Colorado Scientific Society – Earth Sciences since 1882
The oldest scientific society in the Rocky Mountain region
Founded in 1882, the Colorado Scientific Society promotes knowledge, the understanding of science, and its application to human needs.
We focus primarily on earth science, welcoming members with interests in all fields of science. Learn more.
Future Colorado Scientific Society Meetings and Field Trips
We normally hold monthly meetings from September through May.
Our meetings are normally now both in-person and virtual.
Wildcat Mountain – CSS No Moss Gathering
As in “a rolling stone gathers no moss”.
Saturday, June 29th 2024, 8:00 AM to noon
Bob Raynolds, Research Associate, Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS) will lead this trip.
Logistics:
Saturday 29 June 2024
8:00 a.m. rendezvous for carpooling at RTD Littleton-Mineral Station Park & Ride
(3203 West Mineral Ave., Littleton, CO 80120, northwest corner of Mineral and South Santa Fe)
Drive south to Sedalia on South Santa Fe Blvd. (Rt 85). Will do a roadside stop at the new outcrops along South Santa Fe.
At Sedalia turn right (west) onto Rt 67 toward Deckers
Go 2.4 miles then turn right (north) on Rainbow Creek Rd
Go 2.0 miles then turn left (south) on Cherokee Drive
Turn right (west) on Piute Drive, go 0.66 miles to Arapahoe Conglomerate roadcut
Continue west and south on Piute Dr. for 0.8 miles to trailhead for Wildcat Mountain
Climb Wildcat Mountain (500’ up over 0.5 miles on unimproved trail). Not all need to climb all the way, nice views on the trail.
Depart Wildcat Mountain at 11:00 a.m.. Continue east on Piute Dr. for 0.35 miles, turn left (north) and go 0.56 miles on Winnebago Dr., turn right (east) on Cherokee Dr. and go 0.5 miles then turn right (southeast) on Rainbow Creek Road. Go 1.2 miles and turn left(east) on Rt 67 to return to Sedalia and South Santa Fe (Rt 85).
Return to RTD Littleton-Mineral Park and Ride by 12:00 noon.
Description:
Come see the evidence for the onset of the Laramide Orogeny in the Denver Basin. This is manifested by the Arapahoe conglomerate, well exposed west of Sedalia near Wildcat Mountain. Where do these cobbles come from? Then visit the outcrop exposures of the principal aquifer in Douglas County, the Arapahoe Aquifer. This rock body is present in a buried fluvial distributary fan system. Water wells in Douglas County drill down 2000 feet to access this finite water resource. We will discuss three-dimensional modeling of the aquifer and the challenges for communities in Douglas County to find sustainable water resources.
Flyer for Wildcat Mountain No Moss Gathering 6-29-2024.
Print and bring it with you.
CSS Past Presidents Dinner – September
What do two geologists know about pandemics?
Economic cascades, tipping points, and the costs of a business-as-usual approach to COVID-19
Thursday, September 19, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
David Goodwin and Peter Roopnarine, California Academy of Sciences
At the Mount Vernon Canyon Club or Join us on Zoom
What do two geologists know about pandemics?
Economic cascades, tipping points, and the costs of a business-as-usual approach to COVID-19
Abstract: Both natural and human systems rely on complex networks of exchange. In natural systems, exchanges involve the transfer of energy (i.e., ecology), whereas anthropogenic systems are based on exchanges of goods, services, and currency (economy). Despite differences in components (plants and animals versus humans) and scope (ecosystems versus economies), both types of networks are sensitive to perturbations. Disruptions, whether natural or anthropogenic, are linked by basic thermodynamic principles that unite ecological and economic theory.
Plagues and pandemics are inevitable; they have impacted human cultures for thousands of years. Examples include plagues of the Roman Empire, the Black Death, disease among indigenous peoples spurred by colonization, and the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Plagues also closely parallel mass extinctions in some respects. In each case, they are linked by their ability to radically disrupt complex networks and force the development of novel, and often revolutionary, reorganization of ecological and socioeconomic structures.
In this presentation we illustrate the utility of network models originally designed to simulate mass extinction dynamics, to understand counterfactual dynamics of the recent COVID-19 pandemic in which the economy remained open and active during the pandemic’s first year, thereby providing a baseline against which to compare actual levels of job losses. We developed an economic-epidemiological mathematical model to simulate outbreaks of COVID-19 in ten large socio-economic regions of California. Results show that job losses are an unavoidable consequence of the pandemic, because even in an open economy, debilitating illness and death among workers drive economic downturns. Although job losses in the counterfactual scenario were predicted to be less than those actually experienced, the cost would have been the additional death or disablement of tens of thousands of workers. Furthermore, whereas an open economy would have favored populous, services-oriented coastal areas in terms of employment, the opposite would have been true of smaller inland areas and those with relatively larger agricultural sectors. Thus, in addition to the greater cost in lives, the benefits of maintaining economic activity would have been unequally distributed, exacerbating other realized social inequities of the disease’s impact. Ultimately, the COVID pandemic revealed not only vulnerabilities in health systems, but also in economic and decision-making systems.
Peter Roopnarine is the Curator of Geology at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. He has worked at the Academy since 1999. Peter holds degrees in Biology (BS; Mount Allison University), Oceanography (MS; Nova Southeastern University), and Geology (PhD; University of California, Davis). His research is transdisciplinary, with a focus on understanding the evolution of ecological systems, emphasizing paleontology, deep time, and perspectives on complexity dynamics. Much of Peter’s current research centers around global change biology, and how we can further develop our understanding of Earth’s past ecosystems to better forecast our future.
David Goodwin is a Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences at Denison University in Granville, OH. David joined the faculty in 2003. He has degrees in Natural and Environmental Science (BS: Lyndon State College), Geology (MS; University of Montana), and Geoscience (PhD; University of Arizona). Dave’s research focuses on documenting and interpreting records of environmental variation archived in the hard parts of modern and fossil organisms. This is accomplished primarily through calibration of environmental conditions with skeletal archives: specifically, biogeochemical variations and patterns of shell growth.
CSS October Meeting
Lava dams, Footprints, and Faults: some vignettes from the USGS Luminescence Dating Lab in Denver, Colorado.
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
(A link to Join the Zoom meeting will be posted here before the meeting.)
See details about attending in-person at the church below.
Abstract: A lot has happened on planet earth over the past 200,000 years. Climate, erosion, and the distribution of people have all changed radically over that period. As scientists, we wish to know how, when, and why these changes occurred and to use this knowledge going forward. At the USGS luminescence dating lab, we use the physics of light, electrons, and minerals to figure out the “when.” In this presentation, I start off with a primer on how quartz and feldspar sand can store electrons within their crystal structure and how we can measure these electrons to figure out how old a sample is. With this knowledge, we then consider some recent projects such as the enigmatic Chemehuevi Formation of the Colorado River, the use of luminescence dating towards the footprints at White Sands National Park, and how the erosion of meters-tall fault scarps reveals the hidden physics of erosion on Earth’s surface. Each vignette is meant to give a thought-provoking snapshot into Earth’s dynamic past for discussion and further speculation!
Bio: Harrison Gray is a Research Geologist at the USGS Luminescence dating lab in Denver, Colorado. Harrison applies luminescence dating to various USGS projects including geologic maps, natural hazards and beyond. Recent projects include dating sand deposits of the Colorado River in and downstream of the Grand Canyon, creating new two-dimensional “age maps” using a portable luminescence reader, and helping determine the age of footprints at White Sands National Park.
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 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 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 November Meeting with Student and 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 the CSS membership PDF and our online membership payment form.
Regular CSS Membership is $25;
Student Membership, $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
Most 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
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
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
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
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
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
View Who Owns the Arctic? The Geopolitics of Plate Tectonics in a Melting World
All in the (human) family: Neanderthals and Denisovans and us
November 17, 2022
Bence Viola, University of Toronto
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
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
See The White Sands footprints — humans in North America 23,000 years ago
Read past Colorado Scientific Society Newsletters
Start or renew your membership with the Online CSS Membership Form
Or print and mail in the Colorado Scientific Society Membership Form (PDF)
Archive of Past Colo. Scientific Society Meetings
About the Colorado Scientific Society
The Colorado Scientific Society was founded in 1882 as a forum for the exchange of observations and ideas on the topics of earth science. Lecture topics largely focus on earth science, and are open to the public. In addition to our monthly lecture series, the society is also active in public service. We fund student research grants, construct and post signs that describe local geologic features, and organize and lead field trips.
The Colorado Scientific Society normally meets on the third Thursday of the month from September through May. (In the summer months of June-August, too many members are out in the field.)
6:30 – Social time at in-person meetings
6:45 – Join Zoom meetings
7:00 – Meeting and Program begin
Corporate Sponsorship of the Colorado Scientific Society
Corporate sponsorship helps the Society continue to provide earth science-related talks, field trips, and other events to a broad cross-section of Front Range geologists and interested people. Please accept an invitation from the Colorado Scientific Society to become a corporate sponsor, enabling us to continue and expand our programs.
Details of corporate sponsorship of the Colorado Scientific Society
The Colorado Scientific Society is an Associated Society of the Geological Society of America
Please send comments about the Colorado Scientific Society website to ColoSciSoc.webmaster@gmail.com .
We meet at the Golden Calvary Church and appreciate them sharing their facilities.
We have our December Business Meeting and Potluck Supper at New Terrain Brewing Company and appreciate their support.
RockWare provides the Colorado Scientific Society with a meeting place for our monthly CSS Council meetings. RockWare provides Earth Science Software, Consulting, and Training.
We appreciate the support for our website by Table Mountain Web Design.
