AGU/VGP Newsletter, February 2005

Here is the first VGP newsletter of the New Year. As always, the newsletter is archived at http://vgp.agu.org. Please send any feedback to fagents@hawaii.edu.

(1) MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
This issue of the VGP Newsletter gives me the opportunity to make three important announcements:

(i) change in Bowen Award nomination deadline to May 1;
(ii) intent to have two Secretaries for the 2006-2008 term and beyond; and
(iii) the Daly Lecture will be given by Calvin F. Miller at the New Orleans Joint Assembly in May.

(i) BOWEN AWARD NOMINATION DEADLINE MOVED UP TO MAY 1. The VGP Executive Committee has decided to change the deadline from October 1 to May 1. Previously, the selection process had to proceed at an exceedingly rapid pace in order to be completed in time to announce the recipient(s) in the Fall Meeting Program. The May 1 deadline avoids the academic end-of-term crunch of June and absences during July and August. It will also allow us to publicize the name(s) of the recipient(s) more effectively in advance of presentation of the award. The following announcement will appear in EOS and at http://vgp.agu.org:

The Norman L. Bowen Award is given annually for outstanding contributions to volcanology, geochemistry or petrology. The contribution may be: (1) a single outstanding paper published in any journal; (2) a series of papers which, taken together, constitute an outstanding contribution; or (3) any other contribution that the Selection Committee considers worthy. Special consideration is given to nominees who have not previously received a medal.

The nomination file should include: (1) a nominating letter from a colleague, (2) a CV for the candidate, (3) a list of publications for the candidate, (4) three letters of recommendation (no more or less) from colleagues that are neither from the candidate's current institution nor from the candidate's Ph.D. institution. For consideration for the 2005 award, nominations must be received by May 1, 2005, and should be sent to:

Dr. Dominique Weis
Pacific Centre for Isotope and Geochemical Research
Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences
University of British Columbia
6339 Stores Road
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
Canada
Tel: +1-604-822-1697
Fax: +1-604-822-6088
E-mail: dweis@eos.ubc.ca

(ii) TWO SECRETARIES FOR VGP. The section has grown to over 4000 members whose interests cover a broad range. The Atmospheric Sciences, Ocean Sciences, and Space Physics and Aeronomy Sections have 2, 4, and 3 Secretaries, respectively, representing different subdisciplines. The VGP Executive Committee proposes to have a Secretary for Volcanology and Petrology and a Secretary for Geochemistry. Our Nominations Committee will be identifying candidates for both positions for the 2005 election, which will elect officers for the July 2006 - June 2008 term. I am working to obtain approval for this change from the AGU Council at its meeting at the May Joint Assembly in New Orleans.

(iii) DALY LECTURE. The Daly Lecture is traditionally given at the Spring Meeting, now Joint Assembly. This year in New Orleans the Daly Lecture will be presented by Prof. Calvin F. Miller of Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, on "Transport, storage, deposition, and remobilization of felsic magmas and their products in the upper crust".

(2) OUTSTANDING VGP STUDENT PRESENTATIONS AT FALL AGU MEETING
The following five students were selected from 229 student presentations for a VGP Outstanding Student Presentation award for the Fall 2004 Meeting. The award includes a certificate as well as $100 credit towards future AGU expenses.

* Patrick Schuneman, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, Experimental and Temporal Observations on the Occurrence and Abundance of Pyrogenic PAH Relative to Atmospheric Oxygen Levels. Co-author Uhle, ME.

* Josef Dufek, Department of Earth and Space Science, University of Washington: 226Ra/230Th Excess Generated in the Lower Crust: Implications for Magma Transport Rates in Arc Settings Co-author Cooper, KM.

* Sarah Aciego, Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, He, Sr, Nd, and U Isotopic Variations in Post-Shield Lavas From the Big Island of Hawaii - Insight Into Magma Transport and the Chemical Structure of the Hawaiian Plume. Co-authors: DePaolo, DJ, Kennedy, BM, Christensen, JN.

* Laura Armstrong, Department of Geological Science, University of Michigan, Liquidus Phase Relations in Pyrolite at Pressures of the Transition Zone. Co-authors Keshav, S and Corgne, A.

* Anne Verlaguet, Laboratoire de Geologie, Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, Transient Chemical Equilibration Between Dehydration Fluid and Host Rock: an Efficient way to Mobilize Insoluble Elements. Coauthors: Brunet, F and Goffe, B.

(3) NEW AGU/VGP FELLOWS
New AGU Fellows were elected January 15. Their election will be celebrated at the Joint Assembly in New Orleans. New Fellows constitute no more than 0.1% of membership in a given year

New Fellows who were put forward by VGP or have a primary affiliation in it are:

(4) NEW AGU/VGP MACELWANE MEDAL WINNER
Congratulations to VGP’s Paul Asimow (Caltech) for being selected as one of three winners of this year’s AGU James B. Macelwane Medal, which recognizes significant contributions to the Earth and space sciences by an outstanding young scientist.

(5) VGP MEMBERS HONORED AT THE 2004 GSA MEETING
Congratulations to three AGU/VGP Fellows who received top honors at the 2004 Geological Society of America Annual Meeting:

* W. Gary Ernst was awarded the Penrose Medal
* Edward M. Stolper was awarded the Day Medal
* Peter W. Lipman was presented with the Distinguished Service Award

(6) NEW ORLEANS JOINT ASSEMBLY
The deadline for submitting abstracts to this year's Joint Assembly in New Orleans is 10 February. The meeting takes place over 23-27 May and combines exciting science with a great location. This year's Joint Assembly co-sponsors include SEG, NABS, and the Solar Division of AAS. Mark Jellinek is the VGP Program Chair (markj@physics.utoronto.ca). Link directly to the Abstract Submission Form via www.agu.org/meetings/SM05.

The meeting will also spotlight newly elected Fellows, who will be honored at the traditional Honors Ceremony, Wednesday evening, 25 May. In addition, VGP will honor the new Fellows at our Section Reception, to be held jointly with Planetary Sciences and Tectonophysics sections on Tuesday evening, 24 May, from 1730-1900. Refreshments will be provided.

Current VGP sponsored and co-sponsored sessions are listed below. A full list of sessions is available at the meeting web site above. If your abstract does not fit into one of these sessions, you are encouraged to submit it to a General Contribution session (01) in VGP or the appropriate discipline.

VGP sessions

V01:    Volcanology and Geochemistry General Contributions
V03:     The Growth And Evolution Of Large Silicic Magma Bodies
V04:    Connecting Slabs to Volcanic Arcs and the Mantle: Recent Advances in the Petrology and Geochemistry Of Subduction-Related Rocks.
V05:     Physical and Chemical Properties of the Lower(most) Mantle
V06:     Interpreting Volcaniclastic Sediments
V07:     Morphology, Mixing, and Melting of the Sub-Hotspot Mantle--from the Asthenosphere to D''
V08:     Volcano Hydrology
V09:      Mantle Heterogeneities: Geochemistry, Dynamics, and Length Scales
V10:     Mechanisms of Activity, Unrest and Hazard Evaluation at Large Collapse Calderas

Sessions cosponsored by VGP

G06:      Wireless Sensor Networks for Earth Process Characterization and Natural Hazard Mitigation
G07:      Surface Deformation on Active and Quiescent Stratovolcanoes: Cyclic Deformation, Pre- and Post-Eruption Signals, and Relationship to Magmatic Processes
MR01:    Mineral and Rock Physics General Contributions
NS05: Near Surface Geophysics Applied to Geologic Hazards
T03:      The Ocean-Continent Transition at Rifted Continental Margins: What Is It, How Is It Formed And How Do We Locate It?

Union sessions of special interest to VGP members

U01: External Triggering of Natural Disasters
U06: A New Phase Change in the Earth's Deep Mantle: What Does this Mean for the Rest of Us?

(7) PROFESSOR GEORGE PATRICK LEONARD WALKER FRS
George Walker was one of the most influential volcanologists in the world. He studied geology at Queens University, Belfast and then completed his training with a PhD in mineralogy in 1956 at Leeds University. He was appointed to a lectureship at Imperial College in 1954 and became an outstanding mineralogist, specializing in zeolite studies. He exploited this knowledge brilliantly in mapping Eastern Iceland, where his flair as a field geologist and ability to make critical observations and make fundamental inferences about volcanic processes emerged. His research revolutionized understanding of the geology of Iceland and in 1977 George was one of the rare foreigners to be awarded the Icelandic Order of the Falcon conferred by the President of Iceland.

In the late 1960’s and through the 1970’s George increasingly focused on recent volcanic eruptions and geological studies of active volcanoes. He combined supreme field observational skills and a remarkable ability to integrate those observations into coherent conceptual models that gave powerful new insights of eruptive process. His work remains the foundation of contemporary physical volcanology. He, more than any other, played a major role in turning volcanology into a robust and quantitative science.

George left Imperial College in 1978 to take up a Captain James Cook Research Fellowship of the Royal Society of New Zealand based at the University of Auckland. In New Zealand he devoted his energy to a seminal study of the young explosive volcanism of Taupo and Tarawera volcanoes within Taupo Volcanic Zone. He took up the Gordon MacDonald Chair in Volcanology at the University of Hawaii in 1981, focusing on the evolution of basaltic volcanoes and dynamics of basalt lava flows. He retired in 1996 and returned to the UK to live in Gloucester but continued his research until his death. George's achievements in science were recognized by many awards, including election as Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1975, an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1987, recipient of an Honorary Doctorate at the University of Iceland, the Thorarinsson medal (the highest award in volcanology), and the Wollaston Medal, which is the highest award of the Geological Society of London.

George will also be remembered for his contributions to education. He was a brilliant teacher of students at all levels and devoted much of his time to encouraging and nurturing young scientists. George was a quiet, happy man, who never sought the limelight. He was at his best in the field making the observations that changed our understanding of volcanoes forever. He will be remembered with admiration for his genius and great affection by everyone who crossed his path. He was a devoted husband and father and leaves his wife Hazel, daughter Alison, son Leonard and grandson Matthew. (George Walker: 2 March 1926 to 17 January 2005).