GSA began with 100 members under its first president,James Hall. In 1889Mary Emilie Holmes became its first female member.[3] It grew slowly but steadily to 600 members until 1931, when a nearly $4 million endowment from 1930 presidentR. A. F. Penrose Jr. jumpstarted GSA's growth. As of December 2017, GSA had more than 25,000 members in over 100 countries.
The society has six regional sections inNorth America, three interdisciplinary interest groups, and eighteen specialty divisions.[4]
The stated mission of GSA is "to advance geoscience research and discovery, service to society, stewardship of Earth, and the geosciences profession". Its main activities are sponsoring scientific meetings and publishingscientific literature, particularly thepeer-reviewed journalsGeological Society of America Bulletin, published continuously since 1889, andGeology, published since 1973. In 2005, GSA introduced its online-only journalGeosphere, and in February 2009, GSA began publishingLithosphere (both also peer-reviewed).Geosphere andLithosphere are open access as of 2018. GSA's monthly news and science magazine,GSA Today,[5] is also open access online. GSA also publishes threebook series:Special Papers,Memoirs, andField Guides.[6] A third major activity is awardingresearch grants tograduate students.[7]
GSA issues Position Statements "in support of and consistent with the GSA's Vision and Mission to developconsensus on significant professional, technical, and societal issues of relevance to the geosciences community. Position Statements, developed and adopted through a well-defined process, provide the basis for statements made on behalf of the GSA before government bodies and agencies and communicated to the media and the general public."[8]
For example, in 2006, the GSA adopted a Position Statement onGlobal Climate Change:
The Geological Society of America (GSA) supports the scientific conclusions that Earth's climate is changing; the climate changes are due in part to human activities; and the probable consequences of the climate changes will be significant and blind to geopolitical boundaries. Furthermore, the potential implications of global climate change and the time scale over which such changes will likely occur require active, effective, long-term planning.
