Department News and Events



Geological Sciences Professor Richard Heermance Named CSUN’s Jerome Richfield Memorial Scholar


Photo of Dr. Heermance

Geological sciences professor Richard V. Heermance has been named California State University, Northridge’s Jerome Richfield Memorial Scholar for his research on the glacial moraines in the Trinity Alps in the Klamath Mountains of Northern California. Further details of Dr. Heermance's award can be found at: http://csuntoday.csun.edu/media-releases/geological-sciences-professor-richard-heermance-named-jerome-richfield-memorial-scholar/


Doug Yule receives the 2012 Outstanding Publication Award from the Geological Society of America's Structural Geology and Tectonics Division


Award Presentation

This award is given annually for a published work (paper, book, or map) of exceptional distinction that clearly advances the science of structural geology or tectonics. This paper was coauthored with Caltech geology professor Dr. Kerry Sieh. The image on the left was taken during the award presentation and includes (l to r): Andrew Meigs Vice-Chair, Kerry Sieh, Doug Yule, and Ron Bruhn, President of the Structural Geology and Tectonics Division of GSA. For the citation and response go to: http://www.csun.edu/geology/Yule Award.pdf


Dr. Jason Saleeby (CSUN '72 summa cum laude) wins the 2012 Distinguished Geologic Career Award from the Geological Society of America's Mineralogy, Geochemistry, Petrology, And Volcanology
Division


Jason B. Saleeby is a Professor of Geology at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. He earned his BS in geology from CSUN, was an instructor here in 1972, and has close connections to two CSUN geology professors. He was the Ph.D. supervisor of Dr. Doug Yule and the post-doctoral advisor of Dr. Robinson Cecil. He also collaborated with Dr. George Dunne (CSUN geology emeritus professor) on Sierra Nevada research and was on Dave Liggett’s (Geology Dept. tech) MS thesis committee. Further details of Dr. Saleeby's award can be found at: http://www.csun.edu/geology/Saleeby Award.htm and at http://www.geosociety.org/awards/12speeches/mgpv.htm

2012 Geology Graduates


Graduation

Graduation celebration began this year with a gathering of faculty, staff, students, and graduates and their families, in the Hanna Room. Our outstanding graduate student this year was Jozi Kerry Del Angel. Our outstanding graduating senior was Sam Wachtor.

For additional graduation photos see http://www.csun.edu/geology/grads12.htm


Shake Out 2011


Shake Out logo

Students enrolled in introductory geology classes in conjunction with students in the Department of Geological Sciences' Geology Club have planned to advertise the ShakeOut Exercise on Oct. 17-19 and to staff a Festival in Sierra Quad on Oct. 20. Students also plan to visit classrooms during the week of Oct. 17 to give short earthquake preparedness presentations. The festival on Oct. 20 from 9a.m. - 2 p.m. will include earthquake-kit booths, a video of damage to CSUN's campus in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, and earthquake preparedness handouts and other information.

For 2011 ShakeOut photos see http://www.csun.edu/geology/shakeout2011.htm

Seismometer Recovery Cruise


Dr. Weeraratnee on the rv New Horizon

Dr. Weeraratne is currently involved in the study of offshore southern California seismic data. This project is part of the ALBACORE study that is designed to understand seismic and tectonic structure of the North American and Pacific plate at crustal, lithospheric, and asthenospheric depths. Ocean bottom seismometers that were deployed off the coast of southern California in August 2011 are currently (September 2011) being recovered. See the following link for further information, including a description of the research project, the CSUN Geology students involved, a location map showing where the seismometers were deployed and the current state of recovery. http://www.csun.edu/geology/DSW/dswcruise3.htm

29th Fall Field Frolic


Join the Geology Department field trip as we frolic at Zion National Park, Utah; Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, Utah; and Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. August 24, 25, 26. See flyer for further details: http://www.csun.edu/geology/2011 FFF announcement.pdf

Follow this link to see trip write up and photos: http://www.csun.edu/geology//Field_Trips/fff11tuweep/fff11index.htm

The Fritsche's Geotrek IV


Geotrek IV logo

GeoTrek IV was a series of 10 hikes led by Gene Fritsche, Geology Professor Emeritus at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). The purpose of these hikes was firstly to acquaint the participants with the geology along the route of the hike. More importantly, Gene walked the 100 miles to secure support and contributions from CSUN geology alumni, faculty, staff, and other friends of geology for the GENE AND SUE FRITSCHE GEOTREK ENDOWMENT, which awards annual scholarships to geology students at CSUN. Ten Terrific Topical Transverse Range Traverses
To see photos of previous GeoTreks follow these links:
GeoTrek I L.A. Zoo to Point Mugu
GeoTrek II San Gabriel Mountains Transect
GeoTrek III Hiking the rim of the San Fernanado Valley

AAPG Short Course


Wednesday, March 30, 2011
"Geology & Geophysics Applied to Industry Basic Seismic Stratigraphic Interpretation" Presented by Fred W. Schroeder, Ph.D.

CSUN Geology 2011 Summer Field in Ruth, Nevada


The CSUN Geology Department will again share its Summer Field program with CSULB in Ruth, Nevada.

New Geology Faculty


Professor Cecil

The Department of Geological Sciences is pleased to announce the appointment of two new faculty members, both of whom will start at CSUN in Fall 2011. Robinson Cecil received a BA in Geology from Vanderbilt University and MS and PhD degrees in Geosciences from the University of Arizona.  She is presently finishing a postdoc at Caltech.  Robinson's research focuses on problems in regional tectonics, using mainly geo- and thermo-chronometry and radiogenic isotope geology to better understand the magmatic and topographic evolution of continental arcs.  She is particularly interested the interplay between lithospheric-scale tectonic processes operating at depth in orogenic systems and their associated surface responses.

Professor Schwartz

Josh Schwartz received his A.B. and M.S. from Brown University, and PhD from the University of Wyoming. His research focuses on understanding the magmatic and thermal evolution of mid-ocean ridge lithosphere, and the generation of magmas in collisional orogenic belts. His current field areas include Macquarie Island (Southern Ocean), the Blue Mountains (NE Oregon), the Southern Appalachian orogen (Alabama), and Fiordland (New Zealand). His research combines field mapping, igneous petrology, isotope geochemistry and U-Pb geochronology.



CSUN Geological Sciences among top 100 hydrogeology programs


well in stream

The National Groundwater Association has named CSUN among the 100 best programs in hydrogeology. More than 400 programs were considered and, in the end, 100 selected. There were a number of factors centered around the length and strength of the program, as well as its faculty. The National Groundwater Association reviews and selects the programs for its Top 100 list to give prospective groundwater students a list of strong options and a jumping-off point for their search in selection of schools. You can see the list at:
http://www.ngwa.org/students/hydrogeology-programs.aspx
CSUN hydrogeology courses can be found at: http://www.csun.edu/geology/Hydro/hydro.htm

OBS Recovery Cruise


Dr. Weeraratne in storm

Dr. Weeraratne weathers a storm on the deck of the Kilo Moana. Dr. Weeraratne along with Cristo Ramirez and Jialin Li, both CSUN geology graduate students, are on a scientific cruise to recover two arrays of ocean bottom seimometers (OBS). The OBS's were deployed a year ago and have been sitting on the ocean bottom in the western Pacific collecting seismic data. They are part of a research project to determine how oceanic tectonic plates are constructed and evolve with time. More on this cruise can be found at: http://www.csun.edu/geology/DSW/dswcruise2.htm. Details of the deployment (previous) cruise can be found at: http://www.csun.edu/geology/DSW/dswcruise.htm

Shakeout 2010


Shakeout text on phone

On 10/21/10 at 10:21 a.m. the third annual Shakeout earthquake drill took place. After receiving notification of the drill via the CSUN Office Phone Messaging System there was a collective, campus-wide, Drop, Cover and Hold On. In the accompaning photo Dr. Doug Yule is in the process of getting under a desk in the Geology Department office. He was joined by department staff members Mari Flores-Garcia, Perla Vielma, and Romica Silas.

2010 AAPG-SEG West Coast Student Expo Field Trip


Rebecca and Aaron in Oxy shirts

This year’s AAPG-SEG West Coast Student Expo field trip was led by Aaron Hebeler with help from Rebecca Greenberg.   Both are CSUN geology alumni now employed by Occidental Petroleum.  The trip was to the San Miguelito oil field west of Ventura.  CSUN geology professor emeritus Dr. Gene Fritsche was on hand to provide lessons at the outcrop.



Bender in Washington DC


Students on building steps

On July 22 a poster event of "exemplary research" was held for members of congress in the Rayburn Building on Capitol Hill to celebrate the success of the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program. California State University Northridge (CSUN) was honored to have one of its undergraduate LSAMP students, Ms. Carrie Bender (back row, beneath arrow) from the Department of Geological Sciences, chosen to represent all of the CSU System at this event. Carrie will continue her graduate studies in the department this Fall, supported by an LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) fellowship. She joins second-year graduate students and BD Fellows Cristo Ramirez and Melissa Nunley who entered the program last year.

2010 Geology Graduates


Graduates in cap and gowns

On graduation day this year we had a well-attended afternoon soiree in the mineralogy/petrology lab celebrating the achievenments of our latest geology graduating class. Outstanding graduate (Aaron Hebeler) and senior (Ben Termeer) awards were presented and all graduates were honored by fellow students, faculty, staff, families, and friends. Shortly thereafter caps and gowns were donned and Pomp and Circumstance commenced.

Professor Sails on Record-breaking Drilling Expedition
and Receives University Award


Crowd on front of ship

Dr. Kathleen Marsaglia recently sailed as a shipboard scientist on Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 317 off the Canterbury Margin of South Island, New Zealand. This two-month scientific cruise set several records for deep ocean drilling: deepest hole continuously cored, shallowest water depth, and deepest microbial sample from a hole. A preliminary report of their exciting findings can be found at: http://publications.iodp.org/preliminary_report/317/
She has several graduate students lined up to study the relationships among the distinct seismic stratigraphic sequences drilled on this margin, sand provenance and cementation.

Dr. Marsaglia also received the CSUN Outstanding Faculty Award for 2009-2010.

CSUN sends team to PS-AAPG Imperial Barrel Award Competition


Students receiving award check

Representing the Department of Geological Sciences at CSUN, the AAPG Imperial Barrel Award Team accepts a $500 scholarship check from Morgan Sullivan (Chevron) for placing second in the Pacific Section competition.  The team is, from left to right, John Johnson, Jenna Fleck, Cristo Ramirez, Rebecca Greenberg, Marcia Lidzbarski, Ben Termeer, and Adewale Adedeji, followed by their proud advisor, Dr. Kathie Marsaglia.  Not pictured is MS student Aaron Hebeler who, as a past participant at SDSU, served as the team mentor. 

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