Welcome to the 87th Annual field Conference of Pennsylvania Geologists headquartered in historic Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. This Conference, delayed from 2023 due to the state budget impasse, offers a unique window into Pennsylvania’s past and offers an emerging new interpretation of volcanism in this region. It also marks the passing of the Field Conference Chairperson torch from Kristen Hand who has expertly led the Conference for the Bureau of Geological Survey over the past 10 years. Our Title, “Rifts, Oceans and Volcanoes” will consist of tour stops using both older and recent research. A lot of planning has gone into this year’s conference with several trip options to choose from, ranging from Civil War themed activities to area geologic attractions and mineral resources. With Gettysburg sitting in the middle of the Gettysburg-Newark Section of the Piedmont, within a short drive you can visit areas such as South Mountain to the west and north or the Piedmont Lowlands and Uplands sections to the east.

Conference description unavailable.

Conference description unavailable.

Conference description unavailable.

Conference description unavailable.

Day 1 (Friday morning) for a brief orientation on the geology (emphasizing the stratigraphy, structure and geomorphology) of Nittany Valley, from the Jo Hays look-out on Tussey Mountain. Thereafter Group 1 will proceed on the Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory for the rest of the morning and relocate at the Pavilion for lunch at nearby Lake Perez. Group 2 will drive onto Huntingdon to examine outcrops of the Marcellus Shale, plumose joints in the Brallier Sandstone, and thin-skinned deformation in the shoaling upwards tidalite cycles of the Wills Creek Formation. Then Saturday groups will be segregated into disciplinary preferences themes of (a) Environmental/hydrogeology or (b) stratigraphy/engineering geology.

The first geological survey of Pennsylvania passed to the right and left of Indiana County leaving it a veritable “nether world” of geology. Since then, the “nether world” has been fleshed out and the 81st Annual Field Conference of Pennsylvania Geologists will highlight Indiana County and adjacent areas, rich in both energy and non-fuel minerals for over 100 years. We will look at past and present environments–warts and all. Stops and preconference trips currently being contemplated include: Johnstown 1889 flood site, Miss-Penn unconformity west of Johnstown, flint clay locales, Blacklick Gorge Geology along the Ghost Town Trail, Loyalhanna Limestone outcrops, a caving trip, local whitewater rafting and an AMD treatment site.

Conference description unavailable.

Ten sites present surficial, bedrock and economic geology, structure and geomorphology of South Mountain, the Great Valley and Blue Mountain, principally in Cumberland County. Of the ten, revisited with new interpretations are four classic sites visited by the Conference (one in 1982 and three in 1991). Five viewed quarries produce sandstone, limestone, shale and colluvium/alluvium. Presented are their diverse economic importance as well as their geologic aspects and interpreted history. Featured at one site are dye tracing of long distance ground water travel to a large springs. Paleontology is a sub-focus at two sites. Viewed respectively at two sites is autochthonous and allocthonous Ordovician Martinsburg sediments and markedly diverse structure. Friday evening banquet topic is the history of 19th century iron mining. Recent geomorphic investigations using LIDAR imagery provide new interpretations that allow reconstruction of Cenozoic paleotopography. Cretaceous lignite recovered in a core will be available for examination.

The tale of two provinces examines the Great Amphitheater of Pennsylvania, the Nippenose Valley of Lycoming and Clinton Counties, inside and out on day one. The floor of this breached anticline exposes the Middle to Upper Ordovician, Bellefonte through Reedsville Formations. Just outside of the amphitheater are great exposures of the Marcellus, Tully, and Mifflintown. The second day is along US Route 15 corridor. There we examine excellent exposures of the stratigraphic succession from the Devonian Brallier/Harrell/Lock Haven into the Pennsylvanian Bloss coal complex of Pottsville/ Allegheny age, only to return back to the Lock Haven. It’s a wild roller coaster ride from Williamsport to the New York border as you cross six “time zones” trying to figure out if it is half past the Devonian or a quarter after the Mississippian.