University of Arkansas at Little Rock

UALR Earth Sciences faculty and students presented talks and posters at the Geological Society of America’s annual meeting in Portland, OR, October 18-21, 2009. Click on the title of the presentation to view the abstract.

Sunday 10/18
BACTERIAL RESPONSES TO GEOCHEMICAL AND DIURNAL PROCESSES OCCURING IN LAKE MAUMELLE, ARKANSAS
STITES, Courtney E., ROBINSON, Amelia C., PAYNE, Forrest E., SWEENEY, Sharon, GREEN, W. Reed, and JOHNSON, Dawn M.

Monday 10/19
GIS METHODS FOR TECTONIC GEOMORPHOLOGY
COOLEY, Skye W., MCMILLAN, Margaret E., and TRESSLER, Chris R.

Tuesday 10/20
FIELD GEOLOGY I AND II AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE 6-WEEK FIELD CAMP
MCMILLAN, Margaret E., JONES, James V. III, CONNELLY, Jeffrey B., and SIMS, W. Jay

U-PB DETRITAL ZIRCON GEOCHRONOLOGY OF PALEOPROTEROZOIC ORTHOQUARTZITES IN THE SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES: AN ESSENTIAL TOOL FOR REGIONAL CORRELATION, TECTONIC STUDIES, AND MORE
JONES, James V. III, KARLSTROM, Karl, WILLIAMS, Michael L., and CONNELLY, James N.

Wednesday 10/21
USE OF GEOCHEMICAL PROXIES TO IDENTIFY WATERSHED INPUTS TO LAKE MAUMELLE, CENTRAL ARKANSAS
JOHNSON, Dawn M., ROBINSON, Amelia C., SMITH, Jena P., PAYNE, Forrest E., MCMILLAN, Margaret E., and STITES, Courtney E.

The annual Geosciences Salary Survey by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists indicates that salaries for petroleum geologists increased slightly from 2008 to 2009 despite the volatility in petroleum prices (AAPG Explorer, June 2009). The annual survey is based on employed, salaried geoscientists in the United States and is based on salaries alone.

Click here to view the report.

The Army Core of Engineers in Little Rock is looking for a Geologist.  See the link below.
http://federalgovernmentjobs.us/jobs/Geologist-1651530.html

James Battreal, Senior Geologist with the Ground Water Section of the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission will give a talk titled “2008-09 Arkansas Natural Resources Commission Annual Ground Water Management and Protection Report” on Thursday, April 23, at 4:30 pm in Fribourgh Hall Room 101.

All are welcome. Refreshments will be served at 4:15 pm outside the lecture hall.

Dawn Johnson, an undergraduate Geology major and member of the University Science Scholars Program, has been awarded an Arkansas NSF EPSCoR fellowship to conduct an undergraduate research project entitled, “Tracing organic carbon sources in Lake Maumelle.”

Lake Maumelle is the source of almost all of Little Rock’s drinking water. The water is treated with chlorine to kill potentially dangerous bacteria before people drink the water. Although chlorination kills dangerous bacteria, it can also produce dangerous trihalomethanes and halogenated acetic acids when it reacts with dissolved organic (carbon-containing) compounds.

Dawn’s project is designed to discover and measure the land sources that add dissolved organic compounds to the water of Lake Maumelle. These sources may change as development proceeds around the lake. Dawn’s work will help in deciding what types of land use around Lake Maumelle are compatible with using its water for Little Rock public consumption.

Dawn’s mentor is Dr. Amelia Robinson, Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at UALR.

Chris Schenk, Project Chief with the U.S. Geological Survey in Denver, CO, will give a talk titled “The role of geology in USGS oil and gas assessments” on Thursday, April 2, at 4:30 p.m. in Fribourgh Hall Room 101.

All are invited. Refreshments will be served at 4:15 pm outside the lecture hall. The talk is sponsored by the Department of Earth Sciences and the UALR Geology Club.

Rheannon Hart (BS Geology 2003, MS Integrated Science 2007) is the first author on two U.S. Geological Survey publications on the hydrogeology of the Mississippi Embayment Regional Aquifer System. Rheannon is a Hydrologist at the USGS Arkansas Water Science Center in Little Rock. Check out the links below to see her latest accomplishments - a great example of one career path available to Geology majors.

Digital Surfaces and Thicknesses of Selected Hydrogeologic Units within the Mississippi Embayment Regional Aquifer Study (MERAS) By Rheannon M. Hart, Brian R. Clark, and Susan E. Bolyard, USGS Scientific Investigation Report 2008-5098

Geophysical Log Database for the Mississippi Embayment Regional Aquifer Study (MERAS)
By Rheannon M. Hart and Brian R. Clark, USGS SIR 2008-5192

Have you ever wondered what the moon is made of (other than cheese) or how it was formed? Have you ever noticed that there are light- and dark-colored parts of the moon? Do you want to see and touch a real moon rock?

Jamey Jones, a faculty member in the UALR Earth Sciences Department, will give a public talk titled “Geology of the Earth’s moon” on Thursday, March 12, at 4:30 pm in Fribourgh Hall Room 101. He will also discuss and display samples of lunar rocks and soil collected during the Apollo missions. The samples are currently on loan from NASA.

All are invited. Refreshments will be served at 4:15 pm outside the lecture hall. The talk is sponsored by the Department of Earth Sciences and the UALR Geology Club.

Image of the moon (photo credit: Luc Viatour)

Erica Doerr, a geologist with the Geohazards Division of the Arkansas Geological Survey, will give a public talk titled “Arkansas Geological Survey - Geohazards Division: Addressing Earthquake related issues in the State of Arkansas” on Thursday, February 19, at 4:30 pm in Fribourgh Hall Room 101. All are invited. The talk is sponsored by the UALR Geology Club.

Earth Sciences faculty member Jamey Jones had a research paper published in the January 2009 issue of the Geological Society of America Bulletin. The paper is titled “Age, provenance, and tectonic setting of Paleoproterozoic quartzite successions in the southwestern United States.” Click here to read the abstract.