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Carolinas Chapter

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Rick Kolb, Former Chapter Chair The economy in the Carolinas is booming and housing and rent prices along with it. Consequently, many consulting companies are hiring, but they’re not finding enough candidates for entry level and especially for mid-range level of experience positions. As a result, those of us employed are working more than we’d like, and that includes Jacob Hundl and Jen Thomas, Chair and Vice Chair of the Carolinas Chapter, both of whom were too busy to write a summary for this quarter’s Homefront.

Our Chapter was pretty much silent during the first year of Covid and into the second, as board members and members and the rest of society came down with Covid, some more than once. Former Chapter Chair Paul Weaver set up our first meeting post-Covid times, which was held in Greensboro on October 21 and featured a presentation by Heather Hanna, a forensic geologist. It was nice to see people again, though our attendance was less than half the usual for Greensboro meetings.

As former Regional Directors, both Paul and I had the ambition to hold Chapter meetings in South Carolina (and ultimately set up a Chapter there), but work and Covid got in the way, and a meeting didn’t happen until Rich Anthony in Charleston volunteered to set up his first-ever AEG meeting for February 17. Rich picked out a local microbrewery, Holy City Brewery, and we hosted Jahns Lecturer Rick Wooten. On arrival, we found the brewery was packed, but Rich had secured the meeting space in the mezzanine, so we were separated from the crowd. Unfortunately, word of the meeting did not get out to geology students at the College of Charleston, where Rick had made an afternoon presentation, so we had no students in attendance. Next time we will make sure students are notified.

Typically we hold our winter meeting in Charlotte, and we had it scheduled for January, but then the latest variant of Covid popped up, so we postponed to March 17. We met at the US Whitewater Center, a great venue where we had held our last pre-Covid meeting in January 2020. Again, we had a new volunteer, Chapter Secretary Jonathan Gerst, set up his first meeting. At this meeting, as usual for Charlotte, we had attendance by many students from UNC-Charlotte and faculty members/longtime AEG supporters Dr. John Diemer and Jake Armour. Our speaker was again Rick Wooten. It’s convenient when the Jahns Lecturer lives relatively nearby. Jonathan plans to organize a meeting this summer in Greenville, South Carolina, where he recently set up a reunion for his high school graduating class and is familiar with the meeting venues.

Chapter Field Trip Chair Rick Kolb set up our first field trip in three years for Saturday, March 26. We visited the White Plains Nature Preserve in Chatham County, just west of Raleigh, where we observed dacitic lavas and tuffs of the

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Carolina Terrane and Triassic-aged sedimentary rocks of the Deep River basin. The preserve is owned by the Triangle Land Conservancy, and the weather was springtime perfect. As he has done several times in the past, Phil Bradley of the North Carolina Geological Survey led the field trip. He was assisted by Emily Michael and David Grimley of the Survey. We had lunch at Carolina Brewing in Pittsboro (included in the registration), and a few of us may have had a beer. The field trip was good for six hours of continuing education credit, which most of us used to help meet the annual requirement of twelve hours for maintaining our geology license in North Carolina. We held our spring meeting on April 14 at Clouds Brewing in downtown Raleigh. We have met there twice in the past, and had the patio pretty much to ourselves, and again the weather was perfect. Our speaker was Rick Wooten. We hope eventually to reach our usual pre-Covid meeting attendance of 90 to 100 in Charlotte and Raleigh and 50 in Greensboro, but we know this will take some time. Fortunately, our Chapter sponsors help us in times when meeting attendance is low. Our second field trip of the year was held in western North Carolina and based at Big Pillow Brewing in Hot Springs, which is conveniently located next to the Hot Springs Campground. We originally scheduled the field trip for Saturday, May 14, but this time the weather didn’t cooperate, so we had to postpone the trip to the following Saturday, May 21. Bart Cattanach of the North Carolina Geological Survey led this field trip, where we observed Mesoproterozoic igneous and metamorphic rocks and Neoproterozoic-Cambrian sedimentary rocks. The geology of North Carolina is quite complicated. Lunch was back at a food truck at the brewery. This trip also offered six hours of continuing education credit. Brad Worley, our Student Liaison, restarted our Visiting Professional Program this spring after being on hiatus during the past two springs of Covid times and virtual classes. He organized presentations in March and April at East Carolina University, East Tennessee State University, the University of South Carolina, Clemson University, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Charlotte, NC State University, Virginia Tech, and Appalachian State University. Our Chapter started these presentations—typically by a trio consisting of an environmental geologist, an engineering geologist, and a public-sector geologist—in 2007, prior to implementation of the program by AEG nationally. Almost half of our members are students, who can attend our meetings for free. On January 27, 2022, Rick Kolb led the third installment of the AEG webinar on “How to Prepare and Strategize for the ASBOG® Fundamentals of Geology Exam,” with over 100 in attendance. Rick “recruited” three younger geologists as presenters: Emily Michael of the NC Geological Survey, Kellen Kromm of Northwest Geoscience, and Hayley Irick of Terracon. Dr. Jason Patton, past president of ASBOG, also presented and helped answer the tougher questions. Based on participant

feedback, these webinars are helpful for those planning to take the exam. We’ve had over 100 participate each time we’ve presented this webinar, and we plan to offer it again approximately two months before the next FG exam on October 1, 2022. If you’d like to be one of the presenters, contact Rick Kolb at rick.kolb1@gmail.com.

Over the past six months, as part of encouraging members to get together again, Chapter Social Chair Adam Phillips of ERIS has set up what we call “brewpub socials” at microbreweries in Charlotte and Asheville. He has planned another social for June 23 in downtown Greensboro at Joymongers Brewing Company, preceding a Greensboro Grasshoppers minor league baseball game a block from the brewery. These socials are essentially like a Chapter meeting without a dinner and speaker and give our members an opportunity to get together more than once a year outside our chapter meetings in Asheville, Charlotte, Greensboro, and Raleigh. Adam plans to schedule another social this summer at a microbrewery in Wilmington. North Carolina has over 370 microbreweries and brewpubs, the most in the American South, so our options for brewpub socials and Chapter meetings are many.

San Francisco Chapter

Justin Lindeman and Jennifer Pfau-Flores

For the San Francisco Chapter, 2022 has been (and will continue to be) an exciting year trying to get back to normal. We are currently exploring how to offer hybrid (in-person and virtual) meetings to allow everyone in our large footprint to attend and to archive presentations for people who cannot attend. Later this year we will hold a few more in-person meetings, several pop-up talks (15-minute lunchtime virtual presentations), one or two social hours, a second 2022 field trip around San Francisco in August, and a virtual geologythemed trivia night.

In January, the 2021–22 Jahns Distinguished Lecturer, Richard Wooten, gave his virtual presentation on Debris Flows, Big Slow Movers, and Rocks Slides: Assembling the Geospatial Legacy of Landslides Using Lidar, Drones, and Boots on the Ground. His presentation can be seen here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZjNWVKBq44In) in our first attempt to record and disseminate on our YouTube page.

On May 10 2022, the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter was excited to hold our first in-person meeting in over two years! Dave Simpson of AECOM presented Challenging Geologic Investigations for the First Large New Dam in 21st Century California. He discussed how quantifying foundation properties and addressing geologic issues are the key responsibilities of a dam geologist. The goals of the first phase of the Pacheco Reservoir Expansion Project were to define the bedrock foundation characteristics at two separate sites under consideration for a proposed 350-ft-high dam, spillway, outlet tunnel and structures, as well as a conveyance pipeline and multiple borrow sites amid many non-geologic challenges including wildfire-related concerns and COVID-19 delays. Geologically, the investigations included: lidar and bathymetric surveying, geologic mapping, borings, borehole hydraulic conductivity testing, dilatometer testing, piezometers, geophysical surveys, test pits, and laboratory testing of soil and rock samples where preliminary results indicated that the site geology is surprisingly straightforward for Franciscan Complex terrane.

In March, AEG SF virtually hosted Dr. Edmund Medley with the San Francisco Geo-Institute. His Suggestions for Prudent Geopractice with Franciscan Bimrocks presentation focused on block-in-matrix rocks basics mixed with suggestions to encourage prudent geopractice for foundations, tunnels, excavations, and slopes in the Franciscan bimrocks of the Bay Area. Suggestions included: knowing the significance of Franciscan sub-terranes; beware estimates of block sizes and block proportions; challenge geological cross-sections developed from borings; and, question the results of deterministic slope stability analyses.

On May 7, Dr. Bruce Pauly guided members from our Chapter on a field trip around Mount Diablo (discussed in the Field Trips section of this issue on page 36).

Texas Chapter

Ashley Aguilar, Student Liaison

AEG Texas Chapter Spring 2022 Meeting, Boerne, Texas

The AEG Texas Chapter sponsored the Seventh Annual Texas Hydro-Geo Workshop held April 1 – 3 at Cave Without a Name in Boerne, Texas. The workshop consisted of a series of well-organized training sessions conducted by experts in their field. The range of topics included the collection, processing, analysis, and evaluation of hydrologic and geologic field data. This year, thirty-eight modules were presented, and as many as 150 college students and professionals attended with participants travelling from as far away as Arizona and California. Our very own Pat Frost (AEG Texas Chapter Past Chair) conducted a module titled ESRI Collector for ArcGIS Mobile App. Pat and AEG Region 6 Director Rusty Branch advised students in their Career Development module throughout the workshop.

The AEG Texas members participated at the AEG booth, engaging with students and professionals. Pat Frost organized us and ensured that we had AEG swag for students, including stress ROCKS, stickers, and a covered booth with an AEG banner. In addition to offering water and snacks, the Texas Chapter held a raffle for goodie bags filled with AEG portable power banks, field notebooks and covers, stickers, and rock hammers for new members. The Texas Chapter received thirty AEG student membership applications and interest in the creation of new student Chapters. Additionally, AEG Texas issued six PDHs to AEG members who attended workshop modules. Texas Chapter members in attendance included Pat, Rusty, Cynthia Palomares (2019–20 AEG President), Mark Dobson, Skye Ibarra, Ashley Aguilar, Angie De La Cruz, Mathew O’Brien, and Corrine Gaunt.

Participants in the Cave Geology module led by Dr. George Veni

Setup began Friday afternoon with selection of tent sites and raising of the AEG canopy and banners. The afternoons were a bit warm, however cooler temperatures graced us following sunset. On Saturday night, we gathered at the pavilion for a series of talks, starting with the keynote speaker, Dr. George Veni, Executive Director of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI). Dr. Veni spoke about the need for the International Year of Caves and Karst, the initial setup, and the progress they have seen since its beginning. After the keynote speaker, came the infamous Yodeling and Hog Calling Contest, followed by lightning talks. Cynthia Palomares’s lightning talk on the importance of joining a professional organization was a big hit and mentioned by multiple students who visited the booth. Mark Dobson’s lightning talk focused on fault data recently acquired by himself and Rusty Branch. University of Texas-San Antonio student Corrinne Gauntt braved the cave darkness

Dr. George Veni discussing microbially influenced travertine terraces in Cave Without a Name

Pat Frost and Rusty Branch lead one of the sessions on Career Development with students while Mathew O’Brien runs the Texas Chapter booth. A grateful thank you to BCI for the loan of a replacement canopy!

L to R: Module Levi Sparks (left) of the Bandera County River Authority presenting “TCEQ’s Clean River Program: An Overview” to UTSA students Kaitlyn Tillery, Angie De La Cruz, and Corrinne Gauntt

and participated in a wet and wild cave tour. The workshop ended on Sunday morning, after which we took down tents, cleaned up the campground, packed up, and departed.

Currently, the Texas Chapter is setting up the next series of meetings, including a Central Texas geology wine tour with Dr. Peter Rose in the fall.

L to R: AEG Texas Chapter members and workshop attendees Eric Wolf, Ashley Aguilar, Angie De La Cruz, Rusty Branch, Pat Frost, Ed Miller, and Mason Miller start off the chilly morning with some coffee before the day’s modules begin.