Upcoming Meetings

Future Colorado Scientific Society Meetings


All are welcome – no admission charge

We normally hold monthly meetings from September through May.
Our meetings will be both in-person and virtual.


CSS April Meeting and Emmons Lecture

Tales from the Field:
Using Modern Earth to Assess Life on Ancient Mars

Thursday, April 18, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
Brian Hynek, Department of Geological Sciences and Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado

In-person Meeting at Calvary Church Golden, with free pizza and beer,
or Join us on Zoom

The link to Join on Zoom will be posted here later.

See details about attending in-person at the church below.

Respirators needed

Respirators neededAbstract: After two decades of intense exploration, it is clear that ancient Mars met all the requirements to support microbial life for at least 100s of millions of years. This includes an active hydrologic cycle hosting rivers, lakes, and potentially an ocean. We have also found many “dried up Yellowstones” on Mars and these are crucial habitats since most scientists believe that Earth’s life originated in similar settings and at a similar time in the planet’s history. One way to learn about ancient environments on Mars and the microbes that might have lived there is to study analogous environments on modern Earth. I will talk about some of my recent work from around the world that have detailed some of Earth’s most extreme environments including expeditions to the world’s tallest active volcano, hypersaline alkaline lakes in Tanzania, steaming lava fields in Iceland, boiling acid lakes in Costa Rica, and high-altitude salty lagoons in the high Argentinian desert. Remarkably, most all of these extreme settings host microbial ecosystems. I will discuss our current understanding of ancient Mars and how Earth life’s remarkable resiliency makes the likelihood of past microbial life on Mars quite likely.

A unique ecosystem in an inhospitable desert

Deep within Argentina’s Puna de Atacama, a desert more than 12,000 feet above sea level, a previously undocumented ecosystem could provide scientists with a window to life 3.5 billion years ago. These lagoons surrounded by salt flats are home to microbial communities called stromatolites, which grow alongside minerals to create unusual rock formations over time.
CU Media put together a nice drone video montage that you can view from here:
https://vimeo.com/891536538/268ef5428f?share=copy

Brian Hynek and associate
Brian Hynek and associate

Bio: Dr. Brian M. Hynek is Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences and Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder. He has spent the last 25 years studying Mars and its potential to host past life. Brian is a world expert on the study of modern terrestrial analogs to understand geological processes that operated on early Mars and the Moon, with recent field-based projects spanning five continents. He has worked extensively with NASA, conducting mission simulations in preparation for robotic and human exploration of the Moon and Mars. Brian has published over 80 peer-reviewed scientific papers, multiple book chapters, and hundreds of conference abstracts.

In-person Meeting at Calvary Church Golden

All are welcome – no admission charge
6:30 pm – Social time at in-person meetings
6:45 pm – Join Zoom meetings
7:00 pm – Meeting and Program begin. Please arrive early.
Church doors are locked, and no one will be at the door to let you in after 7:00 pm.

Calvary Church in Golden. Enter at arrow on map.
Calvary Church in Golden. Enter at arrow on map.

Calvary Church Golden
Click on link to open a Google map.

Enter from 14th St., go in by the main glass doors at [906] 14th St.
Do not enter via the old church above 13th St.
From the 14th Street entrance go down the hallway following Colo Sci Soc signs to Community Rooms 1 and 2, where we meet.

The church doors must stay locked, and we will have a person to let you in at the doors off 14th St.
They want to see the presentation too, so please arrive before 7:00 pm.
There will be a phone number that you can text to be let in if you arrive late.

Parking
On street parking is usually available close by, along 14th St and west of Washington Ave in Golden.
The AirGarage parking structure, which can be entered from Arapahoe St., is $3.00 for three hours.

Copies of The Geology of Boulder County by Raymond Bridge (2004) will be available for $20.


CSS May Meeting

Minerals and Elements

Thursday, May 16, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
Peyton Jackson, American Clean Resources Group
In-person Meeting at Calvary Church Golden or Join us on Zoom


CSS Past Presidents Dinner – September

Topic tbd

Thursday, September 19, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
David Goodwin and Peter Roopnarine, California Academy of Sciences
Mount Vernon Canyon Club or Join us on Zoom


CSS October Meeting

Topic tbd

Thursday, October 24, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. – note a week later than normal
Harrison Gray, U.S. Geological Survey
In-person Meeting at Calvary Church Golden or Join us on Zoom


CSS November Meeting and Student/Member Poster Night

Thursday, November 21, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
In-person Meeting at Calvary Church Golden or Join us on Zoom


CSS December Holiday Potluck, Meeting and President’s Address

Quaternary Records of Spring Ecosystems

Tuesday, December 3, 2024 at 5:30 p.m.
Jeff Pigati and Kathleen Springer, U.S. Geological Survey
In-person Potluck Dinner at New Terrain Brewing Company for 50 people, or Join us on Zoom


Please pay your CSS dues for 2024!

You may pay dues online, or print out a PDF of the membership form and mail it to us with a check. Continuing your membership in CSS will enable us to continue all our ongoing programs, including our field trips, virtual meetings, Student Research Grants, and more.

See Membership and Donations for our online membership payment form and the CSS Membership printable PDF.
Regular Membership – $25;
Student Membership – (any level) $5;
Life Membership – $395.
Send your membership payment, if not done through our online membership payment form, to Colorado Scientific Society P.O. Box 150495 Lakewood, CO 80215-0495.
Thank you!


See Zoom Recordings of Recent CSS Meetings

Recent CSS presentations are recorded on Zoom.  Follow the links in the titles for each presentation to see abstracts, biographies of the speakers and video recordings of our meetings.


‘Golden Age of Geology’; Plate Tectonics and the Metaluminous-Peraluminous Distinction,
September 21, 2023

Monte Swan, MagmaChem Associates, LLC

Figure 2: Magma-Metal Series Petrotectonic Model for a Layered Earth, comprising an 8-layered mantle with chemically distinct and physically immiscible layers.
Figure 2: Magma-Metal Series Petrotectonic Model for a Layered Earth, comprising an 8-layered mantle with chemically distinct and physically immiscible layers.

View ‘Golden Age of Geology’; Plate Tectonics and the Metaluminous-Peraluminous Distinction.


CSS and SIPES Summer Picnic,
August 5, 2023

at Roger and Connie Knight’s

Not a meeting, just pictures of our CSS and SIPES Summer Picnic.


Next-generation stress maps of North America: Utility for understanding active tectonics and managing induced seismicity
May 11, 2023

Jens-Erick Lundstern (Lund Snee), US Geological Survey

Stress map of North America
Stress map of North America

View the PowerPoint presentation of Next-generation stress maps of North America: Utility for understanding active tectonics and managing induced seismicity.


When the Colorado Ran North – Chasing Zircons from Arizona to the Labrador Sea,
April 20, 2023

James Sears, University of Montana

Figure from Sears and Beranek's paper in the 2022 Canadian Geoscience issue (Vol 49, No 1). Provenance regions discussed in presentation. If you cannot access Canadian Geoscience Volume 49, No. 1, see the articles linked after Jim Sears' biography.
Figure from Sears and Beranek’s paper in the 2022 Canadian Geoscience issue (Vol 49, No 1).
Provenance regions discussed in presentation.
If you cannot access Canadian Geoscience Volume 49, No. 1, see the articles linked after Jim Sears’ biography.

View When the Colorado Ran North – Chasing Zircons from Arizona to the Labrador Sea.


Breaking plates: how the recent earthquakes in Turkey relate to the tectonic escape of Anatolia and the migration of the Anatolia-Africa-Arabia triple junction
March 7, 2023

Michael Cosca, US Geological Survey

2023 Earthquakes on the East Anatolian Fault Zone
2023 Earthquakes on the East Anatolian Fault Zone

View Breaking plates: how the recent earthquakes in Turkey relate to the tectonic escape of Anatolia and the migration of the Anatolia-Africa-Arabia triple junction


Mars Geology;
Stratigraphy, Sedimentology, and Diagenesis of a Martian Lacustrine Deposit, Murray Formation, Gale Crater, Mars
February 16, 2023

Dr. John P. Grotzinger, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology

Mars
Gale Crater, Mars

View Mars Geology;
Stratigraphy, Sedimentology, and Diagenesis of a Martian Lacustrine Deposit, Murray Formation, Gale Crater, Mars


Colorado’s Evolving Landscape from the Neogene to Present: Insights from Geo- and Thermochronology
January 19, 2023

Alyssa Abbey, California State University, Long Beach

View Colorado’s Evolving Landscape from the Neogene to Present: Insights from Geo- and Thermochronology


Who Owns the Arctic?
the Geopolitics of Plate Tectonics in a Melting World
December 13, 2022

Ned Sterne, Independent

melting ice
melting ice

All in the (human) family: Neanderthals and Denisovans and us
November 17, 2022

Bence Viola, University of Toronto

Denis Cave
Denis Cave

View All in the (human) family: Neanderthals and Denisovans and us


Assessing the role of the Deccan Traps in the end-Cretaceous mass extinction
October 6, 2022

Blair Schoene, Princeton

Deccan Traps main outcrops
Deccan Traps main outcrops

View Assessing the role of the Deccan Traps in the end-Cretaceous mass extinction


The White Sands footprints — humans in North America 23,000 years ago
September 15, 2022

Kathleen Springer and Jeff Pigati, US Geological Survey

White Sands, over 20,000 years ago
White Sands, over 20,000 years ago. Thanks to the National Park Service.

See The White Sands footprints — humans in North America 23,000 years ago


Meetings are normally on the third Thursday of the month.

All are welcome – no admission charge
Join Zoom meetings at 6:45
Meeting and Program begin at 7:00


See Archives of CSS Talks – Indexed (under Events) for previous Colorado Scientific Society Talks, or just follow the link.

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Calvary Episcopal Church in Golden – Details and Map

Golden Calvary Church,
Enter off 14th St. See arrow on Map

Click on link to open a Google map.

Calvary Church in Golden. Enter at arrow on map.
Calvary Church in Golden. Enter at arrow on map.

Calvary Church Golden
Click on link to open a Google map.

Enter from 14th St., go in by the main glass doors at [906] 14th St.
Do not enter via the old church above 13th St.
From the 14th Street entrance go down the hallway following Colo Sci Soc signs to Community Rooms 1 and 2, where we meet.

The church doors must stay locked, and we will have a person to let you in at the doors off 14th st.
They want to see the presentation too, so please arrive before 7:00 pm.
There will be a phone number that you can text to be let in if you arrive late.

Parking
On street parking is usually available close by, along 14th St and west of Washington Ave in Golden.
The AirGarage parking structure, which can be entered from Arapahoe St., is $3.00 for three hours.

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Other Options to Join the CSS Meeting Presentation via Zoom

COSciSoc ADMIN is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: CSS March 21 Meeting

Time: March 21, 2024 06:45 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81931220890?pwd=Yxa61W88lyhEHBfQ59bpBf3bKy9YTb.1

Meeting ID: 819 3122 0890
Passcode: 018550

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