Glacial history of Whidbey Island and the Ledgewood Beach landslide site
(Pre-meeting trip 1)
August 7, 2014: 7:00AM - 5:00PM
Estimated cost: $60 per person:
includes transportation and lunch at the Whidbey pies.
Whidbey Island's topography and underlying stratigraphy is strongly imprinted by the advance and retreat history of the Puget Lobe during the last glaciation. We will make seven stops at the scenery Whidbey Island, to observe the complete advance glacial record, as well as the older Olympia non-glacial units. In addition to stratigraphic records of last glaciation, we will briefly stop at the Ledgewood Beach to see very recent scarp from the 2013 landslide.
- Depart and return from the University of Washington campus.
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For detailed information on the field trip, please contact: |
Mt. St. Helens and Mima Mounds Tour
(Post-meeting trip 1)
August 10, 2014: 7:00AM - 6:30PM
Estimated cost: $75 per person:
including a bag lunch, snacks, and refreshments during the trip.
We will visit two unique sites in western Washington: Mt. St. Helens and the archetypical Mima Mounds. Our first stop will be at the Mima Prairie Mounds, located in a rare area of native prairie in the southern Puget Sound basin. The prairie and mounds formed in outwash deposits of the latest continental glaciation. The origin of these mounds and other Mima-like mounds found elsewhere has been controversial since their discovery in 1840. We will visit an exposed section revealing several large mounds in profile. New research will be discussed on the modeling of gopher building the mounds and on how long the mounds may have existed on the landscape. We will then drive to Mt. St. Helens, which erupted catastrophically on May 18, 1980. This 34-year old natural disaster disturbed a large area and provided a unique opportunity for ecological, geological, and pedological research. We will discuss recent geological/geophysical findings, ecological recovery and early pedogenesis. There has been remarkable recovery since the original eruption. We will make several stops along the route and our primary stop will be the visitor's center on the west side of Mt. St. Helens that provides great views of the mountain and of the mudflows down the Toutle river drainage.
- Depart and return from the University of Washington campus.
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For detailed information on the field trip, please contact: |
Hazardous Seattle (Post-meeting trip 2)
August 10, 2014: 8:00AM - 5:00PM
Estimated cost: $30 per person:
includes transportation, treats
Seattle excels in geologic hazards -- active faults, unstable slopes, laharic brownfields -- and this green trip will take in some of the best. Traveling by bus and water taxi, and eating along the way, we'll proceed through downtown and across part of Puget Sound to stops on the hanging wall of the Seattle Fault, which last produced a large earthquake and tsunami 1,100 years ago. A morning low tide will expose evidence for deformation, not just in Tertiary rocks but also in deposits of late Pleistocene age. Their beveling serves as modern analog for an adjoining wave-cut terrace that was raised six meters 1,100 years ago. After lunch in West Seattle's Alaska Junction, we'll proceed to a bank of the Duwamish River where uplifted lahar-runout deposits are capped by a midden, and the adjoining river is part of a Superfund site.
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For detailed information on the field trip, please contact: |
The field trip to Olympic Peninsula has canceled. We're sorry for any inconvenience.
Registrations for the field trips are available as an option with the conference online registration found on the Registration page. All field trips must be registered before June 25, 2014. Late registration cannot be guaranteed.