A Meeting to Remember
William & Mary at the Geological Society of America Meeting 2008
. A meeting of the minds at the W&M Geology alumni party in Houston
. Excerpted image from Professor Heather Macdonald's presentation
. Histogram showing the age distribution from detrital zircons in Shores complex quartzite, Virginia Piedmont. Excerpted from Professor Chuck Bailey's presentation
. Generations of W&M geologists exchanging ideas at the alumni party
. Backscattered electron micrscope image of an unusual intergrowth of feldspars and quartz from the Montpelier anorthosite. Excerpted from Professor Brent Owens' presentation
. The Big 5 mass extinctions during the Phanerozoic. Excerpted from Professor Rowan Lockwood's presentation
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In early October, over 9,000 earth scientists descended on Houston, Texas for the Geological Society of America's annual meeting. William & Mary's Geology department was well represented by past and current students and a core of faculty.
A high point of this year’s meeting was the W&M alumni party. Nearly 50 people attended including graduates from four decades, current students and faculty, and W&M Provost (and geologist) Geoff Feiss. The Houston area has become home to many alums working in the petroleum industry and the turnout at the alumni party was outstanding. Chair Brent Owens capped off the gala with a “State of the Department” address and thanked alums for their generous support that enables the department to excel.
Faculty research presentations included Heather Macdonald’s work on challenges for early career faculty, Brent Owens’ (with co-author professor emeritus Steve Clement) discussion of excess silica in plagioclase from the Montpelier Anorthosite, Rowan Lockwood’s review of extinctions and the history of life, and Chuck Bailey’s new detrital zircon geochronology from Piedmont terranes.
On to Portland, Oregon for the Geological Society meeting in 2009
Research Presentations
Christopher Bailey, Ken Eriksson, Charlotte Allen and Ian Campbell
Detrital Zircon Geochronology of the Chopawamsic Terrane, Virginia Piedmont: Evidence for a Non-Laurentian Provenance
Rowan Lockwood
Beyond the Big Five: Extinctions as experiments in the history of life. In From Evolution to Geobiology: Research Questions Driving Paleontology at the Start of a New Century. P. Kelley and R. Bambach, eds. Paleontological Society Special Publication
R. Heather Macdonald, Richelle M. Allen-King, Robyn Wright Dunbar, Cathryn A. Manduca, and Carol J. Ormand,
A Course of One's Own: Issues, Challenges, and Resources for Graduate Students, Postdoctoral Fellows, and Early Career Faculty
Brent E. Owens, Robert F. Dymek and Stephen C. Clement
Petrographic Evidence for Excess Silica in Antiperthitic Plagioclase of the Montpelier Anorthosite, Virginia, and a Link with Extensive Myrmekite Development
