Where
The meeting hotel is located in University City, which is within the limits of Charlotte. Charlotte itself has a population of about 700,000 but the greater region around Charlotte – commonly known as Metrolina – includes parts of NC and SC with a population of over 2 million. Charlotte is known as a banking and manufacturing center. It’s the second largest financial hub, behind New York City. The area is also known for auto racing (NASCAR). In fact, Lowe’s Motor Speedway is just a few miles east of University City.
Geology and UNC Charlotte
Geologically, North Carolina has an international reputation for minerals and a mining history going back to Colonial times. The first major ore-mining period in the US was stimulated by the discovery of gold in Cabarrus County in 1799. North Carolina was the nation’s only gold mining state until 1828. Gold coins were minted by the US in Charlotte from 1838 until 1861. You can learn about this history at the Reed Gold Mine State Historic Park, a few minutes drive from University City. GSA has never held a regional meeting in Charlotte.
We at UNC Charlotte are pleased to be the host of the 2008 meeting. The University was established as the Charlotte Center, one of 14 evening college centers created by North Carolina, in 1946. The institution became Charlotte College and moved to its present location in 1961. The NC legislature established the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1965 as the fourth unit of the state’s university system. UNC Charlotte now has about 22,000 students, and has established numerous graduate programs, including 17 doctoral programs.
Geology and earth sciences had a presence in one form or another since early in the institution’s history, but it wasn’t until the early 1980s that formal BS degrees were established for these programs. In 2002, an M.S. in Earth Sciences was founded, and a few years later the earth sciences joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering to offer a Ph.D. in Infrastructure and Environmental Systems (INES).
Charlotte has served as a launching point (or rest stop) for many geological excursions into the nearby Kings Mt. belt (known for lithium bearing pegmatites) and, in older terminology, the Carolina slate belt, one of several non-Laurentian terranes in the Piedmont. In 1955, GSA published, “Guides to Southeastern Geology”. Richard J. Russell edited this massive volume. It was intended to be a driver’s geological road guide for those geologists heading to New Orleans where that year’s national meeting was to be held. Sam D. Broadhurst wrote the North Carolina chapter for the guidebook. The only stop he noted in the immediate vicinity of Charlotte was the “Concord syenite ring dike” on Hwy. 29 just southeast of University City. Broadhurst located the outcrops with reference to “Howard Johnson’s restaurant” near the town of Concord. (The Concord pluton is known in local urban mythology as the “speedway volcano.”) Earlier in his chapter, he notes the quality of food at this restaurant. In true field geologist’s form, food comes before the rocks (or at least with equal ranking). We hope that you will not consider Charlotte just a convenience on the route to greater geological pleasures, but as a destination where the history of geology in the Southeastern Section continues to grow. Welcome to Charlotte and to UNC Charlotte!