Wooster geologists at the Joint North-Central and Southeastern Section Meeting of the Geological Society of America in Cincinnati

Cincinnati, Ohio —  This week Professor Wiles, Nick Wiesenberg and I attended the 2022 Joint North-Central and Southeastern meeting of the Geological Society of America in Cincinnati, about a three-hour drive south of Wooster. It was quite satisfying to attend such a meeting in person — for me it was my first such gathering since October 2019. The event was held at the Duke Energy Convention Center, a short walk from the Hilton hotel where we all stayed. All attendees had to show proof of Covid vaccinations, and masks were required for all events, but you will notice in these images that masks came off rather frequently.

This isn’t the prettiest picture of Cincinnati, but it was a nice view from the Convention Center of the bridges over the Ohio River into northern Kentucky.

The first Wooster posters of the meeting were presented on Thursday morning by Layali Banna (’22) and Mazvita Chikomo (’22). Their topic title was: “The Community Water Project: Student Exploration of the Geosciences in the Context of Stormwater Management in Northeast Ohio”. They have several coauthors, including Dr. Meagen Pollock, Dr. Greg Wiles, and Nick Wiesenberg. The poster is a summary of this past summer’s AMRE project.

Also on Thursday, Wenshuo Zhao (Fred, ’23) presented a poster entitled: “Voices in the Trees: Seeking Common Stories from Tree Rings in a remote collaboration”. Among his coauthors is Dr.Wiles.

Dr. Greg Wiles gave the first Wooster oral presentation at this meeting on Thursday. His title: “Putting the Recent Pluvial into Context: Tree-Ring Records of Midcontinental North American Hydroclimate.”. His coauthors included Nick Wiesenberg. He gives very animated talks!

Junpeng Fu (Jerry, ’22) presented his poster, “Tree Ring Dating of the Davey Tree Barn, Kent, Ohio, and the Value of Building Long Tree-Ring Records in Ohio”. Coauthors included Dr. Wiles, Nick and Fred.

Mazvita Chikomo (’22) gave the first Wooster student oral presentation on Thursday afternoon: “Modelling Meets Mirror Lake: How Highly Urbanized Areas Influence Surface Water – Groundwater Interactions”.

Friday morning was Kate Runciman’s (’22) turn to give a talk entitled: “Model of a Biotic Hard Substrate Community: Paleoecology of Large Trepostome Bryozoans from the Upper Ordovician (Katian) of the Cincinnati Region, USA”. Her coauthors included Dr. Caroline Buttler, Dr. Shelley Judge, and me.

Ricky Papay (’22) gave his poster on Friday morning: “The Glacial History of Wolf Lake Valley and the Development of a 4000 year Tree Ring Record in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska”. His coauthors included Dr. Wiles and Nick.

The last Wooster presentation was a poster by Justine Paul Berina (’22) entitled: “Unearthing the Effects of European-American Settlement on a Northeast Ohio Kettle Hole Through Diatom Stratigraphy”. Coauthors included Dr. Wiles, Nick, me, and our University of Cincinnati NSF project colleagues. Note his nice suit, which he is still wearing in the field shot below!

A tradition for Wooster Geologists at a meeting is to have a nice dinner together. Nick took this photo of us having a great time in downtown Cincinnati on Thursday evening. Such great conversations. It is such a privilege to have these students in our department and college.

Of course, those Wooster Geologists who stayed until the end of the meeting took advantage of a break in the rain and visited a field site on the way home. This is an exposure of the Bellevue Formation (Upper Ordovician, Katian) along the Bullitsville Road in northern Kentucky (N 39.08121°, W 84.79230°; C/W-152). We collected bags full of brachiopods, bryozoans, crinoids and other delicious fossil groups. Dr. Wiles and I had to practically drag them off the outcrop to get back on the road home. It was so much fun after the long pandemic restrictions on our field activities. Note that Justine Berina is still in his presentation suit because we left the convention center immediately after his poster session!

It was a delightful meeting for all of us. Nick Wiesenberg was of enormous help as a driver and organizer on this trip. Thank you to the GSA staff and volunteers and all our friendly colleagues who made the gathering so collegial and stimulating. The College of Wooster should be especially proud of how well our students presented their research and embodied our institutional values.