CBS: "Contact your state's geological survey about sinkholes"

 CBS Sunday Morning broadcast an extensive piece this week on sinkholes with spectacular footage from around the world, featuring Florida State Geologist Jon Arthur.     They added this link to their accompanying on-line story:   “Contact your state's geological survey about sinkholes at stategeologists.org”

Rep. Betty McCollum receives 2013 AASG Pick & Gavel Award

The recipient of the 2013 Pick and Gavel Award from AASG is Congresswoman Betty McCollum of Minnesota.

The presentation was made at the Pick and Gavel Banquet at the Cosmos Club in Washignton DC, on March 12^th.

Minnesota State Geologist Harvey Thorleifson said that in a decade in Congress, she has emerged as an influential advocate for issues such as safe drinking water.

"She has worked closely with the National Ground Water Association, for example to advance development of a national groundwater monitoring network.

Betty is a member of the House Interior appropriations subcommittee, and she has gone to bat for us in very real ways in multiple years, with significant results regarding StateMap and Data Preservation funding.

She also has spoken up for geologic mapping in USGS budget hearings - this was noticed and later commented upon by USGS managers.

Betty is very highly regarded, for example in the Minnesota water science and policy community."

John C. Frye Award goes to Montana Bureau of Mines & Geology publication

The recipients of the 2014 John C. Frye Environmental Geology Award will be Elizabeth Meredith, John Wheaton, and Shawn Kuzara,  for the publication “Coalbed Methane Basics: Ten years of lessons from the Powder River Basin, Montana,” published by Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology as Information Pamphlet 6 in 2012.

The Frye Award is presented annually by the  Geological Society of America in cooperation with the Association of American State Geologists (AASG), for the best paper on environmental geology published either by GSA or by one of the state geological surveys.

 The award will be presented at the GSA Annual Meeting in October in Denver.

Pennsylvania Survey ceases sale of print publications

April 30 is the last day to purchase publications on paper from the Pennsylvania Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey.


The Survey has completed scanning almost all of its printed fourth series publications and has made them available as free text-searchable Acrobat files. Reports can be downloaded through Publications by Series, one of the “Publications and Digital Data” page connections.



The formal reports that are not already out of print may also be purchased from ShopPAHeritage.com, but only until April 30, 2013. After that day, sales will cease with the exception of Special Publication 1, The Geology of Pennsylvania. This massive and popular book was not scanned and, as such, will continue to be sold through the ShopPAHeritage website.

Pennsylvania may be the first geological survey to go all digital.

Alaska Geological & Geophysical Survey is recruiting for an Operations Manager/Deputy Director

Rod Combellick, deputy director & operations manager for the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (ADGGS), has decided to retire in July.  Rod has clocked more than 30 years of stellar service and commitment and his departure will open a cavern in the state’s active geologic community.  We will miss his expertise and leadership greatly.

On a more positive note, Rod’s retirement also provides an excellent opportunity for someone to advance their career, hone their leadership skills, and have a major impact in the geologic affairs of Alaska.  

·         If helping lead a team of 40+ geologists doing field based analyses in every corner of our great state is of interest to you, please read on. 

·         If providing operational and technical leadership of programs that address geologic problems as diverse as neotectonics, minerals resources; volcano hazards, petroleum systems, and coastal processes sounds like an interesting challenge, please visit our website and explore the many active programs we undertake. http://www.dggs.alaska.gov/

·         If being a major player in the direction of Alaska’s geologic research effort sounds like an exciting opportunity, please consider applying here:

               DGGS Deputy Director Application

The application process will be open through May 19th

Reflections on Arthur A. Socolow

Art Socolow, former State Geologist of Pennsylvania, died on March 25.

REFLECTIONS ON ARTHUR A. SOCOLOW

by

Thomas M. Berg

            I first met Arthur A. Socolow in late 1964 when I came from the University of Colorado for a job interview at the Pennsylvania Geological Survey.  Much to my great pleasure and satisfaction, Art hired me to do geologic mapping in the bituminous coalfields.  I didn’t think I would stay at that first job for more than a few years, but it lasted for twenty-four.  I worked my way up from that first field-mapping position to become Associate State Geologist under Don Hoskins.  During the 21 years I worked under Art Socolow, I got to know him pretty well.

            Art was a man of strong commitments and opinions.  He was committed to public service and expected the same of those who worked with him.  He felt that all who worked in government owed the taxpayers a full-day’s work for a full-day’s pay.  Art valued traditional scientific principles and frequently adhered to long-held geological ideas that were being challenged by revolutionary concepts.  For example, he was initially reluctant to accept the notion of plate tectonics in reports of the Pennsylvania Survey, but eventually he came around.

            Art also was a man of contrasting manners.  In public, and in most personal settings, he was kind, polite, sympathetic, and good-humored.  He never condoned foul language or off-color jokes.  In the 21 years I worked with him, I never heard Art use a four-letter word.  In secluded meetings, when risqué jokes started, I could see that Art was very uncomfortable.  In many private settings, Art Socolow could be severe, bold, aggressive, and tough.  He really knew how to handle himself in an argument, and you needed to have your act together to win.

            Art had a very good understanding of what a state geological survey should be.  His conviction, as I saw it, was that the state survey should discern and provide practical, applied-geology information to help citizens solve everyday problems about mineral, water, and energy resources.  He wanted the staff to produce information about engineering characteristics of rocks, geologic hazards, land use, and environmental attributes.  Although some state surveys are lodged in universities, Art was not inclined toward that administrative structure.  He did not see the work of a survey oriented toward purely academic research.  “High science” was not the responsibility of the state geological survey.  I believe Art saw the agency as a bridge to carry pure-research results to meet the practical needs of citizens.

            Staff dedication to the work of the Pennsylvania Survey was very important to Art Socolow.  He had interesting ways of showing his appreciation for dedication which were sometimes humorous.  He always worked late after closing of the office.  I got into that habit too, when working on the new statewide geologic map.  One evening, when I had maps spread all over the floor—trying to work out some structure contours—Art stopped by my office.  He looked the situation over and said two words:  “Elephants remember.”  In his self-deprecating reference to his own girth, he expressed his appreciation to me.

            Art always expected staff members to be on their good behavior in the field.  But privately, I think he understood mistakes.  Once when Art and I were traveling in a state car through the Philadelphia region, he suddenly remembered a special outcrop he wanted to show me.  He missed the turn to the outcrop, slammed on the brakes, did a “U” turn, and drove up over the curb in the process.  I can remember him saying, “Edith would kill me if I did that in the family car!”

            When writing geologic reports, Art wanted the geologists to use language that was understandable to most ordinary people.  He really didn’t care for the many multisyllabic words for which geologists have a fondness.  When I was Chief of the Geologic Mapping Division, I remember Art reviewing a manuscript of a geologist in my division.  He had struck out a certain word that seemed too complicated.  The author saw the strikeout and scrawled “stet!” beside the word, meaning to leave the word as written.  Art later saw the stet—and with a heavy red-wax pencil—scrawled a line through it, redrew his strikeout, and then wrote, “I’LL STET YOUR STET!!!”

            Art never seemed too concerned about walking into someone’s office unannounced.  I think he got a bit of a kick out of it.  One day, I noticed a shadow behind me when I was working at my desk.  I looked around and saw Art holding a clipboard, and pulling out a tape measure.  I asked him if I could help him and he said, “Nope.”  I continued working as Art measured my desk.  I guess he was trying to solve some kind of space problem.

            Although some felt his management style was sometimes indelicate or thick-skinned, I have no doubt that Art sincerely cared about all who worked at the Pennsylvania Survey.  I know that if Art believed he had offended a staff member, he would call that person at home and apologize.

            When Art was getting ready to retire in 1986, I asked him what he would miss the most.  With little hesitation, he said he would miss the daily phone calls that he would take from citizens who needed help.  He loved to talk with ordinary people who needed assistance locating a water well, or who couldn’t understand a problematic foundation condition.  Art Socolow also greatly enjoyed assisting the mineral and energy industries in Pennsylvania.  With his extensive experience in economic geology, he was an enormous advocate for those industries.

            After I was appointed State Geologist of Ohio, I attended an annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Boston.  I called Art in advance and asked if my wife and I could stop by to visit him and Edith at their Gloucester home after the Boston meeting.  The Socolows were most gracious and actually put us up for a night at their retirement house.  The next morning, Art took me out to his favorite Cape Ann beach to collect “pet rocks,” the wonderful cobbles that had been eroded from the igneous rocks of the Cape Ann Complex.  It was fun to stroll on the beach with Art and chat about our state-survey experiences.

            I will always be grateful to Art Socolow for his guidance and personal care.