March 2 Presentations: Geology of the Cascades and Iceland Highlights

by Cindy Schmidtlein, MSDC Vice President

This month's program will feature two presentations! The first will be a short presentation by Doug Robbins, a senior at George Washington University studying international affairs and geology. Doug is the recipient of the 2021 Foshag-Hronik-Dhyse Award that MSDC has supported for the last 21 years.

The research grant is awarded annually to George Washington University (GWU) students, many of whom have gone on to make many professional contributions in diverse area of earth sciences, including one who is now a university professor.

Readers who wish to learn more about the people behind the Foshag-Hronik-Dhyse Award, one of whom worked for the Smithsonian beginning in 1919, may do so via this link.

Originally from Boston, MA, Doug is passionate about the intersection of geology and global development due to many summers spent visiting family in Hawai'i, South Korea, France, and Cambodia. Besides being full-time student, he is also a lab instructor for an introductory Physical Geology class. Outside of school, he enjoys reading, hiking, learning languages, and baking.

Doug's undergraduate thesis, supervised by Dr. Richard Tollo, investigates the dynamic Cascades in Oregon. More specifically, a lapillistone deposit just north of Devils Lake and cut by the Cascade Lakes National Scenic Byway where the complicated geologic setting of the deposit has created a diverse range of mafic inclusions and influenced its formation.

The second presentation of the evening will be by none other than our own Dan Teich who will describe highlights of a recent trip to Iceland, a true geological marvel in the North Atlantic.

Come with Dan and Shawn as they hike up an active volcano and later stand inside the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, straddling two continents at one time. We will briefly explore the geology of this very active island, along with a few other highlights along the way.