2010 NEWSLETTER Department of Geology and Geological Engineering Volume 20 December 2010 Department News Research Activities Faculty News and Student News Field Camp Alumni News Activities and Activities Page 3 Page 11 Page 30 Page 34 Page 21 Page 21 AAPG AEG AGS SEG Greetings from Berthoud Hall! senior classes. This puts stress on our Geology and Geological Engineering at physical space here in Berthoud, as well CSM a pillar of excellence. Research The Department extends to you our as impacts teaching loads. However, funding for the Department was again most sincere greetings and warmest Berthoud Hall is bustling and it’s nice to strong for the year, with awards of over wishes. It gives us great pleasure to have the problem of too many students, $2.6M. We have made some laboratory publish and distribute the 2010 rather than too few! modiications, added a hot-cathode Newsletter of the Department of Geology The continued interest in the cathodoluminescence instrument, and and Geological Engineering. This is our Department, and in the geosciences and opportunity to share with you the geoengineering in general, is likely activities of our highly active and the result of increased awareness of engaged faculty, students, and staff. I just how important the Earth and conduct exit interviews with our its resources are for today’s graduating seniors and graduate globally integrated society. students, and nearly every one says that Colorado School of Mines is we’re the “best department” and/or strategically positioned to answer “best major” on campus. We love what society’s call for rational scientiic we do and that carries through all that analysis and politically and socially we do to make CSM Geology and adroit engineering solutions. Of Geological Engineering the place to be! course, the School’s focus areas of As we have seen the past couple of Earth, Energy, and Environment years, the Department continues to place Geology and Geological Engineering at the forefront of the grow, with record-high student Fa! 2010 New Student Orientation and Welcome School’s efforts. numbers. We currently have enrolled Back Picnic 137 graduate students and 164 declared The Department faculty and majors in our sophomore, junior, and staff continue to work to make 1 2010 NEWSLETTER GEGN203 students visit the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Black Canyon of the Gunnison. look forward to adding the QEMSCAN facility to Berthoud in early 2010. Eileen Poeter, Eric Nelson, and Graham Closs continue on transitional retirement. We are in the process of searching for a tenure- line faculty position in structural geology for an August 2011 start date. Because of dificulties in Colorado higher education funding, we’re not conident in being able to ill other positions in the near term. We hope that as the economy (and the legislature…) turns around, we’ll be able to ill faculty vacancies resulting from our recent retirements. In the spring, David Benson and Bruce Trudgill were awarded tenure, and Reed Maxwell was promoted to Associate Professor. Congrats all around! As for me, I continue on as Department Head and am now in my ifth year in this position. I also feel that I’m still learning the job and could certainly not do this without the tremendous help I get from Debbie and Marilyn – we all know who really runs this place. I told myself I wouldn’t travel so much this year, but apparently I don’t listen to myself very well. I had a trip to Jakarta in late April and early May to work on isolated carbonate platform reservoirs, followed in rapid succession by a trip to Houston, back for graduation, and then on to Morocco the next day for an AAPG Student Chapter ield trip to the High Atlas mountains (you can read about that in this Newsletter). After giving a short course in Atlanta and running my week of ield camp at Molas Lake in June, we welcomed twelve visitors from the Kazakh National Technical University. Through the support of Chevron’s University Partnership Program, Dr. Ramona Graves (Head of Petroleum Engineering at CSM) and I have been working with KazNTU on scientiic, engineering, and educational exchange. Our visitors were faculty and students from their Petroleum and Geology Institutes. We showed them the spectacular geology of Colorado and worked toward developing their efforts at integration of geology and engineering. In the fall, I attended a European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE) workshop on the future of the geoscience workforce in the resource industries. The conference was held in Pau, France at the foot of the Pyrenees. Finally, Ramona Graves and I visited Almaty, Kazakhstan, to work with KazNTU and to attend another EAGE conference. The Department is on sound inancial footing, due in large part to the continued support from you and your companies. While the administration has needed to cut budgets for the departments, Geology and Geological Engineering has made up for those cuts with your generous donations. All of us in the Department wish to extend our gratitude for your generosity and belief in our efforts. The Department is strong and sound and, as you’ll read in this issue, many Here is a breakdown of the students exciting developments are underway. Please accept my best wishes to you and pursuing degrees in our Department. your families for a safe, healthy, and prosperous New Year. Please also continue to maintain your ties with the Department – we love to hear what our alums are up to! I encourage you to send us comments, suggestions, or just a friendly email. And Ph.D.!!!! 39 please come visit us when you can. All the best from all of us at the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering. M.Sc.!!!! 86 Professional Master ! 12 John D. Humphrey Undergraduates!! 164 Department Head ! Male!!! 112 ! Female!! 52 2 2010 NEWSLETTER Department News I held weekly meetings with our Collections managers and Update on the Museum volunteers. Our volunteer ranks have doubled this year to roughly By Bruce Ge!er 37. We now have our own facebook fan page. Attendance, donations box, and Gift Shop revenues increased, despite the national recession. Additionally, our Book Sale and Garage Sale were very Our Geology Museum continues to evolve into a real gem. successful. My third year at the helm of the Museum has seen further Several security measures were emplaced. Significant cash and challenges and has specimen donations continued, with many impressive loans. In produced great pride. I short, our Museum is becoming nationally recognized for its quality view every day working displays and staff. in our Museum as We also applied for and received a grant from the Golden another typical/atypical Civic Foundation, hosted numerous receptions, identified many day. I approach them specimens, and obtained a moon rock from former Governor John with zeal and try to do Vanderhoof and Governor Ritter. Check it out in our new my very best. The basement display (see photos!) at the gifting ceremony for the improvements are moon rock, August 25, astounding, but I must 2010. acknowledge the help Our “Friends of and support that I’ve the CSM Geology received from our Museum” now has over Bruce Ge!er, ©Denver Post Advisory Council, 53 members from Student Aids, donors, around the world. The volunteers, Friends of Friends are about to the CSM Geology ratify their own by-laws. Museum (FCSMGM), They have raised funds specimen loaners, for our Museum to visitors, visiting purchase some researchers, CSM wonderful new display faculty, staff, specimens. They were administrators, and helpful in running our students who support Book Sale and Garage us in so many ways. Sale. Over a dozen Let me give a quick members attended two year in review. Our field trips to mines near ©CBS. Gov. Bi! Ritter and Bruce Ge!er Advisory Council Silver City, NM in (including Bryan Lees November. Friends [GE 1985]) has con- receive 20% discounts Chris Shorey (right) and Mike Ghedotti tinued to meet monthly to steer our Museum. There were also in our Gift Shop, and an of Regis University at an opening monthly meetings to co-ordinate the Creede Mineral Symposium. e-mail newsletter. reception honoring the donation and The latter was a three day event held last September in southwest There are roughly display of the Regis University Colorado at the Creede Underground Museum and attended by 71 10 new exhibits in our Co!ection. participants. Museum, largely due to Our Student Aids have met monthly to coordinate our efforts. the work of our Of our 12 Student Aids working a total of 90 hours a week this Collections Managers Ed Raines and Tom Hughes, as well as past semester, seven are those who lent us their personal treasures. Our Creede mining GE majors and four are district display, won first prize out of 19 museums at the 2010 women! I met monthly Denver Mineral Show! with our Student Aids. Some projects completed since my last communication Again, John Bristow included the printing of another five thousand colorful brochures, (GE ’11) was responsible the processing of numerous donations, and frequent restocking of for our Self-guided tour our Gift shop. We received another grant from the Golden Civic brochure. Foundation, held a successful Garage Sale, hosted numerous receptions, identified many specimens, and received several major donations, including one from Regis University, which Chris Shorey helped us to obtain (see photos)! ©Denver Post 3 2010 NEWSLETTER Mines Geology Trail By Stephen A. Sonnenberg Figure 2. Sketch of geology of the Golden area with Golden, Basin Margin and Clay Pits faults (Weimer, 2004 a&er F.