WVGES Lunchtime Colloquia

Lunchtime Colloquia at WVGES

Please join us at the Survey in the large conference room behind Publications Sales, directly to the right through our main entrance.

(You may also wish to visit the Department of Geology and Geography Colloquium Series at West Virginia University: http://www.geo.wvu.edu/gradadmissions/colloquium/colloquium.htm)

Upcoming Presentations

None are currently scheduled.

Previous Presentations

Monday, April 14, 2008, Noon
Megalonyx jeffersonii: The New West Virginia State Fossil

E. Ray Garton
Curator, WVGES Museum

Abstract: Workers mining saltpeter in a Monroe County cave discovered fossil bones in 1797 that eventually became the property of President Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson thought they belonged to a large prehistoric lion, but they were later identified as a Pleistocene ground sloth. Although Thomas Jefferson misidentified the fossil, he is credited for the discovery that bears his name. The bones were recently Carbon dated and found to be over 38,000 years old.

Megalonyx has been found in two Monroe County caves, a Pendleton County cave and a Greenbrier County cave. Megalonyx jeffersonii also has been uncovered on the coastal shelf off New Jersey as well as in California and Washington.

Ray Garton, curator of the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey Museum, was the main force behind making Megalonyx jeffersonii the official state fossil. Ray worked with lawmakers for two legislative sessions to finally get the resolution passed in March 2008

Download the abstract (PDF, 87.34 KB)

Monday, March 3, 2008, Noon
Heresy in Cambridge, Take 2: Paleomagnetism and Continental Drift in Cambridge before Vine and Matthews

Greg Good
WVU Department of History

Abstract: This talk gets behind some of the well known events in the plate-tectonic revolution, such as the work of Harry Hess, Fred Vine, and Drummond Matthews. In the background: cosmic rays, stellar magnetic fields, and the geodynamo. Believe it or not.

Download the abstract (PDF, 30.2 KB)

Monday, February 25, 2008, Noon
The Water Flows Forth - The Mystery and Geology of Spring Water

Dorothy Vesper
WVU Department of Geology and Geography

Abstract:
We are drawn to springs for many reasons: therapeutic, spiritual, aesthetic, thirst. Springs also provide a window for studying groundwater, surface water - ground water interactions, and human impact on the environment. This talk will focus on the origin and types of springs from a geologic perspective, historic and cultural aspects of springs, and our current spring research projects at WVU.

Download the abstract (PDF, 76 KB)

Monday, February 4, 2008, Noon

Effects of Elevated pH Levels Resulting from Persistent
Volcanic Degassing of SO₂ on Ambrym Island, Vanuatu
(Including Accounts of Working in the Cannibal Islands)

Kelby E. Hicks
Dept. of Earth Sciences, University College London, London, England

Download the abstract (PDF, 52 KB)
View photos at http://www.volcan.org/vanuatu.html

Monday, January 7, 2008, Noon

The Age of the Dunkard: Have We Learned Anything in 120 Years?
Mitch Blake
Coal Geologist and Section Manager, WVGES
Discussion of the controversy over the age of the Dunkard Group. Is it Pennsylvania? Is it Permian? The debate has been raging for over a century and is still a hot topic.

Download the abstract (PDF, 22 KB)

Monday, December 3, 2007, Noon

Ichnofossils
Ron McDowell
Manager and Senior Research Geologist, WVGES

Download the abstract (PDF, 45 KB)

Page last revised: April 8, 2008

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            West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey
  Address:  Mont Chateau Research Center
            1 Mont Chateau Road
            Morgantown, WV  26508-8079
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      FAX:  304-594-2575
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