EXHIBITS
Exhibits will take place on the 2nd floor of the Scheman Building.
Exhibitor Info
SPONSORSHIP
Sponsors help the Geological Society of America reach a broad audience through partnerships with local meetings. Please consider supporting the 52nd Annual Meeting. For more information contact
Lindsey Henslee, 303-357-1006; or
Alan Wanamaker, 515-294-4477.
Sponsorship Form
SOCIAL ACTIVITIES AND SPECIAL EVENTS
Sunday, 15 April
Welcome Reception.
6–8:30 p.m., 2nd Floor lobby.
Enjoy light snacks and complimentary beverages while connecting with your colleagues and browsing exhibits.
Monday, 16 April
GSA Strategic Planning Meeting
4–5 p.m., Scheman Room 299.
GSA leadership asking for your input on Strategic Planning. Please come by to share your insights with GSA President Isabel Montanez and GSA Director of Meetings and Events Melissa Cummiskey.
GSA President’s Presentation and Reception
Isabel Montañez (GSA President)
5:45–8 p.m., Benton Auditorium and 1st floor lobby.
“Deep-Time Insight into Earth’s Future”
At the current rate of global C emissions and without substantial mitigation efforts, atmospheric CO2 is projected to increase by the end of this century to levels not previously experienced on Earth since the onset of our current glacial state. Although Earth has been an icehouse for the past 34 million years, warmer greenhouse conditions have been the ‘typical’ climate state of the past half billion years. Insight into how the Earth system will function in such an evolving and high CO2 environment uniquely resides in the deep-time analogs of past climate and ecosystem response to greenhouse gas-forced warming of the magnitude comparable to that which we may ultimately face.
The deep-time geologic and paleontologic archive is a fully integrated record of how climate processes and ecosystems interact and feedback on one another, in particular under levels of radiative-forcing relevant to our future. This deep-time record documents past climate change that was at times far more dynamic than suggested by study of the more recent past revealing complex interactions and non-intuitive responses. Notably, climate models repeatedly fail to reconstruct surface environmental conditions of past warm periods suggested by proxy records suggesting that current climate projections may underestimate the magnitude and duration of future climate change and the CO2 levels at which critical climate and ecological thresholds could be crossed. This presentation will present evidence for the robust atmospheric CO2-climate coupling throughout Earth history and what it reveals regarding the Earth’s sensitivity to CO2-forcing. Three past climate events — abrupt greenhouse gas-forced warming of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (55 Ma) and Triassic-Jurassic boundary (200 Ma) and the turnover of the penultimate icehouse to permanent greenhouse conditions (300 Ma) — will be used to illustrate how greenhouse-gas forced climate change has unfolded in the past and to characterize the fingerprints of change that herald climate and ecological thresholds.
After the President’s presentation, enjoy hors d'oeuvres and a complimentary beverage while browsing posters and exhibits (directly follows the GSA North-Central Section Business Meeting and announcement of the 2019 North-Central Section meeting).
Book Signing by Dr. William Alley
7–8 p.m., First Floor Lobby.
Dr. William (Bill) Alley, former Chief of the USGS Office of Groundwater and currently the Director of Science and Technology with the National Ground Water Association, will sign copies of his (and his spouse’s) latest book, entitled “High and Dry: Meeting the Challenges of the World’s Growing Dependence on Groundwater.” Copies of the book will be available for purchase at a discounted price. Dr. Alley will also speak in Session T6 on Tuesday afternoon.
COMMITTEE MEETINGS
Monday, 16 April
- North-Central Section Management Board.
7–8:30 a.m., Board Suite.
- NAGT Luncheon.
12 p.m.–1:30 p.m., 254 Scheman.
$25, purchase lunch ticket during registration.
- Great Lakes Section-SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) Business Meeting.
5:15–5:30 p.m. SEPM Booth, Second Floor Lobby in Scheman.
- GSA North-Central Section All Member Business Meeting.
5:30–5:45 p.m., Benton Auditorium.
Tuesday, 17 April
- North-Central Section GSA Campus Reps and Technical Advisory Board Meeting.
7–8:30 a.m., Board Suite.
LIGHTNING TALKS
Students, please join us for an informal lighting talk session from 7:00 to 8:30 pm during the Icebreaker Reception on Sunday night, April 15th. Lighting talks provide an opportunity to draw people to your poster or talk, or just to sharpen your presentation skills. The session is also a great opportunity to meet other students and learn about their research. Anyone may attend, but speakers must be undergraduate or graduate students.
How It Will Go
Lightning talks must be three minutes (or less) and the three-minute limit will be enforced. Speakers may include up to two slides in their presentation, not including a title slide. Please submit an abstract of up to 100 words to Melinda Higley at mchigley
illinois.edu. There is no charge for abstract submission. The session will be limited to approximately 15 presenters, chosen in the order by which they are received. The abstracts and lightning talks will not substitute for any other presentation at the meeting.
Questions?
Contact Melinda Higley at mchigleyillinois.edu.