Most of the participants as assembled on Saturday morning at Zzyzx.
The 40th Anniversary Alumni Reunion Field Trip of the Department of
Geological Sciences at California State University, Northridge attracted 78
alumni, faculty, students, and their guests. It was held at the California State
University Desert Studies Center at Zzyzx Springs, near Baker, California, on
January 29-31, 1999.
Graduates of the 1960s as assembled on Sunday morning at Zzyzx. From left
to right are Chuck Schroeter, B.S. 1967; Charles Real, B.S. 1969; and Frank
Hanna, B.S. 1966.
Graduates of the 1970s as assembled on Sunday morning at Zzyzx. From left
to right in the back row are Roberta Harma, B.S. 1978; Diane Phillips, B.S.
1978; Tony Reid, B.S. 1976, M.S. 1979; Harold Syms, B.S. 1973; and Mike Ponek,
B.S. 1979; and from left to right in the front row are Mark Oborne, B.S. 1978,
M.S. 1982; Howard Brown, 1979; and Mike Werner, B.S. 1976, M.S. 1979.
Graduates of the 1980s as assembled on Sunday morning at Zzyzx. From left
to right in the back row are Pat Fischer B.S. 1987; Jeff Geraci B.S. 1987; Mark
Allen, B.S. 1988; Charles Klassette, B.S. 1987; and Jeff Kofoed, B.S. 1988; left
to right in the middle row are Tina Le Page, B.S. 1987; Dean Francuch, B.S.
1987; Layne Richins, B.S. 1985; George Freitag, B.S. 1986, M.S. 1989; Michael
Wood, B.S. 1987, with daughter, Lauren; and Chris Sexton, B.S. 1983; and left to
right in the front row are Butch Trembly, M.S. 1987; Terry Thompson, B.S. 1980;
Ralph Roug, B.S. 1986; Roy Thun, B.S. 1988; and Kim Loeb, B.S. 1988.
Graduates of the 1990s as assembled on Sunday morning at Zzyzx. From left
to right are Jody Palmer, B.S. 1997; Jonathan Miller, B.S. 1997; and Carmen
Caceres, B.S. 1998.
Earth Science graduate Dave Panaro (1980) and son, Ryan, on Sunday morning
at Zzyzx. David Lukesh (1973) had already left for home.
Present and past faculty as assembled on Sunday morning at Zzyzx. From
left to right are Roberta Harma, Vicki Pedone, Gene Fritsche, Peter Weigand,
George Dunne, Jon Sloan, and Frank Hanna.
Present students as assembled on Sunday morning at Zzyzx. From left to
right in the back row are Shawn Shapiro, Tom Reid, Cameron Kennedy, and David
Delis; left to right in the front row are Cindy Puckett, Sharon Clark, Ellen
Collins, Vince Devlahovich, and Leni Field.
The trip began in the town of Boron at the U.S. Borax Company open-pit borax mine where we toured the company museum and were given an overview of the mining operations by one of the mining engineers.
Samples of the borax ore minerals were available in ore cars outside of
the museum for anyone who wanted them. From left to right at the ore cars are
Sharon Clark, Marilyn Hanna, an unknown person in the back, David Delis, Shawn
Shapiro, Cameron Kennedy in the back, Sherief Mansour, Carmen Caceres, and Jody
Palmer.
Our next stop was north of Barstow where we looked at a detachment fault and George Dunne explained to us the importance of extension and low-angle, normal, detachment faulting in the Mojave Desert during the Miocene. From there we went to the parking lot of Calico Ghost Town where Gene Fritsche described the gravity-slide folds that occur there in the middle Miocene Barstow Formation.
Here is the intrepid crew searching for folded rocks at the Calico parking
lot.
Our last stop for Friday was on an old beach ridge of Pleistocene Lake Manix near Afton where Bob Howard filled us in on the Lake Manix story. Alumnus George Freitag also told us about his experiences on the night of the Landers earthquake when he and friends were camped out near this area and large boulders came rolling down the hillsides around their camp. From Afton it was on to our quarters at Zzyzx where we were issued our room assignments, moved in, cleaned up, and headed to the dining area for appetizers. After the happy hour we enjoyed a delicious meal of lasagna prepared by Charles and Judy Nussrallah with the help of Vicki Pedone and Jon Sloan.
Enjoying the scrumptious lasagna dinner are, from left to right around the
table, Mark Oborne, Dean Edward Carroll, Jr., Peter Weigand, Sandy Jewett, Cindy
Puckett, Sharon Clark, and Ellen Collins.
Feasting on the same meal at the other end of the dining area are, left to
right on the close side of the table, Layne Richins and Dave and Ryan Panaro;
left to right on the far side of the table, David Delis, Shawn Shapiro, Cameron
Kennedy, Kim Hill, and Jonathan Miller; and left to right at the serving
counter, Charles Klassette, George Freitag, and Leni Field.
And finally at one other table are, from left to right around the table,
Charles Real, Steve Syms, Tom Reid, Dean Francuch, Roy Thun, Catherine Williams,
Carmen Caceres, and Jody Palmer.
The evening conversation was
enthusiastic as alumni and faculty renewed their friendships and caught up on
recent activities and students met and talked with alumni about life in the real
world of geology. Peter Weigand presented a slide show for everyone's
entertainment. On Saturday morning, we got an early start for the Clark
Mountains where George Dunne described the Laramide compressional history of the
area and we looked at a thrust fault. Alumnus Howard Brown also detailed for us
the Paleozoic stratigraphy of the Mojave desert and surrounding regions based on
his years of mapping in the region in search of commercial limestone deposits.
Everyone made their own lunch in the morning from the bountiful food
stuffs that were provided.
George Dunne describes Laramide compression and thrust faulting for the
group at the Clark Mountains.
From the Clark Mountains it was on to the Kelso Dunes for lunch. After lunch, Gene Fritsche described the origin of the Kelso Dunes and alumnus and past part-time faculty member Frank Hanna discussed the Cima Dome controversy and the origin of pediments. Then it was time for fun on the dunes.
Some of the 70s grads with their field instructors at the Kelso Dunes
parking lot. From left to right in the back row are Harold Syms, Tony Reid,
Priscilla Harding, George Dunne, Perry Harding, Mike Werner, and Mike Ponek;
left to right in the front row are Gene Fritsche, Roberta Harma, Diane Phillips,
Mark Oborne, and Howard Brown.
Some of those who made it to the top of the highest dune include, from
left to right, two of the Harding boys, Jon Miller, Kim Hill, Gene Fritsche,
Aiguo Cao, Dave Lukesh, and Mark Chatman.
After the Kelso Dunes we moved on to the Cima Volcanic Field to explore a lava tunnel and hear Peter Weigand's explanation of the origin of Mojave Desert volcanics.
The origin of the Mojave Desert volcanics is clearly explained by Peter
Weigand, upper left corner, at the entrance to a lava tunnel in the Cima
Volcanics.
Lava tunnel explorers include, from left to right in the foreground,
George Freitag, Mike and Lauren Wood, Layne Richins, and Tina LePage. If you see
yourself in the background, let me know who you are.
Saturday evening at Zzyzx was the big event. Dinner was enchilada pie made by Vicki Pedone and Natasha Galvez with additional help from Charles and Judy Nussrallah and Jon Sloan. Before and after dinner conversation was once again enjoyed by all. Some conversations continued long into the night. T-shirts, sweat shirts, caps, and mugs were sold by the Geology Club. The newsletter manuscript was reviewed by all and corrected where necessary. The evening slide show by George Dunne and Gene Fritsche featured past field pictures of all those in attendance. These pictures did not necessarily show the alumni in their best poses. The Dean of Science and Mathematics, Edward Carroll, who joined us for most of the trip, made a few comments in which he commended our Department for the close relationship we maintain with our alumni. During the evening a small awards ceremony was held, the results of which are presented here.
On Sunday morning, we once again arose early, ate breakfast and made lunches, cleaned up the place, and headed out for trilobite collecting in the Marble Mountains.
Some of the trilobites found. Priscilla Harding found the best
specimen.
From the trilobite locality, we headed west to Newberry Springs where Gene Fritsche once again discussed Miocene detachment faults and the previous view of these features being buttress unconformities. The candy bar demonstration of detachment faulting was attempted, although not too successfully, but the kids enjoyed the final product anyway.
Gene Fritsche discusses detachment faulting in the Newberry Springs
area.
Using a candy bar, Gene Fritsche demonstrates how brittle detachment
faulting near the surface (the chocolate coating) merges at depth with ductile
stretching (the carmel center).
This trip was judged to be an enormous success by those in attendance; so
much so that we will undoubtedly have another one in the not too distant future.
Next time we are hoping for an even greater attendance. See you all then.
I hope that you have enjoyed reading this report and looking at the photographs. If you have questions , corrections, or comments to make, you may leave a message at a.eugene.fritsche@csun.edu