Released March 11, 2005

Long Beach– The University of Southern Mississippi will host the 54th annual meeting of the Southeastern Section of the Geological Society of America March 17-18 at the Grand Casino in Biloxi.

Approximately 450 geoscientists from across the Unites States are expected to attend.

Also hosting the meeting is the National Coastal Data Development Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Collaborating in the meeting are federal agencies from NASA's Stennis Space Center, home of the largest naval oceanographic research center in the world.

Dr. Gail Russell, professor and chair of the Department of Geology at Southern Miss, said the conference will include professors, undergraduate and graduate students and professionals.

"Because of our location, there will be a very strong emphasis on coastal processes," Russell said. "There will be scientists there from Texas through the Gulf Coast and throughout Florida."

Russell said a field trip to examine fossils on the coast will be held Saturday, March 18.

The program includes local, regional, and national topics of interest, including

processes affecting shoreline erosion, wetland loss, and coastal evolution in the southeastern United States;

sea-level changes and coastal evolution; and

tropical cyclone impacts on coastal zones.

A keynote address on tsunami and data buoy warning systems by Paul Moersdorf, director of the NOAA National Data Buoy Center at Stennis Space Center, will take place Thursday evening, March 17. Held from 6:30-7:30 p.m. in Ballroom B of the Bayview Hotel, the address is free and open to the public.

Of particular regional interest will be a talk by Leah Bray of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources on "Beneficial Use of Dredged Materials for Erosion Prevention and Habitat Restoration in Coastal Mississippi." The talk will take place Thursday afternoon, March 17 , at approximately 2:20 p.m. in Bayview Hotel, Room 8.

For more information about the GSA meeting, please contact Dr. Gail Russell at (601) 266-4077.

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