Author: QMPGEOeditor1

Burns, Scott

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Scott Burns is a Professor Emeritus of Geology and Past-Chair of the Dept. of Geology at Portland State University where he just completed his 28th year of teaching. He was also Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at P.S.U. from 1997-1999. Scott has been teaching for 48 years, with past positions in Switzerland, New Zealand, Washington, Colorado and Louisiana. Dr. Burns specializes in environmental and engineering geology, geomorphology, soils, and Quaternary geology. Scott has won many awards for outstanding teaching, the most significant being the Faculty Senate Chair Award at Louisiana Tech University in 1987, the Distinguished Faculty Award from the Portland State Alumni Association in 2001, and the George Hoffmann Award from PSU in 2007. Based on his national leadership performance Scott was chosen to be a fellow of the Geological Society of America (2004) and a fellow with the Kellogg National Fellowship Program (1990 – 1993). He was president of the Downtown Rotary Club of Portland, Oregon’s oldest and largest Rotary club in 2009. Scott is a 6th generation Oregonian who grew up in Beaverton and is very happy to be “home” after a 25 year hiatus! He actively helps local TV, radio stations and newspapers bring important geological news to the public. Scott enjoys all sports, especially basketball, running, skiing, hiking, swimming, tennis, and golf. (From Smithsonian Journeys)

Scott has been a frequent and generous speaker for the Quimper Geological Society.  He conducted Terroir lectures three times (2010, 2015 and 2021), which have been tremendous fundraisers for us.  (Updated Oct. 2021)

2022-01-08 Carolyn Driedger, USGS—Hazards from the Nevado del Ruiz and Mount Rainier volcanoes

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The Lecture

Nevado del Ruiz (Colombia) and Mount Rainier (US) exist a hemisphere apart, but they both project similar hazards for communities downstream.  Central to their stories is the development and continued presence of weak and collapse-prone hydrothermally altered rock, and perennial covers of glacier ice and snow. Slopes of both volcanos are mantled by loose rock debris that can be remobilized to initiate lahars. At both volcanoes, five major glaciofluvial rivers flow down narrow valleys to lowland areas that support large human populations. More than a 150,000 persons live in areas at risk of lahars that could emanate from Rainier.  Thirty-six years ago, Colombia’s Nevado del Ruiz initiated a lahar that killed an estimated 25,000 people. We examined hazards at both volcanoes; discuss international synergies for risk reduction, progress and challenges, and review some practical lessons learned about community risk reduction.

The Speaker

Carolyn Driedger is a Hydrologist and Outreach Coordinator at the U.S. Geological Survey in Vancouver Washington.   Her science career began with research on glaciers and glacier-related hazards principally at Cascade Range volcanoes, and at Columbia Glacier Alaska. Carolyn witnessed the May 18, 1980 catastrophic eruption of Mount St. Helens and participated in the initial news media response.  This event set the course for several fascinating projects that crossed science disciplines, and it provided a front-row seat for observation and reflection upon the role of scientists in society. Carolyn learned that scientists must use the same degree of creativity and care with public communication that they use with scientific endeavors.  Now, as CVO’s Outreach Coordinator, she works in partnership with public officials, emergency planners, media, park interpreters, and educators to advance the cause of eruption preparedness.  Some earlier career choices have informed current work, including several years of teaching in a US public school and private school in Kathmandu Nepal, and working for the National Park Service.

2021-11-20 Doug Clark, WWU— Under Ice and Under Water: New Constraints on the Final Advance of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet in Northwest Washington

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On Sat. Nov. 20, 2021, Doug Clark, Professor of Geology at WWU, Bellingham presented Lidar data and new stratigraphic, lake sediment, and radiocarbon constraints shed new light a long-standing dispute about the timing and nature of the last major events of the Cordilleran ice sheet in the Fraser Lowland. These new data paint a remarkable picture of glacier advances and retreats interleaved with rises and falls of local sea level during the closing phases of the Pleistocene ice age.  Following its initial retreat from the Puget Sound, the ice sheet briefly readvanced into the Salish Sea near Bellingham, Washington about 14,500 years ago.  Immediately afterwards, the ice retreated north of the International Boundary long enough for forests to establish in deglaciated lowland sites.  Then, shortly following this retreat, local relative sea level (RSL) rose rapidly by ~20–30 m (~65-100 ft) about 14,000 yr ago, inundating the U.S. portion of the lowlands up to ~130 m above modern sea level.  While RSL was at its highest, the ice sheet readvanced across the border to nearly the same extent as the earlier event. 

By about 13,000 yr ago, ice had retreated north of the border, and local RSL had fallen to within ~4 m of modern SL. A layer of possible loess (windblown dust) in sediments in Squalicum Lake suggests the ice sheet readvanced for a third and final time between 13,000 and 11,150 yr ago, constructing a moraine ~8 km south of the border town of Sumas, Washington. A series of unusual channels just beyond this final moraine indicate that the ice sheet experienced a catastrophic outburst flood immediately before the ice sheet stagnated and disappeared.