Archive for July, 2006

4,000 AGI Environmental Awareness Series Books to be distributed to Alaskan Educators

Thursday, July 20th, 2006

The Alaska Mineral & Energy Resource Education Fund (AMEREF), a partnership between the Alaska Department of Education and private industry, has purchased 4,000 Environmental Awareness Series books published by the American Geological Institute (AGI) to be distributed to Alaskan educators as part of the Alaskan Resources Kits.

The Environmental Awareness Series promotes better understanding among citizens, educators, and policy-makers of the role of earth sciences in all aspects of understanding and mitigating environmental concerns. The nine volume series addresses specific and timely environmental topics in clear language.

AMEREF is distributing the Aggregate and the Environment, Metal, Mining and the Environment, Petroleum and the Environment, and Coal and the Environment as part of their resource kits distributed free of charge to Alaskan educators. The kits contain standards-based, Alaskan specific educational materials and supplemental items that provide students with information to make informed and objective decisions about Alaska’s mineral, energy, and forest resources. In addition to the Environmental Awareness Series publications, kits include rock and mineral samples, videos, posters, maps, lesson plans and more. Kits have been distributed to all of Alaska’s school districts and have materials pertaining to science, math, social studies and Alaska studies. They are being used in kindergarten through high school.

Organizations interested in developing similar programs as AMEREF’s in support of public outreach and education activities, such as teacher enhancement programs, can purchase bulk quantities of these publications at cost. To view the entire catalog of Environmental Awareness Series publications please go to http://www.agiweb.org/pubs/index.html

The American Geological Institute is a nonprofit federation of 44 scientific and professional associations that represents more than 120,000 geologists, geophysicists, and other Earth scientists. Founded in 1948, AGI provides information services to geoscientists, serves as a voice of shared interest in the profession, plays a major role in strengthening geoscience education, and strives to increase public awareness of the vital role the geosciences play in society’s use of the resources and interaction with the environment. More information about AGI can be found at http://www.agiweb.org/. The Institute also provides a public outreach site at http://www.earthscienceworld.org/.

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AGI Announces Release of 2006 Earth Science Week Toolkit

Wednesday, July 12th, 2006

In support of Earth Science Week 2006 (October 8-14), the American Geological Institute (AGI), working with government agencies and other scientific and educational organizations, has developed the 2006 Toolkit for grades K-12 and beyond focusing on “Be a Citizen Scientist”.

This year AGI has published a new edition of its popular Earth Science Calendar filled with activities and important geoscientific dates, which is included in the Toolkit. These activities, supplied by AGI member societies and other organizations, engage students in learning about the earth sciences while they collect data throughout the year for ongoing research projects. The Toolkits also include factsheets on citizen science programs from the U.S. Geological Survey, a DVD entitled “Views of the National Parks” from the National Parks Service, and a lithograph about ozone and a cloud chart from NASA.

The Smithsonian Institution has developed “Earth from Space”, a new web resource for teachers that compliments the traveling exhibition by the same name that will be launching in time for Earth Science Week 2006. The Toolkit includes more information about this interactive website that uses satellite images and features downloadable lessons based on the National Standards. The “Earth from Space” exhibit begins its national tour in November 2006 at the National Air and Space Museum.

In addition, the Toolkit contains an activity-rich poster for grades K-5 from Scholastic, posters from IRIS and EarthScope, and materials from the Geological Society of America, plus much more.

The Toolkit can be pre-ordered now. Shipping will begin in late July. Individual kits are available for $4.95 to cover the cost of shipping and handling. Bulk pricing is available. Visit http://www.earthsciweek.org/materials/ to order the 2006 Earth Science Week Toolkit. Toolkits from 2004 and 2005 are also in stock.

Earth Science Week is an annual event held the second week of October to promote an understanding and appreciation of the earth sciences. It is coordinated by the American Geological Institute with generous support from the U.S. Geological Survey, the AAPG Foundation, and the National Park Service. To learn more about this event, please visit http://www.earthsciweek.org/.

The American Geological Institute is a nonprofit federation of 44 scientific and professional associations that represents more than 120,000 geologists, geophysicists, and other Earth scientists. Founded in 1948, AGI provides information services to geoscientists, serves as a voice of shared interest in the profession, plays a major role in strengthening geoscience education, and strives to increase public awareness of the vital role the geosciences play in society’s use of the resources and interaction with the environment. More information about AGI can be found at http://www.agiweb.org/. The Institute also provides a public outreach site at http://www.earthscienceworld.org/.

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Backbone of the Americas - Patagonia to Alaska

Friday, July 7th, 2006

Backbone of the Americas - Patagonia to Alaska

GSA Meeting Report

More than 400 participants and guests from some 20 countries attended this innovative specialty meeting co-convened by the Geological Society of America and the Asociación Geológica Argentina. Additional assistance with the meeting was provided by the Sociedad Geológica de Chile.

Attendees explored three themes important to understanding the evolution of the western margins and cordilleras of the Americas: ridge collision and triple junctions, the effects of shallowing and steepening subduction zones, and plateau and orogenic uplift.

Pre- and post-meeting field trips plus a mid-conference trip provided a spectacular visual backdrop to plenary sessions and technical presentations.

Meeting Sponsors

  • US National Science Foundation
  • Agencia de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica, Argentina
  • Consejo National de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica, Argentina
  • Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin
  • ExxonMobil Exploration Company
  • Repsol YPF
  • Rio Tinto Mining
  • IAMGOLD Argentina SA
  • Goldfield Corporation, Argentina
  • GSA Foundation
  • Barrick Minería Responsible
  • GSA Structural Geology and Tectonics Division
  • GSA International Division
  • ILP-Project ERAS (Accretionary orogens in space and time)
  • Centro Regional de Investigacions Científica y Tecnológica

Contact Deborah Nelson (dnelson@geosociety.org) for information on GSA’s next specialty meeting, Managing Drought and Water Scarcity
in Vulnerable Environments

http://www.geosociety.org/meetings/06drought/index.htm

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Great Lakes Section –Society for Sedimentary Geology Fall 2006 TRI-STATE Field Conference

Friday, July 7th, 2006

Great Lakes Section –Society for Sedimentary Geology (GLS-SEPM) Fall 2006 & 67th Annual TRI-STATE Field Conference

Saturday September 30th, 2006

Rock Island, Illinois

New Perspectives on Paleozoic Epeiric Seas and Carbonate
Platforms of the Iowa and Illinois Basins

The 2006 GLS-SEPM Field Conference will be held jointly with the 67th TRI-STATE field conference and will focus on new developments in the understanding of the sequence stratigraphy, processes controlling epeiric carbonate ramp development, chemostratigraphy, paleoceanography-paleoclimatology, paleontology, and paleoecology of the middle Paleozoic
epeiric sea of the Iowa and Illinois basins. The conference trip stops will highlight current understanding of epeiric carbonate ramp records of global events based on integrated sequence
stratigraphy, chemostratigraphy, biostratigraphy, and paleoceanography of the Middle-Late Devonian Wapsipinicon and Cedar Valley Group carbonate platform deposits. The trip will be
headquartered and run in the Quad-Cities area of eastern Iowa and western Illinois, with the Holiday Inn-Moline Convention Center at the Airport in Moline, Illinois, serving as the
conference hotel.

To learn more about this conference and for information to register please view http://www.isgs.uiuc.edu/gls-sepm/Announce&Reg_2006_GLS_SEPM-TRISTATE.pdf

FIELD CONFERENCE SPONSORS

Great Lakes Section-Society for Sedimentary Geology (GLS-SEPM)

Central Section-National Association of Geosciences Teachers (NAGT)

Department of Geography-Geology, Illinois State University

Illinois State University – Geology Club

Department of Geology -Augustana College

Geological Society of Iowa

Illinois State Geological Survey

Iowa Geological Survey

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Mickelson Partners with ExxonMobil for Teachers Academy

Wednesday, July 5th, 2006

For the second consecutive year, Phil and Amy Mickelson have partnered with ExxonMobil, Math Solutions and the National Science Teachers Association to sponsor the Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy held the week of June 25, 2006. Two hundred teachers chosen by their Superintendents from across the country met in Fairfax, Virginia for this event to better math and science education.

The Academy focused on repairing the deficit in math and science programs in public schools. In the “Condition of Education 2006” report released by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, it is stated that American high school students have been outperformed by students in Asia and Some European countries. The Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy was an opportunity for science and math educators to meet to discuss ways to turn this statistic around.

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Learning Geology in Verse

Wednesday, July 5th, 2006

Devin Doyle is a 13 year old from Boulder Colorado. When he had to study for a geology final in his Earth Science class, he decided to get creative and write a poem to memorize all the concepts he’d need to know. He’s always enjoyed geology and keeps a rock collection from hikes in the mountains near his home. Devin not only enjoys rocks and minerals, but he also plays the piano, basketball, and is on the track team.

The Stony Ballad

Gather round and listen, gather round and cheer,
For now I’ll sing the tale of the King of the Lithosphere!
He lived as an igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rock,
And the way to tell each stage apart was the way his grains interlock.

For igneous, his grains were completely unorganized;
For sedimentary, glued and different-sized;
For metamorphic, they were lined up straight.
But he should be prized not on his state,
But the way he crystallized.

From magma to igneous, he cooled to an obsidian mound;
From igneous to sediment, weathering, transportation, and deposition pushed him into the ground;
And as a low-lying sediment, cementation and compaction changed him into sedimentary rock, safe and sound.
Heat and pressure turned him metamorphic,
The stage that’s truly right.
And his melting downfall reincarnated him with new volcanic might.

But when as a Vulcan monster did he finally stay,
He found that his texture had been judged along the way.
As igneous, he saw himself as a felsic to ultramafic stone;
As sedimentary, he displayed a biogenic, chemical, or detrital tone;
And as metamorphic, he was foliated or nonfoliated to the bone.
But he was always volcanic, a stone king born of flame;
He ruled over those who were plutonic,
Crushed with no room for game.

And as he got old and tired,
Although rock life doesn’t stop,
He realized that the oldest were on the bottom,
The youngest on the top.
Dikes, faults, intrusions, and batholiths
Would eventually eat him up,
But before they even tried,
He knew he could always erupt.

The Pacific and North American plates converged
To push him sky-high,
And with the pride of a convergent plate boundary,
He did not want to die.

So here, my friends, is the tale much told:
Of the undying Mt. St. Helens, mighty and bold!

~Devin Doyle

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U.S. Introductory Geoscience Enrollments Increase in 2004-2005

Wednesday, July 5th, 2006

The American Geological Institute (AGI) conducted a survey to ascertain the number of students enrolled in introductory geoscience courses during the 2004-2005 academic year. 312 geoscience departments responded to this survey reporting a total of 191,778 students enrolled in three categories of introductory courses: physical geoscience, environmental geoscience, and geoscience of the National Parks or public lands. These introductory courses lay the foundation for our knowledge of energy and the environment.

Looking at responses from departments reporting across multiple years of the survey, total estimated U.S. enrollments in introductory geoscience courses increased slightly over the 2003-2004 academic year. The 2004-2005 enrollments show a 3 percent increase for the enrollment in Physical Geology, an 18 percent increase for the enrollment in Environmental Geology courses, and an 18 percent decrease for the enrollment in National Parks/Public Lands courses. The estimated total enrollment in introductory geoscience courses is 403,200. This estimate represents the upper bound of the population, as non-responding departments would have a higher rate of zero enrollments with the bias towards a non-response for departments without introductory courses.

Likewise, currently about 2.7 percent of the undergraduate population in the U.S. was enrolled in an introductory course in 2004-2005, through comparison of data from The National Center for Education Statistics and the results of this survey.

The entire Introductory Geoscience Enrollment in the United States, 2004-2005 report is available on AGI’s public outreach website at http://www.earthscienceworld.org/careers/

The American Geological Institute is a nonprofit federation of 44 scientific and professional associations that represents more than 120,000 geologists, geophysicists, and other Earth scientists. Founded in 1948, AGI provides information services to geoscientists, serves as a voice of shared interest in the profession, plays a major role in strengthening geoscience education, and strives to increase public awareness of the vital role the geosciences play in society’s use of the resources and interaction with the environment. More information about AGI can be found at http://www.agiweb.org/. The Institute also provides a public outreach site at http://www.earthscienceworld.org/.

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Call for Contributions Encyclopedia of the Earth

Monday, July 3rd, 2006

http://www.earthportal.net/about/eoe/

The world’s experts on the environment of earth, and the interaction between society and the natural spheres of the earth, are forming to produce a single comprehensive and definitive electronic encyclopedia about the earth. The Encyclopedia of Earth (EoE) will be free to the public and free of advertising.

We seek all qualified editors and authors to collaboratively develop:

  • A free, fully searchable, trusted source of articles about the Earth
  • A to Z coverage of topics describing the environment of Earth that span the natural, physical, and social sciences, the arts and humanities, and the professional disciplines
  • An information resource that will be useful to students, educators, scholars, professionals, decision-makers, as well as to the general public
  • An authoring site that combines the authority of peer review with the power of Web-based collaboration
  • A public reference site that is updated every 15 minutes

Editors: Professor Cutler J. Cleveland of Boston University, Editor-in-Chief of the award-winning Encyclopedia of Energy (Elsevier Science), is the Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of Earth. A distinguished International Advisory Board provides editorial oversight (see below).

Publisher: The Encyclopedia is one component of the Earth Portal(http://earthportal.net/), the world’s first comprehensive resource for timely, objective, science-based information about the Earth and environmental change. It is published by the Environmental Information
Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment
(http://www.ncseonline.org).

Scope: The scope of the Encyclopedia is the environment of the earth broadly defined, with particular emphasis on the interaction between society and the natural spheres of the earth. See the taxonomy and topic areas at http://earthportal.net/about/eoe/eoetopics/.

Join the Effort: If you are interested and want more information, please send an email to eoe@earthportal.net, or visit http://earthportal.net/about/steward/).

International Advisory Board

Rita Colwell, Chairman, Canon U.S. Life Sciences, Inc., former Director of the National Science Foundation, USA

Robert W. Corell, Chair of the Steering Committee for the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment

Robert Costanza, Director, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, University of Vermont, USA

Mohamed H. A. Hassan, President, African Academy of Sciences, Nairobi, Kenya

Thomas Homer-Dixon, Director, Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University College, Canada

Andrew J. Hoffman, Holcim Professor of Sustainable Enterprise, Ross School of Business, The University of Michigan, USA

Steve Hubbell, Distinguished Research Professor, University of Georgia, USA

Simon A. Levin, Moffett Professor of Biology, Director, Center for Biocomplexity, Princeton University, USA

Bonnie J. McCay, Distinguished Professor of Human Ecology, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, USA

David W. Orr, Chairman, Environmental Studies Program, Oberlin College, Ohio, USA

Rajendra K. Pachauri, Director-General, The Energy and Resources Institute, Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, India

F. Sherwood Rowland, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, University of California - Irvine, USA

B. L. Turner, Director, School of Geography, Clark University, USA

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Samuel S. Adams (1937-2006), a Champion for the Geosciences

Monday, July 3rd, 2006

As stated in the June 2006 Geotimes, Sam Adams was a great champion for the geosciences. He lost his battle against cancer May 5, 2006 at his home. His wife-partner-best friend of 50 years, Nancy Morris Adams, was with him. The Concord Monitor termed him a “Man for All Seasons” in its May 7, 2006 article. He will be missed by many.

Sam was born in Lincoln in 1937, the son of Sherman and Rachel Adams. He graduated from Cardigan Mountain School in 1951 and St. Paul’s School in 1955. He earned his B.S. in 1959 and his M.S. in 1961, both from Dartmouth College. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1968. Following Harvard he went to the potash salt mine of International Minerals and Chemical Corporation in New Mexico. Subsequently he joined the Anaconda Company where he served as chief geologist-uranium and Vice President for Geology and Technology. Later, Sam became a minerals consultant living in Boulder, Colorado, and focusing on exploration and mineral assessment projects in the western United States and world-wide.

In 1986, Sam accepted the position as Head and Professor of the Colorado School of Mines’ Geology and Geological Engineering Department. He chaired a department of 20 faculty, 150 graduate students, and 100 undergraduate majors. During a period when other geoscience departments were contracting, this department was growing and prospering with modernization of the department’s facilities and laboratories. In 1991 he returned to New Hampshire as President and General Manager of Loon Mountain Recreation Corporation, the state’s largest ski and summer resort. The Corporation prospered and was sold in 1998.

Sam has served the geoscience community in many ways. He was President of the American Geological Institute and the Society of Economic Geologists and Counselor for the Geological Society of America. He served as chair of the National Research Council Panel to Review the Mineral Resource Surveys Program Plan of the U.S. Geological Survey and Vice-Chair of the Panel on Hard Rock Mining on Federal Lands. He is a former member of the NRC Committee on Earth Resources and the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources.

Sam’s awards include AGI’s William B. Heroy, Jr. Award for Distinguished Service in 2000 as well as the Institute’s most prestigious award, the Ian Campbell medal in 2005; the Geological Society of America’s Distinguished Service Award; the U.S. Geological Survey’s John Wesley Powell Award; and the American Institute of Professional Geologists’ Outstanding Achievement Award.

He served the American Geological Institute in many leadership roles —most notably as President in 1995, as Chairman of the AGI 50th Anniversary Committee in 1998, and, through 2005, as Editor-in-Chief of Geotimes, the monthly news magazine of the Institute. He guided several other geoscience publications and also authored or co-authored more than 40 publications. His service extended beyond the geosciences. He was president of the New Hampshire chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness from 2003-2005.

He is survived by his wife Nancy Adams; daughters Melinda Adams McGregor of Del Ray Beach, Florida, and Katrina Adams Moran of Empire, Nevada; his son Jonathan Sherman Adams of Thornton, New Hampshire; his grandchildren Megan McGregor, Adam and Molly Moran and MacKenzie and Leeson Adams; and his sisters Sarah Adams, Jean Adams Hallager and Tinker Adams Freese.

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