Greetings!

Joshua Schwartz, GSA Connects 2024 General Chair

It is a pleasure to welcome you to Anaheim, California, for Connects 2024, GSA’s annual meeting! Located just west of the Santa Ana Mountains and a few miles from the Pacific Ocean, Anaheim is home to stunning geology, where an ancient Mesozoic continental arc meets active faults along a modern, plate boundary. Anaheim is the perfect embodiment of the two themes of this meeting: Life Along an Active Margin and Water in Our Changing World. We hope that you will enjoy both the science of the meeting and all of the geology that Anaheim and Southern California have to offer.

GSA Connects 2024 will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center, which is one of the largest convention centers on the west coast of the United States. This scientific meeting includes 190 topical sessions, 5 Pardee Keynote Symposia, 26 short courses, and 28 field trips. The GSA team has planned plenty of engaging activities for students, early career geoscientists, and K–12 educators, and we will have a vibrant Exhibit Hall.

The Anaheim Convention Center is located within walking distance of Disneyland Resort and the Downtown Disney District. The Anaheim GardenWalk is also a short walk away and has outdoor shopping and dining options. About two miles from the convention center is the Anaheim Packing District, a culinary hub housed in a historic citrus packing house, featuring a diverse range of gourmet eateries, artisan shops, and a communal dining area. A few miles southwest of the convention center, Little Saigon is home to a vibrant Vietnamese American community with restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores, fashion boutiques, salons, and more.

Want to take a break from the meeting and see some geology? Take a drive to Crystal Cove State Park, Laguna Beach Tide Pools, or San Onofre State Beach for stunning examples of coastal landscapes and geology, including sea caves, tide pools, and sedimentary rock formations. Try hiking in the Anaheim Hills or visit Limestone Canyon Regional Park, which is a 30-minute drive from Anaheim and offers scenic hiking trails with amazing geology. The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles has a stunning collection of dinosaur fossils, gems, and minerals. If fossils are your thing, check out the world-renowned La Brea Tar Pits, where natural asphalt has seeped up from the ground for tens of thousands of years, preserving the remains of ancient animals. If you are feeling really ambitious and want to cross a plate boundary, take a day trip to the Angeles Crest Highway, where you’ll cross the San Andreas Fault and traverse from the Pacific Plate to the North American Plate. Along the drive, grab a snack at the Cosmic Café at the Mt. Wilson Observatory, where Edwin Hubble made key observations about the expanding universe. With so much geology and science to explore in Southern California, the choices are nearly endless!

We look forward to seeing you in Anaheim!

Joshua Schwartz

GSA 2024 Connects General Chair