2019 Annual Report

REPORT OF THE 70th ANNUAL MEETING OF THE INSTITUTE ON LAKE SUPERIOR GEOLOGY

The 70th Institute on Lake Superior Geology (ILSG) was held May 15 to 18, 2024 in Houghton, Michigan, with the meeting headquartered at the Memorial Union Building on the campus of Michigan Technological University. The meeting was sponsored by the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum, the Great Lakes Research Center, and the Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences - all units of Michigan Technological University. The meeting was co-chaired by Ted Bornhorst (principal co-chair), Erika Vye, Patrice Cobin, and Jim DeGraff; all co-chairs are affiliated with Michigan Technological University. In addition to being a co-chair Patrice Cobin and Julie Stark served as registrars for the 70th annual meeting. The institute was attended by a total of 182 participants of which 40 were students.

The meeting consisted of two full days of technical sessions from Thursday morning 16th of May through Friday afternoon 17th of May, and two days for field trips, pre-and post-meeting. A total of 57 presentations were subdivided into 8 technical sessions; 6 technical sessions for 30 oral presentations (of which 5 were presented by students), and 2 poster technical sessions with a total of 27 poster presentations (of which 16 were presented by students). Three presentations were withdrawn. Since past meetings have not included a dedicated technical session for poster presentations, the chairs opted to include two poster sessions for the 70th meeting. We believe this facilitated more time for attendees to review the posters and facilitated interaction between the authors of posters and attendees. The technical sessions of the 70th annual meeting of ILSG were published in 2024 as Part 1 of Proceedings Volume 70 (111 pages).

As is customary with ILSG meetings, the field trips were a highlight of the 70th ILSG. The meeting offered 7 field trips with 3 pre-meeting on Wednesday May 15, and 4 post-meeting trips on Saturday May 18. Overall, the field trips were well attended. There were 145 registrants for the 5 field trips that were able to be run. Demand for 4 of the trips exceeded capacity resulting in wait lists.

Pre-meeting trip 1 was led by Ted Bornhorst(Michigan Tech) and focused on Mesoproterozoic “Midcontinent Rift-filling Strata and Native Copper Deposits of the Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan.” Pre-meeting trip 2 was led by Tom Wright (Quincy Mine Hoist Association) and Jim DeGraff and Katherine Langfield (Michigan Tech) and focused on the “Mining History and Geology of the Quincy Mine, Keweenaw Peninsula Native Copper District, Michigan.” Pre-meeting trip 3 focusing on “Geoheritage of Buffalo Reef: Industrial Impact on Land, Culture, and Fish Sovereignty” was scheduled to be led by Erika Vye, Charlie Kerfoot (Michigan Tech), Stephanie Swart (Michigan Department of Environmental Quality), and Dione Price and Evelyn Ravindran (Keweenaw Bay Indian Community). However, the trip could not be run because of low water levels and shifting sediment impeding access to the harbor.

Post-meeting trip 4 was led byJim DeGraff, Katherine Langfield, and Dan Lizzadro-McPherson (Michigan Tech) and focused on “Keweenaw Fault Geometry and Kinematics: Clues to Its Nature and Origin.” Post-meeting trip 5 was led by Matt Portfleet(Adventure Mining Company) and Ted Bornhorst (Michigan Tech) and focused on the “Adventure Mine, Ontonagon County, Michigan: Geology and History of a Native Copper Mine.” Post-meeting trip 6 led by Chad Deering(Michigan Tech) ventured outside of the Keweenaw rift to investigate “Southern Complex Granitoids, Gneisses, and Migmatites: New Data, Discoveries, and Perspectives.” Field trip 7 led by Stan Vitton and Mohammad Sadeghi (Michigan Technological University) was scheduled to investigate “Landslides in the Glacial Lake Ontonagon Sediments,” but had to be cancelled due to lack of registrations. Field trip guides were published in 2024 as Part 2 of the Proceedings Volume 70 (194 pages).

Five Doug Duskin Best Student Paper Awards were given for student oral and poster presentations as judged by the 2024 Student Paper Awards Committee chaired by Stacy Saari (Minnesota Department of Natural Resources). Zsusanna Allerton was awarded the best oral presentation. The best graduate student poster presentation was awarded to Yirou Xu. The best undergraduate student poster presentation was awarded to Lyndsie Vickers. Alice Martin and Alexander Lawrence were awarded the runner-up for graduate student poster and for undergraduate student poster respectively.

The 70th ILSG awarded 14 Student Travel and Participation Awards to help defray the cost of presentations of their research and participation in the ILSG professional meeting. The eligibility of costs, as designated by the Eisenbrey Award, were expanded for the 70th ILSG Student Travel and Participation Awards. We thank the donors for supporting the student awards. The awards were made possible by the generous financial support from our corporate sponsor Eagle Mine – Lundin Mining, the Geological Society of Minnesota, and 23 individual donors. The awardees were Zsuzsanna Allerton, Farhan Ahmed Bhuiyan, Andrea Paola Corredor Bravo, Kevin Mexia Duran, Trent Ediger, Alex Lawrence, Jordan Peterzon, Lucas Robarg, Daniel Shakked, Vlad Sheshnev, Demily Thibodeau-Bello, Adam Vanderkin, Lyndsie Vickers, and Yiruo Xu. There were 6 Michigan Tech students whose registration fees were waived because they volunteered with logistics for the meeting.

The ILSG social and banquet was hosted at the Memorial Union Building on Thursday evening May 15. There were 120 people at the annual banquet. Ted Bornhorst served as master of ceremonies for the post-banquet program. After the introductions, Peter Hinz gave a short presentation about a geological excursion to Hawaii. Amy Radovich announced the location of the 2025 meeting as Mountain Iron. The program continued with ILSG awarding the prestigious Goldich Medal to Suzanne W. Nicholson (recently retired from the U.S. Geological Survey). Laurel Woodruff (U.S. Geological Survey and Goldich Medalist in 2014) provided the citation for Suzanne. The co-chairs and the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum recognized Ted Bornhorst with a plaque for his distinguished service to ILSG. A highlight of the banquet was the keynote presentation by Robert Hazen (Carnegie Institution for Science), an internationally recognized and distinguished mineralogist. His thought-provoking presentation was on “Mineral Informatics: A New Frontier in Understanding Earth.” The keynote presentation ended the banquet program. Hazen’s presentation was made possible by joint funding between the 70th ILSG and the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum of Michigan Tech. Hazen gave a second presentation on Friday evening for the general public and as a bonus for ILSG participants. This presentation was the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum’s 2024 Edith D. and E. Wm Heinrich Lecture titled “Mineral Evolution: A case study of a new natural law.”

The first presentation of the technical sessions was given by Jim Miller (Goldich Medalist in 2012) who gave the citation for Roland Duer Irving as the 2024 Pioneer of Lake Superior Geology. Irving is the 5th person to be recognized for their contributions to Lake Superior Geology prior to the initiation of the ILSG.
The Institute’s Board of Directors met on Thursday May 16, 2024 to discuss ILSG business and approve the 2025 meeting location. The meeting was attended by Ted Bornhorst (Board Chair), Carysn Ames, Mark Smyk, Peter Hollings (Secretary), and Mark Jirsa (Treasurer). Guests at the meeting were the meeting co-chairs Patrice Cobin, Erika Vye, and Jim DeGraff, and Amy Radakovich (Assistant Treasurer) and also the Chair of the proposed 2025 Mountain Iron meeting (approved by the board see below). Stacy Saari, Alli Severson, Eric Nowariak, and Aaron Hirsch were additional guests supporting the proposed Mountain Iron 71st ILSG.
Institute’s Board of Directors meeting notes were taken by ILSG Secretary Hollings, which are as follows:

Accepted report of the Chairs for the 69th ILSG, as published in the Proceedings volume, and minutes of last Board meeting, May, 2023 (Hollings).
Received, discussed, and accepted 2023-2024 ILSG Financial Summary (Jirsa).
Received, discussed, and accepted 2023-2024 report of the Secretary (Hollings).
Approved Ted Bornhorst as on-going ILSG Board member and Amy Radakovich as Chair.
Discussed and approved replacing Dorothy Campbell as the “member from government” on Goldich Committee (end of term 2024) with Robert Cundari.
Approved Mt Iron as the site for the 71st annual ILSG meeting. The meeting will be Chaired by Amy Radakovich and hosted by the Minnesota Geological Survey.
A number of future meeting locations were discussed. Peter Hinz has offered Kenora as a future site, while Mark Puumala has offered Thunder Bay.
The confusion over the appointment of the Board Chair was discussed and it was agreed we would follow the Constitution with the incoming Meeting Chair assuming the role of Board Chair.
It was agreed that the purchase of additional safety equipment would be postponed for now.
The Secretary agreed to revamp the boilerplate material for the volumes to make it easier for the organisers of subsequent meetings. Carsyn agreed to revamp the Eisenbrey and Mancuso award applications. Bornhorst agreed to rewrite the Eisenbrey award document for Board consideration. The allowable expenses will be broadened so the award will be more than travel.
Discussed and approved renewal of Pete Hollings as Institute Secretary (end of term 2027). This was later approved by a vote of the membership.
Hollings mentioned that the ILSG proceeding volumes standing order sales remain the same as the recent past with only 5 institutions receiving them plus one sent to GeoRef.
The co-Chairs would like to thank all those who helped make the 70th annual meeting a success such as judging student papers, chairing sessions, leading field trips, driving for field trips, staffing the registration desk, caring for the projectors, general logistics and more. A special thank you goes to Julie Stark, who played a key role in online and onsite registration.

The 70th ILSG was a milestone for a professional organization, as noted by Pete Hollings in a recently published article on ILSG in the Lake Superior Magazine - “not a lot of groups hang around 70 years.” Forty years ago, Ted Bornhorst chaired the annual meeting and Board of Directors. At this time the board had serious concerns about the survival of the organization. We are happy to report that ILSG continues to thrive and has done so by being a small, but vibrant organization. We believe that the combination of collegial, friendly, and open discussion and exchange of ideas on geology of the Lake Superior region between government, industry, and academic geologists has played a major role in ILSG’s survival for 70 years. We strongly believe that field relations are the foundation of geologic interpretation. The depth, breadth, and quality of ILSG field trips is another reason ILSG continues to thrive. What makes ILSG field trips special is that trip leaders are open to debate on their interpretation of an outcrop. Open - but not competitive - discussion is a hallmark of both ILSG field trips and technical sessions. Lastly, meetings would not be possible without people willing to serve as chair or co-chair and people willing to organize the annual conference, to lead field trips, and to serve on local committees. Chairing an ILSG meeting involves personal time, extra work, and a bit of extra stress as attested to by anyone who has risen to this challenge in past years. One of us (Bornhorst) has been principal chair for 6 meetings over 41 years, from 1983 to 2024. He agreed to be Chair one last time to mentor Erika and Patty with the hope that one day, one or both of them, will chair a future annual meeting, contributing to the continuation of ILSG. We hope that ISLG survives for many decades and into the next century and beyond.

We are gratified by the positive comments by participants and are happy to have served the Lake Superior geological community. We look forward to the 2025 Mountain Iron ILSG meeting when we can be much more relaxed!

Respectfully submitted,

Theodore (Ted) Bornhorst, Erika Vye, and Patrice (Patty) Cobin
Co-chairs, 70th Institute on Lake Superior Geology

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