark Rudolph

Kelleen Williams

Ben Johnston

Robert T. Russell

Jessica D. Kelley

Paul R. Schuh

Hey Warren, It has been a little while since we last corresponded and years since I saw you at the Irish Festival at old Coney Island. Jeff Spencer suggested that I send you an email knowing the alumni newsletter was about to come out. I read about Kees DeJong’s passing in the last newsletter with great sadness. He was a good guy and a good geologist. I will never forget his great attitude, his stories, his enthusiasm for life and all things geology and our inability to be able to distinguish whether he was saying fold or fault with his Dutch accent.

ogy building heading to class one day when Kees saw me from the top of the stairs and he started calling to me as he ran down to meet me on the landing. He asked ‘are you related to Gene Galvin’ and I said that I was at which point he gave me a big hug, shook my hand, hit me on the shoulder and said ‘he just kicked my son out of school so please tell him thanks for me the next time you see him!’. Kees recognized that his son needed a kick in the pants and my cousin had given it to him. Pure Kees. To update you I am working at Merit Energy, a privately owned company funded by university endowments and other institutional investors, which then invests that money in oil and gas assets. I have been in Dallas now since 1991 and here at Merit for 2.5 years after spending 7+ years at Nexen Petroleum. My current responsibilities focus entirely on our Offshore Gulf of Mexico properties. I still see Joel Palin once in a while and frequently wonder whatever happened to Lars Beck. Thanks a bunch, Pat

John Haynes (PhD ’89) Hi Warren, Hope all’s well! Our flyer for the Ireland summer field camp for 2010 just came out, and I had promised you I’d send you a copy of it when it did, so here it is! (http://www.jmu.edu/ geology/fieldcourse/) I took the bottom two pictures, and that’s Steve Leslie in the peach colored hat in the left pic, where we were looking over some of the Carboniferous exposures around the Shannon River estuary. Things are good here, and I’ll give you a call soon. John

He and I were linked in another way. One of his sons was a student at Hughes High School and my first cousin was on the faculty there. This was in 1978 or so and Hughes had a program along the lines of a ‘school without walls’. It allowed students a great deal of independence and discretion regarding attendance and the performance of class work. Apparently Kees’ son took full advantage of the freedom offered within that format and then went well beyond that point. I had no idea that his son attended Hughes but I soon learned of it. With that as background, I had started up the stairs in the old Geol-

Lisa Dameron (MS ’96) Lisa Dameron (MS ’96) is trying to incorporate as much geology as she can into the 3rd grade curriculum at Crystal River Elementary School at the base of Mt. Sopris in Carbondale, Colorado. Although her career expectations have shifted a bit since her days at UC, she still loves immersing herself in the learning environment. These days she studies rocks up close and personal as she tries to climb them. Her favorite is a sandstone conglomerate that leaves great hand-holds as the cobbles erode. She enjoys visiting Cincinnati over the holidays and summer vacation. (In a letter to David Nash) Frank Koucky was my thesis advisor. I remember him as an eccentric intellectual. His appearance very much belied his genius! He would lecture for the entire period, not one for question-and-answer, often filling two or three chalkboards full of notes and drawings. I think I still have my Mineralogy and Petrology notebooks somewhere...they are anthologies of his stories from Cyprus and Montana. I always remember him as a very kind man. A fellow student of mine asked, “Did you get the B or the B-?” I don’t think he liked grading very much. He is one of the true characters I have known.   Life in the Roaring Fork Valley is still good. Our class just returned from a field trip to Aspen. The kids had fun pointing out all the restaurants, resorts, and mansions where their parents work. We saw a great skit about the great railroad race to get to Aspen and transport its silver during the silver boom that ended in 1897. We also visited the Aspen Art Museum and saw an exhibit entitled “Disembodied”...sculptures of body parts. Hey, send some of that snow this way, and I’ll see you this summer! Cheers! Lisa

Hello, I received the latest alumni newsletter yesterday and was shocked and saddened to read of Dr. DeJong’s death. Even after all of these years and, even after moving on to a new career, I still have very fond memories of his classes and field trips. It is a great loss for the department and the university. Please pass my sympathy along to his family and friends.

2 0 1 0 G S A R eception

he Annual Meeting this year will be in Denver, Colorado and we will host an alumni reception on Monday, November 1 from 7:30 – 9:30 pm. Further details on hotel location and room will be coming in July 2010, so keep an eye out for your invitation.

On a happier note, I have successfully completed my first year of vet school at WSU. This summer I was able to take a 5-week clinical rotation in the large animal part of the teaching hospital. A great experience....very “All Creatrues Great and Small,” as I had the full range of species as patients: sheep, goats, pigs, cows, alpacas, etc. Second year starts in late August, and I have used my down time this summer to read the Harry Potter series. Just started the seventh book this week. I was in Ohio for a family visit over Memorial Day weekend, but didn’t leave myself much extra time for side trips to Cincinnati. Hope you are having a great summer. Cathy Ratcliff

Emiko Kent presenting poster.

Juan Carlos Garcia (PhD ‘92) Letter to David Nash Hello David ! After long vacations now I just read your message. Thank you very much for your answer. Well yes, we miss and will miss Kees. I have sweet and profound memories of my stay in Cincinnati. Believe me, for me, it’s like a dream. I realize that without Kees’s help would be impossible to arrive and survive in UC. Above all, he protected me and encouraged me to finish in one only year my MS studies. It was just madness !!.

trips, social events, classroom experiences or other experiences during your UC days that you would like to share with your alumni colleagues?

Catherine Ratcliff (BS ‘91)

D o you have any recollections of field

John Nolan presenting poster.

Send them to Warren Huff, email: WARREN.HUFF@UC.EDU or Dept. of Geology, UC, Cincinnati, OH 45221 and we’ll include them in next years’ issue.

Juan Carlos Garcia (continued) As for my family, yes my elder son Juan Carlos, he studied his Business Administration career in several places: he started at the Hermosillo Technological Institute, then at Ciudad Juárez, when we moved to neighbor city of El Paso, next we succeeded to obtain an scholarship for the University of Texas at El Paso. His story was not so good because at every new school they did not recognize previous studies from other universities and then he had to start again even from zero. Finally, he finished his career at the former Universidad del Noroeste at Hermosillo now the Universidad del Valle de México. He got married 7 years ago and gave me my first granddaughter, Lizeth Armida, almost 6 years old. He works as training manager for a the huge Vangtel call center in Hermosillo. He has received training at Provo, Utah and future trips include California and perhaps Florida. My younger son Luis Fernando is another story of struggle and success: he finished high school in only 2 years at the El Paso High

School. He finished his Industrial Engineer career at Hermosillo Technological Institute and after several jobs, he works for a small company that deals with alternate energy sources, like solar energy. He is starting to convince people that solar energy in Sonora is one of the highest in the world and that we have to take profit of this infinite resource. He married 2 years ago and we are all happy with his daughter Claudia Sofía, my youngest granddaughter. As for my professional development, I remained as a research technician in charge of the Petrography Lab and the Mineralogical Collection at the Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, at Hermosillo, Sonora. This is almost nothing because we don’t have an important budget to preserve and enlarge our collection. When we have students I teach Sedimentary Geology at the Graduate Program that it is almost a failure because the mineral prices, now very high, have taken most of graduate people to the mining companies with salaries even better than ours. Good for them!. Once in a while I also teach at a small school

Juan Carlos García y Barragán

Stewart Ebersole (MS ‘97) Stewart visited the department recently and brought us up to date on a variety of things he has been doing, include posting a blog at http://www.barred4life. blogspot.com/ that begins, “Emerging from the fog of war that was the American Hardcore rebellion of the 1980’s, few bands have experienced as much posthumous popularity as southern California’s Black Flag. Shrouded in myth and illuminated as the inventors of the Punk Rock DIY ethos (yes, the entire thing), their individual contribution to Hardcore’s golden age cannot be taken for granted.” Have a look and let Stewart know what you think.

Christopher Berg (BS ‘99) Hi Warren, It was great to see you again at GSA. I thought it was a great meeting this year, and I’m glad to see that UC’s department is still doing great things. Things at West Georgia are going great; I’m in my third year here, and I’ve settled into a teaching routine that includes the large intro classes, plus I’ve been teaching the upper-level elective Environmental Geology (natural hazards) and the upper-level Igneous & Metamorphic

Petrology. This spring I’ll be teaching the senior-level capstone Plate Tectonics course for the first time, which will be a challenge, but I’m looking forward to it.

Juan Carlos Garcia (continued) of geosciences, the Centro de Estudios Superiores del Estado de Sonora. I take care of the Optical Mineralogy and Petrography course. I also have time to give many conferences to students from kindergarten to high school related to Earth Sciences. I col- l a b o rate with several researchers here focusing on radioactive minerals, stratigraphy and, mainly, sedimentology of Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks in Sonora. It is very likely that I will participate next year in a social program trying to develop small mining in Chiapas, a very poor state in the extreme south of Mexico. Meanwhile I am preparing a presentation for the Unión Geofísica Mexicana meeting in Puerto Vallarta next November. Well, in a few words this is our story. Yes, time goes by: next September I will be also 60 years old. Except for the scattered sad news, like Kees’ death, I feel very happy and believe that I succeeded as my capabilities allowed me. Still I have plans: retirement is not a likely situation for us because the monies for retirement are so low that we would descend to be categorized as poor people. I believe that I am in good health and that it is possible to work for 15 more years, approx. We will see.... Dave, receive my warmest regards and the same for your family. Pass my salute to Dr. Maynard as well as the rest of the faculty of my time. Good luck and take care.

As far as research goes, this past July I became the new director of the West Georgia Microscopy Center, which is a fancy way of saying I run the SEM lab. I have three undergraduate students that are working with me on some research projects. One of them, Lindsey Hunt, has been working with me for over a year now looking at accessory-phase distribution in amphibolites from the Piedmont of west-central Georgia; we’re now in the process of ramping up to do some accessory-phase thermobarometry and geochronology to pin down P-Tt evolution paths. She presented a poster at GSA summarizing her work so far. I’ve got two other students who are just getting started up, hopefully we’ll have something to bring to Denver next fall, if not Baltimore in the spring. Best regards, Chris

Erika Elswick (PhD ‘98) Letter to Barry Maynard Hi Barry, Sorry to forward bad news, but I thought you would like to know. Erika Geological Survey and Faculty Colleagues: It is with sadness that I report that our good friend and colleague, Dr. Norman Hester, has lost his battle with leukemia. He passed away around 12:15 a.m. this morning. The past few years had been difficult for him, and he had been in the hospital for the past week or so. Dr. Hester had served as the Director of the Indiana Geological Survey for 13 years until 1998, and he was a faculty member of the Department of Geological Sciences at Indiana University. He had been a great friend and inspiration to many of us over the years. John Steinmetz Director, Indiana Geological Survey

Benjamin Lechler (BS ’99)

Benjamin Lechler (continued) Mexico Tech (thanks for recommending it by the way!) and have been working for CH2M HILL doing environmental/water resources consulting in Santa Ana, CA for the last 7+ years. My girlfriend and I are considering a move back to the Cincinnati area and I was hoping, since you are the reining engineering geologist in the Dept., that you could give me some advice on consulting firms in town. I likely have more options than my girlfriend (though if you have the inside track on a good hydro position don’t hold back) who is a geologist specializing in engineering geology/geotechnical type work. Out here she does a lot of tunnel work and seismic evaluations. Take care, BJ Lechler

Mark Krekeler (MS ‘98) Mark’s annual student newsletter is posted at http:// homepages.uc.edu/~huffwd/Alumni/Krekeler_Newsletter_2010.pdf. It begins, I hope this letter finds everyone well. It has been a bit since I compiled one of these. Things progress well at Miami University. We have the new Transmission Electron Microscope up and running nearly. We have generated data that has been part of manuscripts that are currently in review. I had a total of six student co-authored presentations at the Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America in Portland. The GSA meetings are always a high point for the academic year and this meeting was in a particularly unique setting being in Portland. This enables a field trip to the Mt. St. Helens area. Although the volcano itself was “fogged in” we had a great time looking at the surrounding geology. All of our posters and presentations were well received. A poster on the first occurrence of silver, gold and platinum in the Yucatan received some attention and several experts in the field commented on the unusual nature of the find. Joe Hutnik, Dave Aldridge, Cindy Tselepis, Dr. Erin Argyilan and I intend to return in the winter of 2010 to carry out further exploratory work. The initial find is not of economic grade but we have hopes for finding the precise source and refining the geologic setting, which may lead to more economically meaningful results.

Dr. Nash,

Richard Schultz (PhD ’91)

Long time, in case it has been too long to remember, class of 99’, witness and photo documentarian of ductile deformation of the Dept van rear bumper on the KY-karst field trip. Hope all is well with you and in the Dept.; I was sorry to hear about Kees, he was a great teacher and will be missed.

Letter to Barry Maynard Barry: Hope things are going well for you and this note finds you looking forward to spring, as I am. I am greatly enjoying academia over the last several years after nearly

ten years in the environmental consulting world. I was just recently granted tenure and promotion at Elmhurst College, now at the end of my sixth year. I am finding myself doing more and more online teaching with technology and am in the process of obtaining my online teaching certificate from the Sloan Consortium. Teaching has consumed my life now that I have found my passion and meaning in life. I was fortunate enough to receive the Distinguished Teaching Award (DTA) at the College/University level from the National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE) in Fall 2008 and have made many lifelong colleagues in the discipline of geography and with the GIS community. My background in geochemistry and geology has come in very handy as I teach GIS and earth sciences at a four-year liberal arts college. We are now in the sixth year of the entirely online GIS Certificate Program at Elmhurst College with plans for expanding course offerings. We are also proposing a major in applied geospatial technologies (AGT) for undergraduate students here at Elmhurst College. On a personal note, The Schultz family is doing well as my daughters Erin (9, 4th grade) and Kayleigh (5, kindergarten) grow up ever so fast. My wife of ten years, Leigh, is now considering going back to school to complete another degree. Seems like just yesterday that I was studying black shales and completing my dissertation at UC back in 1991. I hope all is well, Barry. My best to the folks in the Geology Department. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Rich

Adam Woods (MS ’93) Hi Warren, So nice to hear from you. The past year has been very eventful for me in terms of both my family and my career. In the span of 2 weeks in May, I became a father (Wyatt Woods was born on May 28, and is a happy, healthy little guy), I got tenure, and I turned 40. Wyatt has been a lot of fun; I really enjoy being a Dad and watching him discover the world. My life at Cal State Fullerton has been good but hectic (things don’t actually slow down once you get tenure). I’ve spent the last year continuing my research on environmental conditions in aftermath of the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, which continues to surprise me in terms of how rich and strange this period in Earth history was. I always look back on my time in Cincinnati fondly; best wishes to everyone! Adam

Since we’ve last spoke I attended grad school at New

Laura Gilpin (BS ‘02) Hi Dr. Kilinc, Huff and Nash, I can’t remember when I last emailed with you guys. But I wanted to let you know that I’m still in the Phoenix area and doing well. I think I mentioned that I had gotten the job with Nammo Talley here in Mesa. I work in Research (doing mostly analytical chemistry and some R&D work). I’ve really been enjoying it and I really like Nammo as a company. So on the work front, I’ve been very happy. Adam and I are closing on our first house this week! I’m not sure if I told you that we got married in December. We went to Vegas, it was a lot of fun and very low key, which is exactly what we both wanted. But anyway, we found a great house on the edge of the desert in Mesa (mountain views to the north and east!) so we’re really excited about that. I’m also still really enjoying the area. In addition to the mountains and the hiking, we get things like coyotes walking down the street (especially out at the new house). So it’s kind of neat. And the new house is only 30 minutes from hiking in the Superstitions, so it’s perfect for weekend outings. Hope you’re all well. Speak to you soon. Laura

Chad Ferguson (PhD ‘09) Chad completed his doctoral work in paleontology, under Arnie Miller, graduating in September 2009. After graduation, Chad served as adjunct faculty in the department for a quarter before joining BP America, in Houston TX, as a geologist in BP’s Gulf of Mexico Deep Water Exploration unit. He writes, “We have a new baby boy! Cole Anders Dryfhout Ferguson, born 8/12/09, 7lbs 5oz, 20.5 inches. Mother and baby are doing great.”

Sean O’Hair (BS ’00) Dr. Kilinc, Since my graduation, I have been living in Louisiana working in the oilfield as a specialized engineer where I was performing oil well surveying and logging of geological information. I was very sorry to hear of the recent passing of Kees and I know his loss has left the department bereft of a certain color. Please extend my condolences to everyone in the department. Kees was a peculiar personality and an almost constant source of levity. In fact, I distinctly remember one occasion where

he cursed an overhead projector for 15 minutes because the bulb burned out causing the entire class to break out into fits of laughter that lasted the rest of the day! He was a fine researcher and a respected professor and I am saddened that he is gone. Thank you, Sean M. O’Hair

Jayme Csonka (BS ‘07) Greetings Dr. Huff, I moved to Louisville 3 weeks ago and plan to stay here until I have things worked out for a PhD program next fall. In the meantime, I’ll be doing some research with Kate Bulinski at Bellarmine and scraping by as an artist who plans to finally complete all those half-finished projects. I hope things are well in Cincinnati. Since I’m just down the road, you can likely expect to see me a few times over the next year. I wish everyone the best with their talks, posters, and travels. Jayme

Meghan Welch (BS ’08) We are delighted to announce that Audrey Marie Welch was born at 3:02 AM on 9-9-09. She weighed 8lbs 1oz and is 20 inches long. Meghan

Sean Cornell (PhD ‘09) Hi Warren,  I hope all is well. I saw that your students will be giving a talk at GSA. I hope to be able to attend that talk. Will you be there? I will be presenting along with two of my students this year. Feels very weird to say “my students,” but it is exciting. In terms of us, everything here is going very well. Exceedingly busy with teaching, service work, and the little research that we can accomplish. Taught five classes in the spring, and two classes this summer. One of the summer classes was a field class called Coastal Environmental Oceanography which took place for 14 days at Wallops Island, Virginia and 8 days at the Keys Marine Lab in Florida. It was a great class, but it prevented me from participating in the NAPC in Cincinnati L. This fall I am teaching our normal four class load: two of Intro. to Geology, Historical Geology, and an upper-level Mineral and Rock Resources course for undergraduates and graduate students. It filled in no time and have 27 students in there. Angel and the kids are doing well and are enjoying their schools. Angel is still teaching high school and is now certified to teach both Special

Education Classes as well as English. They also asked her to go for certification in Social Studies - which I am sure she is not going to do as she is looking to start her M.S.. As for the kiddos, Jenna and Ethan (our twins) are now in first grade, and Hannah is in second. I have been working with their teachers quite a bit and wrote an Environmental Education Grant to the Commonwealth’s DEP. We heard a few weeks ago that our proposal was funded for $10,000. So we are now busy getting that program off the ground. Lots of equipment (microscopes, weather gauges/sensors, etc.) and books. It is a lot of fun as we get to involve the college students (Earth Space Science and Biology Majors) with the K-5 program at their school. College students are developing lessons and materials to teach to the new environmental standards (Ecology and Environment; Science and Technology), and help deliver those lessons to the kids. The fun thing is… they aren’t restricted with their creativity yet and this means we have seen some really fun ideas generated. More rocks and minerals, weathering experiments, soil analyses, water quality measurements… all kinds of really exciting hands-on stuff. Anyway - that’s enough about what we are doing when you get a chance let us know what’s up in Cinci and hopefully we will see you at GSA. Sean

Rebecca Hamilton (BS ’04) Hi, Dr. Huff I just wanted to drop a note and wish you well at GSA in Portland this week, if you’re attending. Although I had been looking forward to seeing some of my old UC profs and classmates in my new hometown (I moved here in 2006) at the convention, my work unfortunately sent me to Wyoming this week and I won’t be back until late Friday night. On the off chance that anyone is staying until next weekend, please let me know! I’d love to meet up with any Bearcats, old or new, and take them out to a few fun things around the city. Otherwise, have a great week in the Rose City and best wishes for thought-provoking lectures, fascinating poster sessions, and awe-inspiring field trips into the stacked, black flows of the beautiful Columbia River Basalt. Sincerely, Rebecca Hamilton

Utku Solpuker (PhD ‘08) Hi Dr.Huff, How are you? I hope every thing is OK. I don’t know if you got the news but Marion and I have baby. He is named Aksel and he is healthy and happy.

Ian VanDonkelaar (BS ‘09) Hi Dr. Huff, How’s everything been going back at UC? At UWM it’s been mostly paperwork, and some classes. It looks like I’ll finally get to start working on research next week or he week after. One of the classes I ended up signing up for is an X-ray class here with Dr. McHenry that my advisor, Dr. Dornbos, recommended. It does XRF and XRD, but focuses on powder and glass samples. One of the other students in the class is an archeology student, and he mentioned that he was looking to analyze some ceramic artifacts. This made me think of your clay minerology and one of the final presentations in the class, I think that it was on Angel Mound. His name is Marcus Schulerburg. Thanks, Ian VanDonkelaar

Melissa McMullen (BS ‘09) Hello Dr. Huff, How are you doing? I hope the year has been going well. Purdue so far has been interesting, and this past semester I took some very neat classes. This spring I went to Argentina with Dr. Ridgway as part of a tectonics course. It was a great trip and we saw a lot of really interesting geology. This summer I am a participant in the SAGE (geophysics) program at Los Alamos National Laboratory (http://www.sage.lanl.gov/). Our first week was primarily lectures on magnetotellurics, GPR, gravity and seismic techniques. This week has been all field work. We have two sites. One is an archeological site where we are imaging a pueblo that was occupied around 1300-1600. It is completely buried eroded now, but some of the room blocks are now marked by elongated hills. Our second site is in the San Domingo Basin within the Rio Grande rift. Each day we work on a different technique. So far seismic has been my favorite, though part of that is because there are a lot of cows in the area that like to chew on the cables, so a major role in the group is chasing the cows back into the hills. Next week we will be processing all the data that we have collected and giving a brief presentation on some of the results. It will be interesting to see if we find anything. I would recommend this program to students in our department, especially ones with a strong math or physics background. It provides good exposure into multiple geophysical techniques along with their practical application. Sincerely, Melissa McMullen

Regards, Utku Solpuker

Matthew Forney (BS ‘04) Dr. Huff, I am currently finishing up a sea tour aboard the NOAA Ship Fairweather as a Uniformed officer. On the Fairweather, we conduct hydrographic research to map the sea floor and update navigational charts in Alaska. In addition, the ship installs tide gauges to better understand the tides and currents in specific locations. In September, I will be on the beach in Anchorage as the Navigation Manager of Alaska. This assignment will entail working with the Alaska Marine Pilots, Coast Guard, and Harbormasters to assess the needs of NOAA Office of the Coast Survey’s customers. NOAA has a program available to Teaches and Professors that you and your colleagues may be interested in. Please share the following link with anyone that you may know that you think would be interested: http://www.facebook. com/l/ca874-esZ-Aj6B60XwzGHlkUTUA;teacheratsea. noaa.gov/ I hope all is well in Cincinnati and that you have a wonderful summer. Cheers! Matt Forney

Jonathan Wetterich (BS ’06) Hi Warren, I have been working as a Data Analyst at ADS Environmental Services for the past three years. ADS develops products and services for the waste water industry. I have recently been working in conjunction with the Cincinnati Metropolitan Sewer District on Green Infrastructure projects and their Flow Metering projects. Thanks, Jon Wetterich

Paul Arndts (BS ‘08) Dr. Huff, This spring I was able to shift my work schedule around so I could coach a rowing program at Cincinnati Country Day School in Indian Hill. That was an incredible experience for me to work with some great kids, and to reconnect me to the rowing community in Cincinnati with which I was starting to lose touch. Despite being a HUGE time sink I can’t wait to be back on the water next season starting in March. How are things with you and around the department? Drop me a line when you have a chance. Cheers, Paul Trisha Smrecak (MS ’08) Hi Warren, Hope all is well with you in Cincinnati. I’m still in Ithaca, NY working at PRI and the Museum of the Earth. It’s nice to see Carl now and again when he swings through, and hopefully our chapter in a book will get published soon, as we worked pretty hard on that long distance. I recently co-authored a short guide to climate change science with Warren Allmon and Rob Ross here, so it has been a fruitful job for my CV so far. I’ll be teaching a lab at SUNY Cortland this fall. No lecture yet, but there’s hope in the spring. It’s a foot in the door, anyway. One thing I’d like to do is modify some of their labs to incorporate Google Earth. They have expressed some interest and the rest of the lab is pretty well set for me, so I’d like to make this contribution to the group. Hope you enjoy your summer!! Trish Smrecak

Ryan Wilson (BS ’09) Hello Dr. Huff, Hope all is well in Cincinnati, the past year has been very exciting for me at IU. I am finishing up my thesis research this summer working on a comparative analysis of the Upper Devonian Geneseo Shale of New York and the Blocher/ Trousdale members of the New Albany Shale in Kentucky and Indiana. I have received two grants-in-aid to support my research (Indiana University Grants-In-Aid and AAPG Grants-In-Aid). In addition to my thesis, I am working on many side projects with the Mud Flume, SEM research focusing on porosity in shales and mudstones, assisting Dr. Schieber in running field trips for AAPG and ExxonMobil, and am attending a cruise at the end of the summer to the Santa Barbara Basin with Scripps Institution of Oceanography (you can visit this website to learn more about the cruise: http://calechoes.ucsd.edu/researchers.html). Cheers, Ryan Wilson

Mike Menard & Krista Smilek.

Ana Londono (PhD ’08) Dear Dr. Huff, Things have been going well for me since I graduated; I’ve been a faculty member at Saint Louis University for two years now, teaching mostly to Environmental Sciences and Geology majors, and soon to Civil Engineers. Research has taken me back to Peru, my former dissertation area; I have been working on paleoclimate and tectonism in the southern Peru Desert, and I continue to work with the group of archaeologists in anthropogenic landscape modifications. One of these projects involves dating of alluvial terraces using 10Be, so I made my way back to UC last week and visited the Cosmogenics Lab. Work in the lab went well, hard work (lot’s of running around), but I am grateful the doors were open to an alumnus. Thanks to Lewis for that.

Brian NIcklen presents his winning poster to Prof. Craig Dietsch.

I am back in Peru now, just starting my new field season. Weather is nice, bright and sunny with a cool breeze. I’ll have quite a busy time, collecting more samples for cosmogenic dating, so I’ll probably visit the department again in the future (any excuse to visit good friends and enjoy a cup of Graeter’s ice cream). Take care, Ana

2010 Graduate Poster presentaions. Top; Prof. Dave Meyer and Naessha Koralegedora. Middle; Wa n Z h e n z h u . Bottom; Thomas Schramm.

2 0 1 0 G S A R eception

T he

Annual Meeting this year will be in Denver, Colorado and we will host an alumni reception on Monday, November 1 from 7:30 – 9:30 pm. Further details on hotel location and room will be coming in July 2010, so keep an eye out for your invitation.