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 follows 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, live lectures during fall 2024 are Mondays at 7:00 PM CT on the University of Minnesota campus, Keller Hall, Room 3-230. The address is 200 Union St. SE, Minneapolis MN. 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

FALL BANQUET – GEOLOGY OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER GORGE RANDY STROBEL, PH.D., PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF NATURAL SCIENCES, METROPOLITAN STATE U.

Plan, Core, Scan, Store: Facilitating Core Research Kat Cantner, M.Sc., Science & Outreach Coordinator for Continental Scientific Drilling Facility at U of Minnesota

DAMAGING EARTHQUAKES CONTINUE IN OKLAHOMA NEARLY A DECADE AFTER PEAK WASTEWATER INJECTION (V) JACOB WALTER, PH.D., STATE SEISMOLOGIST, OKLAHOMA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Groundwater Governance in the Great Lakes States—from Well-Cobbled to Equitable and Sustainable? Carrie Jennings, Ph.D., Research and Policy Director, Freshwater Society

GEOLOGICAL MAPPING HARVEY THORLEIFSON, PH.D., PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, U OF MN

SHALE IN A NUTSHELL: AN OVERVIEW OF SHALE OIL AND GAS IN THE U.S. AND TEX-AS (V) TIM MCMAHON, PH.D., PROJECT MANAGER & PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR FOR TIGHT OIL RESOURCE ASSESSMENT (TORA) CONSORTIUM

BEAUTIFUL OHIO: SEDIMENTARY DREAMS DEBORAH NAFFZIGER, GSM

ORIGIN OF OLIVINE PHENOCRYSTS IN OCEANITES AT PITON DE LA FOURNAISE VOLCANO (REUNION HOTSPOT) BENOÎT WELSCH, PH.D., VISITING SCHOLAR IN GEOLOGY, MACALESTER COLLEGE

SOILS: THE MOST UNDERVALUED AND OVERLOOKED GEOLOGIC RESOURCE HOLLY DOLLIVER, PH.D., DEPARTMENT CHAIR OF PLANT AND EARTH SCIENCE, U. OF WISCONSIN, RIVER FALLS.

SATURDAY LAB: THE CRYSTALLOGRAPHY OF COMMON ROCK FORMING MINERALS JEFF THOLE, GEOLOGY LABORATORY SUPERVISOR AND INSTRUCTOR AT MACALESTER COLLEGE.

GREATEST MASS EXTINCTIONS IN EARTH’S HISTORY (V) RACHEL PHILLIPS, PH.D., (GEO GIRL), POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER AND INSTRUCTOR, U. OF SOUTH CAROLINA

MINING (V) JOYASHISH THAKURTA, PH.D., RESEARCH MANAGER, NATURAL RESOURCES RESEARCH INSTITUTE, U. OF MINNESOTA DULUTH

EARTHQUAKE HAZARDS STEPHAN DELONG, PH.D., USGS EARTHQUAKE SCIENCE CENTER AND VISITING PROFESSOR, U. OF MINNESOTA

ANCIENT SEAS, MODERN THRILLS! JOURNEY THROUGH MINNESOTA’S PALEOZOIC GEOLOGY ANDREW RETZLER, M.SC., SEDIMENTARY GEOLOGIST, MINNESOTA GEOLOGICAL SURVE

STROMATOLITE MORPHOLOGY AND DIVERSITY – HOW DID (MOSTLY) BRAINLESS POND SCUM BUILD LARGE, COMPLEX STRUCTURES? JULIE K. BARTLEY, PH.D., PROFESSOR, GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGE

SPRING BANQUET – BEMIDJI AND BEMIDJI WEST (PEARL HARBOR). JARED TROST, M.SC., HYDROLOGIST WITH UPPER MIDWEST WATER SCIENCE CENTER, USGS