Location
Situated on the Grand River, just east of beautiful Lake Michigan, the city of Grand Rapids is home to
approximately 600,000 people. In the Ottawa dialect, the Grand River is called Owashtanong, “Far-Flowing Water,”
a reflection on its length of 252 miles. Like the river, the history of the city is far reaching, is full of
bends, has changed course several times, and its development has broadly impacted the region. Early on, the city
was famous for its mile-long, 300-yard-wide, and 10-to-15-foot-tall rapids (which are soon to be restored!).
Because the river allowed for the transportation of logs, mills and factories soon appeared, and Grand Rapids
came to be called America’s “Furniture City” thanks to the resultant production of fine wood furniture. More
recently the city has been recognized as the center of office furniture manufacturing and the home of Gerald R.
Ford, 38th President of the United States. Today, the city is well known as the home of the world’s most
attended public art event called ArtPrize, a Top 20 U.S. Foodie City, and, for 10 years running, recognized as
Beer City USA! Geologically, Grand Rapids is centered in an elliptical, intracratonic structural basin overlying
Precambrian crystalline basement and topped with glacially deposited unconsolidated material resulting in
geologic formations that span more than 3.5 billion years. Added to the mix are an ancient failed
mid-continental rift that includes important economic deposits and the unparalleled hydrologic system of the
Great Lakes. This region is truly a water and rock wonderland. We are designing the 57th meeting of GSA’s
North-Central Section to be as diverse as the history of the region. The technical program, field trips, and
short courses cover a range of topics, including coastal processes and landforms, critical minerals, magmatism
and metamorphism, geomorphology and paleoclimate, geophysics, carbonate diagenesis, environmental geochemistry,
undergraduate and graduate student–focused sessions, K–16 earth-science education, inclusivity and anti-racism
in the geosciences, new technologies for mapping, karst of the Midwest, hydrologic processes and applications,
geobiology, and advances in mineralogy and petrology. We invite you and your guests to join us for a Meeting
in the Mitten, where we will gather in an engaging conference experience and take in the many offerings
of this unique region.
Meeting Venue
The L.V. Eberhard Center
301 Fulton St W
Grand Rapids, MI 49504
The convention will take place on the 2nd–5th floors of L.V. Eberhard Center.
L.V. Eberhard Center Virtual tours:
Registration
Early registration deadline: 27 Mar. 2023
Cancelation deadline: 3 Apr. 2023
For further information or if you need special accommodations, please
contact one of the general co-chairs, Tara Kneeshaw, kneeshta@gvsu.edu,
or Ginny Peterson, petersvi@gvsu.edu.