Geological Insights & Event News

The Society mourns the loss of President-Elect Laurie VanIngen who passed away November 30th from thyroid cancer. The board is filling in for him for the rest of the year. Odin D. Christensen, President and Chief Geologist of Hardrock Mineral Exploration, reviews the Gravel Creek epithermal Ag-Au deposit, where Miocene boiling fluids formed stratabound breccias and high grade fault hosted ore. The 2016 resources total 1.4 Moz Au and 21 Moz Ag. President Rebecca Pendleton highlights plans to support the 2017 NMGS Ouray–Silverton fieldtrip. Regional news includes upcoming talks and courses.

Dr. Julia Wellner’s abstract describes how Antarctic sediment cores, geophysical surveys, and radiometric dating reveal past ice sheet extent, retreat rates, and links to high CO₂ climates. She contrasts diachronous ancient retreats with today’s rapid, widespread change. Her team integrates 3.5 kHz geophysical profiles, multibeam bathymetry, and sediment cores to reconstruct former ice sheet extent, flow speed, and retreat style. A new field trip is announced in early June: The Tocito, El Vado and Gallup Sands of the San Juan Basin with Dr. Leslie Wood.

Dr. Katherine Potter presents results from the 1912 m Kimama core, showing continuous mafic volcanism on the central Snake River Plain for 6.4 Ma, with basalt, loess, and fluvial sands recording steady accumulation and variable magma sources . In his Prez Sez column, President John Youle outlines 2016 goals: a spring field trip in the San Juan Basin, a new FLC research mapping feature, and launching Oil and Gas Fields of the Four Corners, Vol. IV . Regional news includes upcoming meetings, workshops, and the June Tocito, El Vado & Gallup Sands field trip led by Dr. Leslie Wood.