November 17, 2021
Dr. Carolyn Driedger, U.S. Geological Survey, Vancouver Station —
New information on lahars from the USGS task force
October 27, 2021
Dr. Donald G. Hill, University of Southern California –
Use and abuse of wireline measurements for potash exploration and reserves estimates
September 29, 2021
Prof. Stephen Self, UC Berkeley –
Long-term volcanism risk at the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository Site, Nevada
September 30, 2020
Dr. Roland Bürgmann — UC Berkeley
A close-up view of Bay Area natural hazards from outer space
October 28, 2020
Dr. Jared Gooley, U.S. Geological Survey —
From forearc to transform: Sedimentary record of changing tectonic setting in the California continental margin
November 18, 2020
Dr. Lori Dengler, Humboldt State University (emerita) —
Kaome: The extraordinary tsunami boat linking Japan and California communities
January 27, 2021
Dr. Christie Rowe, McGill University –
Insights into the dynamics of subduction from studies in the Franciscan Complex
February 24, 2021
Dr. Tiziano Vanorio, Stanford University –
Concrete and concrete-like rocks: The role of mineral cementitious fibers in controlling strength and mode of failure
March 31, 2021
Dr. John C. Eichelberger, GSA Distinguished Lecturer, University of Alaska Fairbanks –
Drilling to magma
April 28, 2021
Dr. Penelope Boston, NASA Ames Research Center –
Caves on Earth can address some of the most challenging questions facing astrobiologists today
May 26, 2021
Dr. Sarah Milkovich, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory –
Perseverance Rover and the search for life on Mars
June 30, 2021
David B. Williams –
Stories in Stone: Travels through Urban Geology
September 25, 2019
Dr. Douglas Dreger — UC Berkeley
Exotic Seismic Sources: Nuclear Explosions, Mining Events, Volcanic and Geothermal Seismicity, and a Landslide
October 30, 2019
Dr. Russell Graymer — USGS
Geologic and geophysical framework of Mt Diablo
November 20, 2019
Dr. David P. Schwartz — USGS
Earthquakes of the East Bay
January 29, 2020
Dr. Jeff Unruh — Lettis Consultants International, Inc
Deformation of the Ancestral California Forearc during Late Cretaceous-Early Tertiary Blueschist Exhumation, Mt. Diablo Region
February 26, 2020
Dr. Donald Medwedeff — Independent Research Geologist
Tectonic Setting and Structural Analysis of Mt. Diablo and Vicinity
September 26, 2018
Dr. Artie Rodgers — Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
High-performance computing ground motion simulations of large, damaging Hayward Fault scenario and moderate earthquakes in the USGS 3D model of the San Francisco Bay Area
October 31, 2018
Dr. Cristina M. Robins — UC Museum of Paleontology
Calaveras: The Most Significant Fossil Find in the Bay Area in Decades
November 28, 2018
Dr. Stephen Self — University of California, Berkeley
Anticipating future Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) 7 eruptions and their chilling impacts
January 30, 2019
Dr. William Motzer — Consultant
The Gold Rush and its Impact to the San Francisco Bay Area
February 27, 2019
Dr. Paul Renne — Berkeley Geochronology Center
Flood Basalts and Mass Extinctions: The Cretaceous/Paleogene Perspective
March 27, 2019
Dr. Sara Kelly Mcbride — United States Geological Survey
When science meets emergency management — and back again: the M7.8 Kaik?ura Earthquake case study
April 24, 2019
Dr. Owen Anfinson — Sonoma State University
To See the World in a Grain of Sand: Utilizing detrital heavy minerals to reconstruct California’s sedimentary history
May 29, 2019
Dr. Tanya Atwater, Prof. Emeritus — UC, Santa Barbara
The Wonderful, Frenetic Years of the Plate Tectonic Revolution: How It Was to Be in the Middle of It
June 26, 2019
Dr. Jonathan Lilien — Chevron
Environmental Aspects of Oil & Gas Production in California
September 27, 2017
Dr. Slawomir M. Tulaczyk, UC Santa Cruz
Glaciology and recent behavior of the West Antarctic ice sheet
October 25, 2017
Megan Nguyen, UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences
UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences –Research Summary
November 29, 2017
Dr. Marjorie Schulz, USGS
Marine Terraces of California: Landscapes from the Waves
January 31, 2018
Dr. Kurtis Burmeister, University of the Pacific
Welcome to Jurassic arc: resolving the pre-batholith history of the Sierra Nevada
February 28, 2018
John G. Parrish, Ph.D., CA State Geologist
The End of the ‘Permanent’ Drought
March 28, 2018
Dr. Tom MacKinnon
Early Accretionary History of the Franciscan Complex as inferred from the Yolla Bolly/Black Butte area of the Eastern Belt
April 25, 2018
Dr. Andrew Gunther
Talking Climate Change
May 30, 2018
Dr. Isabel Montanez, UC Davis and Geological Society of America
Reconstructing precipitation patterns in California during past warmings and coolings of the last 20,000 years
June 27, 2018
Dr. Suzanne Hecker, Earthquake Science Center, Menlo Park, CA
The Rodgers Creek Fault, Sonoma County: What recent advances in mapping reveal about its contribution to Bay Area earthquake hazards
September 28, 2016
Rick Wilson, California Geological Survey
Addressing California’s Tsunami Hazard
October 26, 2016
Dr. Brian Collins, US Geological Survey
Processes of exfoliation-induced rock falls: recent studies from California’s Sierra Nevada
November 16, 2016
Dr. Julia Sigwart, Associate Professor and UCMP Visiting Scholar
Two Miles Underwater: A Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
January 25, 2017
Rick Wilson, California Geological Survey
Addressing California’s Tsunami Hazard
February 22, 2017
Tom Williams, Williams GeoAdventures
The Geology and Landscapes of Iceland
March 29, 2017
Dr. Kim Blisniuk, San Jose State University
Tectonic Geomorphology of San Andreas Fault in Southern CA
April 26, 2017
Dr. Mark Richards, UC Berkeley
Triggering of the Largest Deccan Eruptions by the Chicxulub Impact
or What Really Killed the Dinosaurs
May 31, 2017
Dr. Greg Stock, National Park Service
The Rise and Fall of Sierra Nevada Glaciers
June 28, 2017
Dr. Matthew J. James, Sonoma State University
Collecting Evolution: The Galapagos Expedition that Vindicated Darwin
September 30, 2015
Dr. Gregory Beroza, Stanford University, Berkeley Seismological Laboratory – Lawson Lecture
Induced Earthquakes in the 21st Century
October 29, 2015
Dr. Anne M. Sanquini, recently of Department of Geological Sciences, School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University
Inspiring Earthquake-Resistant Construction in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal
November 18, 2015
Dr. Andrea Foster, U.S. Geological Survey
The Environmental Legacy of California’s Gold Rush: Arsenic and Mercury Contamination from Historic Mining
January 27, 2016
Dr. Samuel Johnson, U.S. Geological Survey; Pacific Coastal & Marine Science Center
Exploring California’s Amazing Seafloor – the Visionary California Seafloor Mapping Program
February 24, 2016
Dr. John Karachewski, Department of Toxic Substance Control
Exploring California’s Hydroscapes
March 30, 2016
Dr Jeff Unruh, Lettis Consultants International Inc.
Geologic History of Mt. Diablo
April 27, 2016
Dr. Ronald Olowin, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Saint Mary’s College
Dark Matter and the Universe
May 25, 2016
Dr. Charles K. Paull, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Monterey canyon: Superhighway to the Deep-Sea
6:00 pm Social; 6:45 Dinner; 8:00 pm Talk at Orinda Masonic Lodge
June 22, 2016
Jerome V. De Graff, California State University Fresno
Richard H. Jahns Lecturer for 2016 by the Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists and the Geological Society of America
Fire, Earth, & Rain: Emergency response for wildfire-induced landslide hazards
September 24, 2014
Dr. Thomas Holzer, USGS
Catastrophic Earthquakes In a Crowded World
October 29, 2014
Marcus Trotta, Sonoma County Water Agency
Groundwater Basin Studies and Management in Sonoma County
November 19, 2014
Christopher Lewis
Tales of the Oil and Gas Fields and Thereabouts
January 28, 2015
Dr. Lisa White, Director of Education, UC Museum of Paleontology
Understanding Global Change: Increasing public engagement in science through a new web resource at the University of California Museum of Paleontology
February 25, 2015
Dr. Bradley Erskine, Kleinfelder, PG, CEG, CHG, Principal Geologist
Building a Dam out of Naturally Occurring Asbestos: Challenges and Solutions at the Calaveras Dam Replacement Project, Sunol, CA
March 25, 2015
Dr. Jake Lowenstern, USGS
The Yellowstone Volcano: Past, Present and Future – Monitoring the sleeping giant beneath Yellowstone National Park
April 29, 2015
Dr. Robert B. Miller, Professor and Chair of Geology, San Jose State University
Construction, Emplacement, and Structures of Plutons and Their Importance: Insights From the Sierra Nevada Batholith and North Cascades (Washington)
May 27, 2015
B. Lynn Ingram, UC Berkeley
The West Without Water
June 24, 2015
Dr. Will Schweller, NCGS President and Consultant
Injected Sands – Mother Nature’s Giant Frac Jobs?
September 25, 2013
Dr. William Motzer, PG, CHG, Senior Geologist, Todd Engineers
Mercury Deposits of the California Coast Ranges and Their Environmental Impacts
October 30, 2013
Dr. David A. Osleger, UC Davis
Paleo-precipitation records from Lake Tahoe cores
November 20, 2013
James J. Rytuba, Victoria E. Langenheim, and Daniel N. Goldstein, USGS, Menlo Park
Effects of the Paso Robles Geothermal System on water quality and availability in the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin, California
January 29, 2014
Dr. Barbara Romanowicz, UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory
Imag(in)ing the Earth’s Interior
February 26, 2014
Tess Menotti, PhD Candidate, Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University
Moving Targets – Petroleum System Modeling in Central California
March 26, 2014
Tom MacKinnon, Consultant
Geology of the Monterey Formation of California With Comments on Recent Oilfield Developments
April 30, 2014
Stephen D. Reynolds, California Geological Survey
Reclamation of the abandoned Spenceville Copper Mine
May 28, 2014
Dr. Kevin Padian
Why don’t vertebrates care about mass extinctions?
June 25, 2014
Jason Utas, PhD Candidate at UCLA
Meteorites
September 26, 2012
Cindy Pridmore, California Geological Survey
California Tsunamis: State Inundation Maps and Lessons Learned from the Japan 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami
October 24, 2012
Dr. Ray Wells, US Geological Survey
“Revolutionary” Tectonics in the Pacific Northwest: The Role of Rotating Microplates and Mega-Blocks Along the Cascadia Convergent Margin
November 28, 2012
Dr. Patrick Muffler, US Geological Survey, Geologist Emeritus
Lassen Volcanic National Park — a wonderland of volcanoes and thermal features
January 30, 2013
Scott Bennett, PhD Candidate and NCGS Richard Chambers Memorial Scholarship Awardee, UC Davis
Testing the Role of Rift Obliquity in the Formation of the Gulf of California
February 27, 2013
Dr. John Karachewski, Geoscapes and Department of Toxics Substance Control
Geologic Landscapes of Mt. Diablo (no abstract available)
March 27, 2013
Dr. Greg Balco, Berkeley Geochronolgy Center
Applications of cosmogenic-nuclide geochemistry and low-temperaturethermochronometry to Earth surface processes
May 29, 2013
Dr. David F. Blake, Principal Investigator, Mars Science Laboratory Rover Curiosity, NASA Ames Research Center
Results from the Mars Science Laboratory Rover Curiosity’s Geological Investigations of the Surface of Mars
June 26, 2013
Dr. Lester McKee and Sarah Pearce, San Francisco Estuary Institute
September 28, 2011
Dr. William E. Motzer, Todd Engineers, Inc
California’s Gold: History, Geology, and Geochemistry
October 26, 2011
Dr. Richard Allen, University of California Berkeley
Delivering Earthquake Warning to California
November 16, 2011
Michelle Newcomer, Student Manager, NASA Ames DEVELOP Program, San Francisco State University
A comparison of groundwater storage using GRACE data, groundwater levels, and a hydrological model in California’s Central Valley
January 25, 2012
Dr. Kevin Padian, Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, Curator of Paleontology, University of California Museum of Paleontology and President of the National Center for Science Education
What Darwin Said (and Didn’t Say): Evolution, “Intelligent Design,” and Education
February 29, 2012
Dr. John Karachewski, DTSC
An Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) – “Free Software and Data for Recreational, Educational, and Geologic Investigations
March 28, 2012
Dr. Gerhard Neuhuber, GallZeidler Consultants, LLC
Caldecott Tunnel Construction 4th Bore / NATM Tunnel in San Francisco SH 24 California; After Three Tunnel Constructions and Investigation Programs – Are There No Surprises Anymore?
April 25, 2012
Dr. Ray Sullivan, Emeritus, San Francisco State University
Ocean Floor to Shelf, The Lower Tertiary Sequences in the Sacramento Basin
May 30, 2012
Dr. Goeff Marcy, UC Berkeley
The Hunt for Another Earth (and Reservation Form)
June 27, 2012
Dr. Donald L Gautier, US Geological Survey
Volumes, Uncertainty and Costs of Undiscovered Arctic Petroleum
September 29, 2010
Stephen Testa, Executive Officer, California State Mining & Geology Board
Geological Development in the Post-Gold Rush Era and the Fate of the First California Geological Survey
October 27, 2010
Dr. Geoffrey W. Marcy; Professor of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley
Searching for Other Earths and Life in the Universe
November 17, 2010
Philip Johnson, Cotton Shires & Associates, Los Gatos
Concurrent growth of uplifts with dissimilar orientations in the southern Green River Basin, Wyoming: implications for Paleocene-Eocene patterns of foreland shortening
January 26, 2011
Dr. John Parrish, State Geologist, California Geological Survey;
California Geological Survey – Staying Relevant After 150 Years
February 23, 2011
Andre Brown, P.E., W. L. Gore & Associates
An Innovative Passive Detection Method for Site Screening of VOCs and SVOCs in Soil, Ground Water, and Indoor Air
March 30, 2011
Dr. James Moore, Retired, U.S. Geological Survey
Native American Granite Cisterns in the Sierra Nevada
April 27, 2011
Dr. Greg Croft, Croft Consultants
Coal and the Peak of World Carbon Emissions
May 25, 2011
Dr. Eldridge Moores, Distinguished Professor of Geology, University of California, Davis
Assembling California: an Update
June 29, 2011
Dr. John Wakabayahsi, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, California State University Fresno
Franciscan Mélanges: Evidence for Sedimentary Origins, Multiple Subduction-Exhumation Cycles, Subduction Accretion, Subduction Erosion and Non Accretion
September 30, 2009
Dr. John Karachewski, Dept. Toxic Substances Control
Geology of the San Francisco Bay Region – Photos That Didn’t Make it Into the Book
October 28, 2009
Dr. Jack Boatwright, U.S.G.S, Menlo Park
The Loma Prieta Earthquake Turns 20; What we Have Learned From Seismology, Engineering & Politics
November 18, 2009
Dr. Robert Dahlgren, Adjunct Professor, Department of Physics & Astronomy, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
Air Ionization at Rock Surfaces and Pre-Earthquake Signals
January 27, 2010
Dr. Stephen Tobriner, Professor Emeritus of Architecture, UC-Berkeley
The Earthquake of 1868 and the Birth of Seismically Resistant Architecture in California
February 24, 2010
Dr. C. Page Chamberlain, Professor, Geological & Environmental Sciences, Stanford, CA
The Evolution of Eocene Highlands and the Climate of the Western U.S. Cordillera
March 31, 2010
Dr. Mel Erskine, Consulting Geologist
Structural Model for the Interpretation of the Central Basin and Range Province of Utah and Nevada
April 28, 2010
Dr. Adrian Brown, SETI Institute & NASA Ames Research Center
Mars Dust and Ice: A Voyage to the Poles with Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
May 26, 2010
Dr. Carol Prentice, USGS, Menlo Park
The Haiti Earthquake of 12 January 2010: A Geologic Perspective
June 30, 2010
Dr. Jacob Covault; Chevron Clastic Stratigraphy R&D, San Ramon, CA
Natural “Laboratories” of Southern California: Integrated Methodologies to Predict Coarse-Grained Sediment Flux to the Deep Sea
September 24, 2008
Dr. Rolfe Erickson, California State University, Sonoma
Granites in the Franciscan Formation at Cazadero, California
October 29, 2008
Dr. Laura Rademacher, Univ. of the Pacific, Stockton
The impact of wildfires on California landscapes
January 28, 2009
Dr. Victoria E. Langenheim, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park
Geophysical vignettes from the wine country: implications for the northward continuation of the East Bay fault system
February 25, 2009
Dr. Richard B. Firestone, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,
Mammoths, Meteorites, and Supernovae
March 25, 2009
Dr. Greg Stock; Geologist; Yosemite National Park
New Tools for Understanding and Mitigating Rockfall Hazards in Yosemite National Park
April 29, 2009
Dr. Thomas C. Hanks, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California
The Travels of Clyde Kluckhohn and the Photographs of James Hanks, 1927-1928: Repeat Photography, Virtual Repeat Photography, and Earth Surface Change in the Photographic Era
May 27, 2009
Dr. W. Gary Ernst, Emeritus Professor at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California
Mesozoic Transpression, Transtension, Subduction, and Metallogenesis in Northern and Central California
June 24, 2009
Dr. Dave Stonestrom, U.S. Geological Survey Research Hydrologist, Menlo Park, California
A Hydrogeological Perspective on Nuclear Waste — Tales from the Trenches
September 26, 2007
Dr. Eric Cowgill, U.C. Davis
Long-term slip on an orogen-scale fault system: Uplift history of the northwestern Himalayan Mountains
October 16, 2007
Dr. Kirk Johnson, Denver Museum of Nature and Science
Crocodiles in Greenland and Hippos in London: A Fossil-Fueled Tour of Past and Future Climates
November 28, 2007
Dr. Kurt Burmeister, University of the Pacific, Stockton
Controls on structural architecture and strain partitioning within the Northern Appalachian fold-thrust belt in the Rosendale natural cement region
January 30, 2008
Dr. Jeffery Mount, University of California, Davis
Landscape Changes and California’s Water Supply Future
February 27, 2008
Dr. David Morrison, NASA Ames Research Laboratory
Impacts and Evolution: Astrobiology and Near-Earth Object Impacts
March 26, 2008
Dr. Gary Fuis, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park
The San Andreas Fault in Southern California is Almost Nowhere Vertical – Implications for Tectonics
April 30, 2008
Dr. Leonard Sklar, San Francisco State University, San Francisco
How Pebbles Destroy Mountains: The Role of Sediment in River Incision Into Bedrock
May 28, 2008
Dr. David Schwartz, Senior Earthquake Geologist, US Geological Survey, Menlo Park
Past and Future Earthquakes in the San Francisco Bay Area – Commemorating the 140th Anniversary of the 1868 Hayward Earthquake
June 25, 2008
Dr. John C. Tinsley, US Geological Survey, Menlo Park
Dark Holes in Muir’s “Range of Light”: Insights From Southern Sierra Nevada Caves and Karst
September 27, 2006
Dr. Doris Sloan, University of California, Berkeley; Dr. John Karachewski, Weiss Associates, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Geology of the San Francisco Bay Region – The Story Behind the Book
October 25, 2006
Dr. Richard Stanley & Dr. Russell Graymer, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park
Subsurface geology, basin evolution, tectonic development, and climatic cyclicity of the Santa Clara Valley area
November 15, 2006
Dylan Rood, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and U.C. Santa Barbara
Changing Rates and Styles of Crustal Deformation at Timescales of 10 My to 10 Ky
January 31, 2007
Dr. George Plafker, U.S. Geological Survey (Emeritus), Menlo Park, and Plafker Geohazard Consultants
New evidence for a secondary tectonic source for the cataclysmic tsunami of 12/26/2004 on NW Sumatra
February 28, 2007
Paul Belasky, Ohlone College, Fremont
The real “geopoetry,” and the “poets of the soil”: Geological school of 20th century poetry in St. Petersburg, Russia, explores why we are geologists
March 28, 2007
Dr Jeff Unruh, William Lettis and Associates and U.C. Davis,
Geologic History of Mt. Diablo
April 25, 2007
Dr. Isabel Montanez, U.C. Davis
CO2 – Forced Climate and Vegetation Instability During Late Paleozoic Deglaciation
May 30, 2007
Dr. James Moore, U.S. Geological Survey, Retired
The adventures of Clarence King (First USGS Director) and his survey of the 40th parallel
June 27, 2007
Dr. Jeffery P. Schaffer, Napa Valley College
Seeing the Elephant: How Perceived Evidence in the Sierra Nevada Biased Global Geomorphology
September 28, 2005
Christen Rowe, Doctorial Student, U.C. Santa Cruz
Searching for Subduction Zone Seismogenesis in the Rock Record
October 26, 2005
Todd Crampton, Geomatrix
Engineering Geology of the Proposed 4th Bore of the Caldecott Tunnel
November 16, 2005
Dr. Eldridge Moores, University of California, Davis
Earth & Space Sciences and California
January 25, 2006
Sarah Andrews, Author, Em Hansen Forensic Geology Novels
Art Meets Science on the Cold Continent
February 22, 2006
Dr. Richard Buffler, University of Texas, Austin
Geologic Setting of the Abdur Archaeological Site on the Red Sea Coast of Eritrea, Africa
March 29, 2006
Dr. Mary Lou Zoback, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park
The 1906 Earthquake – Lessons Learned, Lessons Forgotten, and Looking Forward
April 26, 2006
Kathleen Burnham, Consultant
Point Lobos and Point Reyes: Evidence of ~180 Km Offset on the San Gregorio/Northern San Andreas Fault
May 31, 2006
Dr. George Brimhall, UC Berkeley
A History of Field Geology at UC Berkeley, and Issues Facing Field Geology Training Programs Today
June 28, 2006
Dr. Mitchell Craig, California State University, East Bay
Near-Surface Geophysical Imaging Using Seismic and Radar Methods
September 29, 2004
Greg Croft, Consulting Geologist
Regional Trends in World Oil Production
October 27, 2004
Dr. Roland Burgmann, University of California, Berkeley
Slipping and Sliding on the Hayward Fault
November 17, 2004
Dr. Wayne Narr, ChevronTexaco Energy Technology Company, San Ramon
Understanding and Predicting Fractures at Tengiz – A Giant, Naturally Fractured Reservoir in the Caspian Basin of Kazakhstan
January 26, 2005
Cheryl Smith, President, Peninsula Geological Society
Geochemical Investigation of Distribution Habitat of Arabis macdonaldiana in the Josephine Ophiolite, Six Rivers National Forest, Del Norte County, California
February 23, 2005
Dr. Robert Tilling, U.S. Geological Survey
Confronting Volcanic Hazards
March 30, 2005
Dr. Barbara Bekins, U. S. Geological Survey
Hydrogeology and the Weak Nature of Plate Boundary Faults
April 27, 2005
Dr. Michael Manga, University of California, Berkeley
Why do Volcanoes (Only Sometimes) Erupt Explosively?
May 25, 2005
Dr. Paul M. (Mitch) Harris, Chevron, San Ramon
Geologic Framework and Reservoir Distribution, Tengiz Field, Kazakhstan
June 29, 2005
Dr. Monte Hampton, Emeritus, U.S. Geological Survey
Formation and Evolution of Coastal Cliffs (or the All-Time Shortest Coastal Cliffs Short Course)