The HomeFront

Jerry King led the discussion at the field trip destination: a large, tilted cylindrical mass of cemented fine sand over a meter wide and several meters long, exposed through erosion of the eastern Lovell Wash sidewall (see photo on the cover).

The cylindrical mass was oriented approximately perpendicular to the Bitter Ridge Limestone bedding and had a flat top, which was concordant with overlying limestone layers (see Photo 1, previous page). This feature is interpreted to be a sand dike formed through earthquake-induced liquefaction of saturated, shallow sand layer(s) underlying the limestone. Increases in water pressure due to collapse of the sand structure during shaking are thought to have initiated forced flow upward through the overlying limestone layers. The vertical flow path likely enlarged through the process, leaving behind the massive, sand-filled conduit. A “volcano” of unconsolidated sand on the former lake bottom would have probably resulted, however it is thought to have eroded away prior to subsequent limestone deposition.

The size of the Lovell Wash sand dike suggests it may have formed due to a strong earthquake. Following the official close of the field trip, many of the participants continued up Lovell Wash an additional few hundred meters to hike through one of the most spectacular slot canyons in Southern Nevada, the Anniversary Narrows (see Photo 2), serving as an adventurous conclusion to a morning filled with camaraderie, inspiring geologic scenery, and stimulating discussions. Photo 2. The Anniversary Narrows PHOTO BY LOUIE HENDRICKX …for These Future AEG EventsSave the Dates AEG/USSD Workshop Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort AEG 2023 Annual Meeting Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront –

December 6–8, 2021 Portland, Oregon

This workshop will focus on Best Practices in Specialty Geotechnical Construction Techniques for Dam Exploration and Remediation. Information will be posted soon on www.aegmeetings.org.

AEG 2022 Annual Meeting

Planet Hollywood Resort – Las Vegas, Nevada

September 13–17

Your fun begins on The Strip, Las Vegas’ main artery and home to bustling casinos, world-class restaurants, ornately designed resorts and over-the-top shows. Overlooking the Las Vegas Strip, our Annual Meeting hotel—Planet Hollywood Resort—is in the middle of everything you will want to experience. This Annual Meeting will be exciting, educational, and a great opportunity to reconnect with your colleagues and meet new ones.

September 19–24

Portland sits on the Columbia and Willamette rivers, in the shadow of snow-capped Mount Hood. It’s known for its parks, bridges, and bicycle paths, as well as for its eco-friendliness and its microbreweries and coffeehouses. The city hosts thriving art, theater, and music scenes. Surrounded by Portland hot spots, the Marriott Portland Downtown Waterfront hotel reflects the vibrancy of the city and is located directly on the waterfront in downtown, surrounded by more than 60 breweries. Wind down with friends by sampling some of the 150 types of whiskey at their on-site restaurant, Proof Reader. The hotel even helps you go green with complimentary car-charging stations, biodegradable straws and easy access to light rail from the nearby Morrison Subway Station. At night, retire to elevated guest rooms with 24-hour room service, waterfall showers, free Wi-Fi, premium channels and views of Portland. Don’t miss all of the exciting Field Courses, Guest Tours and the Special Event at the Oswago Hills Vineyard planned for this incredible Annual Meeting.

Oregon Chapter

The Homefront The Homefront HEADER HERE

Bryon Free, Chapter Secretary Hello from Portland, Oregon! As 2020 ends and 2021 begins, we are reminded about the resiliency that we as people have and the wonderful support that our chapter provides. We start this Homefront with the same story that every other Chapter has had to contend with. COVID-19 has put a damper on our usually benign meetings. However, it has also provided the opportunity for us to discover new ways to connect with our members. This is particularly exciting because we have been trying to figure out ways to reach further into the Oregon communities outside of Portland. Now that we have embraced the online/Zoom format this has become a reality!

This year is nothing short of exciting and full of opportunities to work together. On two separate occasions AEG Oregon and its members have had the opportunity to help turn budget issues around in a couple of prominent cases within the state. The largest issue was the new state budget where the Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) was almost absorbed into several different state entities. This would have caused several different issues as we can all imagine. In another budgetary case, Western Oregon University (WOU) almost eliminated their Earth Sciences program. This would have devastated the Oregon geology community and our ability to bring on new geologists within the region. In both cases we managed to mount community support and official letters from our Chapter and helped change the outcomes of the budget cuts, thus both programs were saved.

In other news the Oregon State Board of Geologists Examiners (OSBGE) has now implemented continuing education requirements for licensed geologists in Oregon. This is a great opportunity for AEG to attract new members because of the ability to gain continuing education requirements by attending our meetings and seminars.

Focusing on AEG Oregon and our meetings. We are excited to offer our next fully online Student Night this May. Needless to say, last year’s event was an adventure but moved very smoothly. We are looking forward to this next Student Night to offer more opportunity for students to speak with professionals and to get a feel for the future relationships that they will cultivate. Finally, we will be hosting the Annual AEG meeting in 2023! It was unfortunate that COVID-19 caused such a stir with the Dr. John Encarnacion of the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Saint Louis University presenting via Zoom at the St. Louis Chapter meeting in 2020 meeting. But we are very excited to see it come back October. and are thrilled to have the opportunity to host again.

St. Louis Chapter

Jessie Goodwin, Chapter Editor The St. Louis Chapter held events virtually in October through December of 2020. January is the Chapter’s Winter Hiatus, and virtual events resumed again in February. We are very thankful to our speakers for adapting to the virtual format with us and look forward to when we can again meet in person.

Dr. John Encarnacion of the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Saint Louis University presented at the meeting on October 22, 2020. In his presentation titled New Ages from the Shackleton Glacier Area and Their Context in the Regional Tectonomagmatic Evolution of the Ross Orogen of Antarctica, Dr. Encarnacion discussed the formation of the Antarctic continent and surrounding region, and several expeditions that have added to this understanding.

On November 30, 2020, Derek Ingram of XDD Environmental shared a presentation titled In-situ Environmental Remediation Case Studies. Derek discussed the importance of bench studies and pilot testing to a successful in-situ remediation project due to the non-target demand in the subsurface environment. The discussion included several sites—from a Superfund site in South Carolina with a mixed contaminant plume to a Manhattan high-rise already under construction— where the only thing tighter than the working space available on site was the schedule to hit targets.

On December 16, 2020, Dr. Gennaro Marino of Marino Engineering Associates, Inc., presented Mine Subsidence – Cause, Effect, Mitigation. Dr. Marino focused on his work in coal mines, first describing the mine designs used for underground coal mines, then discussing potential stability problems that develop as a result after the operational life of the mine. After describing the types of failures that can occur and the impact of groundwater status (dry, flooded, or dewatered), Dr. Marino discussed the potential risk and severity of effects that can appear at the surface.

San Francisco Bay Area Chapter

Courtney Johnson, Chapter Secretary The San Francisco Bay Area Chapter held elections in the fall of 2020 to transition leadership with the new year, with introductions to all our Chapter officers below. This is an exciting group and we are enjoying working together!

Chair: Justin Lindeman, GIT, has previously served as the Field Trip Chair and Vice. Justin is a computational geologist

with Cal Engineering & Geology and manages their remote sensing services to collect data and then apply GIS and various scripting languages to geologic mapping, deformation analyses, statistical analyses, and 3D visualization.

Vice Chair: Kate Zeiger, PG, CEG (CA), is an engineering geologist at WSP USA in San Francisco with a focus on geotechnical investigations for improvement, replacement, or new construction of dams, tunnels, and freeways. Kate has been volunteering with AEG since 2017, and we are all excited about her move to become the Vice Chair!

Treasurer: David Abbott, PG, CHG (CA), continues as our longstanding and trusty Treasurer. David is a consulting geologist specializing in groundwater with over 46 years of experience. As well as working closely with AEG, David is the current Treasurer for the San Francisco Bay Area branch of the Groundwater Resources Association of California, which has led to great crossover meetings and experiences between the two associations.

Secretary: Courtney Johnson, PG, CEG (CA), is serving a second term in this role and prior to that was the Membership Chair. Courtney is an engineering geologist and one of the founders of Slate Geotechnical Consultants, a small, woman-owned, employee-owned company based out of Oakland, California.

Membership Chair: Rocio Briseno, GIT, is a geologist with Cal Engineering & Geology and has been serving in the volunteer position of Membership Chair for the last two years.

Past Chair: Julien Cohen-Waeber, PhD, PE, is a managing engineer with Exponent. Julien continues to work closely with the Chapter to provide insight from his experience as Chair. Since handing off the duties as Chapter Chair, Julien is currently the United States Representative for IAEG.

We can always use more assistance, so please reach out if you are within the region and interested in joining this group! Check out our website at aegsf.org for more information on the Chapter.

The Chapter capped off the year with a remote presentation titled Geology and Other Things GIS, Remote Sensing, and Tech by Chapter Chair Justin Lindeman. Attendance was free and included an optional fundraiser for our recently established Chapter Scholarship Fund. We plan to hold as many more fundraiser events as we can in 2021!

Texas Chapter

Skye Ibarra, Chapter Secretary In Summer 2020, the AEG Texas Chapter hosted a series of four webinars, including: Brian Hunt – Contrasting the Middle Trinity Aquifer in Hays and Southwestern Travis Counties, Texas: Same Aquifer, but Different Sources of Water?; Geary Schindel – Dyeing to Know – the Use of Tracers in Karst Hydrology; Rusty Branch – Applied Geophysics for Geoscientists and Engineers: A Case Study Review; Becky Johnson – Ethics Hour; and Rene Truan – TBPG Update.

The Chapter hosted two webinars for Winter 2021. On February 2, Dr. Cheryl Hapke, as the 2020–21 Jahns Distinguished Lecturer, presented Development of a Statewide Program for Coastal Mapping and Implications for Coastal Hazard Adaptation Applications. This was a great look into Florida’s Coastal Mapping Program, the wide variety of uses for the program, and the similarities between the project and our own Gulf Coast.

The Chapter hosted a social mixer Zoom night for a small group the night before our second webinar of that season, Tunneling Geology Including the San Antonio Experience, led by Ross Webb on February 9. Ross shared how several pieces of tunneling equipment work, some of the risks and benefits to their use and discussed how differing geology can change the methods and equipment most useful on site. Both webinars were presented to groups of just over 30 professionals and students across the state.

The webinars with Brian Hunt and Geary Schindel are available to view on the AEG Texas website at https://aegtx.org.

Co-Editor Wanted

Geology of the Cities of the World Project

AEG is seeking an enthusiastic volunteer to serve as Co-Editor of the Geology of the Cities of the World publications. The series was founded by Dr. Allen Hatheway in 1980 in tribute to Dr. Robert Leggett, a geologist who helped develop the concept of urban geology as a specific field of practice. The 27 issues published to date provide practitioners, graduate students, university faculty, planners, engineers, developers, and government officials background information useful for discovering and highlighting geological issues unique to a city and in some cases its metropolitan area. The Co-Editors review draft documents and provide direction to the authors about the technical content and presentation. Attention to detail, patience and ability to visualize the finished product are required. The time commitment for the Co-Editor varies depending on the activities of the various lead authors and the reviewers. The Co-Editor should consider typically setting aside up to twenty hours per month. When a specific paper is under review, the time commitment may increase, to up to sixty to eighty hours per month.

For more information and to indicate your interest in this voluntary position, contact Co-Editor Ted Toskos at Theodoros.toskos@gmail.com.