News and Events
A group of students and faculty from Dr. Gray's Structural Geology - and Dr. Daniel's Mineralogy classes studied the geology of the New Jersey Highlands during an extended weekend field trip in mid-September. See more photos from this trip (right).
Geology Department Activities:
Friday, November 11 - Dr. Pete Sak, Professor of Geology at Dickinson College, will deliver the talk: "Unraveling the central Appalachians of Pennsylvania", at 2 p.m. in O'Leary 103. Light refreshments will be provided.
Congratulations!
The Geology Department is pleased to announce that Scott Lunde ('12) was chosen to receive the American Geosciences Institute's Minority Scholarship for the academic year 2011-2012. A senior pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology, Scott has completed a wide range of geology courses at Bucknell and summer field camp in the Rocky Mountains. He is currently conducting senior thesis research that focuses on the structural geology of central Pennsylvania.
Student and Faculty Professional Presentations:
December 5 - 9, Fall 2011 American Geophysical Union Conference in San Francisco, CA - Dr. Chris Daniel and others will present their research : "A transect across the Greater Himalayan Sequence of Bhutan: Evidence for a minimum of 10 Ma of ductile flow between the Outer South Tibetan Detachment and the Main Central Thrust" (view abstract).
October 9-12, 2011 - Geological Society of America Annual Meeting - Minneapolis, MN
11 Bucknell Geology students and faculty will be presenting at this year's national meeting. View their names and abstracts below:
Christopher Daniel: New findings from detrital zircon studies in north-central New Mexico, USA: REvised regional corrrelations and evidence for Mesoproterozoic sedimentation and intracratonic reactivation;
James Jones III, Christopher Daniel and others: Proterozoic metasedimentary successions as indicators of lithospheric stabilization and reactivation in southwestern Laurentia;
Lily Pfeifer (BU '12), Christopher Daniel and James Jones III: Confirmation of Mesoproterozoic (Ca. 1.47 GA) detrital zircon from the metamorphosed Marquenas Formation, Picuris Mountains, New Mexico, USA;
Ellen Herman and Bryan Crowell: Separating chemical and physical erosion processes in Fluviokarst: Flume experiments;
Jason Muhlbauer (BU '13) and Ellen Herman: Separating chemical and physical erosion processes in fluviokarst: Abrasion mill experiments with limestone;
Jeremy Byler (BU '12), Mary Beth Gray and Rob Jacob: Bouger gravity study of the St. James Fault Complex within the Nittany Anticlinorium, central Pennsylvania;
Craig Kochel and Jeff Trop: Morphology and dynamics of Icy Debris Fans: Landform evolution along degrading escarpments undergoing rapid deglaciation in Alaska and New Zealand;
Bruce Idleman, Jeff Trop and Ken Ridgway: Geochronological evidence for rapid forearc subsidence and sedimentation during Paleogene spreading ridge subduction along the southern Alaska convergent margin;
Erin Donaghy (BU '12), Jeff Trop and Bruce Idleman: Detrital geochronology and sedimentology of Paleogene sedimentary and volcanic rocks exposed on the southwestern flank of the Talkeetna Mountains, Alaska: Implications for exhumation and basin development within a remnant forearc depocenter;
Tyler Szwarc BU '11), Jeff Trop and Bruce Idleman: New stratigraphic and detrital geochronologic constraints on deformation, deposition and dextral displacement along the Castle Mountain Fault, south-central Alaska;
M 5.8 Virginia Earthquake felt at Bucknell
The "slight1" shaking felt in Lewisburg, PA at approx 13:52 (1:52 pm) originated from a 5.81 magnitude earthquake located near Charlottesville, VA. Data solutions from USGS indicate the earthquake was produced by a reverse fault due to compressive forces. A fault is a location of weakness within the earth's crust where the rocks can rupture violently and cause sudden displacements, in this case resulting in horizontal contraction and vertical uplift. Earthquakes in this part of the world are relatively rare, but there is evidence of historic seismicity. Although the earthquake epicenter was approximately 349 km (216 miles) away from Lewisburg, the old and cold rocks of the Appalachians transmitted the seismic energy with little attenuation, hence we felt an intensity of 3 on a 12 point scale1 producing no damage. The maximum intensity, as reported by citizens logging onto USGS website, near the epicenter is 7 on the same 12 point scale, which represents very strong shaking and may have produced moderate damage. Approximately 300 earthquakes of this magnitude happen worldwide annually. The Bucknell seismograph recorded this event as well as the 5.5 earthquake occurring in Colorado earlier in the day, and the community is welcome to view the display in the 1st floor hallway of the O'Leary Building. Those who felt the earthquake are encouraged to report their observations on the USGS earthquake website (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/dyfi/).
2 hr. seismogram 24 hr. seismogram
WKOK Radio Interview CCN News Broadcast
1 USGS website last accessed at 16:30 on 23 Aug. 2011.
Senior research projects:
- Jeremy Byler: "Geophysical investigation of the St. James fault complex and possible implications for karst in the western region of Nippenose Valley, central Pennsylvania"
Jeremy's project has received funding from the Katherine Mabis McKenna Foundation. - Erin Donaghy: "Sedimentology, depostional age, and provenance of sedimentary and volcanic rocks exposed along Willow Creek, eastern Susitna Basin, south-central Alaska"
Erin has received funding for her project from the Geological Society of America and the Alaska Geological Society. - Scott Lunde: "Progressive deformation at the Allegheny Front: investigating structural associations, timing relationships and multi-scale deformation in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania"
Scott's project has received funding from the Bucknell Program for Undergraduate Research. - Lily Pfeifer: "Constraining the minimum depositional age and timing of metamorphism in the Picuris Mountains, north-central New Mexico, USA: a comparison between metamorphic monazite ages and detrital zircon ages from the Marquenas Formation"
Lily has received funding for her project from the Geological Society of America and the Bucknell Program for Undergraduate Research.
Recent Publications:
Bucknell Geology Professor Chris Daniel and colleagues co-authored a recently published manuscript in the journal Geosphere. The manuscript presents new geochronologic data that hold implications for the tectonic development of southwestern U.S. The paper is titled "Revised regional correlations and tectonic implications of Paleoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic metasedimentary rocks in northern New Mexico, USA: New findings from detrital zircon studies of the Hondo Group, Vadito Group, and Marqueñas Formation".
