Earth Scientists Keep an Eye on Texas

Not only are more than 8,000 international earth scientists coming to Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center, beginning this weekend, to participate in the first-ever Joint Annual Meeting of seven scientific societies, but they are bringing focus to issues of local and state concern to Texans.

Meeting under the theme of “Celebrating the International Year of Planet Earth,” Oct. 5-9, attendees will present the latest research and discuss emerging trends in the Earth sciences, covering topics on energy, water resources, climate change, agriculture, science education, and related issues.

Local Issues Addressed, Including Hurricane Ike
Dozens of papers will focus on local issues important to Texas and the Gulf Coast, including a late-breaking session presenting previously unreleased data and imagery of Hurricane Ike from the U.S. Geological Survey. “Preliminary Data from the Impact of Hurricane Ike on Texas & Louisiana” will be presented on Monday, 6 October, from 12:15-1:15 pm, in the George R. Brown Convention Center, General Assembly Theater Hall B. Expert USGS oceanographer and communicator, Asbury (Abby) H. Sallenger, Center for Coastal and Watershed Studies, and USGS Texas Water Science Center, Gulf Coast Program Office Chief, Michael Turco, will present. A questions and discussion period will follow, moderated by coastal science expert Robert Young of Western Carolina University.

Other meeting highlights of regional interest are provided below. Search the entire meeting program at: www.acsmeetings.org/programs/

We extend a special invitation to regional media to attend the research presentations, view the 400+ exhibits, and cover this historic scientific exchange. Please register in the Newsroom, Room 350-B, George R. Brown Convention Center.

When: Oct. 5-9, 2008

Where: George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston, TX

Selected Highlights
All events take place in the George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston:
139-1 Geology and Health in Texas: An Overview
http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2008am/webprogram/Paper48258.html
Sunday, 5 October: 8:15 AM, Room 330B
134-12 Study of Active Surface Faults in Fort Bend County, Texas
http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2008am/webprogram/Paper48617.html
Sunday, 5 October 2008: 11:15 AM, Room 342CF
53-1 Subsidence: Whose Problem Is It, Anyway?
http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2008am/webprogram/Paper50788.html
Monday, 6 October 2008: 8:05 AM, Room 352DEF
203-1 South Texas Gulf Beach Maintenance as a Geological Process
http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2008am/webprogram/Paper47260.html
Monday, 6 October 2008: 1:30 PM, Room 310BE
805-15 In Hot Water? How Climate Change May (or may not) Affect the Groundwater Resources of Texas:
http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2008am/webprogram/Paper51058.html
Monday, 6 October 2008: 5:00 PM, Room 320ABC
227-T7 Session: The Mississippi River Delta as a Natural Laboratory for Evaluating Coastal Response to Relative Sea-Level Rise and Innovations in Transgressive Coastal Management
http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2008am/webprogram/Session5030.html
Tuesday, 7 October 2008: 8:00 AM, General Assembly Theater Hall A
240-11 Hypogene Processes in the Balcones Fault Zone Edwards Aquifer in South-Central Texas, a New Conceptual Model to Explain Aquifer Dynamics
http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2008am/webprogram/Paper49769.html
Tuesday, 7 October 2008: 10:45 AM, Room 332BE
269-13 Impact Geology of the U.S. Gulf Coastal States
http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2008am/webprogram/Paper48897.html
Tuesday, 7 October 2008: 5:00 PM, Room 342CF
812-2 A History of Crude Oil Earthen Storage in Southeast Texas and Its Legacy of Oily Wastes
http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2008am/webprogram/Paper51089.html
Tuesday, 7 October 2008: 5:15 PM, Room 310CF
723-2 The San Antonio Water System Conservation Program
http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2008am/webprogram/Paper42230.html
Wednesday, 8 October 2008: 8:25 AM, Room 382AB
707-3 Long-term Biosolids Application to Three Sites in Texas
http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2008am/webprogram/Paper40208.html
Wednesday, 8 October 2008, 9:00, Room 372C
282-6 Comparison of Long-Term versus Historical Erosion Rates and Sediment Distribution Patterns for the Texas Coast
http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2008am/webprogram/Paper48634.html
Wednesday, 8 October 2008: 9:15 AM, General Assembly Theater Hall A
723-5 Texas and Water: Them's Fightin' Words:
http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2008am/webprogram/Paper47059.html
Wednesday, 8 October 2008: 10:50 AM, Room 382AB
298-13 The TXESS Revolution: A Teacher Professional Development Program to Advance Earth and Space Science in Texas
http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2008am/webprogram/Paper48235.html
Wednesday, 8 October 2008: 11:30AM, Room 342CF
Texas State Soil Featured at New Smithsonian Exhibit
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/544544/
Wednesday, 8 October 2008: 2:30 PM, 381ABC
780-15 Poster: Effect of Urbanization on Surface Water Chemistry in SE Texas
http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2008am/webprogram/Paper42936.html
Wednesday, 8 October 2008: 4:00 PM, Exhibit Hall E
779-1 Energy Balance of Irrigated and Dryland Cotton in the Southern High Plains
http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2008am/webprogram/Paper41678.html
Thursday, 9 October 2008: 9:00 AM, Room 381B
The Joint Annual Meeting offers an unprecedented technical program that showcases the scientific collaboration of the sponsoring organizations: the Geological Society of America, American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society of America, and Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies with the Gulf Coast Section of the Society for Sedimentary Geology; the meeting is hosted by the Houston Geological Society.
http://www.ascmeetings.org
http://www.geosociety.org
http://www.agronomy.org
http://www.crops.org
http://www.soils.org