The two Mars exploration rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, touched down on Mars in January 2004 and have been conducting extensive observations with the Athena science payload. Together the two rovers have traversed approximately16 km. Spirit, located on the floor of Gusev crater, has investigated basaltic plains, as well as older materials in the Columbia Hills. The rocks of the Columbia Hills are largely clastic in nature and range from breccias to finely laminated deposits that have undergone significant aqueous alteration. They appear to be largely a mixture of altered impact ejecta and explosive volcanic materials. Recently, Spirit has discovered silica-rich deposits that may have formed in a hot spring or fumarole environment. Opportunity has carried out the first outcrop-scale investigation of ancient sedimentary rocks on Mars. The rocks are sandstones formed by wind and water erosion and re-deposition of fine grained siliciclastics and sulfate-rich evaporites. The stratigraphic section observed to date is dominated by eolian bedforms, with subaqueous current ripples exposed locally near the top of the section. While liquid water was present at Meridiani below and occasionally at the surface, the ancient environmental conditions recorded there are dominantly arid, acidic and oxidizing, and would have posed some significant challenges to life.

Cross bedding at Cape St. Mary, Victoria Crater Cliff exposure, Cape St. Vincent, Victoria Crater

Photos by Opportunity, which spent about 300 Martian days traversing the rim of Victoria Crater, 2006-2007.

President’s Notes, January 2008

By Matt Morgan

I am grateful for the opportunity to receive the silver gavel from Bill Nesse and be your president for 2008. After looking over the long list of past presidents, I know these are big shoes to fill and I will do my best to provide sound, solid leadership. Other changes are taking place as well; as we bring in the New Year, the CSS will be welcoming in new council and committee members. The opinions and viewpoints of these individuals are a key in helping the CSS move forward and meet new challenges. If you feel strongly about the direction of the CSS, I encourage you to get involved as a committee member. We can always use more help!

The council will be tackling several key topics this year that will have an impact on how the CSS will function in the future, namely, our investment strategy for the memorial funds. As Bill Nesse discussed in last month’s President’s Notes, there is roughly $250,000 in the funds that is currently invested in bonds and certificates of deposit through a brokerage firm. The CSS committee is looking at other investment options that may give us a (slightly) better return on our money. Some of you have already suggested that the best option is to stick with the current make-up. I assure you we will be weighing all of our options and welcome any and all comments from the CSS members regarding our investments.

We are also assessing the possibility of turning Family "Night" into Family "Day." Instead of the lecture and dinner we could run a kids field trip, do some mineral or fossil collecting, host a workshop, or other family-oriented activities that would allow you and your family to enjoy Colorado and the outdoors. Plus it would be a great way to meet fellow CSS families.

As each of the President’s remarks from the last several years has stressed, WE NEED NEW MEMBERS! To keep the CSS the preeminent scientific organization in Colorado and to keep it vital we count on each and every one of you to spread the word and recruit. Tell your friends, your co-workers, and your families about the fantastic talks, field trips, and activities that the CSS brings you throughout the year. Give a membership or a fund donation as a gift! It is the members that keep us going and I appreciate all your contributions. I am looking forward to another great year working with all of you.

CSS Archival Preservation Group, Hard at it

By Beth Simmons

On November 25, Tom Steven, Dan Shawe, Marj MacLachlan, and I sat down to the pile of minutes in the archives of our Colorado Scientific Society and sorted, classified and stashed all the records of the meetings from 1933 - 1984! Dan asked, "When do minutes turn to hours.....?"

From times long past, the first secretary's book is missing (1882-1892), along with what should be numbers three and four, and perhaps five, covering the time gap from 1904 to 1933. There don't seem to be any minutes in the files for 1985-1989, and from 1990 to the present day. If anyone has the minutes (or recording book) for those years, either of the regular meetings, council meetings, or both, please make copies and turn them over to me. THANKS!

Also, we are missing a newsletter from May of 2002. If anyone has an ecopy or hardcopy of it, could you submit it for the files? The other missing newsletter is October, 1976, but from reading the

September newsletter, I think it was dispensed with because of Denver hosting GSA that month. There was no October meeting that year.

Next session................... MEMBERSHIP files! Every dues card and every application for membership for the last 100 years has been saved, we think!! And we know who DIDN'T pay their dues!!!

And we had a great idea for our 125th celebration! Let's have a reunion! We can locate all our delinquent living members, past presidents and officers, rile them up and get them to come to a great big party! (And have a fun speaker - nothing really heavy, scientifically) The venue could be Red Rocks, where Dinosaur Ridge hosts their annual banquet. Just a thought!