Hoosier Geologic Record
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Indiana University College of Arts & Sciences Alumni Association HOOSIER GEOLOGIC HOOSIER GEOLOGIC RECORD RECORD This magazine is published annuall\' Lw the Indiana Uni \'ersit\' Alumni Association, in cooperation with the Depart Alumni Newsmagazine of the Department of Geological Sciences ment of Geological Sciences Spring 2004 and the College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Association, to encourage alumni interest iu and support for Indiana Universin: For activities and membership information, call Table of Contents ( 800) 824-3044 or send e-mail to iualumni(roindiana.edu. Chair's Greeting ......................................................................................... 1 Department of Editor's Note ............................................................................................. 2 Geological Sciences Chair Former Chair's Note .................................................................................. 2 Abhijit Basu Director ofDi"Fclopme11t Around the Department ............................................................................. 3 Lee J. Suttner New Faculty, Retirements, Honors, and more .......................... 3-10 Editor Lee J. Suttner Lectures and Presentations ............................................................ 11 Co-editors J. Robert Dodd Faculty and Staff Listing ................................................................ 12 'fricia Miles Geologic Field Station Update ................................................................. 14 Indiana Geological IU's Recent Geologic Past ........................................................................ 15 Survey Photography Indiana Geological Survey Update ........................................................... 17 Barbara Hill and John Da\' Faculty Notes ........................................................................................... 20 College of Arts & Sciences Faculty Research Grants ................................................................ 24 Dean Student Ne,vs ............................ : .............................................................. 27 Kumble R. Subbaswam\' l:'xccutil'e Director of Alumni Notebook .................................................................................... 29 Dci>elopmmt e~·Alzmmi Prorrrams Advisorv Board ............................................................................. 31 Tom Herb'crt Class Note Forn1 ........................................................................... 32 IU Alumni Association Preside11t/CE0 In Men1oria1n ................................................................................ 34 Ken Beckie\' 2002-03 Honor Roll of Donors .............................................................. 34 Director ofAlzmmi l'rc~rrmms Nicki Bland Department Photo ............................................................. inside back cover Editorjor Omstitumt l'criodicals Julie Dales A.uistailt l:'ditor Carol Edge Editorial Assistant Editor's note: We urge alumni and fricnds to send us Jackie Corgan prints, photos, or slides that JPould interest our readers. Please be sure to provide a complete caption and label the THE material JFith your name and addrc.1:1· so that it can be returned. vii' can't promise to include all submissions, [IOLLEGE but JPC can promise to rctum t/Jcm. Chair's greeting Punctuated equilibrium marks department's evolution ur department, like our science future, has been pioneered by Jurgen 0 and our society, is evolving. Punc Schieber, whose studies range from regional tuated equilibriwn is the norm for distribution of black/gray shale through all evolution in university settings. Here nanobacterial entities. Greg Olyphant's change happens in steps with long pauses. inverse modeling of multiple field observa Ours is no exception. We are, however, in tion of soil creep and David Bish's mastery the middle of climbing a giant step; we are of clay mineralogy are seemingly distant but not in stasis. With four new faculty mem obvious partners in shale research. Christine bers (David Bish, Mark Person, Juergen Shriner's interest in archeology has excited Schieber, and Chen Zhu), two simultaneous James Brophy and Arndt Schin1melmann retirements (Lee Suttner and Noel Krothe with different approaches and tools to in summer '03), one loss to raiding (Chris revive our reputation, which Charles and Maples in fall '03), and the search for two Dorotl1y Vitaliano had fostered. or three new tenure-track faculty to hire Geographically, our research spans the within a year, we are surely in an unprec globe and beyond. Neotectonics of tl1e edented state of evolutionary bloom. Wabash Valley or water pollution in Indiana Alumni and other gifts in response to is of local economic interest. Our faculty are our endowment campaign are now produc traveling to the Philippines and Italy, Tai ing enough interest income, despite a low wan and Greece, South Africa and Canada market, to make a huge difference in our for fieldwork, sampling, and analysis. Mars program. Chris Maples, our immediate past and the moon are very much a part of our chair, made very wise spending decisions to existence now. encourage research productivity, visibility of Our students, working in close partner students' paper presentations at various Abhijit Basu ship with the faculty and postdoctoral national and international meetings, and fellows, are making research presentations field experience for students. Chris also Merino. Climatic effects on geologic mate at regional, national, and international patiently waited to fill new positions with rial and the inverse problem of inferring meetings. Largely with the help of alwnni utmost care and to recommend appoint past climate from analytical work and theo gifts, we support travel to such meetings ments only for tl1e best in the discipline. We retical reduction stimulate the collaborative (and fieldwork, of course) far and wide. owe a lot to Chris's leadership. research of Arndt Schimmelmann, David Presentations at GSA, AGU, and AAPG/ It is my privilege to share some of our Finkelstein, and Simon Brassell. Sulfur SEPM meetings are common, and those at activities of tl1e past year. Our research isotopic investigations are helping Erika specialized meetings, for example in Poland continues to be field- and sample-based. Elswick, Chusi Li, and Edward Ripley to or Canada, are not rare. This is a great Some are modeling field and sample data to understand processes of ore generation, as incentive for students to be productive in understand the physical, chemical, and are experiments done by James Brophy to research and to get to know what is hap biological processes that shape earth materi determine the solubility of copper in basal pening in the outside world. als and earth features . The models range tic melts. Gary Pavlis, Michael Han1burger, It is not necessary to repeat how field from chemical reactions or physical re and Al Rudman are setting up seismic based learning has been, is, and will con sponses to computer-assisted simulations. arrays and deciphering below-ground "lay tinue to be a staple for our department. In Lisa Pratt has teamed up with chemists to ering" and theoretical aspects of P-S wave anotl1er article in this HGR, J an1es Brophy model the effects of 34S in the hydrolysis of propagation and conversion. Whereas and Bruce Douglas will update you on sulfate esters, common in biological matter. James Brophy is conducting experimental activities at our beloved field station in David Bish has worked out a chemical research for better understanding magmatic Montana. Field trips associated with regular equilibriwn model to conclude tl1at hy processes in volcanism, Michael Hamburger courses continue. drated minerals can exist in the ambience of is using GPS measurements to assess tl1e Something else is happening on campus! the Martian atmosphere. This has far-reach movements of magmatic and hydrothermal Robert Wintsch has designed and is teach ing consequences for life outside the earth, systems in volcanoes. Claudia Johnson is ing a course, nominally using the old Gl 11 as well as on planetary evolution. At the applying biological principles to trace tl1e course number, on physical geology and other extreme, modeling of field data has ecosystems of reefs tl1roughout the Phan rudiments of field mapping during fall led Greg Olyphant to predict when the erozoic and especially the Cretaceous. Tec semester. The course is meant for intended abundance of E. coli would increase in the tonic control of sedimentation even in small science majors, preferably those looking shore waters of Lake Michigan such that we basins and watersheds interests Bruce Dou into geology. Robert Wintsch, a great do not utilize the beach in tl1e wrong way glas, who is also reviving his longstanding teacher in the field with Socratic gifts, also at the wrong time. This model will go a research in mantle xenoliths vis-a-vis sub runs short field trips for undergraduate and long way- no pun intended - for ex duction tectonics. Watershed research and graduate students to distant places. This ample, in application to the two coasts of dynamic modeling of groundwater flow is fall, he was invited by a nwnber of colleges America. now well established in our department by and universities in New England to run a Other faculty research is equally exciting, Mark Person and his newly formed research field trip for their students. And he is not and diverse. Stress-induced neomineral group. alone in designing