Aspect’s Geologists Converge in Portland for AEG 2023

Aspect’s Infrastructure Practice will be well represented at the annual meeting of Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists (AEG), taking place September 20-22 in Portland. Here’s a roundup of our staff who will present over the course of the meeting.

Technical Sessions

Site Explorations on the Swinomish Bluffs

Chip Barnett, LEG, and Aaron Fitts, LEG’s presentation Application of Sea Level Rise Estimates to Slope Stability Evaluation of Marine Bluffs, Swinomish Indian Reservation, La Conner Washington covers Aspect’s collaboration with Blue Coast Engineering and the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community to assess and understand geologic and slope conditions on over 100 residential lots on tribal land impacted by localized landslide failures. The project focuses on identifying the cause and mode of the failures, assessing coastal erosion, determining how those hazards will be worsened by rising sea levels, and prioritizing areas for monitoring and mitigation to protect the slopes and homes.

Aerial view of Swift Creek area

Aaron will also present on Managing Naturally Occurring Asbestos in Landslide Sediments and Debris Flows – Swift Creek, Whatcom County, Washington. Aaron is the lead geologist on this project for Whatcom County Public Works to address chronic sedimentation issues from landslide material containing naturally occurring asbestos within Swift Creek in rural Whatcom County.

Rock & Gravel quarry in the Wenatchee Mountains

Alec Melone, GIT, will also discuss naturally occurring asbestos in his presentation, Preliminary Naturally Occurring Asbestos Screening for Quarry Expansion: Field and Structural Studies in the Ingalls Ophiolite Complex, Central Cascades, Washington. Alec will share Aspect’s approach for assessing the contaminant and structural hazards within the Ingalls Tectonic Complex to support a 50-acre quarry expansion in the central Cascades’ Wenatchee Mountains.

Poster Presentations

Studying trees at Rialto Beach

Chelsea Bush, LG, and Monica Hill, GIT, are part of a group presenting a poster on the Landslides, Tectonic Uplift, and Coastal Erosion of the Past Several Hundred Years at Rialto Beach, Washington: Geologic Evidence and Implications for Geohazards along the Northwest Coast. The poster delves into some of the mysteries the group is trying to solve on this stretch of beach. When the project began in 2017, the main focus was the origin of a rapidly eroding terrace on the back beach, several feet above the modern beach surface, and whether it may have been formed during the 1700 Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake. Part of that work centered on determining the age of Sitka spruces on the terrace. When they learned the trees were much younger than they expected, things got interesting. Their ongoing work will help geologists determine how shoreline forests react to and recover from large-scale storms and seismic events.

Chelsea and Monica both got involved with the project as part of their master’s studies at the University of Washington. Chelsea started in 2017, focusing on landslide mapping and carbon dating of wood in the beach and landslide deposits. Later, Monica joined the group to conduct shoreline change assessment as they studied the effect that a nearby jetty/dike system at the mouth of the Quillayute River has on the rapidly eroding terrace. The poster will present an overview of the work they and many other UW Ph.D. and masters’ students have contributed to the study.

Stabilization measures in place at Washington Boulevard

Chelsea also has a poster on Aspect’s Washington Boulevard Landslide Stabilization Project with Kitsap County Public Works. Aspect worked with the County for over a decade to assess, monitor, and ultimately stabilize a roadway—and sole access to services for over 22 homes— traversing a dead-seated landslide complex along a steep coastal bluff in Kingston, Washington. The project won the American Public Works Association’s 2022 Project of the Year Award in the Disaster or Emergency Construction Repair (less than $5 million) category.

Associate Engineering Geologist Mark Swank, CEG, LEG, is the AEG Secretary, a member of their Executive Council, and a co-chair of this year’s meeting. Chip Barnett was recently elected to the AEG Board of Directors for the Pacific region and coordinated the poster sessions as part of the meeting’s planning committee. Aspect is proud to sponsor technical sessions on Collecting Geologic Data for Assessment of Potential Hazards Using Multiple Surface and Subsurface Methods Symposium, the Young at Heart Student/Young Professional Event, and the all-important All Day Coffee on Tuesday.

Meet Aaron Fitts and Jasmin Jamal!

Aaron Fitts recently joined Aspect's Bellingham office and Jasmin Jamal recently joined Aspect's Portland office.  Here are five questions we asked to get to know them better.

Aaron Fitts, LG, Staff Geologist

Aaron and 2 1/2-year-old son Arthur.

  1.  Where are you from? If you’re not from the Pacific Northwest, what brought you here? 
    I grew up in central Maine. The landscape in Maine and New England is a lot like the Pacific Northwest (PNW), except the mountains are smaller and the winters are colder. I spent all my time growing up in the woods or on the coast; I spent the summers racing bikes, surfing, and whitewater guiding, and in the winter I’d be climbing mountains, snowboarding, and cross-country skiing. It turned out that you could do all these things in the PNW too, but it’s also way more fun here!
     
  2. What inspired you to pursue geology? 
    At the end of my Junior year of college, I had completed most of the requirements for a degree in physics and found myself with just electives left for my senior year. I was a bit sick of being stuck in physics laboratories all the time and saw geology as an opportunity to spend some time outside. I took eight geology courses in one year and was able to get a dual-degree. Ironically, I ended up spending most of my time in a basement geochemistry laboratory, though, I got out enough to make it worth it. I decided that I wanted to go to grad school where I could be in landscapes a bit more exciting than the Northeast. My undergraduate advisor recommended that I contact his colleague at Western Washington University in Bellingham, telling me that it was near the coast but surrounded by mountains. That was literally all I knew about the area when I drove across the country to get here. It ended up being a good decision.
     
  3. What excites you and keeps you motivated? 
    Troubleshooting and problem-solving while working with clients, contractors, and co-workers is my favorite thing about working in this field. There’s something very satisfying about getting something complicated to work out in the end. Getting to do the type of science that I enjoy and seeing cool places at the same time is just a great bonus on top of it all.
     
  4. What do you like to do when you aren’t working? 
    Lately, my favorite activity has been reexperiencing childhood activities with my two boys (11-months and 2.5-years old). My toddler is obsessed with riding his bike and running on the trails and my infant is obsessed with anything his big brother is doing. My wife and I do our best to keep up with them, but they’re a handful. When we do find time for ourselves, we usually end up riding our bikes anyway.
     
  5. Where in the world would you like to travel next? 
    There are a lot of places around the world I’d like to visit; generally, any place with mountains, probably Chile or Argentina. Honestly though, even given the choice, I’d probably most like to just go to the Methow Valley. I really like it there.

Jasmin Jamal, EIT, Staff Engineer

Jasmin at the Trillium Falls near the Redwood National and State Parks in Humboldt County

  1. Where are you from? If you’re not from the Pacific Northwest, what brought you here?
    I am from a city called Orange, in a county called Orange, in a state called California. My life-partner Jonathon and I visited Portland a few years back and immediately agreed that this was where we needed to be. Last summer, I finished grad school, he requested a job transfer, and before we knew it, we landed in Portland!
     
  2. What inspired you to pursue environmental engineering? What made you curious about it?
    Growing up, my mom frequently took my sisters and me on camping, hiking, and biking adventures. I loved the outdoors as a kid but never imagined pursuing an environmental job as a career--I always wanted to be a teacher. During college, I stumbled upon the earth science program and fell in love. Around the time that I finished my undergrad, environmental engineering was introduced as a master’s program at my university. The variety of topics covered in the program were intriguing, so I went for it and fell in love for the second time! My interest in teaching hasn’t ceased but I envision myself now as more of a grey-haired professor.
     
  3. What excites you and keeps you motivated?
    I like the diversity behind environmental engineering and am motivated by the fact that the environment is ever changing. I hope to work in multiple areas of interest including wastewater and surface water treatment, solid waste management and design, fate and transport of chemicals, and soil and groundwater remediation.
     
  4. What do you like to do when you aren’t working?
    I enjoy hiking, biking, and camping, but I probably like all of that as much as I like being horizontal with my cat Carrie.
     
  5. What five people would be your dream party guests?
    I’m going to pick a mixture of living and dead:
    1. My Uncle Tom (deceased)
    2. Barack Obama (living)
    3. Carrie Brownstein (living)
    4. 011 from “Stranger Things” (fictional)
    5. John Muir (deceased)