2025 Pacific Cell Friends of the Pleistocene Field Conference
Ridgecrest, California
When: 24-26 October 2025
Save the Date Announcement
Save the Date! Friends of the Pleistocene: Searles Valley Field Trip Oct 24-26, 2025
Dear colleagues,
We’re excited to announce the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Friends of the Pleistocene in Searles Valley, California happening October 24-26! This trip will revisit the 2019 Ridgecrest rupture zones and explore new data from paleoseismology, satellite mapping, shoreline chronologies, and deformation along the Garlock fault system.
Confirmed trip leaders include Steve Bacon, Ian Pierce, Sally McGill, Colin Chupik, Chris Madugo, Kathleen Rodrigues, Maggie Duncan, Fred Phillips, Chris Milliner, Ken Hudnut, and Zac Smith. We’re still recruiting additional leads—let us know if you’d like to contribute.
Our stops will include Searles Valley shorelines and lacustrine history, paleoseismic trenches, 6-year-old surface ruptures, and key Garlock fault offset sites. We have a plethora of new luminescence ages to share.
Guidebook contributions are due September 15. If you’d like to write up recent work, lead a stop, or help in any way, reply to this email or reach out to Ian or Steve.
Mark your calendars and get ready for a fantastic long weekend in the Mojave!
-Ian, Steve & the Searles Valley Beach Club
Announcement 2! (with registration details).
Ridgecrest 2025 – Friends of the Pleistocene Field Trip – Announcement 2
October 24–26, 2025
Searles Valley, California
Join us for the 2025 Friends of the Pleistocene field trip, exploring Searles Lake, the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake ruptures, and the Garlock fault.
REGISTRATION & PAYMENT LINK: https://forms.gle/QpwgCPZ1GgB1zNPA7
Highlights include:
- New ages revealing the Holocene & late Pleistocene history of pluvial Searles Lake
- Field discussions led by geoscientists who studied the 2019 sequence in real time
- Examination of Mw 6.4 and Mw 7.1 paleoseismic sites and associated deformation
- Exploration of Garlock fault slip-rate sites
- Camping under desert skies with the Searles Valley Beach Club 2025 crew
Base camp: Will be located along the Trona Rd to the southeast of Ridgecrest, CA. Exact location TBD.
Trip Leaders: Steve Bacon, Ian Pierce, Sally McGill, Colin Chupik, Chris Madugo, Ozgur Kozaci, Kathleen Rodrigues, Maggie Duncan, Fred Phillips, Chris Milliner, Zac Smith, Ken Hudnut, James Dolan
Guidebook deadline: September 15, 2025
Contact: Ian Pierce (ipiercegeology at gmail.com) or Steve Bacon (Steven.Bacon at dri.edu) for contributions, logistics, or questions
Cost – $40 per person (paid via Venmo/Cash/Zelle/Paypal, details in registration form)
Itinerary Overview
Day 1 – Northern Searles Valley & 6.4 Rupture
The morning begins with a deep dive into the late Pleistocene & Holocene lake history of Searles Lake. We’ll examine shoreline sequences, sedimentary facies, new luminescence ages and preliminary lake-level curves that record highstands. These stops provide a regional paleoclimate framework before we pivot to tectonics. In the afternoon, we’ll transition to Mw 6.4 rupture sites to discuss UAV mapping, paleoseismic results, along-strike variability, and how satellite data guided field teams during the 2019 response, with stops highlighting both principal fault traces and distributed deformation.
Day 2 – Spangler Hills & Trona Pinnacles
The morning features a visit to a splay fault outcrop and the spectacular Trona Pinnacles tufa towers, with discussions of PBRs (precariously balanced rocks) and Quaternary lacustrine deposition. In the afternoon, we’ll hike to a trench site along the Mw 7.1 rupture, examining evidence for as many as 5 repeat events and rupture morphology. The day wraps up with roadside observations of additional paleoseismic sites in the Spangler Hills area.
Day 3 – Garlock Fault & Surroundings
Our final day focuses on slip-rate and paleoseismic sites along the Garlock fault. Discussions will cover long-term slip history, offset fan measurements, and implications for fault system behavior.
Thank you!
Ian, Steve & the Searles Valley Beach Club
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