SEPTEMBER 1976 VOL.3 NO. 1 ANNUAL MEETING CONVENED SOCIETY OF MAINE, and send to J. R. Rand, Treas- urer, Cundy's Harbor, RD-2, Box 210A, Brunswick, Maine 04011. The Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of Maine gathered on a grassy knoll at the Darling Center of the University of Maine at Walpole on THE DARLING CENTER Friday, August 6th, with about 30 members, guests Located on 130 beautiful acres adjacent to and one pet crow named Alfie in attendance. The the Damariscotta River in Walpole, the Ira C. day was nice, at around 710 (220C), and somewhat Darling Center is the base station for marine overcast. Toward the end of the day a very oc- science programs of the University of Maine, and casional raindrop kept things from lagging during is the home of the University's Department of the business part of the meeting. Oceanography. Although the emphasis at present is in teaching biological sciences, Ken Fink and Detmar Schnitker have a small group of students 1. The following Officers and Councilor were working on geological theses. In addition to the nominated from the floor and duly elected: academic curricula, there is a large group of professionals at the Center working on special President W. W. Rideout - Gardiner contract programs, marine engineering, environ- Vice President W. A. Anderson - Wayne mental monitoring and aquaculture. Total person- Secretary A. W. Berry, Jr. - Farmington nel includes about 70 people, with an annual Treasurer J. R. Rand - Cundy's Harbor funding of about $1,000,000, mostly from grants. Councilor to 1979 R. R. Holmes - Union Shore-based facilities are quite cramped, 2. J. R. Rand read a summary of the Treas- with all space (houses, barns, sheds, mobile-home urer's Report for 1975-76, a detailed copy of same labs) fully occupied. The only new capital to be found elsewhere in this Newsletter. construction at the Center has gone into one new classroom and to the aquaculture facilities at 3. J. R. Rand was also re-appointed Editor the river-front. The University now, however, is of the Newsletter. He thereupon made a loud looking toward becoming more involved in marine request for news items, abstracts, drawings and research than in the past, and is attempting to any other technical material that might inspire bring all marine sciences studies throughout the the Newsletter to be something more than just a University system together in a fully-coordinated roughly periodic call for payment of dues. enterprise. SPEAKING Of DUES... The only apparent problem at the Center de- The Society has adopted an August 1 to July 31 rives from geography, which creates a relative membership year, and dues for the 1976-77 year are isolation of the faculty and students from close now due. Annual dues are $5 for Regular Members; $4 intellectual association with colleagues and for Associate Members; and $2 for Student Members. peers residing at the main academic campuses, and There is also a one-time $2 Application Fee for new requires all hands to develop a self-sufficiency members. not needed elsewhere in the system. To counter the academic isolation, the Center presents a As a gentle reminder to old members, we have series of seminars during the regular semester, cleverly color-coded the address labels on this bringing in speakers from "outside" to discuss Newsletter to designate your membership standing. current developments and thinking in scientific. If your address label is unsullied white, you are subjects. These seminars are held every 14 days, recorded as paid up for 1976-77. If your label is generally on Wednesday evenings and Friday after- coded yellow, you are paid up for 1975-76, but you noons. If you should wish to be on the list to still owe dues for 1976-77. If your label shows receive notices of the seminar schedule, please glowing PINK, you owe dues for BOTH 1975-76 and contact Dr. L. Kenneth Fink, Jr., Ira C. Darling 1976-77, and it will be only fair to remove your Center-UMO, Walpole, Maine 04573. name from the mailing list if you don't respond fairly shortly. The Society wishes also to express its ap- preciation to Detmar Schnitker, Ken Fink and the PLEASE MAKE DUES CHECKS PAYABLE TO THE GEOLOGICAL University for providing a space for this year's GSM Annual Meeting, and for giving us a look at their fine and worthwhile marine research facility MID-SUMMER CONFERENCE and decision making before, rather than after, critical land-management and environmental de- cisions must be made. The major part of the Society's Annual Meet- ing consists of technical presentations by various Maine Seismic Network geologists, to summarize their plans, work or findings with respect to bedrock, surficial, As head of the Maine Survey's Physical Geol- hydrogeologic, marine, geophysical and ocean- ogy Division, Walter Anderson is working with ographic matters. Because they are fielding the Weston Observatory, Weston, Massachusetts, to largest program of investigation in the State, the assist in siting a number of new permanent seis- members of the Maine Survey always have plenty to mometer stations around the State, as part of an offer a meeting, and they didn't let us down any expanded New England seismic network. The network at this year's conference. feeds raw data via phone lines to Weston Observatory. Presently operating stations in Maine Survey's 5-Year Plan Maine are located at Dickey, Caribou, Milo and East Machias. New stations to be sited this year Bob Doyle, stating that the need for sound in Maine will be at Turner, North Windham, geological contributions to public planning and Hinckley and Bucksport. Stations are planned for decision-making bodies has become critical in Jackman Station, Mt. Katahdin and Topsfield (or Maine, described his proposed 5-year plan for the Princeton) in 1977. A unit of some type may also Maine Survey. The plan visualizes establishing a be placed in the State House at Augusta. In permanent technical staff to run a Survey com- addition to helping to site seismometers, Walter posed of four basic Divisions: Administration and will be handling state-wide surveys to collect Cartography; Physical Geology; Hydrogeology; and Modified Mercalli Intensity data immediately Marine Geology. The plan proposes an average following future earthquakes in the region. annual budget of about $384,000 for the period, with an annual average of $198,000 to come from In connection with seismic matters, Jeff General Fund appropriations to support the basic Johnson, seismologist at Weston Observatory, technical staff, and with $186,000 to come from described the over-all Northeastern U. S. outside grants to cover operating costs of spe- Seismic Network, made up of stations operated cific pre-designated projects. The plan also by Weston, University of Connecticut, M.I.T. calls for public release of maps and reports on and Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory. each designated project at specific times during Weston Observatory is currently expanding its the 5-year period. network, largely in Maine, with funds provided by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The net Bob noted that the Survey may seem to be issues a quarterly bulletin, itemizing earth- shooting for the impossible in asking for mark- quakes and quarry blasts occurring during the edly expanded appropriations at a time when period. The map on the facing page shows loc- State agencies are generally being pruned back. ations for the various stations of the region He emphasized, however, that the rapid develop- operated by the several designated agencies, ment of recreational, commercial and industrial including locations of the new stations pro- facilities in the State is creating immediate posed for the area. environmental problems for local and State managers; basic technical data must be collect- Jeff defined the criteria for locating new ed, analyzed and distributed quickly to permit stations as that spacing of stations which will effective development planning, action or con- permit detection of a 2.3 Magnitude earthquake trols. by at least two stations, to enable defining epicentral locations within 2 to 3 kilometers. Waste disposal facilities should not be Bedrock emplacement of new seismometers is not placed to jeopardize productive groundwater a critical requirement. The design of the aquifers, but where are the aquifers? People instruments is such that the preference, ap- shouldn't tamper with the natural sedimentation parently, is to bury them about 10' above bed- balance of coastal beaches, but what constitutes rock in a quiet neighborhood serviced by power "tampering"? Government and industry must not be and phone lines. Upon the occurrence of a permitted to place hazardous facilities on suitably strong earthquake, portable seismo- unstable bedrock or surficial terrane, but what meters will be immediately deployed to the epi- geologic features are unstable for what central area to record aftershocks, to try to industries in what localities? Major commercial get data with which the focal mechanism (fault structures should not be built or maintained plane solution) may be calculated. without having proper seismic design characteristics, but what are the earthquake The recent results of network detection in potentials around the State? Maine show a general scattering of small events, with an apparently anomalous concen- At the present rate of funding of the Maine tration in the Lewiston area. Since the in- Survey, basic technical data might become avail- struments have not been calibrated, no Magni- able in a decade or two to deal with these tude estimates or fault plane solutions have questions. Bob's 5-year plan envisages the Sur- been possible to calculate. A new analysis of vey's immediate obligation and responsibility to the multiple event of July 1, 1967 near Augusta the people of Maine to provide fundamental suggests that the trend of the many aftershocks geologic information for intelligent planning during that day coincided spacially with a northwest line between Augusta and Readfield.