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AEG Sacramento Section Quarterly Newsletter Winter 2012
1
AEG Sacramento Section Greetings!
The past few months have been quite eventful with respect to AEG related activities. Although we have had rainfall
considerably below normal in the Sacramento there has been a rain of new legislation on Capitol Hill that the legislative
committee is keeping an eye on. Bill Fraser, our legislative committee chair provides more details of what is going on in
his newsletter message. 2012 looks like it may well turn into one of the most important “legislative” years since the
Geology board was merged with BPELS.
In addition to legislative action at the state level we will also have representatives from our section accompany AEG’s
National Executive Council to Washington, D.C. in April to participate in two days of lobbying congress on a wide range of
issues important to our members. These include K-12 science education, declining enrollment in geology and engineering
geology programs, and a general decrease in the number of departments offering engineering geology programs. We will
press the need for more public awareness of geologic hazards and how AEG can be an effective force in educating the
public on these hazards. We will also focus on professional licensure issues, particularly for states considering elimination
of existing licensing boards. Should you have any legislative issues . . . local, state, or federal . . . that you wish to bring to
the attention of AEG please contact Bill Fraser, John Pfeiffer, or Garry Maurath.
Attendance at meetings is up and Pete Holland is working hard to line-up fantastic speakers for the remainder of the year.
We are blessed to have Sandra Flint and Eric Chase (a past president of the section) this month giving a talk on geo-
archaeology, which is a talk I have been waiting for since we originally scheduled them late last year. If any of you have
suggestions for speakers please contact Pete, he will be happy to do everything he can to bring you the experts you want
to hear from.
Now that spring is approaching we want to remind our student members that the deadline for scholarships is fast
approaching, and will be here before you know it. Scholarship applications may be downloaded from our website
(www.aegsacto.org). Drew Kennedy provides some additional information in this newsletter.
Spring also means that it is time for our section treasurer Tim McCrink to present our section’s annual financial report at
our meeting this month. The year is off to a busy start and we look forward to seeing all of you at our February meeting.
We will be back at the Aviators Restaurant in the Sacramento Executive Airport.
Sincerely,
Garry Maurath, Chair AEG Sacramento Section 916.679.2002 | [email protected]
AEG Sacramento Section Quarterly Newsletter Winter 2012
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AEG Sacramento Section
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Location: Aviator’s Restaurant, Sacramento Executive Airport
6151 Freeport Blvd., Sacramento, CA.
Lots of free parking! Link to map
Speaker: Ms. Sandra Flint and Mr. Eric Chase, HDR
Engineering, Inc.
Topic: “Geoarchaeology - The Context of Prehistory"
Agenda: 5:30–6:30pm – Social hour and student posters
6:30-7:30pm – Dinner
7:30-8:30pm – Speakers: Ms. Flint and Mr. Chase
8:30-8:45pm – Questions
Meeting Cost: $25 members (with RSVP) and $30 non-members
There will be a $3 surcharge for no RSVP
$5 students (no surcharge for student walk-ins)
Student Sponsorships welcomed! Sponsor a student for $20
We now have PayPal – you can register and pay online at the
AEG Sacramento Section Website Details are in this newsletter
You may RSVP by going to -- http://www.aegsacto.org or by sending
an email to: [email protected]
AEG Sacramento Section Quarterly Newsletter Winter 2012
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PayPal Instructions
AEG Sacramento Section now has its Online Registration and PayPal account up and
running! Go to the Meetings & Events tab to sign up for the meeting, or click here:
http://www.aegsacto.org/meetings/signup/
You’ll have the option to RSVP for the meeting and pay, or just RSVP. You don’t need to
have a PayPal account to pay online.
You can also use the PayPal feature to purchase our Publications.
AEG Sacramento Section Quarterly Newsletter Winter 2012
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Speaker for AEG Sacramento Section – February 28, 2012
Geoarchaeology - The Context of Prehistory
Sandra S. Flint, M.A., R.P.A, Manager, Cultural Resources Group
Eric D. Chase, P.G., C.E.G., C.Hg., Senior Engineering Geologist
Hydropower Services, HDR Engineering, Inc.
As archaeologists endeavor to place recovered cultural resources into a time and cross-cultural
context, an understanding of the origins of local soil and other near-surface materials from
which the artifacts are recovered is often of paramount importance. Additionally, past and
present soil formation processes and evidence of soil disturbance that affect cultural resources
in specific ways must also be well understood in the proper interpretation of the integrity of a
given archaeological site. Understanding of pedogenesis, soil stratigraphy, diagenesis and
secondary mineralization, soil mechanics, bioturbation, chemical precipitation, fluvial
processes, mass wasting processes, weathering effects, and geochronological sampling
provide significant added value in documentation and interpretation of cultural resources
encountered. Also important to archaeologists is the identification of source materials
exploited for the manufacture of stone tools. Understanding the location, distance from sites,
and qualities of parent rock sources assists archaeologists in the interpretation of prehistoric
trade, travel, and resource selection. Scientific processes such as x-ray fluorescence and
obsidian hydration analysis aid in these interpretations. Examples of the inseparability of the
disciplines of geology and archaeology include sites in Alaska, the Channel Islands offshore of
Southern California, the Egyptian Sahara, and the western Sierra Foothills.
Eric Chase is a senior engineering geologist and hydrogeologist with HDR Engineering Hydropower
Services in Sacramento, California. He has over 37 years of experience in consulting on a wide range
of projects including dams, land-use planning studies, fault investigations and seismic studies, tectonic
research, forensic geology, tunneling, environmental consulting, hydrogeologic consulting, mining, and
litigation support as an expert witness.
Sandy Flint is an archaeologist and manager of the Cultural Resources Group with HDR Engineering
Hydropower Services in Sacramento, California. She has more than 30 years of experience in the
identification, assessment, recovery, and interpretation of archaeological sites in the western United
States, including Alaska.
AEG Sacramento Section Quarterly Newsletter Winter 2012
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Announcements
AEG STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS! It’s that time of year for students to apply for scholarships.
Deadline to submit is 5:00 pm on Tuesday, April 10, 2012. Details about the
scholarships, as well as Student Night, are in this newsletter and at www.aegsacto.org.
If you have questions, please contact Drew Kennedy or one of the Section officers.
The Geosciences METRO Center of Fresno State’s College of Science and
Mathematics plans an open house and student presentations 4-5:30 p.m. Wednesday,
Feb. 22. The free event will be at the Alice Peters Auditorium in the University Business
Center. For more information go to: geosciencesmetro.csufresno.edu.
The public draft of the “2012 Central Valley Flood Protection Plan, A Path for Improving
Public Safety, Environmental Stewardship, and Long-Term Economic Stability” has
been released by FloodSafe California. The full 162 page document can be found on
the Department of Water Resources website at http://www.water.ca.gov/cvfmp/
A big Thank You to our speakers Dr. Sujan Punyamurthula and Mr. Derek Morley of URS
Corp, as well as our dedicated Sacramento Section AEG
members, who were great sports at our January meeting.
In case you missed it, our planned venue went out of
business a few days prior to our meeting, which came as
a great surprise to us come meeting night. Luckily, we
were able to have the meeting at a nearby Mountain
Mike’s Pizza where we all crammed in for pizza,
beverages, and a great talk (see photo). We had a great
turnout. Thanks everyone for your patience and good humor.
The Northern California Geological Society has several meetings coming up in Orinda
at the Masonic Center (9 Altarinda Road). For the full lineup, go to
www.ncgeolsoc.org. Winter/Spring meetings include: o February 29th: “An Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) – Free Software
and Data for Recreational, Educational, and Geologic Investigations” presented by Dr.
John Karachewski, DTSC
o March 28th: “Caldecott Tunnel Construction 4th Bore / NATM Tunnel in San Francisco SH
24 California; After Three Tunnel Constructions and Investigation Programs – Are There No
Surprises Anymore?” presented by Dr. Gerhard Neuhuber, GallZeidler Consultants, LLC.
o April 25th: “Basin Floor to Shelf, The Lower Tertiary Sequences in the Sacramento Basin”
presented by Dr. Ray Sullivan.
Job posting: The Arizona Geological Survey (AZGS) has a couple positions in
Geoinformatics open. See http://www.azgs.az.gov/employment.shtml for details.
Did you remember to renew your AEG Membership for 2012? Go to www.aegweb.org to
get your membership up-to-date.
AEG Sacramento Section Quarterly Newsletter Winter 2012
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Student Scholarships
AEG Sacramento Section Quarterly Newsletter Winter 2012
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Legislative Update
Contributed by Bill Fraser, Sacramento Section Legislative Chair
Bills for the year’s legislative session are beginning to be submitted at the State Capitol. With the
assistance of AEG’s Legislative Advocate Judy Wolen, the section’s Legislative Committee is beginning
to review the bills and determine if the Section should support or oppose any proposed legislation.
SB975 (Wright)
One bill that caught our attention already is SB975 (Wright). This bill is essentially the reincarnation
of last year’s bill that initially sought to define the preparation of Storm Water Pollution Protection
Plans (SWPPP) as an exclusive civil engineering activity. Since several AEG members were actively
preparing these plans and felt their livelihood was threatened, all three California sections opposed
the bill. Ultimately, the bill was amended as to not prevent geologists from preparing the SWPPP’s
but did relieve civil engineers from the special certification the State Water Resources Control Board
requires to prepare these plans. The amended bill passed both houses of the legislature only to be
vetoed by the Governor. ACEC, the bill’s sponsor stated it would be resubmitted this year.
SB975 is that resubmitted bill, but it has taken a much different form. The current bill simply states
that no state agency shall impose any certification or training requirement on a person licensed to
practice a profession or vocation by the Department of Consumer Affairs which includes the Board for
Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors and Geologists. The Legislative Committee recognizes that
AEG’s original objections to the bill have been neutralized and is seeking comment from the
membership on the position to take, if any, on the bill.
Proposed Elimination of the State Mining and Geology Board
The State Mining and Geology Board (SMGB) has been identified for elimination in the Governors
draft budget proposal for the 2012-13 Fiscal Year. Although the Board was established well over 100
years ago, Boards and Commissions such as this have become a popular target for balancing the State
budget. The responsibilities of the SMGB will be divided and transferred to other agencies. The
SMGB has been targeted for elimination before, and AEG has historically opposed its elimination.
The Legislative Committee will be learning more about the responsibilities of the Board, its cost, and
the details of redistribution of its authority. The Legislative Committee seeks comment from the
membership on the position we should take on this proposal.
AEG Sacramento Section Quarterly Newsletter Winter 2012
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U.S. National Academy Press publications now
available as free .pdf copies
By Robert H. Sydnor, LM-AEG, CEG
AEG members can now freely download geology and seismology reports published by the U.S. National
Academy of Sciences. There are more than 4,500 reports, and perhaps 150 of these will be of interest to
engineering geologists and environmental geologists. The .pdf format will be of keen interest to
consulting engineering geologists with limited budgets for books; and geology professors can assign the
free reports for geology students. The website is: www.nap.edu
For decades, the U.S. National Academy has published authoritative studies in book format, but these
typically cost in the realm of $40 to $70 per copy. The new free .pdf policy will cause a revenue drop of
about $2 million for the National Academy Press, but the trade-off is global availability of the reports.
NAP expects about three million downloads per year by 2013.
Two books of particular interest to AEG members include: Living on an Active Earth - perspectives on
earthquake science, 432 pages, 2003, a huge 77 MB .pdf with 15 authors (including the USGS Director).
This applied seismology treatise explains probabilistic seismic hazard analysis, active faults, strong-
motion seismology, and seismic hazard zonation by the California Geological Survey. For geotechnical
litigation involving landslides and foundation failures, the new 3rd edition of the Manual on Scientific
Evidence, 1036 pages, 2011, 14 MB .pdf will be highly useful. This authoritative legal manual is used by
all courts (county-state-federal) in the United States.
A wide variety of topics in applied geology is now freely available. Diverse examples include: alluvial-fan
flooding, probabilistic methods in geotechnical engineering, shoreline erosion, tsunami warning, flood-
zone mapping, hydrology of the California Delta, lessons from the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, K-12
education in science, national earthquake resilience, reuse of municipal wastewater, global change and
extreme hydrology, Mount Rainier volcanic hazards, snow avalanches, reducing landslide risk, terrestrial
carbon fluxes, American River floodplain frequency analysis, Deepwater Horizon oil-spill, agricultural soil
geochemistry, GIS mapping, contaminant spills in hydrogeology, and so forth.
All of these reports have been prepared by select panels of distinguished geologists, seismologists,
geotechnical engineers, hydrogeologists, and academic scholars. The penultimate text of each report has
been peer-reviewed by internal committees of the National Academy of Sciences prior to formal
publication. The commissioned reports are often requested by Congress for legislative insight, or to
formulate new policies for a branch of the government (such as USGS, EPA, NRC, NOAA, etc.). The cited
bibliography in the rear of each report is a valuable resource to current journal articles that have traction.
The Transportation Research Board (www.trb.org) is separate from the National Academy Press.
Therefore, our favorite landslide treatise, TRB Special Report 247, 673 pages, 1996, is still for sale at $56
in paperback format, and not yet available as a free .pdf. A new edition of TRB 247 is underway.
AEG Sacramento Section Quarterly Newsletter Winter 2012
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Tips for the Tech-savvy Geologist
Google Earth – Northern California LiDAR Hillshades
The USGS has great Google Earth resources, including LiDAR data, that are available from
their website. Click this link for LiDAR data of the northern San Andreas fault system and it will
open up in Google Earth.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/data/NoCal_GeoES_LiDAR_hs.kmz
This KMZ file
contains 1-meter
resolution bare
earth hillshades
(with 315 and 45
degree illumination
options) from the
Northern California
GeoEarthScope
LiDAR topography
dataset. The extent
of LiDAR data is
shown in a cyan-
colored outline for
faults in the
northern San
Andreas fault
system.
Got something you want to say? Please contact one of the Section officers or the newsletter editor
(for contact info see last page) with your news, announcement, job posting, or tech-savvy tip. We’d
be happy to post it in the next newsletter.
AEG History and Mission
The Association of Engineering Geologists was originally founded as the California Association of
Engineering Geologists (CAEG) in 1957. The original group met in Sacramento and quickly added
sections in the Bay Area and Southern California. In 1963, CAEG became the Association of
Engineering Geologists (AEG) after the first non-California Section was formed in Denver, Colorado.
AEG was developed to meet the professional needs of geologists who are applying their scientific
training and experience to the broad field of civil and environmental engineering. Engineering
geologists work in close coordination with construction, foundation and highway engineers, hydraulic
engineers and hydrologists and with environmental professionals in environmental remediation, city
planning and natural hazard risk reduction. The mission of AEG is to provide leadership in the
development and application of geologic principles and knowledge to serve engineering,
environmental and public needs. AEG members represent geological engineers and geologists in
practice, academic and governmental positions.
AEG Sacramento Section Quarterly Newsletter Winter 2012
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Sponsorships
www.MichelleBuller.com [email protected]
AEG Sacramento Section Quarterly Newsletter Winter 2012
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AEG Sacramento Section Event Calendar – 2012
January 25th Speaker: Dr. Sujan Punyamurthula and Mr. Derek Morley, URS Corp
Mtn Mikes, Natomas " California's Levee Geotechnical Evaluations Program"
February 28th Speaker: Eric Chase and Sandra Flint, HDR Engineering
Aviator's, Sacramento " Geoarchaeology - The Context of Prehistory"
March 27th Speaker: Dylan Duvergé, ESA PWA
Aviator's, Sacramento " Background Arsenic Concentration in Soil of the Urbanized San
Francisco Bay Region "
April 24th Student Night Speaker: TBD
Sudwerk, Davis
May 22nd TBD
June 26th TBD
July No meeting - summer break
August 28th TBD
September No meeting - Annual AEG Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah
October 23rd TBD
November 20th TBD
December 18th Joint Holiday meeting with GRA
Aviator’s, Sacramento " TBD "
AEG Sacramento Section Quarterly Newsletter Winter 2012
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Order online!
www.aegsacto.org
AEG Sacramento Section Quarterly Newsletter Winter 2012
13
AEG Sacramento Section Quarterly Newsletter Winter 2012
15
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AEG Sacramento Section Quarterly Newsletter Winter 2012
16
Chair – Garry Maurath
Vice Chair – Pete Holland
916.679.2002
916.322.9993
Treasurer – Tim McCrink
Secretary – Chase White
916.324.2549
916.366.1701
Scholarship chair – Drew Kennedy
Newsletter Editor – Holly Nichols
916.729.8050
916.376.9883
Legislative chair – Bill Fraser
Membership chair – Theresa Butler
916.227.4628
Immediate past chair – John Pfeiffer
K-12 Initiative chair – Sierra Nelmes
916.852.9118
Sponsorship chair – (vacant)
K-12 committee – Sierra Nelmes, Garry Maurath
Legislative committee –Bill Fraser, John Pfeiffer, Eric Chase, and Garry Maurath
Lobbyist – Judy Wolen
Section website: www.aegsacto.org
Section Leadership