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Welcome to the Central Coast Chapter
of the Southern California Section - Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists
AEG California Central Coast Chapter
Of the Southern California Section



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Upcoming Meeting

The Central Coast Chapter of AEG is holding the July meeting at Round Table Pizza Parlor in Santa Maria. Please see the attached newsletter for details.
click here for the most recent newsletter


Topic: "Large California Tsunamis from Central Coast Historians and Central Coast Newspaper Records"

Speaker: Eugene (Lou) Blanck,
Earth Design, Inc., Cambria, CA

Meeting Date: ***Wednesday, July 28, 2010***

Location: Round Table Pizza
2508 South Broadway
Santa Maria, CA 93454
Time: 6:00 p.m.-Social Hour; 7:00 p.m.-Presentation
Cost: AEG members = $15; non-AEG members = $20; Students = $5
RSVP: Please RSVP by Tuesday July 27.
Email: NWilliams.geo@gmail.com. All are welcome!

Abstract:
Approximately, 1996, Unocal historian Darwin Sainz mentioned the newly built Union Oil “Oilport” refinery in what is now Shell Beach (between Pismo & Avila Beaches and at 50 to 100 feet elevation) was destroyed by a tsunami in the early 1900’s. July 2009, George Plafker reported, “a bigger earthquake and a more destructive tsunami than the 1964 event are possible in the future”. The 1812 Santa Barbara Channel earthquake produced 5 tsunami waves approximately 50 feet in height to the front of the Santa Barbara Presidio based on a Franciscan Father’s journal. A book on “Shipwrecks, Smugglers, and Maritime Mysteries” by Wheeler & Kallman reports the largest wave was 48-50 feet estimated by the USGS west of Santa Barbara near Goleta. The “History of San Luis Obispo County, California” by Thompson & West (1883) reports 12 feet tsunamis occurred on August 13, 1868 (Peruvian earthquake) and April 16, 1877. On November 22, 1878, turbulent water in the absence of wind produced tsunamis that broke over the Morro Bay sand spit (current quad sheet high elevations 66 to 97 feet N to S), destroyed Avila & Pt. Sal piers, damaging Cayucos pier. A Japanese earthquake resulted in a tsunami at 12:40 PM December 9, 1907, near high tide and in already heavy seas, that stood out from the rest of the storm due to its’ enormous height. It wrecked the Ventura pier (12-13- 1907, SLO Tribune) and the Oilport pier (12-13-1907, SLO Tribune & 12-6-1976 also 12-14-1907, Santa Maria Times & amp;12-10-1907 SLO Telegram) at Shell beach and destroyed the Oilport refinery (Darwin Sainz, personal communication). Before 7 AM on November 26, 1913, tsunamis wrecked the Monterey area including waves 10 to15 feet above the Del Monte wharf. At Seaside, “Immense domes of water and foam shot up above the general height” ... “appearing from here to be higher than the highest sandhills along the shore.”(12-2-1913, SLO Tribune) Current quad sheet high elevations are 120 feet. These reports of historic tsunamis represent wave elevations significantly higher than the 1964 Alaska earthquake tsunami that is typically used for emergency planning for tsunami inundation in California. Since it appears 4 much larger tsunamis occurred in the Central Coast area in 1812, 1878, 1907 and 1913; it appears we may have become complacent during this recent period of tsunami quiescence. Emergency planning for Central Coast tsunamis should be anticipating tsunami waves in the 50 to 100 feet elevation range.

Driving Directions:
Driving Northbound on Highway 101:
1. Exit on Santa Maria Way;
2. Continue straight onto Santa Maria Way;
3. Turn right at South Broadway;
4. Round Table is in the shopping center on the right.

Driving Southbound on Highway 101:
1. Exit on Betteravia Rd;
2. Turn right on E Betteravia Rd;
3. Turn left on S Broadway Rd;
4. Turn left on McCoy Ln;
5. Take the first right into the shopping center;
6. Round Table is located in the southeast corner.


Officers
2010 Central Coast Chapter Officers:
  • Chair
    Robert J. Urban
    URS Corporation
    2625 South Miller St., Suite 104
    Santa Maria, CA 93455
    Phone: 805.361.1109
    robert_urban@urscorp.com


  • Vice Chair
    Anthony Schuetze
    2625 South Miller St., Suite 104
    Santa Maria, CA 93455
    Phone: 805.361.1130
    anthony_schuetze@urscorp.com


  • Chapter Secretary
    Natalie Williams
    2625 South Miller St., Suite 104
    Santa Maria, CA 93455
    Phone: 805.361.1115
    nwilliams.geo@gmail.com



  • Chapter Treasurer
    Andy Evans
    2625 South Miller St., Suite 104
    Santa Maria, CA 93455
    Phone: 805.361.1111
    andrewariel@hotmail.com



  • Student Liaison
    Darry Berberi-Hill
    Student at Cuesta College
    San Luis Obispo, CA
    Phone: 805.704.3518
    d.funcheon@gmail.com



Announcements
2013
December 9 REG Review Announces Winter 2014 Class Schedule
July 7 Passing of Dr. A. Eugene Fritsche
June 28 REG Review Announces Summer 2013 Class Schedule
 
2012
December 11 REG announces Winter 2013 classes
July 1 DTSC Announces REA Program Closure
June 6 2012 Mid-Year Board of Directors Meeting Summary
May 20 REG Review Courses for Summer 2012
May 9 Assembly Budget Committee discusses SMGB elimination
March 26 Governor proposes elimination of SMGB
January 12 Governor proposes another attempt to eliminate CA SMGB
 
2011
December 5 REG Review Courses for 2012
August Help for CA Mining & Mineral Museum
Please ask associates and students to write a personal letter to Governor Brown requesting that the CA Mining & Mineral Museum receive a budget that allows it to stay open so that the historic collection will remain intact and available for visitation and research. The more individual letters sent, the better.

Thanks for your help,
Bob Reynolds, President, SoCal Chapter, Friends of Mineralogy
rreynolds220@verizon.net
 
2010
July AEG'S 53rd ANNUAL MEETING
September 20 – 25, 2010 ~ Francis Marion Hotel Charleston, South Carolina
View a full list of topics and field trips at http://www.aegweb.org.
May 1 AEG Shlemon Specialty Conference: Modern Subsidence, Sea-Level Rise, and the Future of the GulfCoast
April 26 REG REVIEW COURSE SCHEDULE FOR JUNE 2010
 


Meeting Calendar
2010
Date Speaker(s) Topic(s) Newsletter
July 28 Eugene (Lou) Blanck, Earth Design, Inc., Cambria, CA "Large California Tsunamis from Central Coast Historians and Central Coast Newspaper Records"

[location: Round Table Pizza, Santa Maria, CA]
April 28   3rd Annual Student Night
$500 Scholarship To Be Awarded


[location: Santa Maria]
 
March 31   Topic to be announced

[location: Santa Maria]
 
 
2007
Date Speaker(s) Topic(s) Newsletter
Sept
24-28
(M-F)
50th AEG Annual Meeting

Golden Anniversary in the Golden State


Click here for more information on the
Los Angeles meeting
 
July 10 Dr. Senro Kuraoka,
the Research and Development Center, Nippon Koei. Co. Ltd &
John Duffy, Caltrans
"Rockfall Analysis and Mitigation Symposium"
May 17 John Moylan 2007 AEG & GSA Distinguished Jahns Lecturer
“Geologic Influences on Mid-continent Dams”
April 25 Student Presentations
  • Grace Giles

  • Sheila K. Morrissey

  • Shawna Von Stockhausen
2nd ANNUAL AEG STUDENT NIGHT 2007
  • Geochemical Signatures of Rapid Carbonate Crystallization in Well Scales
  • Groundwater flowpaths and aquifer interactions in the Floridan aquifer system, southern Florida

  • Optimization of Landfill Compaction Practices

March 28 Julie Moore,SPL "Laboratory Quality Assurance and Quality Control Practices, Reviewing Laboratory Data and Basic Unit Conversions for Air, Soil, and Water."

sponsored by:
Southern Petroleum Laboratories, Inc. (SPL)
February 26 Dr. Peter Robertson,Gregg Drilling
Note: This is a MONDAY Meeting

“70Years of the Cone Penetrometer Test –
How Far Have We Come?”
January   No Meeting  
 
2006
Date Speaker(s) Topic(s) Newsletter
Dec, 2006   No Meeting  
Nov 29, 2006 Dr. Jordan Clark
University of California at Santa Barbara
Tracing recharge water from spreading ponds:
Insights from a decade for studies
Oct 30 -
Nov 4
AEG 49th Annual Meeting - Boston, MA
Northeast Engineering Geology - From Till to Fill


Click here for more information
Oct, 2006 Dr. Alan Jeffrey
ZymaX Forensics/DPRA
ENVIRONMENTAL FORENSICS: PETROLEUM FUELS

sponsored by:
Sept, 2006 Julius Carstens
Oilfield Environmental Compliance
Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons, Analytical Methods And How They Work

sponsored by:
Aug, 2006 James R. Steele
TetraTech, Inc.
In-Situ Enhanced Bioremediation of Freon 11/Freon 113 Groundwater Contamination Using Hydrogen Release Compount
July, 2006 Dr. Robb Moss Geotechnics, Geomorphology, and Geology of Recent Earthquakes

sponsored by:
June, 2006   No Meeting in June
May, 2006 Mr. James Steele In-Situ Enhanced Bioremediation of Freon 11/Freon 113 Groundwater Contamination Using Hydrogen Release Compound.

sponsored by:
Apr, 2006   AEG Student Night 2006

sponsored by:
Mar, 2006 Mr. William C. Tracy and Mr. James R. Steele Geologic Mapping of Paleocurrent Indicators and Implication for Tectonic Significance to Fault Related Folding, Mission Ridge Fault Santa Barbara Coastal Plain, Santa Barbara County, California

sponsored by:
Feb, 2006 John Powell and John Minch Tom Dibblee......... Giant Leaps in Map Making Progress........

sponsored by:
 
Nov, 2005 Frank De Marco PCBs at the Shell Hercules Gas Plan Superfund Site
Oct, 2005   cancelled due to speaker cancellation  
Sept, 2005 James Slosson & Frank E. Denison TESTING OF THE SITE AMPLIFICATION HYPOTHESIS ON EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE THAT OCCURRED IN THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY AND THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DURING THE 1994 NORTHRIDGE EARHQUAKE AS RELATED TO THE UNDERLYING GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF FAULTS AND SYNCLINAL FOLDS
Aug, 2005 L. D. Gurrola & E. A. Keller PREHISTORIC LANDSLIDES IN THE LANDSCAPE AND THE HAZARDS THEY PRESENT: LA CONCHITA, CALIFORNIA
July, 2005 Mr. William (Bill) Tracy "PCBs in the Environment from a Site Along the Gaviota Coast" and "Environmental Investigation of an Airplane Crash"  
June, 2005 Robert J. Urban THE DEBRIS FLOW ORIGIN OF THE MISSION DIAMICTON AND ASSOCIATED GEOHAZARDS TO THE CITY OF SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA


AEG - CA Central Coast Chapter
Dr. John W. Williams Scholarship
The CA Central Coast Chapter offers the Dr. John W. Williams Scholarship to students in the Central Coast region as a means of developing ties between professional practice and academia as well as bringing to the attention of students the Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists and Its role as a professional society in the professional community. Your support of the scholarship through monetary contributions will help in achieving these tasks and eventually provide for a self-sustaining scholarship fund. All scholarship donors will be recognized on our Chapter website. Individuals and companies are welcome to make contributions. Scholarship donors are also welcome to submit logos for placement on the Chapter website. You may send either digital media with your logo or email the logo for webposting. Any contribution is greatly appreciated! See additional information about the Williams Scholarship fund below.

If you or your company would like to make a donation to the scholarship fund either: (1) bring a donation to a monthly meeting and specify that the money is for the scholarship fund or (2) mail only checks, with a memo designating the donation to the scholarship fund, to:
AEG CA Central Coast Chapter
ATTN: Robert Urban
1933 Estriga Court
Santa Maria, CA 93458

Awardees of the Dr. John W. Williams Scholarship
  • 2007 Shawna Von Stockhausen, Graduate student at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), San Luis Obispo, Presentation titled, “Optimization of Landfill Compaction Practices”.

  • 2006 Ms. Jeni McDermott and Mr. Garret Bean were both awarded the 1st Annual 2006 Williams Scholarship by the AEG Central Coast Chapter; the awards consisted of annual memberships to AEG and $500 in cash. Ms McDermott is a Master of Science student at UC Santa Barbara and is conducting research into "Groundwater residence times and flow paths utilizing tracer experiments with tritium/3 HE". Mr. Bean, also a Master’s student at UC Santa Barbara, is conducting research of the "Geologic controls on river channel morphology and habitat for trout".

Dr. John W. Williams Scholarship Donors
(*$0-250 **+$250)

The "2007 List of Donors" includes:
Dr. John W. Williams**
Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Urban*
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Stout*

2006 List of Donors
Dr. John W. Williams **
Ms. Diane Love *
TetraTech, Inc.*
Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Urban *


Chapter Sponsors

URS Corporation
130 Robin Hill Road, Suite 100
Santa Barbara, CA 93117

Michael F. Hoover
Consulting Geologist - Hydrologist
Santa Barbara, CA
phone: 805.569.9670

Oilfield Environmental and Compliance
Environmental, Laboratory and Geoprobe Services
307 Roemer Way, Suite 300
Santa Maria, CA 93454
phone: 805.922.4772
email: info@oecusa.com
website: oecusa.com

Tetra Tech - Santa Barbara Office
4213 State St., Ste. 100
Santa Barbara, CA 93110
phone:(805) 681-3100
fax: 805) 681-3108
website: www.tetratech.com

STL Los Angeles
1721 South Grand Avenue
Santa Ana, CA 92705
Phone: 714-258-8610 Fax: 714-258-0921
ATTN: Wendy Pierce

71 Zaca Lane, Suite 110
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
(805) 544-4696
www.zymaxforensics.com

SPL
322 B West Carrillo Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Phone: (805) 708-6154
Sales Contact: Julie Moore
 


  • We Are Official!
    Charles Nestle (left), AEG Southern California Section Chair, presents a certificate from AEG National, which officially recognizes the California Central Coast Chapter of the Southern California Section, to Robert Urban (right), Chapter Chair and founding member.