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Weekly Highlights for 09-29-2009

I. Departmental/Bureau News

A. Upcoming Events

USGS Science at GSA Annual Meeting
USGS Alaska Science Center research will be presented at the annual Geological Society of America Meeting to be held in Portland, OR October 18-21. Topics to be presented include interdisciplinary research of Kasatochi Island Volcano following the 2008 eruption, an interdisciplinary approach to assessing and communicating the health hazards of volcanic ash fall, reconstruction of a metamorphosed continental margin and its origin, depositional and paleogeographic setting of phosphorites in northern Alaska, and the early Tertiary exhumation of the flank of a forearc basin in Alaska.
Contact: Carl Markon Anchorage, AK, (907) 786-7023

B. Current

USGS Science at GSA Penrose Conference
USGS Alaska Science Center (ASC) geologists Julie Dumoulin and Dwight Bradley are invited presenters at the Geological Society of America's Penrose Conference on "Tectonic Development of the Amerasian Basin" being held in Banff, Alberta, Canada October 4 - 9. Penrose Conferences are intended to accelerate the advance of geology and related sciences by the interactions and development of new ideas. This conference will try to resolve the controversial origin of the Amerasian Basin, part of the Arctic Ocean basin and adjacent land areas that include Alaska, Siberia, and the Canadian Arctic. Both ASC scientists will be presenting summaries of their decades-long research on Alaskan geologic history, with implications for understanding the large mineral and energy resource endowment of this region.
Contact: Julie Dumoulin Anchorage, AK, (907) 786-7439

New Publication on Detrital Zircon Geochronology
Geologists with the Alaska Science Center are co-authors of a new paper on geochronology titled "Detrital zircon geochronology of Cretaceous and Paleogene strata across the south-central Alaskan convergent margin." Ages of detrital zircons are reported from ten samples from the Chugach Mountains, Talkeetna Mountains, and western Alaska Range of south-central Alaska. The results bear on the regional geology, stratigraphy, tectonics, and mineral resource potential of the southern Alaska convergent margin. This research is one of the papers included in the USGS professional paper "Studies by U.S. Geological Survey in Alaska, 2007" and is available online at http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1760/f/ .
Contact: Dwight Bradley Anchorage, AK, (907) 786-7434

Redoubt Volcano Color Code Lowered to Green
On Tuesday September 29 the USGS Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) lowered the Aviation Color Code to Green and the Volcano Alert Code to Normal for Redoubt Volcano, Alaska. Over the past several months seismic activity, volcanic gas output, ground deformation, lava dome temperatures, and outward signs of lava dome instability at Redoubt Volcano have been declining. The volcano appears to have returned to its normal background condition and for now poses no immediate threat of eruptive activity. AVO continuously monitors Redoubt with an alarm system that alerts on-call staff of potential unrest.
Contact: John Power Anchorage, AK, (907) 786-7426

II. Press Inquiries/Media

On September 24 USGS Alaska Science Center research geographer Ben Jones and research wildlife biologist Craig Ely were interviewed by CBS-TV (Ch.11, Anchorage) about coastal erosion in Alaska and potential impacts on wetlands and migratory birds, as part of a larger feature story on the National Phenology Network.
Contact: Craig Ely Anchorage, AK, (907) 786-7182

On September 29 USGS AVO scientist Rick Wessels was interviewed by KSRM radio in Kenai, AK about the current activity at Redoubt Volcano and the color code change to Green status.
Contact: Rick Wessels Anchorage, AK, (907) 786-7492

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