EWB Meeting

Engineers Without Borders (ASU Chapter) Meeting
Wednesday, September 1st
6:30 PM PSH 151
Arizona State University

For more information contact Armando Villareal avillar2@asu.edu

Geologist opening at Ohio Geological Survey

Geologist 3 - Ohio Geological Survey

The Ohio Geological Survey seeks applications for the position of Geologist 3 for the Geologic Mapping & Industrial Minerals Group. The successful candidate will be a versatile and highly motivated geoscientist with a thorough understanding of geologic mapping, bedrock geology and stratigraphy, and glacial geology and geomorphology. Background knowledge in areas such as geophysical exploration, interpretation of logs, familiarity with coring, sampling, and drilling, geologic modeling, and GIS, particularly any 3-D or geostatistical analysis is a major plus. A Master’s degree is preferred although a Bachelor’s degree with relevant experience will be considered. The complete job posting will be available on the ODNR website beginning August 23^rd. (www.ohiodnr.com); applications will be accepted thru September 3, 2010. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. For more information concerning application procedures, please contact Rene Norris at 614-265-6406. For more information about position duties and qualifications, please contact Mike Angle at 614-265-6602.

Additional info

The Ohio Geological Survey (OGS) is a Division within the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, with offices located at Fountain Square in Columbus, Ohio and at Alum Creek State Park in Delaware, Ohio. The Geologic Mapping & Industrial Minerals Group currently has a staff of eight full-time geologists plus a part-time seismologist and technicians/interns. The group is involved in diverse research and mapping of deep subsurface to shallow bedrock and surficial glacial and alluvial deposits. This section is also heavily involved in delineating Ohio’s geohazards including karst terrain, abandoned underground mines, landslides, and shoreline erosion along the Lake Erie coastline. The Group also compiles mineral resource statistics ranging from coal to sand and gravel aggregate

Excellent written and oral communications skills, publications record, and demonstrable mapping and/or GIS experience is preferred.

Computer Skills: Integrated geologic mapping and analysis software (e.g. GeoGraphix), GIS - ESRI Arc/Info including Geostatistical Analyst, Microsoft Office, Fluid flow modeling (e.g. Mod Flow).

In order to be eligible to accept a permanent part-time or full-time job with the state of Ohio, you must be a U.S. citizen or a legal resident of this country. Those here on student visas cannot be offered permanent employment.

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Next Meeting: August 19, Joel Anderson - Engineers Without Borders

Association of Environmental and

Engineering Geologist - Arizona Section

Dinner Meeting:

Thursday August 19, 2010

El Peñasco in Tempe

6:00 PM Mingling and Happy Hour

Sponsor: AECOM

7:oo PM Dinner and Presentation

Mexican Buffet

SPEAKER:

Joel Anderson

HDR

Presentation:

Engineers Without Borders

Cost: $20 AEG Member, $25 Non-Members

$5 Students

Location: El Peñasco

19 E Broadway

Tempe, Arizona

RSVP by Monday August 16, 2010 to Bonnie Whitley at bonniewhitleype@gmail.com

For more information about AEG, visit www.aegweb.org

Next Meeting: July 8, in Tucson with Lee Allison

Association of Environmental and
Engineering Geologists – Arizona Section

Dinner Meeting:
Thursday July 8, 2010
El Parador in Tucson

6:00 PM Mingling and Drinks
Sponsor: Golder Associates

7 PM Dinner and Presentation
Menu:
Chicken Fajitas

SPEAKER:
Dr. Lee Allison
Director of AZGS and State Geologist

PRESENTATION:
A Digital Revolution in the Geosciences

Cost: $25 AEG Member & Non-Member
$10 Students

Location: El Parador
2744 E. Broadway
Tucson, Arizona

RSVP by Monday July 5, 2010 to Bonnie Whitley at bonniewhitleype@gmail.com
For more information about AEG, visit www.aegweb.org

Next Meeting Wednesday May 26: "Environmental Consulting: Where We're At and Where We're Going"

AEG is excited to announce our next dinner meeting! The meeting will be on held Wednesday May 26, 2010 at El Peñasco located at the SWC of Mill Ave and Broadway in Tempe.

We'll start off at 6:00pm with a hosted happy hour courtesy of Geomechanics Southwest. Dinner will be at 7pm with the presentation starting shortly after dinner.Our speaker is Duane Kreuger, the AEG 2010 President. Duane's presentation is titled "Environmental Consulting: Where We're At and Where We're Going".

We will also be holding officer elections at the meeting. We have an opening for Vice Chair, please consider volunteering!

Please RSVP to Bonnie Whitley at bonniewhitleype@gmail.com by noon on Monday May 24th.

Thank you and hope to see you there for this rare Wednesday meeting!

Bonnie Whitley, P.E.

Geologists: "We May Be Running Out of Rocks"

The always insightful news source The Onion brings attention the very real threat of running out of rocks. What we all do !?!

How Badly are Arizona Budget Cuts Hurting Agencies Like ADWR and ADEQ?

There is an interesting article in today's Arizona Republic about the affects of budget cuts on state agencies like ADWR and ADEQ. It should be no surprise that the outlook is fairly grim. And while it's actually a decent article, if anything, the situation is actually much worse than the article hints at.

News and Updates

I apologize that it’s been so quite around here – it’s a combination of me being pretty busy and not so much to report. I’m off to AEG mid-year Board of Directors Meeting in St. Louis this weekend and am looking forward to it. So, here is a bit of summary of some interesting things going on.

• The April Arizona Section newsletter is available. Please give it a read – included are upcoming meeting date and other interesting information. The next meeting is on WEDNESDAY, May 26th at El Peñasco. The speaker is AEG President Duane Krueger and the topic is “Environmental Consulting: Where We’re At and Where We’re Going”. Please join us.
  
• As usual, the Arizona Geology Blog is full of interesting and useful information. A few highlights:

-USGS wants to stop calling them “100-year floods”
-Lots of information on the Eyjafjallajökull Volcano (Iceland) eruption
-AZGS is Hiring!
-Underground Gas Storage Project in Eloy

• The Arizona Hydrological Society (AHS) and the AHS Foundation will award three $2,000.00 student Scholarships in 2010. The purpose of this award is to encourage full-time students of hydrology, hydrogeology, or any other water-resource-related fields at any Arizona university or college to excel in their area of study. Any junior, senior or graduate student who fits this description can apply. The Scholarship application deadline has been extended to May 28, 2010!
  
  
  

ADWR Funding Slashed

The FY 2011 budget for Arizona that has been passed by the legislature (but not signed into law yet) includes a cut of 60% for ADWR, which has already been cut significantly in the past 2 years, including a mass lay-off of over 25% of its workforce. Obviously these additional cuts would cripple and already under-funded agency that plays a critical role in the geoscience community and in the health, safety, and future of Arizona residents. I urge all AEG members and non-members reading this to consider writing letters to their representatives (follow this link for who and how to contact), the governor’s office (contact), and even the head of ADWR (contact) to plead for programs you feel are critical. The list of potential areas of cuts is long and includes things like InSAR and subsidence monitoring, well permitting, well data, the GWSI, the ability to regulate water usage, dam safety and many of the other key roles filled by ADWR.

I haven’t checked how other agencies fair in this proposed budget, but my guess is that agencies like ADEQ, AZGS, ADOT, State Lands, and others are hurt equally as bad.

I always find it ironic that legislators that speak of how important jobs are to the residents of Arizona cut so many of the jobs they actually have direct control over.

Landslides are Cool

Ok, landslides may be cool, but they can also be very tragic, so please don't pay much attention to the title. Anyway, there is a spectacular video of a landslide in Maierato, Italy. For more detailed info, head over to Dave's Landslide Blog, but the video is below.

Arizona Geo-News

As usual all of the Arizona Geo-News I have comes from the Arizona Geology Blog - something I recommend that everyone follow.

• DOE is reportedly going to retract it's application for Yucca Mountain


• There is lot's of news regarding the fate of the Department of Mines and Minerals and the Mining and Mineral Museum.


• The Arizona Snow-pac is 232% of the 30-year average.

• Did subsidence cause flooding in Whendon?

• 'Y Crack' earth fissure re-opens

• Geothermal powerplant proposed near St. Johns

The New and Improved Earth Fissure Viewer at AZGS

The AZGS has just released the newest version of the Earth Fissure Viewer: http://www.blogger.com/www.azgs.az.gov/efv.shtml. It is much improved and incorporates a Google maps environment, complete with search engine. (http://www.blogger.com/www.azgs.az.gov/efv)

Some features:

Earth Fissure Viewer http://www.azgs.az.gov/efv provides an interactive and searchable map that displays over 330 miles of earth fissures in Cochise, Maricopa, Pima and Pinal Counties.

Principal Features of the Earth Fissure Viewer

• A Google Maps environment:
  > choice of street map or terrain background.
  > maximum zoom scale 1:18,000 (1 inch = 1,500 feet).
  > rapid address search via Google search engine.
• Shows earth fissure study areas (e.g., Scottsdale, Luke)
• Color-coded earth fissure key
• Fissure study area maps available for download (*.pdf)

AEG Foundation Silent Auction

2010 is well underway and so are plans for this year’s AEG Foundation Silent Auction. This year the money that is raised by the auction will support the Lemke Fund. The Lemke fund supports the scholarly and professional development of student members of the Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists by awarding grants intended to offset part of the cost of attending and participating in the association’s Annual Meetings. These grants are awarded to students at the undergraduate or graduate levels. The AEG Foundation will make the awards to deserving student members who are sole author or first author of a paper or poster that they personally present at the annual meeting. Students are the future of AEG, so let’s start now thinking about making a contribution to this year’s auction and by contributing you will be supporting not only the association, but our students.

Attached you will find two documents that were developed for this year’s auction. One is a Donation Form and the other is the Silent Auction Newsletter. Please review and if you have questions concerning either document, please contact Donna Schmitz, AEG Foundation – Silent Auction-Chair at donnas@ext.msstate.edu.

On behalf of the Foundation, thank you for your continued support!

ASU Student-Professional Meet and Greet

Greetings AEG Members and Supporters,

As part of our attempt to outreach to ASU students and faculty, AEG has been working closely with ASU’s GeoClub, a student organization within the School of Earth and Space Exploration. GeoClub will be hosting a Student/Professional Meet and Greet evening on Tuesday March 9th at 5:30 pm. The purpose of the meet and greet event is to provide an informal setting where students can meet with professionals and ask questions related to work in engineering, geology and geology related fields and how they can tailor their course choices and other trainings to prepare for work in the engineering and geologic consulting industry. It is anticipated that refreshments and networking will be the order of business from 5:30 to 6:00 pm with student/professional interaction following.

GeoClub has solicited the support of AEG’s professional membership by attending the event and meeting with students to answering their questions.

If you are a practicing professional, please consider supporting this event by attending and meeting informally with students to answer their questions. Official announcement of this event is expected from ASU’s GeoClub soon and will be forwarded to you upon receipt.

If you are interested, please contact me at the e-mail address provided below.

Best regards,

Gregg Mitchell, R.G.
Student Liaison, Arizona Section, AEG
mailto:user.name@hdrinc.com

PS Please also start thinking about supporting the upcoming Fifth Annual AEG/AHS Student Night event. This year’s event will be held at ASU’s Tempe campus on Tuesday, April 6th. The event is being promoted by the ASU School of Sustainable Engineering and the Build Environment’s Civil, Environmental, and Sustainable Engineering program, the School of Earth and Space Exploration, and GeoClub. Formal announcements are being formalized and will be forthcoming.

Some Random News

Below is some random news of interest - and it's all taken from the Arizona Geology Blog.

• Candidate would eliminate the AZGS and borrow on Rosemount Copper Mine revenue projections. Gubernatorial candidate John Munger released his budget plan for the state this past week which proposes elimination of the Arizona Geological Survey along with many other agencies as a cost savings measure.*

• 2012 CAP water shortage likely http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/324822

• Amid state's push for solar power, water-supply worries arise http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2010/01/17/20100117water-solar0117.html

• BLM Arizona official to head Colorado BLM office http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2010/01/18/daily23.html. Helen Hankins, the Associate State Director of the BLM's Arizona office, is becoming state director of the Colorado BLM office on Feb. 1. She is a geologist.

• Lots of Action at Freeport in Southern Arizona

• The anit-mining bill (which bans mining in much of Southern AZ ) gets a hearing in Congress. The Steel Worker's Union files a letter against.

*Arizona AEG cannot and does not endorse or denounce indivual candidates one way or another.

2010 Student Night

STUDENT NIGHT 2010
For All Arizona Students and Professionals in Groundwater,
Environmental, & Engineering Geology,
Geotechnical Engineering and Geological Engineering Fields


Hosted By: AEG and AHS

Tuesday, April 6, 2010


Student/Professional Meeting



Networking



Recruiting



Schedule of Events:
5:30 – 7:00 Career Fair and Mingling
7:00 – 7:45 Dinner
7:45 – 8:45 Student Presentations
8:45 – 9:00 Award Presentations


Location:
Arizona State University, Tempe
Student Memorial Union
Cochise and Mohave Meeting Rooms


Hosted By: Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists
Arizona Section
&
Arizona Hydrological Society
Phoenix Chapter

Student Night Flyer

Student Night RSVP and Map

Student Night Call for Student Papers

Student Night Announcement to Professionals

Shlemon Conference: Modern Subsidence, Sea-Level Rise, and Future of the Gulf Coast

Shlemon Specialty Conference

Modern Subsidence, Sea-Level Rise, and
the Future of the Gulf Coast
May 13-15, 2010
Galveston Island, Texas

Call for Abstracts

Shlemon Specialty Conferences are sponsored by the AEG Foundation and the Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists, and are supported, in part, by funds provided by Roy J. Shlemon, a Trustee of the AEG Foundation, an Honorary Member of the Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists, and a Fellow of the Geological Society of America. The conferences provide for an intensive 3-day forum of technical discussions among researchers and practitioners, and focus on topics beneficial to society and directly related to application of the engineering and environmental geosciences. The conferences are intended to promote and disseminate practice and research results, and to foster improvement and understanding of applied geology.

The sixth Shlemon Specialty Conference, Modern Subsidence, Sea-Level Rise, and the Future of the GulfCoast, will include keynote oral presentations by invited experts, a field excursion, poster sessions, and ample time for informal interaction. The field trip held in conjunction with the conference will include various stops around Galveston and the Bay Area to observe evidence of faulting and related subsidence effects on various engineered structures.

The technical focus of the conference concerns:

• Subsidence measurements
• Processes causing subsidence
• Quaternary geology of the GulfCoast
• Engineering geology, coastal flooding, and protection
• Space-based geodesy and subsidence of New Orleans
• Northern hemisphere glaciations and crustal physics, subsidence modeling
• In-SAR and oil field subsidence
• Groundwater subsidence of the GulfCoast

Abstracts for poster sessions are invited and will be organized on various topics. Posters will be on display throughout the entire conference with time set aside each day for review and discussion.

Abstracts for poster sessions should be no more than 350 words and include the title of the abstract, author(s) full name, affiliation, affiliation address, and email address and sent to Julie Keaton, Conference Director (aegjuliek@aol.com). Abstracts may be selected for oral presen-tation.

If you have any questions, please contact either Cynthia Palomares, General Chair (cpalomar@tceq.state.tx.us) or Roy Dokka, Technical Program Chair (dokka1@lsu.edu).

Geo-related bills at the Arizona Legislature

Here are new bills filed in the Arizona legislature that are relevant to the geoscience community (from Arizona Geology):

SB1126 - Declares that nuclear fuel produced entirely within the state boundaries are not subject to federal interstate commerce laws

HB2290 - Amendment to allow used tires as filler material for abandoned mines through 12/31/2015, with a cover of at least 10 ft of earthen materials.

HB2180 - Amendment to exempt Class II injection wells used in natural gas storage projects from aquifer protection permit requirement

New Earth Fissure Map for Maricopa County

The Arizona Geological Survey has just realeased a new earth fissure map for Maricopa County. This map is combination of the study area maps that cover parts of the county, so it's not really anything new, just a new (and perhaps more convinient) way of presenting the info.

With the new release, they got a little press from CBS Channel 5 in Phoenix.

Next Meeting January 21st - Joint AEG and SME

AEG is excited to announce our first meeting of 2010! We are having a joint meet with SME to start the year off. The meeting will be on held Thursday January 21, 2010 at the Lexington Hotel (formerly Best Western) at 1100 North Central Avenue in Phoenix. We'll start off at 6:30pm with mingling and drinks. Dinner will be at 7pm with the presentation starting shortly after dinner.

Our speaker is Mr. Tim Casten, the Director of Underground Planning with Freeport-McMoRan. Mr. Casten will be presenting on Underground Mining at PT Freeport Indonesia's Grasberg District.

Thank you to meeting sponsor Karen Schwab, R.G. of Kimberlite Water Quality Permitting and Compliance Service LLC.

Please RSVP to Bonnie Whitley at bonniewhitleype@gmail.com by noon on Monday January 18th.

Please note that as this is a joint meeting with SME, the cost will be $25 for members and non-members. Thank you and hope to see you there!

AEG North Central Section Short Course: A New World in Geophysics

AEG North Central Section Short Course May 18-19, 2010
A New World in Geophysics
About the Course

Sponsored by the North Central Section of the Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists, the short course is designed for practicing Civil Engineers, Geologists, Engineering Geologists, Archaeologists, Law Enforcement Investigators,Consultants, Owners, Managers and others responsible for development orevaluation of site characterization studies that might benefit from the applicationof modern geophysical methods. Many of us were exposed to geophysics during our undergraduate or graduate studies, which may have been completed may years ago now. There has been much progress in geophysics since your undergraduate studies. This course will bring you up-to-date with the latest developments in geophysical methods for land, water, and subsurface characterization. In addition to providing the student with the working knowledge of each of the available geophysical tools, pitfalls in subcontracting geophysical services will be presented. After you complete this course, you will be an informed consumer of geophysical services and be cable of scoping and applying the correct geophysical methods to solve your particular problem. Course participants will earn 2.0 hours of Continuing Education Credit.

Please click here for more information.

Southwest Hydrology Ceases Publication

Arizona Geology is reporting that Southwest Hydrology is ceasing publication after the current issue. This is rather unfortunate since it was a great source for articles specific to Arizona and the Southwest.

Some Updates

Well I hope that everyone had a nice holiday break, but now it’s back to business. I plan to write up a newsletter soon, but don’t hold your breath. But I do have the meeting schedule for the next few months and a few updates from the Arizona Geology blog.

The next meeting is on January 21st. It’s a joint meeting with SME – more info to come. The topic is “Underground Mining at PT Freeport Indonesia's Grasberg District" by Tim Casten and the location will be at the Lexington Central Hotel (formerly Best Western), 1100 North Central Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona.

Other scheduled meetings:

March 4th – Paul Marinos, 2010 Jahn’s Lecturer
April 6th – Student Night at ASU

Times, locations, and other info to come later.

On the geological front:

• New earth fissure maps – 1:24k earth fissure maps for Dragoon Rd, Cochise Cty and Greene Wash, Pinal Cty - SW of Arizona City. The pdfs of maps and news release are located at www.azgs.az.gov/efmaps.shtml. And an interesting blog post on some of the implications of the fissures at Dragoon Road.

• Budget cuts will severely affect the AZGS. Details are still slim and more cuts are to come. It’s grim, but AZGS is still hanging on. And changes in the Earth Fissure Mapping program – no mention of the budget in this one, but it’s severely reduced as a result.

• Arizona Geology’s top geologic stories of 2009.

• Devil’s Kitchen sinkhole outside of Sedona.

• And finally – geologists love beer.