Current Year Schedule

GSM seminars with slide show presentations are free and open to the public. They are presented by leading professionals in their fields and are aimed at learners from high school to adult. A question-and-answer session concludes each seminar. The labs, also free and open to the public, allow a hands-on learning experience and demonstrate the ideas and principles of geology and earth science. Live lectures and labs require no registration; just show up a few minutes early on the evening of the lecture.

Click on date of any seminar for attendance information and other details. For a printable version of our schedule of seminars and labs, click here.

Except as noted, in-person lectures during winter/spring 2026 are Mondays at 7:00 PM CT on the University of Minnesota campus, Keller Hall, Room 3-210. A lecture with (V) following its title is an online virtual lecture. For these, free registration is required by non-members; the instructions are supplied with the lecture description.

Our schedule is planned over 6 months in advance, so changes may occur. Always check this website shortly before each lecture for the latest seminar information.

Winter weather will come and snow might impact our lectures. The GSM will make any decision about cancelling or postponing a lecture due to inclement weather no later than 3:00 PM the day of the lecture. This information will be posted on the GSM home page (http://www.gsmn.org/). So check our home page shortly before each lecture in case there is a cancellation or a last-minute change. Also, we will e‐mail lecture postponement and cancellation information to our members.

Past seminars marked with * were recorded and the recording is available on the Geological Society of Minnesota YouTube channel. Subscribe to this channel for updates.

Seminar Lab Date Seminar Lab Subject Seminar Lab Presenter

Annual Meeting & Beautiful Ohio: Sedimentary Dreams – A Virtual Field Trip Deborah Naffziger, Geological Society of Minnesota

Feathers, Flight, & Fossils: Current Perspectives on the Evolution of Birds from Dinosaurs Peter Makovicky, Ph.D., Professor of Paleontology, University of Minnesota

The Upper Mississippi Valley: Proglacial Origins to Modern Evolution Andrew Wickert, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota

From Formations to Foundation: the Geology of Bridge Construction Jill Mickelson, B.Sc., Principal Engineer, Braun Intertec

Lake Superior and Its Gales Paul McKinney, Ph.D., Department of Earth Sciences, University of Minnesota

The Rock Elm Meteor Impact Structure, Pierce County, WI: Discovery and Basic Geology (V) Bill Cordua, Ph.D., Geology Emeritus, University of Wisconsin River Falls

Origin and Mineralogy of the Sudbury Structure (V) David Joyce, Owner & Proprietor, David K. Joyce Minerals

*The Role of Snowball Earth Events in Bedrock Weathering (V) Mark Jirsa, M.Sc., Minnesota Geological Survey (retired)

*Hematite Ore Formation in the Lake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park, Northeastern Minnesota (V) Zsuzsanna Allerton, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Minnesota

Rocks and the Minerals that Define Them – an Exploration of Minerals that Make Up Common Rocks Jeff Thole, M.Sc., Geology Laboratory Supervisor and Instructor at Macalester College

Integrating GIS & Geoscience: A Capstone Project on Geology of the Ice Age Trail (V) Lisa Siewert, M.Sc., Senior Lecturer, University of Wisconsin Stevens Point

Geologic Hydrogen, Abiotic Methane, and Volume Changes Associated with Aqueous Alteration of Mantle Rocks in Submarine Environments (V) Frieder Klein, Ph.D., Associate Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute

How the Midcontinent Rift nearly split ancient North America apart 1.1 billion years ago—and why it stopped Nick Swanson-Hysell, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota

(title TBA) George Hudak, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor, University of Minnesota

My Adventures in Glacier Bay Kent Syverson, Ph.D., Professor, Geology and Environmental Science Department, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire

Spring Banquet (title TBA) TBA
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