2024 Southeastern Section Meeting

15–16 April 2024

Asheville, North Carolina, USA
Asheville Renaissance Hotel

Meeting Program
Program PDF
Events Code of Conduct

Field Trips

To purchase a field trip and/or register for the meeting, click the Register button above. Want to go on a field trip without attending the meeting? Choose the "Field Trip/Short Course Only Pricing" when registering.

All field trips leave from the Asheville Renaissance Hotel. A packet of information, including a complete itinerary and forms to be completed for the field trip, will be sent after registering.

For help with registration, please contact us at meetings@geosociety.org. For additional information on individual field trips, please contact the field trip co-chairs: Mark Carter, mcarter@usgs.gov and Arthur Merschat, amerschat@usgs.gov.

FT401. Down the Escarpment and Across the Zone: A Transect from the Eastern Blue Ridge to the Western Piedmont; A Billion Years of Geology.

Sat., 13 Apr., Departs 8 a.m. US$80. Min. participants: 15; max. participants: 30.

Bart Cattanach, North Carolina Geological Survey, bart.cattanach@deq.nc.gov; Ashley S. Lynn, ashley.lynn@deq.nc.gov; Brennan Trantham, brennan.tranthan@deq.nc.gov.

Description: Visit new and classic stops highlighting western North Carolina geology and geohazards. Descend southwards from the eastern Blue Ridge, across the Brevard Zone, into the Piedmont physiographic province. Scenic overview stops illustrate broad structural features and outcrops showcase recent North Carolina Geological Survey mapping.

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FT402. Big Slow-movers, Debris Slides and Flows, and Mega-boulders of the Blue Ridge Escarpment, Western North Carolina.

Sun., 14 Apr., Departs 8 a.m. US$80. Min participants: 15; max. participants: 30.

Endorsed by GSA Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology Division; GSA Environmental and Engineering Geology Division.

Jesse Hill, Appalachian Landslide Consultants, Jesse.Hill.Geology@gmail.com; Rick Wooten, North Carolina Geological Survey (retired) Richard.M.Wooten@gmail.com; David Korte, North Carolina Geological Survey, david.korte@deq.nc.gov; Jennifer Bauer, Appalachian Landslide Consultants, jennifer@appalachianlandslide.com; Philip Prince, Appalachian Landslide Consultants, philip@appalachianlandslide.com; Jody Kuhne, Appalachian Landslide Consultants, jody@appalachianlandslide.com; Cheryl Waters-Tormey, Western Carolina University, cherylwt@email.wcu.edu; Lewis Owen, North Carolina State University, laowen2@ncsu.edu; Daria Khashchevskaya, North Carolina State University, dkhashc@ncsu.edu; Karl Wegmann, North Carolina State University, karl_wegmann@ncsu.edu.

Description: This trip highlights the Blue Ridge Escarpment, a sinuous, south-to-north, topographic step traversing the southern Appalachians and separating the high Blue Ridge Mountains from the rolling hills of the Piedmont. This over steepened zone of poly-deformed, metamorphic terrain exhibits a regional sample of landslides, from large debris flows and slides to rockslides-falls.

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FT403. Gray Fossil Site and Museum.

Wed., 17 Apr., Departs 8:30 a.m. US$80. Min participants: 10; max. participants: 24.

Sponsored by National Association of Geoscience Teachers, NAGT Southeastern Section, and NAGT Teacher Education Division.

Blaine Schubert, East Tennessee State University, schubert@etsu.edu; Josh Samuels, East Tennessee State University, samuelsjx@etsu.edu; Steven Wallace, wallaces@etsu.edu; Mick Whitelaw, East Tennessee State University, whitelaw@etsu.edu; Shawn Haugrud, East Tennessee State University, haugrud@etsu.edu; Season Nye, East Tennessee State University, nyea@etsu.edu.

Description: The Gray Fossil Site is one of only a few pre-Pleistocene Cenozoic fossil sites in eastern North America (outside of Florida), and the only one in the Appalachians. Participants will tour the museum and fossil site, which will include seeing exhibits, ongoing excavations, the prep lab, and collections. Leaders will highlight the diverse fauna and flora preserved at the site, which includes over 100 animal species and 100 plant species. Leaders will also discuss karst landscapes and sinkhole formation, as well as the unique forest ecosystem represented by the fossils preserved at the site.

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FT404. Ophiolites of Buck Creek/Chunky Gal Mountain Area.

Sun., 14 Apr., Departs 8 a.m. US$80. Min participants: 8; max. participants: 21.

Steven Maliner-Colvin, slmalcol@gmail.com.

Description: This one-day trip will visit the Buck Creek mafic-ultramafic complex and Chunky Gal Mountain area in Clay County, southwest of Franklin, North Carolina. The trip will involve a short hike and will focus on the mineralogy, petrology, and field geology of the complex, and the corundum-bearing amphibolites that surround the dunites.

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FT405. Paleozoic Tectonics, Pleistocene landforms, and Holocene Seismicity in the Blue Ridge: Results from Integrated Studies into the August 9, 2020, Mw 5.1 Earthquake Area near Sparta, North Carolina.

Tue.–Thurs., 16–18 Apr., Departs 5:30 p.m. (Tue.), returns 5:30 p.m. (Thur.). US$270. Min. participant: 20; max. participants: 22.

Arthur Merschat, U.S. Geological Survey, amerschat@usgs.gov; Mark Carter, U.S. Geological Survey, mcarter@usgs.gov; Paula Figueiredo, North Carolina State University, paula_figueiredo@ncsu.edu; Kevin G. Stewart, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, kgstewar@email.unc.edu; Ashley S. Lynn, North Carolina Geological Survey, ashley.lynn@deq.nc.gov; William E. Odom, U.S. Geological Survey, wodom@usgs.gov.

Description: This field trip will examine the co-seismic surface rupture from the 9 August 2020 Mw 5.1 earthquake, near Sparta, North Carolina, and the results of integrated bedrock and surficial geologic mapping, paleoseismic, geomorphologic, and geochronologic studies to understand the tectonic and neotectonic history of the Blue Ridge.

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