SUNY Cortland - Geology Department

Below are news items, event announcements and pictures of interest to students, alumni and friends of the Department of Geology during the current academic year. Should you wish to contribute to this news list, please send an e-mail with a description of the item, including attached pictures where appropriate, to Dr. Christopher Cirmo at cirmoc@cortland.edu, or to Susan Nevins at nevinss@cortland.edu or to geologydept@cortland.edu. You may also send them via US Mail to Susan Nevins, Secretary of Geology and Physics, SUNY Cortland, PO Box 2000, Cortland, NY 13045.

We look forward to hearing from you!

DEPARTMENT SEMINARS

(all lectures sponsored by the SUNY Cortland Geology Department, the Geology Club, and the Campus Artists and Lecture Series)

Fall 2007 : November 13, 2007

Dr. Bruce Wilkinson , Syracuse Unviersity

Title: Humans as Geologic Agents

Spring 2007 : April 10, 2007

Dr. Eric Johnson , Hartwick College

Title: Shearing, Folding, and Injecting: The Complex Life of the Carthage Colton Shear Zone

Fall 2006: November 2, 2006

Dr. Louis Derry, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University.

Title: Geochemical Cycling and CO2 on the Main Central Thrust, Nepal.

Spring 2006: April 18, 2006

David Nicosia, National Weather Service

Title: Extreme Weather in Upstate New York

Fall 2005: Thursday, November 17, 2005

Dr. Timothy Lowenstein, Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Binghamton University

Title: Long-term survival of microorganisms and DNA in fluid inclusions

Dr. Tim Lowenstein, Professor of Geology at Binghamton University presented a talk focused on the long-term survival of microorganisms that become trapped inside fluid inclusions in evaporite minerals like halite. Remarkably, some bacteria can live inside these inclusions for as long as 21,000 years. Some scientists report bacteria living as long as 250,000,000 years. Both are astounding discoveries and reveal much of what we don’t know about how long a single organism can live. Dr. Lowenstein has authored numerous papers on this and other subjects concerning fluid inclusions and the changes in seawater chemistry through time.

Scholar's Day 2006 (Geology Department Contibutions)

The department contributed several sessions, presentations and posters to the 2006 Scholar’s Day.

Department Academic Awards

Academic Awards: The Geology Department made its annual academic awards at the Spring College Honors Convocation ceremonies held in April of 2007 and April of 2008.

Department Dominion Scholarships

The Dominion Scholarships were established by the Dominion Resources Inc. with the assistance of Cortland Geology alumnus Kevin Zink (’77). The award is dedicated to junior and senior student Geology majors who either have a concentration in environmental science or water resources, or have interests or research experiences in the environmental geological sciences. The awards consist of a $1000 scholarship per semester.

The 2004-2005 award winners were Leslie Tomic, Megan Bradley and Stephanie DeSisto. Stephanie left for graduate school at Queens University in Canada this past fall (2006), and Leslie and Megan are completing their senior years at Cortland. In Fall 2005, George Holmes was selected as the award winner. George has a major in Geology/Environmental Science and is interested in pursuing a graduate degree in Water Resources or Hydrogeology. Bobby Taylor was awarded this scholarship in the fall of 2006. Bobby is a GLY/Environmental Science major and will complete his degree in May 2008. Congratulations to all of these well-deserving students.

Field Camp Scholarships, Awards and Notes

During the summer 2006 Field Camp held at the Brauer Memorial Geology Field Station, three students received the James Kradyna Field Camp Scholarship: Stephanie DeSisto and James Morganthien from SUNY Cortland, and Maria Crosby from Boston University. A $700 scholarship was awarded to each student to help offset tuition for the five-week summer geology field course at Brauer Field Station. Applicants for the scholarships must be enrolled in the five week Field Geology course and have a demonstrated record of outstanding academic achievement in geology. The field camp experience was enhanced for all involved by the participation of these three dedicated and talented students. Stephanie Desisto is attending Queens University in Ontario and James Morgenthein is at Indiana University.

The recipient of the 2006 James Kradyna Student Award was SUNY Cortland student Mike Hennessey for his hard work, enthusiasm, positive attitude, and initiative in helping camp run smoothly. The $250 award goes to a student who displays the characteristics of James Kradyna while at field camp. Candidates are nominated by the camp staff towards the end of the course and presented to the students for their consideration. The students then vote to determine the recipient.

The James Kradyna Scholarships and the Student Award are possible through generous donations from James Kradyna’s family and friends as a memorial to James and his enthusiasm and support of the field camp from 1981 until his death in 1999.

- Notes from Field Camp 2006 or “Twenty-five years of crinoidal grainstone!”

Field Camp 2006 has wrapped up at the Brauer Field Station. Twenty-five years ago, Dr. Fauth ran the first SUNY Cortland field camp using the dorms at SUNY Albany to house the students. In 1984, camp was relocated to the Brauer Field Station where we run it today. These days we run the camp in even-numbered years, mostly in response to the lower numbers of students in geology these days, but the change also has given the faculty more flexibility regarding travel and research (Dr. McRoberts seems to always have new stamps in his passport). By running camp every-other year, we have more students per session. This year we had 19 students at camp. Three of whom stayed on to complete the five-week course: kudos to Maria, Stephanie and James for putting up with even more rain, ticks, mosquitoes, and waffles. (“Waffles?” the alums ask, “we never had any waffles" -- long story)

In case you hadn’t heard, Mrs. Brauer passed on earlier this year. I will miss inviting her to dine with the students during camp. She really looked forward to the opportunity to meet the students. Most of the Brauer estate was left to the Cortland College Foundation. Several acres will be added to the station property. Another large chunk of the estate will go towards maintaining and supporting the station. This is welcome news as the station is now over 20 years old and like any building of its age will need some work done in the near future. But meanwhile, the Brauer Field Station looks pretty much the same as always. The deck is popular for watching the flying squirrels, the fireplace is still used to dry those rain-soaked boots, the bunkhouse is forever damp, the poison ivy is healthier than ever, and hats are not allowed at the dining tables.

While you are visiting the departmental web page, check out the field course page, too. There are some links to pages of photos of past camps. If you would like to contribute pics from earlier camps, please email me (gleasong@cortland.edu).

Geology Field Trips

Faculty News

Faculty in the Geology department have been busy with teaching, service activities and with their own research, along with advising students and acting as community and regional experts. Dr. Gleason continues to act as the Field Camp coordinator, and has been busy with several presentations and posters involving micro-structural geology. She was involved with student Stephanie DeSisto on several projects. Dr. Barclay advised several students on a project culminating in a poster presentation at Scholar’s Day, and was on sabbatical during the fall 2006, completing work on another important aspect of his paleoecological analysis of tree ring data. He also hosted the spring 2006 speaker from the National Weather Service. Dr. Darling continued work on fluid inclusions and hosted the fall 2005 speaker from Binghamton University. Dr. McRoberts continued work on his new grant involving bivalves in Italy, and made several trips to Europe and Alaska. He was very active at conferences and publishing, and took the position of Acting Chair in Dr. Cirmo’s absence. Dr. Cirmo was on leave during the 2005-2006 academic year to the National Science Foundation, where he was a Program Manager for the Program in Hydrologic Sciences.

Research Pictures

Staff News and Adjunct Instructors

Ms. Susan Nevins joined the department in the fall of 2006 as our new secretary. Susan was a Secretary at SUNY ESF for fourteen years before coming to SUNY Cortland. She lives in Groton with her husband and three children. She has already initiated several innovative changes in her position and we look forward to her taking a large role in assisting the chairs and faculty in running Geology and Physics departments.

Ms. Julie Barclay continues to act as an adjunct instructor responsible for our GLY 171 Earth Science lectures and laboratories. She was promoted to full-time lecturer in August 2005 and taught GLY 297 Physical Oceanography in Dr. Cirmo’s absence in the spring of 2006.

Dr. Raymond Gildner served the department in 2005-2006 as a replacement for Dr. Stephen Losh who left for a tenure track position at the University of Minnesota Mankato in the fall of 2005. In fall 2006, Ms. Joyce Kruger-Knuepher joined the department to teach GLY 171, 172 and SCI 180.

John Driscoll continues to serve as instructional support specialist to both Geology and Physics Departments and recently reinvigorated the Planetarium on the first floor of Bowers Hall and has run several programs for elementary school children and the scouts.

Conference Presentations and Publications

Barclay, D.J.: Slow and Fast Modes of Tidewater Glacier Advance, Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, 22-25 October 2006, Philadelphia, PA.

Barclay, David J., Barclay, J.L., Calkin, Parker E. and Wiles, Gregory C., 2006, A Revised and Extended Holocene Glacial History of Icy Bay, Southern Alaska, U.S.A.: Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research, v.32, no. 2, p. 153-162.

Cole, A.C., C.P. Cirmo, D.L. Wardrop and R.P. Brooks. 2006. Using Hydrology to Compare a Regional Hydrogeomorphic Classification across a Latitudinal Gradient of the Appalachian Mountains. 9th Annual EPA Wetlands and Watersheds Workshop. Atlantic City, NJ. October 2006.

Darling, R.S., 2006, Superheated ice in pure water fluid inclusions from Moose River, NY, Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, v. 38, no. 2, p. 5.

DeSisto, Stephanie and Gayle Gleason; Water content in quartz and shear initiation of a small mylonite in the Western Adirondacks, Northeastern Geological Society of America Meeting, March, 2006, Harrisburg, PA.

Gleason, Gayle C. and Harry W. Green II (IGPP, UC Riverside); An Effect of Brittle Deformation on Metamorphic Reactions as Seen in the Albite to Jadeite + Coesite Transition, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, December 11-15, 2006, San Francisco, CA.

Hesselbo, S.P., McRoberts, C.A. and Pálfy, J (Editors). 2006. Triassic-Jurassic Boundary Events: Special Issue of Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Elsevier, Science. (in-press).

Hesselbo, S., McRoberts, C. A. and Pálfy, J. Editors. In Press. Triassic–Jurassic boundary events. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, Elsevier. A large co-edited volume with 22 chapters by leading authorities.

Hopkin, E.K. and McRoberts, C.A., 2005. A New Middle Triassic Flat Clam (Pterioida: Halobiidae) from the Middle Anisian of North-Central Nevada, USA. Journal of Paleontology, v. 79, no. 4, pp. 796-800.

McRoberts, Christopher; National Science Foundation research grant to study the Triassic/Jurassic boundary and end-Triassic extinction in Austria and Italy.

McRoberts, C.A. and Newell, N.D., 2005. Marine Myalinidae (Bivalvia: Pterioida) from the Permian of West Texas. American Museum Novitates, no. 3469, pp.1-15.

Reyes, Alberto V., Wiles, Gregory C., Smith, Dan J., Barclay, David J., Allen, Sandra, Jackson, Scott, Larocque, Sonya, Laxton, Sarah, Lewis, Dave, Calkin, Parker E., and Clague, John J., 2006, Expansion of Alpine Glaciers in the Pacific North America in the First Millennium A.D.: Geology, v.34, no. 1, p. 57-60, doi: 10.1130/G21902.1

Stanley, G. D., McRoberts, C. A. and Whalen, M.J. In Press. Stratigraphy of the Triassic Martin Bridge Formation, Wallowa Terrane: Stratigraphy and Depositional Setting. Accepted for publication in Geological Society of America Special Paper.

Tomic, Leslie, Christopher Cirmo, Edwin Romanowicz, Eileen Allen; Runoff generation on Jay-5 and the east Ausable in the upper peaks of the Adirondacks, New York. Northeastern Geological Society of America Meeting, March, 2006, Harrisburg, PA.

Ward, P., Garrison, G. Williford, K, Kring, D, McRoberts, C. and Goodwin, D. In Press. Chapter 7. The organic carbon isotopic and paleontological record across the Triassic–Jurassic boundary at the candidate GSSP section at Ferguson Hill, Muller Canyon, Nevada, USA. Accepted for publication in Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

Yin, J., and McRoberts, C.A., 2006, Latest Triassic-earliest Jurassic bivalves from the Germig Formation from Lanongla (Tibet, China): Journal of Paleontology, v.80, p.104-120.

Zonneveld, J.-P., Henderson, C.M., Hall, R., McRoberts, C.A., Orchard, M.J., and Pitaru, S., 2005. Stratigraphy, sedimentology and faunal distribution of Triassic-Jurassic boundary sections in the Rocky Mountain front ranges of northeastern British Columbia: implications for biostratigraphy and paleoecology: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, v. 37, p. 77-76.

Geology/Biology Softball Game

The “Bat and Ball” trophy went from its “semi-permanent” home in the Geology Department to Biology this past fall when Biology got its first win in the series with a 21-19 win over Geology, after a furious late inning rally by “team Geology” fell short. The prior fall, Geology brought home the trophy, as usual. Pictures of the 2006 game are shown below: