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Associate Professor of Geology (B.A. University of California at Santa Barbara, 1983; M.S., Ph.D. University of California at Davis, 1986, 1991; Wooster since 1992). In the Fall of 1998, Lori taught Mineralogy; she taught Petrology and Oceanography in the Spring of 1999. Lori advised three I.S. students during 1998-1999. Mary Beth Cheversia ('99) and Megan Mandernach ('99) participated in a Keck Geology Consortium project on Vinalhaven Island, Maine. Megan investigated the field, petrographic, and geochemical evidence for magma mixing in the Vinalhaven pluton. Mary Beth documented dike generations through mapping dike orientations and field relationships, and chemical classification using whole rock geochemistry. Both worked under the supervision of Bob Wiebe at Franklin and Marshall College. Lori also advised Robbie King ('99) whose work on serpentinization of subduction zone mafic rocks in California was part of a larger Keck project supervised by Linda Reinen at Pomona College. Lori had a busy first year as Chair of the Department. The most significant departmental undertaking this year was the curricular review for the Educational Policy Committee. All of you read about the alumni survey in last year's report. During the remainder of the year, the Department continued discussions about the curriculum and hosted two off-campus reviewers: Barbara Tewksbury (Hamilton College) and David Rea (University of Michigan). We explored a variety of topics through the review and continue our efforts to integrate new pedagogy into our classes and field experiences beyond the classroom in our efforts to strengthen our program. Lori continued to supervise the JASON internship program with Alison Schmidt (Department of Education), matching ten science and mathematics majors at the College with teachers in the Wooster City School. Lori and Alison organized three workshops for students, faculty, and teachers involved in the program, and Lori was additionally responsible for directly supervising three student interns. The internship program was quite successful over the two year period supported by Hewlett-Mellon funds. Wooster students, teachers in the school district, and city school students benefited from the experience. In fact, several "graduates" of the internship program found the program inspiring and are now considering careers in education Lori continued her involvement with the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) by serving as a member of the Geology Council and acting as National Co-Chair (with Don Jacobs, Department of Physics) of the Eighth National Conference of CUR (CUR 2000: The Many Facets of Undergraduate Research) to be held at Wooster in June 2000. Amy White was instrumental in the initial planning stages and spent many hours working on the contract between the College and CUR's national office. Lori also planned and received funding (with Barbara Hetrick, Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Susan Figge, Dean of the Faculty) for a science and mathematical sciences retreat, held in August 1998, to discuss the science and mathematical sciences distribution requirement as well as goals of the division in requiring math and science for all students. The retreat proved to be a worthwhile experience for all involved and a document detailing the goals for all students was presented to the Educational Policy Committee during the Fall semester. Lori continued to work on revising a manuscript on lead isotope
studies of the Troodos ophiolite, Cyprus, with co-authors Ernst
Booij (Vrije Universitat, Amsterdam), Hubert Staudigel (Scripps),
and Dori Farthing ('95) (Johns Hopkins University). The
manuscript was submitted for review during the Summer. Lori was
a co-author on a paper with Bob Varga, Jeff Gee, Rob Anderson
('94), and Cari Johnson (former Keck participant from Carleton
College) entitled "Early Establishment of Seafloor Hydrothermal
Systems during Structural Extension: Paleomagnetic Evidence from
the Troodos Ophiolite, Cyprus," which appeared in Earth
& Planetary Science Letters (v.171, pp. 221-235). This semester Lori is also working with Ryan Oates ('00). He is using sulfur isotope analyses of the Troodos Ophiolite to learn more about the hydrothermal alteration processes responsible for ore deposition in the complex. This Fall, Lori has a special leave funded by the Luce Fund for Distinguished Scholarship, to complete a manuscript on the petrogenesis of volcanic rocks from the Black Mountains, Arizona; she is combining the work of Dana Kreeger ('95), Suzanne Spring ('97), Ryan Murrey ('97), Vince Dalchuk ('98), and Dan Core ('98) in this manuscript. In the Spring of 2000, Lori will be teaching Oceanography, Petrology, and Junior I.S.
(B.S., M.S., Arizona, 1974, 1976; Ph.D. University of California at Davis, 1980; Wooster since 1992). Bob taught Processes and Concepts of Geology and Geologic Methods last Spring and is currently teaching Structural Geology, Geology of Natural Hazards, and Geoarchaeology. Bob worked with two I.S. students last year. Both Liz Myers ('99) and Jason Biga ('99) completed projects centered on aspects of the paleomagnetism of extension in western Arizona. Liz and Jason spent several weeks in the field collecting their rocks during the Summer of 1998 and spent countless subsequent hours in Bob's lab (under the eaves on the third floor in case you have not visited in a while) demagnetizing and analyzing their core samples. With these and prior I.S. theses by Frits Haverkamp ('98) and Nate Wilds ('98), Bob and his students are developing a detailed picture of the structural and temporal evolution of a major regional anticline formed during mid-Tertiary extension. This past summer, Bob co-directed a Keck project in Colorado with Lori Bettison-Varga, Shelby Boardman (Carleton College), and Diane Smith (Trinity University). The project was centered in the upper Rio Grande Rift in south-central Colorado and focused primarily on the structural, magmatic, and hydrothermal alteration of the Bonanza caldera, a caldera Bob worked on during his "former life" with Unocal. While there, Bob worked with three non-Wooster students on various aspects of the eruption of the Bonanza Tuff which caused the Bonanza caldera to form about 36 million years ago. Bob and these students are using paleomagnetism to answer questions about the duration of eruption, the vent locations for the eruption and the timing of collapse of the caldera. The most exciting development in Bob's year was being asked
to participate in an NSF-funded oceanographic
cruise to the Hess Deep. The Hess
Deep is a rift of Grand Canyon proportions located west of
the Galapagos Islands at about 2°N latitude. The cruise,
run by scientists from Duke University, left in mid-March from
Manzanillo, Mexico, and returned in mid-April. The focus of the
cruise was to test models of crustal tilting at seafloor spreading
centers by documenting exposures on the Hess Deep canyon walls.
Working in water between two and three miles deep, Bob and his
co-workers produced spectacular images (using the camera sled
Argo II of Titanic fame) of nearly the entire thickness
of the ocean crust and were able to clearly see faults and tilted
units in three dimensions. On subsequent dives in the submersible
Alvin, Bob was able to collect fully oriented samples
from the cliff escarpments. Since his return, Bob has visited
Duke University to process samples and is currently analyzing
the paleomagnetic signature of Hess Deep rocks with Jerome
Hall ('02). Bob is co-author on several presentations of
this work at the upcoming American Geophysical Union meeting
in San Francisco in December. He is also a co-author on the article
"Large-Scale ARGO II Digital Images of Upper Crustal Structures
at Hess Deep" recently published in Ridge Events. Finally, in yet another stretch of the imagination, Bob is advising Evan Berliner ('00) who is using geophysical measurements to assess two archaeological sites in Ohio. Evan has been instrumental (get it?!) during his research in getting our old (magnetometer), as well as newly acquired (susceptibility), geophysical equipment up and running. We hope that Evan's efforts are the first of a number of future cooperative efforts between the Department of Geology and the growing Archaeology Program at Wooster. Bob will be on leave during the Spring of 2000 and plans on doing a lot of writing as well as some limited field work in Arizona; he hopes his golf handicap will reach single digits as well.
(B.A. Beloit, 1984; M.S. SUNY Binghamton, 1987, University at Buffalo, 1992); Wooster since 1998). Greg taught Processes and Concepts of Geology and Environmental Hydrogeology in the Fall of 1998 and Geomorphology and Environmental Geology in the Spring of 1999. Greg advised three Senior Independent Study students during 1998-1999. Sarah Skelly ('99) studied the glacial history of the Nizina Glacier in the Wrangell Mountains, Alaska. Her work was funded by NSF (National Science Foundation) and was done in cooperation with Gordon Jacoby of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the National Park Service. Halle Morrison ('99) participated in a Keck project hosted by Smith College which was associated with water quality and soil/water interactions in a small watershed in Franklin County, Massachusetts. Hans Ramseyer ('99) investigated a series of exposures of late glacial sediments and interpreted a deglacial history for parts of Holmes County, Ohio. Greg continues to work on glaciation and climate change in the North Pacific. Publications that appeared this past year include two papers in the journal The Holocene (with David Barclay and Parker E. Calkin) that describe glacial changes and tree-ring data from Prince William Sound, Alaska. Work published in Quaternary Research is co-authored with Ernie Muller ('44), Syracuse University, and Austin Post and Bruce Molnia of the USGS. This work outlines the recent last two thousand years glacier history of Bering Glacier, Alaska. Additionally, publications in the American Meteorological Society appeared which outline the cooperative work Greg is doing with researchers Ricardo Villalba of Mendoza, Argentina, and Rosanne D'Arrigo and Gordon Jacoby of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. This work compares Pacific tree-ring records of climate change over the past several centuries from the northern and southern hemispheres. Greg made research presentations during the year to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, The American Quaternary Society, and to the Department of Geology at the University of Cincinnati. This Fall, Greg has begun serving on committees at the College. He was a member of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Proposal steering committee and is serving on the College Scholars Committee and the Information and Technology Committee. He currently is advising two Senior Independent Study students. Ryan McAllister ('00) is working on reconstructing the history and climatic significance of a recently reactivated dunefield near the St. Elias Mountains, Alaska. Ryan, whose work is funded through Greg's NSF-REU grant, is working closely in the field and lab with researchers at The Tree-Ring Lab of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Ryan Hanson ('00) is investigating the use of tree-rings as a stratigraphic tool in correlating glacial deposits from the last glacial maximum forest beds in the Cincinnati area. This work is being performed in cooperation with Tom Lowell of the University of Cincinnati. Ryan McAllister ('00), and Ryan Hanson ('00), and Greg have set up a tree-ring laboratory in Scovel which was partially funded by the College and the Department of Geology. The lab is used for student research projects and class laboratories. Lab projects focus on reconstructing climate histories and dating geomorphic change in Alaska and Ohio. Greg is teaching Processes and Concepts of Geology and a section of First-Year Seminar ("Why Worry about the Weather?") in the Fall of 1999. In the Spring of 2000, Greg will teach Geomorphology and Environmental Geology.
(B.A. Wooster, 1978; Ph.D. Berkeley, 1982; Wooster since 1981). Mark taught Invertebrate Paleontology and First-Year Seminar ("When Beliefs Become Extreme: Popular Delusions, Conspiracy Theories, and Pseudoscience") in the Fall of 1998 and History of Life, Sedimentology & Stratigraphy, and a section of Junior Independent Study in the Spring of 1999. He also taught for a week in the Leadership Seminar. Mark advised four Senior Independent Study students in 1998-1999: Rick Stanley ('99) studied the paleoenvironments and diagenesis of the Pennsylvanian Vanport Limestone in northeastern Ohio (assisted by Tim Miller '82); Tom Pilon ('99) worked on an equivalent of the Vanport Limestone in southeastern Ohio; Kenton Trubee ('99) traveled with Mark and Paul Taylor (The Natural History Museum, London) to southwestern Utah to investigate the paleoecology of shelly fossils and borings in the upper Carmel Formation (Middle Jurassic); and Karrie Karpinski ('99) crawled around in an Ohio coal mine with Mark and Tim Miller to correlate roof falls with ancient depositional environments and other geological features. Mark continued his research during the school year and into the Summer. Paul Taylor and Mark wrote a paper describing several new taxa of bryozoans from the Carmel Formation (Middle Jurassic, southwest Utah) published in the Journal of Paleontology and another on a new ichnogenus (trace fossil) in Palaeontology. During Spring break they journeyed to the United Arab Emirates and Oman to begin a new project on the paleoecology of Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) gravels and hardgrounds. During Winter break, Mark and Al Curran (Smith College) met Sally Walker (University of Georgia) for a research expedition to Great Inagua Island in The Bahamas, where they continued to sample and study the Eemian erosional surface they found several years ago. Mark is a co-author with Steve Dornbos ('97) on an article which appeared in Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie. It is a paleoecologic and biostratigraphic interpretation of a Pliocene coral reef they discovered in Cyprus during the 1996-1997 Keck project. Mark and Peter Baker (University of Derby, England) just published a paper in Palaeontology on the first thecideide brachiopod from the Jurassic of North America (found by Mark during earlier studies in Utah). Mark was also a co-author on GSA presentations given by Kenton Trubee ('99) and two of his 1997-1998 Keck students, Kelly Kilbourne of Smith College (with advisor Al Curran) and Kirsten Bannister of Whitman College (with advisor Pat Spencer). Mark continues to serve as an Overseas Representative for
the Palaeontological Association and as a member of the review
boards for Choice and American Reference Books Annual.
He is also now the senior member of the Paleontological Society
team on the GSA Joint Technical Program Committee. During the
Spring, he participated in a review of the Geology Department
at Hamilton College. This year Mark served on the Teaching Staff & Tenure Committee at the College and on an ad hoc committee developing ideas for a new writing initiative at Wooster. He was also on the Advisory Board for the Campus Ministry program. In the Summer of 1999, Mark and Carol Tang (Arizona State University) directed a Keck project on the abundant fossils and sediments in the Cincinnatian Series (Upper Ordovician) in southern Ohio, eastern Indiana, and northern Kentucky. They had seven students from the Keck schools. One of Mark's Senior I.S. students, Allison Cornett ('00), earned a Summer fellowship from the Council on Undergraduate Research to study the Eemian erosional surface in the Bahamas. Amanda Cook ('00) received an internship with the National Park Service to work in the Florissant Fossil Beds in Colorado during the Summer, and Megan Hooker ('00) is working on a paleo-environmental framework for the Cretaceous Simsima Limestone in Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Find out more about the Keck Ohio Project at http://www.wooster.edu/geology/KeckOhio.html/ and these Senior I.S. students at http://www.wooster.edu/geology/srispaleosedstrat.html/. Mark is teaching Invertebrate Paleontology and History of Life in the Fall of 1999. In the Spring of 2000, Mark will teach Processes & Concepts of Geology and Sedimentology & Stratigraphy. He continues to serve on the College's Teaching Staff & Tenure Committee.
(Wooster since 1985). September 3, 1999, marked 15 years since Amy began working at the College. During that time she has gone from Geology, Philosophy, and Chemistry to Geology and Philosophy, and now to Geology, Philosophy, and Pre-Law Advising. During the 1998-1999 year, she again helped to coordinate the College's cooperative JASON IX Project between the College and the Wooster City Schools. She helped to organize Geology Club activities and worked with the planning of the Council on Undergraduate Research National Conference, which will be hosted by Wooster in June 2000, by laying necessary logistical groundwork and by writing the College's contract with CUR. Outside Scovel, Amy is a member of an ad hoc College committee to centralize all scheduling on campus, and she continued as a member of the College's Task Force on Child Care. She also plans and hosts post-game tailgate parties for the Fighting Scot football team and their families during the Fall as well. Amy's daughters, Emily (16) and Katy (13) Patterson, keep her hopping in her spare time. Besides her work with the Wayne Center for the Arts Children's Chorus, serving as the Bel Canto Chorus' Manager and Travel Agent, Amy is a member of the Edgewood Middle School Continuing Academic Committee and is a member of the Wooster City Schools Music Improvement Team. During the 1999-2000 year, Amy will not only be busy with her usual activities inside and outside of Scovel, she also will be coordinating two visiting professor position searches, one for Geology and one for Philosophy.
(B.A. Wooster, 1999; Wooster since 1999). Liz graduated with a B.A. in Geology in May of 1999. She was the recipient of the Margaret Kate Moke Endowed Scholarship in 1998-1999 and received the grade of Honors on her Senior Independent Study Thesis entitled, "Paleomagnetic Investigation of the Relationship Between Magmatic and Structural Processes, Black Mountains, Northwestern Arizona." During the 1999-2000 year, Liz is employed as the very first Intern for the Department of Geology. Her days are packed full of activity since her position is divided between the Department and the Dean of Students' office. Her work with the Department encompasses many areas. Among other tasks, Liz is currently working on upgrading the XRD Laboratory and has been busy with the upkeep of the seismic station (http://www.wooster.edu/news/seismic/seismic/html). Liz is not sure where she will be during the next few years, but graduate school is most likely in the near future. |