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22–25 SEPTEMBER  PHOENIX, ARIZONA, USA

The Grand Canyon State Welcomes You!

The Grand Canyon State welcomes the Geological Society of largest city in the United States: a sunny, friendly, exciting,
America Annual Meeting & Exposition to our capital city of culturally rich, proudly Southwestern place. Amenities range
Phoenix for the first time in more than three decades. It’s an espe- from the lovely landscapes of the Desert Botanical Garden to the
cially auspicious year for GSA to come here, as 2019 marks both world’s largest collection of Native American art at the Heard
the 150th anniversary of John Wesley Powell’s first expedition Museum, to famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s fascinating
through Grand Canyon and the 100th anniversary of Grand western home base at Taliesin West, to the climate-controlled
Canyon National Park! Arizona is indeed a land of textbook geol- Chase Field just blocks from the Convention Center, where you
ogy, where you can set your feet, hands, senses, and camera on the can come watch the Arizona Diamondbacks play during a home
exposed rock record of nearly two billion years of deep time. series that coincides with our meeting. And Phoenix is a gastro-
As symbolized in the logo for the 2019 Annual Meeting, nomic paradise, renowned for its multi-regional Mexican, Latin
Arizona has tremendous geologic, topographic, climatic, and American, and indigenous cuisines, to be sure, but also home to
ecological diversity: from the Sonoran Desert landscapes of the scores of other diverse and delightful restaurants and pubs—
rugged and arid Basin and Range in the south where Phoenix is including a pizzeria that many national food critics consider to
located, through the mountainous Transition Zone, north to the be among the very best in the USA. Our light-rail and bus sys-
high-elevation Colorado Plateau with its colorful, fossil-rich tems make it easy to get around, and Sky Harbor Airport, served
layer-cake strata incised a mile deep in the mighty Grand by all major carriers, is a very short hop from downtown.
Canyon. Owing to this great natural diversity, Arizona is often The Annual Meeting technical program features 34 short
referred to as “many states in one.” We produce more copper courses and workshops, six Pardee Symposia, and 202 topical
than all but a few nations, let alone any other U.S. state. We are sessions and symposia. We’re also planning plenty of activities
home to 22 national parks, monuments, and historic sites, and and informal gatherings, and as always, a dynamic Exhibit Hall.
wonderful state and local parks as well. The record of human Students and early career geoscientists will find much here to
history and culture in Arizona dates back many millennia, and engage and interest them. Come join your colleagues in Phoenix
21 contemporary Native American nations know it as their this September: We look forward to welcoming one and all to
homeland. Arizona’s history and culture have also long bene- the Valley of the Sun!
fited from our proximity to and friendly relations with México.
Twenty-nine different pre-meeting and post-meeting field trips Steve Semken
are scheduled, offering you many opportunities to explore and GSA 2019 General Chair
enjoy the geology, geography, and scenery of Arizona and Professor of Geology and Education,
adjoining areas of the Southwest. School of Earth and Space Exploration,
Today’s Phoenix is decidedly different from the town that Arizona State University
hosted the GSA Annual Meeting in 1987. We are now the fifth

Photo © Visit Phoenix/Dennis Murphy/Dennis Scully. 13
www.geosociety.org/AnnualMeeting