Georneys

Georneys Has Moved!

2011-07-11T15:45:00.003-04:00

Georneys has a new home on the American Geophysical Union Network of Earth and Space Science Blogs.

The new url for Georneys is: http://blogs.agu.org/georneys/

Be sure to update your RSS feeds! We're currently working on moving my Google Friend Followers over to the new site. I'll give you an update on that in a day or two.

I hope that you'll continue to read Georneys over at AGU! I will keep the blogger site for Georneys up as an archive.

Geology Word of the Week: F is for Fumarole

2011-07-08T00:55:00.012-04:00

Fumarole 1. Yellowstone, Western USA, Fall 2005.

def. Fumarole:
A crustal opening, usually in the vicinity of a volcano, through which steam and other hot gases-- such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide-- are emitted. Fumarole comes from the Latin word "fumus," which means smoke. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word was incorporated into English through the French word "fumarolle" [1].

When I'm pondering my geology word of the week, I usually start by reading several definitions of the geology word which I have chosen for that particular week. My trusty geology dictionaries rarely fail me, and I also often read the word's entry (if it exists) on wikipedia (which is sometimes well-written; sometimes not) and check to see if the geology word is in the Oxford English Dictionary or OED. The OED is a great place to trace the etymology (origin and history) of a particular word. Sometimes geology words are in the OED (for instance, the words "delta" and "fumarole"), and sometimes they're not (for instance, the word "nabka"). The OED definitions are usually elegantly written, but they are not always perfectly scientifically accurate. After reading several definitions-- and sometimes sections of geology books related to a particular word-- I set everything aside and then write up my own definition. I then add a little explanation and some pictures, edit a little, and then my geology word of the week is complete!

I really try to write the geology definitions in my own words and not just copy them out of books or online sources. However, this week I find myself particularly enchanted by the OED definition of "fumarole," which is:

A hole or vent through which vapour issues from a volcano; a smoke-hole [1].

While perhaps not the most scientifically accurate and complete definition, I think that "smoke-hole" is a great way to describe a fumarole. Perhaps "gas-hole" would actually be better since a fumarole does not really release smoke from a fire but rather gases, generally hot gases generated by nearby volcanic activity. However, fumaroles do sort of look as if they are releasing fire smoke. Fumaroles often occur together in a "fumarole fields." From a distance, a fumarole field can make a landscape look as if it is on fire, or perhaps smoldering after a recent fire. Indeed, one of the largest and most famous fumarole fields occurred in Alaska in 1912 and became known as "The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes." This impressive field of thousands of fumaroles formed in gas-rich volcanic ash that covered the valley after a very large eruption of the Novarupta Volcano.

However, fumaroles do not erupt smoke, at least not proper smoke generated by the burning of something. Rather, fumaroles release hot gases such as steam (water vapor), carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide. A fumarole which releases primarily sulfur-rich gases actually has a special name: it is called a solfatara (plural: solfatare). The gases released by fumaroles are generally produced as a result of volcanic activity and are generally being released from hot, gas-rich magma or ash. Water vapor released by fumaroles could also be the result of volcanic heating of groundwater.

Below are fumarole pictures galore! Enjoy!

Here are some pictures of fumaroles that I took during a trip to Yellowstone back in 2005:

Fumarole 2. Yellowstone, Western USA, Fall 2005.

Fumarole 3. Yellowstone, Western USA, Fall 2005.

Fumarole 4. Yellowstone, Western USA, Fall 2005.

Fumarole 5. Yellowstone, Western USA, Fall 2005.

Fumarole 6. Yellowstone, Western USA, Fall 2005.


Fumarole 7. Yellowstone, Western USA, Fall 2005.

Here are some fumarole pictures and descriptions sent to me by Erik Klemetti of Eruptions:

Fumarole field at Bumpass Hell near Lassen Peak, California.
Photo courtesy of Erik Klemetti.

A fumarole near the road at the southern entrance of Lassen Volcanic National Park.
Photo courtesy of Erik Klemetti.

These aren't active fumaroles, but the pinnacles in the Crater Lake ~7700 year old
eruption deposits are fossil fumaroles formed as the tephra degassed.
The ones in this shot are along the southern entrance road to the National Park.
Photo Courtesy of Erik Klemetti.

A fumarole in a sewer grate in downtown Rotorua, New Zealand.
Photo courtesy of Erik Klemetti.

Fumarole in front of some colonial buildings along the shore of
Lake Rotorua, New Zealand. Photo courtesy of Erik Klemetti.

Here are a few more fumarole pictures from Yellowstone sent to me by Chris Rowan of Highly Allochthonous:

Beryl Spring Fumarole, Yellowstone, Western USA. Photo courtesy of Chris Rowan.

Black Growler fumarole. Yellowstone, Western USA. Photo courtesy of Chris Rowan.

Grizzly fumarole. Yellowstone, Western USA. Photo courtesy of Chris Rowan.

Reference:
1. “fumarole, n.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 7 July 2011 <http://dictionary.oed.com/>.

***Thanks very much to Erik Klemetti and Chris Rowan for pictures of this week's geology word.***

Interesting Search Terms That Found My Blog #2

2011-07-07T20:48:00.022-04:00

For the past little while, I have been keeping track of some interesting search terms that found my blog. These are just a sampling of ones that I happened across. I've put some "answers" below the search terms. Enjoy!

Also see:
Interesting Search Terms That Found My Blog #1

how to read a ternary diagram (5/22/11)
Answer: A ternary personality diagram?

geologists are cute (5/22/11)
Answer: Thanks. Yes, we are, aren't we?

baby camel pics (5/22/11)
Answer: Oh, I love baby camels! Here are some pictures for you:

Jackie and his baby camel friend. Oman, January 2010.

Baby camel close-up. Oman, January 2010.

Momma and baby camel. Oman, January 2010.

geology dress code (5/25/11)
dress code geologist at oil companies (6/23/11)
dress code calgary geologist (6/23/11)
Answer: This seems to be a popular search term that finds my blog. The recommended geology dress code is:
General: geology-themed t-shirt and teva sandals worn with socks.
Field: hiking boots, hiking pants, field shirt, hat, brunton compass, hammer, Rite-in-the-Rain notebook, and hand lens.
Industry Interview: Suit borrowed from old college friend.

i love my source located deep in the mantle (5/26/11)
Answer: Ummm... okay then.

geology lolcats (5/27/11)
Answer: My little geololcats are adorable.

zayna hunter (5/28/11)
Answer: Go away! No hunting my adorable kitty Zayna.

Zayna with mini soccer ball.

geology word of the week (5/31/11)
Answer: No problem.

geology word of the day (6/3/11)
geology word of the day (7/5/11)
Answer: Okay, now you're a little too demanding...

carbon cycle story time (5/31/11)
Answer: Yay! I love carbon cycle story time.

geology alphabet (5/31/11)
Answer: I have one of those. Working on a second one.

non fiction book about geology travels (6/1/11)
Answer: I would love to write such a book. I could title it "Georneys" after my blog. Any publishers out there?

black spotted rock (igneous) (6/2/11)
Answer: An amygdaloidal basalt, perhaps?

x is for (6/3/11)
Answer: Xenolith!

write short note on the origin of the earth (6/4/11)
Answer: Okay, your note is below. More here.

The Origin of the Earth in a Nutshell:
Our solar system evolved from the solar nebula, which was composed of stardust from extinct stars and thus rich in heavier elements relative to cosmic abundances. Likely triggered by a shockwave from a nearby exploding supernova, the solar nebula collapsed gravitationally to evolve into the solar system. The solar nebula heated up, began spinning faster, and formed into a disk. Eventually, a proto-sun formed at the dense, hot center of the young solar system. At the same time, gases and dust began to condense in the outer, cooler parts of the solar system. Heavier, more refractory elements condensed closer to the sun, forming the terrestrial planets, while hydrocarbons condensed further from the sun, forming large bodies which were able to capture gases from the solar nebula and develop into gas giant planets. At the furthest reaches of the solar system, icy planets formed from methane, water, and ammonia ice. The Earth is believed to have accreted from chondritic planetesimals about 4.567 billion years ago. Chondrite meteorites come from old, undifferentiated asteroids that have undergone very little alteration or metamorphism. Carbonaceous chondrites are rich in organic material and are the least altered and metamorphosed of the chondrites. Thus, carbonaceous chondrites are often used as the starting material for Earth in geophysical and geochemical models. Earth was mostly accreted by ~10 million years after the formation of the solar system, and there was probably significant accretion of the Earth up to ~100 million years. Towards the end of Earth's accretion, impacts between large planetesimals may have played a key role Earth's growth and development. In particular, an impact from a large, Mars-sized impactor ~30 million years after the formation of the solar system may have created the moon and a deep magma ocean on Earth. The formation of the core probably occurred gradually as Earth accreted. However, the final stage of core formation may have been aided by the descent of iron and sulfur rich melts through a molten, silicate magma ocean. Eventually, the magma ocean crystallized, and the upper Earth differentiated into an enriched, continental crust and a depleted mantle, the source for oceanic crust. Potentially, an early proto-crust may have existed early in Earth's history.

geological periods memorization (6/6/11)
Answer: I strongly recommend that you don't try to memorize the geologic Ages.

peridot is bad luck (6/6/11)
Answer: Goodness! I hope not. My engagement ring is a peridot.

uplifted oceanic snake rock (6/6/11)
Answer: Ophiolite!

in what ways are ocean basins similar to bathtub (6/7/11)
Answer: Here's a good post on eustasy in which I talk about ocean bathtubs.

rock cycle poem (6/8/11)
Answer: Well, I wrote one in 4th grade...

4th grade view of the rock cycle (6/9/11)
Answer: In poem form!

my doctoral adviser left (6/9/11)
Answer: I'm sorry. That's no fun, I know. Keep your chin up!

cool gifts for geologists (6/9/11)
Answer: Suggestions here and here.

nuclear engineer puns (6/13/11)
Answer: Don't have any of those. Will geology puns do?

technology anachronisms list (6/11/11)
Answer: Here are a few examples.

cimarec hot plate error code e12 (6/12/11)
Answer: I hate cimarec hotplates. They are bad hotplates. Also, I'm sorry, but I have no idea what the error codes mean, despite reading the manual many times.

obsidian dome california can you take a piece (6/14/11)
Answer: Not sure. Anyone know?

are u a phd candidate after qualifying exams (6/15/11)
Answer: No, u are not. But you might be.

phd qualifying geology exam blog (6/16/11)
Answer: Is that what my blog is known for? Uh-oh... hope you like Bee-Bop.

asian art birds with long tails and pics (6/16/11)
Answer: Huh. Can't help you there. But I do have some pictures of cool South African birds with long tails here and here.

why my dad is special (6/17/11)
Answer: Well, one reason my dad is special is he is really good at explaining about nuclear power.

if hot plate smells funny when it is new (6/17/11)
Answer: Then it might be a bad cimarec hotplate.

define the term rock (6/17/11)
Answer: Difficult, but can do!

jurassic park poop pile realistic (6/18/11)
Answer: No, dinosaur poop probably wasn't that gigantic.

Search terms within 20 minutes of posting C is for Coquina:
meaning of word coquina (6/18/11)
coquina on the coast of africa (6/18/11)

anyone want a meteorite (6/18/11)
Answer: Yes, please! Do you need my address?

how to use a hotplate in chemistry? (6/18/11)
Answer: Um.... you use it to heat stuff.

random (6/19/11)
Answer: How about a million random digits?

grad student lab dirty dishes (6/19/11)
Answer: Yes, we graduate students are not always good at remembering to wash our dishes in timely fashion.

" i " (6/20/11)
Answer: Ichnite!

geological term for rocks (6/20/11)
Answer: Errr... rocks?

explain: a scientist must be willing to work hard (6/20/11)
Answer: Yes, scientific perspiration is often needed.

girl and boy run away to smithsonian book (6/20/11)
Answer: That would be The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Personally, I'm running away to the Smithsonian.

random funny stuff (6/21/11)
Answer: Like a book of random digits?

chances of meteorite hitting me on my head (6/21/11)
Answer: Pretty much zero.

rocks with spots like a reverse dalmatian (6/22/11)
Answer: Amygdaloidal basalt!

how hard are mit phd qualifiers (6/23/11)
Answer: Honestly, they are quite difficult and stressful. I'm glad I never have to survive my qualifiers again!

is jurassic park scary for little 6 year old (6/23/11)
Answer: Yes, probably. But might inspire the little kid to become a paleontologist.

geologist writers (6/23/11)
Answer: Me?

rocks for jocks (6/25/11)
Answer: Is a great class.

geology is best or bed (6/25/11)
Answer: Geology. Unless I'm tired. Then bed might be better.

one word begins letter r describe employer (6/29/11)
Answer: Rock?

happy birthday evelyn (7/1/11)
Answer: Thanks, but you're a little early. My birthday isn't until January!

dinosaurs on mars world news weekly (7/2/11)
Answer: I'd love to see that cover. I've only seen the cats on Mars one!

what is brittle earth layer defined by physical properties (7/5/11)
Answer: The lithosphere.

simplest words most difficult to define (7/6/11)
Answer: It's true. Words like rock.

how to wash dishes (7/6/11)
Answer: With acid!

i got a conditional pass on phd qualifying exam (7/6/11)
Answer: Don't stress. Hug Bee-Bop.

conversation with my doctor (7/7/11)
Answer: I hope your conversation didn't go like this.

describe geologists (7/7/11)
Answer: Well, we like rocks. And we're also cute, apparently.

A Quick Note: Nuclear Dad Book is Coming!

2011-07-06T00:16:00.006-04:00

Really, I swear. The book of interviews with my dad, a nuclear engineer, about the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster is coming. I know that I promised the book back in April... and then again in June, but this time it's coming for real. I'm trying to make the formatting pretty and everything.

My plan is to release the book around-- or perhaps shortly after-- the four-month mark of the Fukushima disaster, which is coming up on July 11th. I am currently trying to coax my father into conducting a four-month follow-up interview on the current state of the Fukushima nuclear power plants. My father is very busy, but I think my coaxing is slowly working. If I manage to convince him, I will delay the book a day or two so that I can incorporate this four-month update interview.

If you'd like to hear my dad give a four-month Fukushima update, post a comment below!

And sorry for such a long delay with the book. I'm a busy grad student, and compiling these interviews has been a somewhat depressing task that I have not always been motivated to work on for hours upon hours.

Over the next few days, I am going to modify the original interview posts. I'm going to clean them up and replace the transcripts with polished, more uniform, and corrected (for transcript errors) versions. I'll start this process tonight. Watch my twitter feed (@GeoEvelyn) if you're curious as I'll announce each cleaned-up interview version as I post it. Also, if you happen to be reading the new versions of the transcripts and spot any typos or other errors, I would appreciate you letting me know before the book goes to press. Thanks!

A Swiss Fold

2011-07-05T19:53:00.001-04:00

Last week I blogged about the "Chondrite Town" of Chur in Switzerland. As I was going through my pictures from Switzerland to find the Chur picture, I came across some photographs of a spectacular Swiss fold. Of course, I was reminded of my fellow geoblogger Callan Bentley and his Friday Fold posts! If you like folds, Callan provides them a-plenty on Fridays.

Gorgeous Swiss Fold. Switzerland, June 2010.

Fold, with person in the foreground for scale. Switzerland, June 2010.

This beauty of a fold is located just behind the Verzasca Dam in Switzerland. This dam is also sometimes called the "Golden Eye" dam because in the opening scene of the movie James Bond bungee jumps off the very tall dam.

The dam is almost as impressive as the fold:

Verzasca Dam 1. Switzerland, June 2010.

Verzasca Dam 2. Switzerland, June 2010.

Verzasca Dam 3. Switzerland, June 2010.

If you want, you can even pretend to be James Bond and bungee jump off the dam yourself:

Bungee jumping at Verzasca Dam. Switzerland, June 2010.

4th of July Rocks: Red, White, and Blue

2011-07-04T21:10:00.001-04:00

Happy 4th of July, everyone! In honor of the 4th, here are some red, white, and blue rocks.
Red sandstone:

Red Standstone. Arches National Park, Utah, Fall 2005.

Newly-deposited white travertine:

Travertine forming in an alkaline pool. Oman, January 2009.

And, last but not least, brilliant bright blue kyanite crystals:

Blue kyanite. Image courtesy of Ian Stimpson's Flickr stream.

Geology Word of the Week: E is for Eclogite

2011-07-02T16:21:00.018-04:00

Eclogite from the Mariánské Lázně Complex in the west Czech Republic.
Keele collection. Check out those gorgeous pink garnets!
Photo courtesy of Ian Stimpson.

def. Eclogite:
A high-pressure, high-temperature, coarse-grained metamorphic rock consisting primarily of pink-red garnet (almadine-pyrope variety) and green pyroxene (omphacite, a sodium-rich variety). Eclogites may also contain small amounts of other high-pressure minerals such as kyanite, quartz, hornblende, and zoisite. Eclogites form when mafic rock (basalt or gabbro) descends deep within the Earth, generally at a subduction zone. Mafic rocks consist primarily of pyroxene and plagioclase (along with some amphibole and olivine). At high pressures and temperatures, the original minerals in mafic rock are squished into the more compact (denser) minerals garnet and omphacite, and the mafic rock becomes eclogite. Eclogites form when mafic rock encounters temperatures greater than ~400 degrees Celsius and pressures greater than ~12 kbar (or ~1.2 GPa). These temperatures and pressures mean that eclogites form at a minimum depth of ~40 km; some eclogites may form as deep as ~150 km. As a reference, ocean crust (which is comprised primarily of basalt and gabbro) is generally only 6-10 km thick. Because they are very dense and inclined to descend even deeper into Earth's mantle, eclogites are rarely brought to Earth's surface. Eclogites may be exposed in ophiolite sequences and other places where deep mantle rocks are brought to Earth's surface. Often, eclogites experience partial or full retrograde metamorphism as they are brought to Earth's surface. That is, if eclogites are brought to the surface slowly, their minerals may change back into minerals that are stable at lower temperatures and pressures. Sometimes, higher-pressure minerals will have rims of lower-pressure minerals around them.

Eclogites are stunningly beautiful red-green rocks that represent what happens to black basalt and green gabbro when these crustal rocks descend deep into Earth's mantle. Basalt, gabbro, and eclogite have identical chemical compositions. That is, if you crushed these three rocks and measured the proportion of different elements (for example, calcium, silicon, and iron) in these rocks, you would find that the chemical proportions of elements in these three rocks are nearly identical. However, these rocks look very different. Basalt is generally black or gray and fine-grained, meaning that the mineral crystals are very small, often too small to see with the naked eye. Sometimes, basalt may contain a few isolated, large crystals of a particular mineral, often plagioclase picked up from a magma chamber. Gabbro contains the same minerals as basalt, but because gabbro forms deeper in the crust, the mineral crystals are larger because the rock cooled more slowly, giving large crystals time to grow. Eclogite has the same chemistry as basalt and gabbro but has different minerals. Basically, the minerals in eclogite are squished (denser) forms of the minerals found in basalt and gabbro.

Basalt boulder in a garden in Madiera, Portugal.
Photo courtesy of Ian Stimpson.

A gabbro from the Bushveld Complex, Central Transvaal, South Africa. Keele
collection. The white mineral is plagioclase and the green-black mineral is pyroxene.
Photo Courtesy of Ian Stimpson.

An eclogite from the lawsonite type locality, Reed Station on the Tiburon Peninsula,
Marin County, California. Keele collection. Photo courtesy of Ian Stimpson.

Eclogite is a very interesting rock. Aside from being an absolutely gorgeous rock, eclogite is intriguing because it provides direct evidence that basalt and gabbro descend deep within the Earth. For a long time, geologists thought that perhaps a significant portion of Earth's mantle was composed of eclogite and that melting of this eclogite might produce basalts and gabbros at or near Earth's surface. Now, geologists understand that most of Earth's mantle is composed of a rock called peridotite, which consists primarily of pyroxene and olivine. Geologists also now understand that rocks rarely melt 100%. So, partial melting of peridotite to produce basalt and gabbro makes much more sense than melting of eclogite to produce these rocks. You see, to produce a basalt or gabbro from an eclogite, you would have to melt that eclogite close to 100%, which just isn't feasible on our Earth. However, eclogites still play a role in mantle melting processes (eclogite melts may mix with peridotite melts, for instance), and melting of eclogites can produce other crustal rocks, such as the somewhat unusual and weird-sounding rocks adakite and trondhjemite.

A Scottish eclogite from the Lewisian inlier, Glen Beag, Glenelg.
Keele collection. Photo courtesy of Ian Stimpson.

An eclogite from Lago Mucrone, Santuario Di Oropo, Italy.
Keele Collection. Photo courtesy of Ian Stimpson.

Eclogite from Adula Nappe, The Alps. Photo courtesy of Ron Schott.

Here is a GigaPan (a really neat picture which you can zoom in on) of an eclogite-blueschist facies mixed rock from California (GigaPan courtesy of Ron Schott):

When you look at the eclogite pictures in this post, just think: eclogites are rocks that used to be common basalts or gabbros, which then descended to incredibly great depths within the Earth, then returned to Earth's surface against all odds. Study of eclogite rocks provides important information about what happens to ocean crust after it plunges into a subduction zone and thus provides insight into very deep mantle processes. What remarkable rocks!

Metamorphic facies. Figure taken from Wikipedia Commons here. Click to view larger.

Eclogite is also the name of one of the metamorphic facies. A metamorphic facies is a region of pressure-temperature space in which characteristic metamorphic minerals form. Most eclogite facies are eclogites-- that is, they are basalts or gabbros which have experienced metamorphism at eclogite facies pressures and temperatures. However, sometimes other rock types (notably, granodiorites and pelites) may experience eclogite facies metamorphism, but these rocks are not proper eclogites, just eclogite facies rocks.

***Thanks so much to Ian Stimpson (and his incredible Flickr rock photo set!) and Ron Schott for photos for this week's geology word post.***

Bad Geology: Young Earth Creationists are Not Geologists

2011-07-01T12:44:00.010-04:00

On twitter today, @geosociety and @earthmagazine were asking if people would attend a field trip led by Young Earth Creationists-- people who believe Earth is only ~6,000 years old. The question on twitter was in response to this Earth Magazine article about Young Earth Creationists leading a field trip at a recent Geological Society of America conference. I replied that, yes, I would attend such a field trip, but only so that I could rip the Young Earth Cretationists leading the field trip to shreds.

In my opinion, if Young Earth Creationists apply to attend scientific conferences, then their abstracts should be investigated scientifically and rejected if they say Earth is only 6,000 years old or some variation of that. Of course, as geologists know, the abstracts for big conferences run by the Geological Society of America (GSA) and the American Geophysical Union (AGU) are peer-reviewed, but the review process is quick and some unsound science is bound to leak through. Geologists know that when they reference a scientific idea, it's important to reference (whenever possible) a full scientific paper, which undergoes much more rigorous review, than a conference abstract, which goes through much less rigorous review and is also much shorter (usually a paragraph or two) in content.

If Young Earth Creationists do attend geology conferences and present their ideas, then they should have to defend those ideas scientifically. And, frankly, since the Earth being young is scientifically WRONG, these Young Earth Creationists should be ripped to shreds after they present their ideas. I mean, if scientists can nearly break out into fist fights over competing scientific theories on the origin of komatiites, then just imagine what kind of brawls could break out if mainstream geologists were to take on Young Earth Creationists and their very unscientific theories at a conference.

I think it's very important that mainstream geologists take a stand against Young Earth Creationists when they attend events such as the GSA meeting. The problem is not that Young Earth Creationism will seep into mainstream geology. Scientists understand that an AGU abstract is just an AGU abstract. Bad abstracts slip through, and very few scientific ideas are presented solely in an abstract. Mainstream scientific ideas must be further defended in a more extensive publication. When Young Earth Creationism starts to be published as science in journals such as Nature or Earth and Planetary Science Letters, then I'll be concerned. The problem is different. You see, the general public may not understand that an abstract is just an abstract. They may not realize that 99.9% of geologists (or 100% of the real geologists) attending GSA or AGU think Young Earth Creationism is scientifically absurd. So absurd, in fact, that perhaps these mainstream scientists will simply ignore Young Earth Creationists at a conference rather than waste their time challenging them.

However, what the general public might see is that these Young Earth Creationists "geologists" presented their work at a fancy-sounding conference. The general public might look at an abstract reference and think that it is an important scientific paper. Abstracts are often published in mainstream journals, and even I have to take a close look to realize when a publication is just a conference abstract (usually in a supplemental journal volume) rather than a regular-length, fully peer-reviewed scientific publication. This might lend credibility to Young Earth Creationism-- not among scientists but among the general public. That is something that geologists-- real geologists-- must not tolerate.

Below is a scathing article about Young Earth Creationists which I wrote on Skepchick back in 2007 here. I apologize for the harsh tone of the article. Actually, no I don't. This harsh tone is just what Young Earth Creationists should be faced with at scientific geology meetings, in my opinion.

Note that there have been a couple of changes since I wrote this post. First, I'm taken fellas. Sorry. And not just by my rocks. Second, I have recently left the Skepchick group blog. The main reason I left Skepchick is that Georneys is moving to a professional blogging platform. I'll make a more formal announcement about the move in a few days. I want to ensure that Georneys continues to (I hope) be an excellent geology blog, so I just don't have the time to put into Skepchick anymore. Finally, after two years of working on an argon geochronology project, I decided (for complex reasons) to leave both the project and my advisor. However, I moved on to another research project with a significant geochronology component. For my PhD thesis, I have used carbon dating and uranium-series dating to determine ages of carbonate rocks, and I have also used cosmogenic helium dating to determine the exposure ages of peridotite bedrock. Uranium-series dating is even more work than argon dating, if you can believe it.

Without further ado, here's how I attacked the Young Earth Creationists back in 2007:

Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, Utah, Fall 2005. The rock formation in
which the arch formed is older than 6,000 years. Not too surprising, considering
that most rocks on Earth are older than 6,000 years.

I am generally a nice person. I am polite and patient, and I try to listen to people, even when I disagree with them. I do not normally hate people. I am an atheist but I also consider myself a humanist. If you’re a human and you aren’t responsible for a mass genocide, I generally won’t hate you. I may not like you, but I won’t hate you.

However, my polite, patient, human-loving streak reached a breaking point today. I have decided that I hate Young Earth Creationist “geologists.” In my opinion, you CANNOT be a geologist if you do not accept that THE EARTH IS APPROXIMATELY 4.5 BILLION YEARS OLD. I’ll say that one more time: In my opinion, you CANNOT be a geologist if you do not accept that THE EARTH IS APPROXIMATELY 4.5 BILLION YEARS OLD.

You don’t have to believe every geological theory to be a geologist. That’s one great aspect of science– theories change, and scientists often harbor different opinions. However, I am comfortable saying with 100% confidence that the Earth is older than 6,000 years old. Most geologists feel this way, too. Geology makes sense when the Earth is old. Geology does not make sense when the Earth is young. There are too many contradictions, and the processes shaping the planet happen too slowly to create the features we observe in a mere few thousand years. Earth was molded over BILLIONS of years.

I am willing to compromise somewhat. You can disagree about how old certain continents are and can debate the ages of sedimentary layers and certain volcanoes. However, if you believe that the Earth is 6,000 years old, that’s a deal-breaker for me. You can’t possibly be a good geologist– or be a geologist at all these days– without appreciating that the Earth is very, very old and that geological processes occur slowly over long periods of time. If I become a professor and ever have a geology student who believes Earth is only 6,000 years old, I will kick that student out of my program. Period.

Why am I so worked up about Young Earth Creationist “geologists” tonight? Because of an excellent article in the most recent New York Science Times featuring a Young Earth Creationist.. “Dr.” (I cannot bring myself to call him a real doctor) Ross has a Ph.D in paleontology from the University of Rhode Island, but he believes that the Earth is only 6,000 years old. How is that possible? How can one possibly be a good paleontologist if one believes the Earth is so young? There’s no way the Earth’s fossil record could have been produced in such a short time period!

What cracks me up, actually, is the biography on “Dr.” Ross’s website:

Marcus Ross has loved paleontology (especially dinosaurs) since he was a kid growing up in Rhode Island. He has continued pursuing this passion, currently researching about a group of extinct marine reptiles called mosasaurs. He is greatly interested in issues surrounding the creation-evolution controversy and the intersection of geology with the Biblical events of creation and Noah’s Flood.

Interesting contradictions here. So, “Dr.” Ross accepts that animals go extinct. Doesn’t that mean that he accepts evolution? So, where’s the controversy? Mosasuars = extinct = evolution happens. End of story, in my book. Yet, “Dr.” Ross later states that he’s interested in the creation-evolution controversy. I wish a Mososaur would eat “Dr.” Ross… or at least frighten him into scientific enlightment.

As for the intersection of geology with Biblical events of creation… well, the science is totally gone here. Why? Becuase The Bible is not a scientific text. The Bible is not a historical record. The Bible is not a valid reference for a scientific paper, for a geological paper. Actually, I think that there is some merit to considering geological explanations for events which happened in The Bible, which I personally consider to be a work of fiction inspired by actual events, here and there. Certainly, there have been large floods in the Middle East in the past. Could one of these be a Biblical flood? Sure. Why not? I’m sure geologists and Biblical historians have considered the possibilities. But that’s all they are-- possibilities. They are possible inspirations for a fictional work.

Why else am I so worked up about “Dr.” Ross and his Young Earth Creationist “geologist” friends? Currently, I date rocks for a living. In my free time, I try to date men, but mostly I’m dating rocks these days. More formally, I am a graduate student in training to become an argon-argon isotope geochronologist. Basically, I am learning how to use argon isotopes to determine dates for rocks.

I am learning that dating rocks and minerals is no easy task. For instance, this spring [note: Spring 2007] I am working on obtaining ten dates from a group of volcanic rocks from the Ninetyeast Ridge, a 5000 km long hotspot track in the Indian Ocean. I anticipate that my samples will range in age from about 40 million to 80 million years old. These ten age dates are going to require a solid three months of my time. Not just three months of ordinary, 9 to 5 labwork either. I am working 60+ hour weeks, and I’m also trying to do some homework now and then between samples. The past week has been particularly grueling as we (two of us–- I’m working with the lab supervisor) are trying to prepare a group of samples to send off to the nuclear reactor we use to turn potassium into argon, an important step in the argon-argon dating process. For the past week, I’ve been working 14-15 hour days during the week. On the weekend, I took it easy… I worked for six hours on Saturday and for eleven hours on Sunday. Monday morning I was back at lab at 9 am, and I just returned home now (Tuesday) at 2 in the morning. Once we ship the samples off to the reactor next week, my schedule will relax again, and I’ll only work 8 to 10 hour days.

I work very hard as a geochronologist. There are many people like me who work extremely hard to produce these dates of rocks and minerals. Theoretically, someone with a Ph.D in geology appreciates how difficult these dates are to obtain and understands the science behind the isotopic dating systems. I just don’t understand how a well-educated geologist could be a Young Earth Creationist. I am angry because here is someone who is clearly NOT a very good geologist but who has GOOD geological credentials… and he’s essentially trying to discredit what is swiftly becoming my life’s work. I feel insulted, personally, by people like “Dr.” Ross. I work hard, every day, to better understand the Earth. I work hard, very hard, to obtain concrete dates for my rocks. Having a Ph.D geologist tell me that Earth is only 6,000 years old is absurd and makes me very angry and also very, very sad.

Another day, I’ll address some of the criticisms creationists have for isotopic dating. For now I’ll just say that while some of their criticisms are valid, their interpretations of these criticisms are extreme. Geochronologists are able to constrain their errors. They have estimates of all of the uncertainties and take these uncertainties into consideration when reporting ages. For instance, the dates I will ultimately report for my volcanic rocks will be on the order of 50 million years, and I’ll probably know the dates to within a million years or so. Not an exact age, sure, but I can at least say with certainty that my lavas were erupted more than 6,000 years ago.

Maybe I should just give up and make my life easier. Do I really want to spend another fourteen hours in lab tomorrow? Not really. I’ll just make up ages for my rocks (5,000 years, 3,000 years, 5005.77 years) and call my story good. Maybe I’m beginning to understand the creationists… certainly, my work as a geochronologist would be easier if the Earth really were a mere 6,000 years old. And, hey, I can always land a job at a conservative Christian college, right? Ugh. I’ll stick with my isotopes.

***I labeled this post "Bad Geology" because I may take on more geological nonsense (healing crystals, catastrophism, aliens creating desert glass, etc.) in the future. I thought it would be convenient to search for all these posts under the "Bad Geology" label.***

Accretionary Wedge #35: Favorite Geology Words

2011-07-01T00:18:00.007-04:00

As many of you know, I hosted the Accretionary Wedge Geoblog Carnival for June, and I asked What's Your Favorite Geology Word? Turns out, many of you have favorite geology words! Geologists-- like many scientists, I suppose-- are fond of their jargon. Personally, I'm so fond of jargon that I blog about a geology word every week. I love many geology words, but if I had to pick an absolute favorite, it's ophiolite.

Thanks so much to everyone who participated and shared a favorite geology word! The words are listed below, in the order in which they were posted. If I somehow missed your word, please let me know in the comments, and I'll add it.

Jazinator of The Geology P.A.G.E. likes the Icelandic word jökulhlaup.

Reynardo of Musings of the Midnight Fox wrote a wonderful poem about the word volcano.

The Short Geologist of Accidental Remediation says that varves are not flashy, but they sure are pretty!

Ryan of Glacial Till says that he loves many geology words, but that welded tuff has to be one of his favorite geology phrases.

Jessica of Magma Cum Laude thinks autobrecciation is a really cool process-- and she explains it very well, too!

Callan of Mountain Beltway is fond of the word boudinage, especially when said with "a heavy French accent and a leering, dirty expression."

Ian of Hypo-theses thinks crozzle has a great sound to it. I agree! What a fun word-- almost sounds like a Dr. Suess word or maybe a something that a Jaberwocky might encounter.

Denise of Life as a Geologist likes the word mylonite (or Míléngyáng in Chinese). She shares a beautiful Chinese poem with us and also some pictures of mylonites from Hong Kong.

Dana of En Tequila es Verdad seduced us with subduction.

David of History of Geology really likes geology, in several languages!

Shockingly, Chris of Highly Allochthonous likes the word allochthonous. His co-blogger Ann also likes the word allochthonous but for different reasons.

I swear that Brian of Clastic Detritus made up the word geophantasmogram. But I love the word anyway! I think Brian wins the internet (at least the geology part of the internet) with this word.

Jefferson of Anisotropic Reflections likes the folded rocks that hang out in an anticlinorium.

Elli of Life in Plane Light tells a wonderful story about how she first learned the word disthen.

Suvrat of Rapid Uplift came up with a word I cannot pronounce: primarrumf. I'm going to go ahead and pronounce the word "pirate's rump" like Suvrat's friend.

Silver Fox of Looking for Detachment tells us why she likes detachment. Also, she says everyone should become friends with Detachment Fault on Facebook.

Ron of the Geology Home Companion Blog had a little trouble settling on a favorite word but finally went for Tavurvur.

Mika of GeoMika thinks that rheology is an ugly word for a pretty science, but I disagree. I think rheology is a very pretty word. Rhea is also one of my favorite girls' names!

Andrew of About Geology wrote about palinspastic. Interestingly, this was the very first geology word I blogged about during my previous (failed) attempts to keep up with the geology word of the week on Skepchick, a skeptical blogging group which I have recently left.

Simon writes about why he likes the word porphyroblast over at Earth Science Erratics.

Chuck of Lounge of the Lab Lemming is fond of the word sphene but not of that horrible "T-word."

John of Geologic Musings in the Taconic Mountains also likes the word jökulhlaup.

Selim of GeoSelim explains why he likes the word isopach.

A Life-Long Scholar really likes mountains and the word orogenesis.

Julia of Stages of Succession cheated and picked two words: bioturbation and turbidite. It's okay, Julia. I can't really decide what my favorite geology word is, so I blog about one every week.

G of Gioscience also likes mountains, I assume, with a favorite word of orogeny. Did you hear that time that Antarctica Africa, and South America were caught in a three-way orogeny? Shocking, I tell you!

MyPhyz likes (in the comments) the word unconformity.

MK of Research at a Snail's Pace is also fond of bioturbaton.

Tannis of Tannis Likes Rocks is fascinated by geohistory.

Finally, Jacquelyn starts a new blog called The Contemplative Mammoth with a post about playing with gyttja mud.

Thanks again to all the participants! If you have other favorite geology words, post them in the comments!

Chondrite Town

2011-06-30T00:35:00.000-04:00

The road to the chondritic uniform reservoir. Switzerland, June 2010.

Last June I spent ten days in Switzerland and Italy exploring the geology of The Alps as part of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's annual Geodynamics Program. As we were driving one day on the trip, several geochemists in the group became very excited about the above sign. Apparently, the mysterious chondritic uniform reservoir (CHUR) is located in Switzerland! We tried our best to persuade our instructors that we should visit this important Earth reservoir, but we were told that Chur is a charming little Swiss town, not a place where we could find chondrites. So, we continued our drive to the mountains, but not before I snapped a photo as we passed a sign for Chur.

***For those who are not familiar, chondrites are primitive, stony meteorites that have not undergone significant melting or differentiation. Thus, chondrites are considered the original "starting material" for planet Earth, which scientists believe formed through accretion of chondritic bodies. The Earth probably started out as roughly chondritic then underwent chemical differentiation. To put it simply, the heavy stuff sunk to the center of the Earth (the core) and the lighter stuff floated to the top of the Earth (the crust) and the medium stuff stayed in the middle (the mantle). For long-lived chemical systems (for example, the samarium-neodymium isotope system), geochemists like to think about how these chemical systems may have evolved over the ~4.54 billion year history of the Earth. Often, geochemists like to compare the evolution of certain chemical systems to a baseline. One baseline that is sometimes used is CHUR-- the chondritic uniform reservoir. The chemical composition of CHUR is based on the average chemical composition of chondritic meteorites. Where do we obtain these chondrites, if planets differentiated? Well, not all bits and pieces of the original chondrite parent bodies were incorporated into planets, which then differentiated. Some chondrite bits and pieces survived and have been zooming around our solar system. Chondrites often fall to Earth as meteorites, where they are sometimes recognized. Since these meteorites are stony, they look like Earth rocks and are tricky to tell apart. There could be one in your backyard! Most chondrite meteorites are found in places where there are few rocks, such as in deserts and in Antarctica.***

Dinosaur Bone Hunting with Nobel Laureates

2011-06-28T04:22:00.011-04:00

Yesterday afternoon I went on a dinosaur bone hunting trip in Livingston, Montana with paleontologist Jack Horner. Okay, so we didn't really go on a proper dinosaur bone hunting trip. Rather, we went on a short tour of a dinosaur digsite in Livingston, Montana. The digsite is in the Morrison Sandstone-- a formation known for being a rich source of dinosaur bones-- and is in a place where they have discovered several sauropod skeletons. Jack was kind enough to let us dig around a bit on the site to see if we could find any new sauropod bones sticking out of the sandstone. I didn't find any new bones, but Jack let me hold the cast of a bone that was discovered earlier. Sauropod bones are enormous. This one was nearly as big as I am!

Jack Horner, Me, and a cast of a Sauropod bone.
Livingston, Montana, June 2011.

So, visiting a dinosaur digsite with Jack Horner alone is an incredibly awesome way to spend an afternoon. However, I was also fortunate enough to visit the digsite with four-- yes, four!-- Nobel Laureates in physics (Murray Gell-Mann, Dick Taylor, Bob Wilson, and Sheldon Glashow), two-- yes, two!-- astronauts as well as people accomplished in other fields (writing, dance, music, fashion design, and so on) who were all out in Montana for the "Adventures of the Mind" program. This program brings together bright, promising high school students with "adult doers and dreamers."

The "Adventures of the Mind" Program ended this past weekend, but many of the adult participants stayed in Bozeman, Montana for an extra two days to attend a couple of fundraiser events. The first event was a reception and a panel on cosmology at the Museum of the Rockies. The panel consisted of the four Nobel Laureates in physics and was moderated by accomplished physicist Lisa Randall. The second event was a behind-the-scenes tour of the dinosaur exhibit-- as well as of the dinosaur bone preparation and storage areas-- led by Jack Horner and some of his graduate students. The museum tour was followed by a drive out to Livingston to visit the sauropod digsite. So, I spent the past two days surrounded by incredibly smart scientists-- and other smart people accomplished in other fields-- and some somewhat wealthy folks. And we spent a great amount of time looking at DINOSAURS. These past two days, I feel that I died and went to science heaven. I had a fantastic time.

One of Jack's graduate students chats about sauropods.
Livingston, Montana, June 2011.

Murray Gell-Mann and I at the digsite. Livingston, Montana, June 2011.

So why, you might ask, did I attend this event? No, I am not secretly wealthy... or a dinosaur expert... or a Nobel Laureate... the story is long and somewhat complex. Perhaps I'll tell it sometime. I'll just tell you the beginning right now. The story begins, "Well, I used to work for a magician..."

This particular magician has many scientist friends. A friend of this magician-- who is now also my friend-- invited me up for the event. And I just couldn't say no to meeting Jack Horner and the others!


Murray Gell-Mann checks out a dinosaur bone in preparation. Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, Montana, June 2011.

Dinosaur eggs (dark black) in a chunk of rock coated in white plaster
for protection. Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, Montana, June 2011.

A closer view of a dinosaur egg (dark black).
Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, Montana, June 2011.

My head is actually reeling from all of the wonderfully brilliant people I have met over the past two days. I had to explain my thesis research several times to some very smart people, and I found that a little overwhelming and intimidating. I think I managed to explain my research fairly well, however. I hope so. Most recently, I had a long chat with Bob Wilson about my thesis research. I kept thinking to myself, "Wow! I can't believe Bob Wilson is actually asking me questions about my thesis!"

You may have heard of Bob, or at least his research. He received his Nobel prize in physics for accidentally discovering cosmic microwave background radiation associated with the Big Bang. He and his research colleagues did not expect to find this radiation, and so at first they thought it might be trouble with their instrument. They devoted quite a bit of effort to removing any possible interferences to their instrument, including scaring away some pigeons that had roosted in their instrument and removing the associated pigeon excrement. The removal of the pigeon poop made no difference, however. The radiation was still there, and shortly thereafter was recognized as concrete evidence supporting the Big Bang theory.

Bob Wilson and I. Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, Montana, June 2011.

I've had a blast these past few days! I owe my friend-- and my magician friend-- a big thank-you. I'm honored that I was able to attend this event.

Tomorrow, it's back to Laramie and back to work on my thesis!

***As an aside, I think it's finally time to upgrade my little, ancient point-and-shoot camera, which has not been impressing me recently with its quality (or lack thereof). I'm actually going to visit my magician friend in Las Vegas in July, so I'm going to treat myself to a new camera before then. Let me know if you have any good suggestions for affordable digital cameras. I think I want to buy another point-and-shoot for now since I'm not quite ready yet to spring for a real camera.***

Geology Word of the Week: D is for Delta

2011-06-23T23:58:00.020-04:00

The Nile Delta as seen from Earth orbit. Photo courtesy of
NASA and taken from Wikipedia here.

def. Delta:
1. The fourth letter of the Greek alphabet (uppercase Δ, lowercase δ).
2. A popular US airline with questionable service (except for those delicious little snacks they serve with your drink), often-delayed flights, and a hilarious in-flight safety video.
3. A triangle-shaped deposit of sediment that forms where a river or stream flows into an ocean, lake, or other large, standing body of water.

Deltas are beautiful landforms, especially when viewed from above. Roughly triangular in shape, deltas are full of complex, wonderful detail: swirling, multi-colored sediments broken by serpentine, miniature river channels. Composed of soft sediment and other alluvium, deltas are shapeshifters: depositing, drifting, building up here, washing away there. Deltas form and evolve at the mercy of both river (or stream) and ocean (or other large, standing body of water). They change with the seasons and with the years, based on waterflow and tides and weather and-- in recent years-- human influences, such as dams and levees. Deltas are almost chimera landforms: ephemeral, constantly changing. Despite the shapeshifting, many deltas remain in the same location-- more-or-less-- for millennia, building up thick, rich sediment deposits that are generally good places to live and grow food and which are also greatly valued by geologists trying to understand past climate conditions and ancient river-flow.

A delta in Bangaladesh. Image courtesy of Peter Clift.

Ganges River Delta. Image courtesy of Peter Clift.

Deltas form when faster-moving, channeled water in a river or stream meets a standing (or still) body of water such as an ocean or lake. Fast-moving waters are able to carry a significant amount of sediment with them as they travel. However, slower-moving waters carry less sediment, and in still waters most sediment will drop out, falling to the bottom of the body of water. Certainly, even still bodies of water such as oceans and lakes contain some sediment. However, they are able to hold much less sediment than a fast (or even slow) moving river or stream. When a river or stream enters a standing body of water, the water spreads out and the velocity of the water drops, along with the carrying capacity of that water for sediment. The large amounts of sediment that drop out because of the velocity change form the soft delta.

Often, deltas have a roughly triangular shape-- hence the name. The Greek historian Herodotus (484 BC - 425 BC) noticed that the sediments deposited at the mouth of the Nile River in Egypt formed a roughly triangular shape, like the Greek letter delta. So, Herodotus starting calling the mouth of the Nile a delta [1].
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word "delta" was first used in English to describe the Nile River in 1555 and was used as a broader term for the sedimentary feature starting in the late 1700s [2].

However, not all deltas are triangular in shape. Many deltas are roughly triangular because rivers slow down and fan out-- often branching into smaller streams amidst the delta sediments-- when they reach a standing body of water. However, the shape of a delta really depends on various depositional and erosional forces, including the river but also including forces such as waves and tides [1]. Where river forces dominate, the sediments are more aggressively deposited, and the delta extends out into the standing body of water as a lobe or long arm. Where tidal erosion is significant, deltas tend to be very smaller and cut off sharply at the shoreline. Where wave action dominates, deltas tend to have smooth, arc shapes. There are other factors that influence delta shape as well. For example, along the ocean, large deltas can really only form in places where there are broad continental shelves to support them. If there is a steep drop-off close to where a river meets the ocean, it will be more difficult for sediments to build up into a large delta. And, as I mentioned, deltas are also shapeshifters-- if any of the depositional or erosional features change over time, a delta may change shape. Sometimes, if the river moves on, a delta may disappear altogether, partly washed away, often buried and preserved as a thick sedimentary layer in the geologic record.

While deltas are perhaps most impressive when viewed from above, they can also be intriguing up-close. Below are some field pictures from my friend Peter Clift, who works in deltas all over the world. These photos are from some work Peter did in the Indus Delta in Pakistan.

Soft sediment deformation. Photo courtesy of Peter Clift.

Chani Dora boats. Photo courtesy of Peter Clift.

Khobar fishing boats. Photo courtesy of Peter Clift.

Here are a few more pictures of deltas from geobloggers Ron Schott and Brian Romans:

Delta deposits in Ontario. Photo courtesy of Ron Schott.

Braided river and delta in Washington State.
Photo courtesy of Brian Romans.

Glacial outwash delta in Svalbard, Norway. Photo courtesy of Brian Romans.

A closer look at the glacial outwash delta. Svalbard, Norway.
Photo courtesy of Brian Romans.

Tidally-influenced delta in Svalbard, Norway. Photo courtesy of Brian Romans.

References:

1. Prothero, Donald and Schwab, Fred. 2004. Sedimentary Geology: An Introduction to Sedimentary Rocks and Stratigraphy (Second Edition). New York: W. H. Freeman and Co.

2. “delta, n.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 23 June 2011 <http://dictionary.oed.com/>.

A Different Kind of Life on Mars

2011-06-23T00:13:00.006-04:00

Note: For the next couple of weeks, I am going to be fairly busy. This past weekend I started (finally) finishing up the book in which I compile all the interviews I carried out with my dad about the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Disaster. I've been listening to all the interviews again, cleaning up the transcripts, and writing a couple of background chapters. The task is taking me longer than I expected because, frankly, it is somewhat depressing to listen to all of the Fukushima interviews again. I can only handle one or two before I need to take a break. I am persevering, though. I am also busy working on a couple of super secret (for now) guest blog pieces. I'm also doing my regular graduate school work for ~8-9 hours a day. As I work on these other projects, I am going to limit my regular blogging to the geology word of the week and the occasional picture of my summer digs in Laramie, Wyoming. So, to keep my blog readers entertained over the next few weeks, I am going to re-post some geology posts that I wrote on Skepchick before I started a geology blog. The second post is below. This post originally appeared on Skepchick in 2007 here. Enjoy!

Weekly World News Cover taken from here.

When I was a sophomore in college [note: in 2004], I went on a field trip to Death Valley and Owens Valley with my volcanology class over spring break. At the time, everyone was very excited about the Mars rovers, which had landed on Mars just a few months before. I was buying a soda in a grocery store and saw the above “Weekly World News,” a fine newspaper that I read on a regular basis. By “read” I mean that I usually skim it while waiting in line at supermarket checkouts. When I saw the issue above, though, I just had to buy a copy.

I was heading over to a pizza restaurant to meet my classmates and professors for dinner. I couldn’t resist a little joke. I ran into the restaurant, looking frazzled and excited, the newspaper safely behind my back. I was a little late to dinner, so almost everyone was already seated and calmly looking over the menus.

“You won’t believe the news!” I exclaimed. “They just announced that they found life on Mars!”

Immediately, the table was astir. Everyone started talking at once, and I noticed that one of my friends turned around to look at the news on the TV behind him. He was looking for a Mars story, no doubt.

Finally, one of the professors asked, genuinely, “Was it a microbe? How did they identify it?”

“No,” I replied. “It’s even bigger than a microbe. It’s a macro-organism.” I hoped that I wasn’t making the word “macro-organism” up, but it didn’t seem to bother anyone.

There was more excited chatter.

“How big was it?” one of my classmates asked.

“Well, forget pizza,” another of my classmates said. “I’m going back to the hotel to watch the news.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “Look, I brought the story with me.”

I dramatically revealed the “Weekly World News” issue shown above. I think it was good that no one had food or water yet or else I would have been pummeled. As it was, the person nearest me threw his empty glass at me.

Aside from illustrating a good prank to pull on your scientifically-minded friends, the story above illustrates that finding life on Mars is a very exciting possibility. I think that it’s something that both scientists and non-scientists can get worked up about. I know that whenever I read an article supporting evidence for life– or even just running water– on Mars, I become very excited. I think: gosh, if there’s life only a couple of planets away, what other life could possibly out there?

I’m not an expert in extraterrestrial biology, so I won’t comment too much on this article on a different kind of life on Mars* aside from saying that I think the possibility of a different, hydrogen pyroxide-based form of life on Mars perhaps makes sense. I wouldn’t be surprised if scientists one day-- hopefully soon-- discover this form of life on Mars. Boy, will the creationists be in for it then. Or perhaps God had some time to populate Mars on Sunday?

Anyway, I don’t see why there shouldn’t be very different forms of life in the universe. I once saw an episode of “The X-Files” (I think it was Season 2) where Scully and Mulder uncovered a new form of silica-based life in a volcano. The spores of this silica-based life form would grow into an organism inside people and then burst through people’s throats and stomachs releasing a new batch of spores. I don’t think I need to worry too much about silica-based parasite spores on my volcanology trips, but silica-based life in general doesn’t sound too unrealistic. After all, silicon is an even more common element than carbon. And life based on hydrogen peroxide liquid instead of water? Maybe not so far fetched, at least on Mars.

Scientists now know of hundreds of organisms living in conditions so extreme that fifty years ago biologists would have said, across that board, that life wasn’t possible in such extreme environments. Now, scientists know of micro-organisms that live everywhere from boiling, acidic hotsprings in Yellowstone to the insides of rocks in the harsh, cold, dry valleys of Antarctica to highly-alkaline pools in Oman deserts**. Entire biological communities based on sulfur energy instead of sunlight energy were discovered at the bottom of the ocean in the 1970s. These hydrothermal vent communities continue to impress and amaze.

So, who knows? I hope there is life on Mars, and I hope we find it. And if these Mars cats are real, I want one. My childhood cat passed away this summer. Currently, I’m avoiding animals*** as my busy schedule doesn’t allow me to take care of a houseplant properly, let alone a living creature. I’d make an exception for a Mars cat, though. I’d just have to take him to the office with me.

*Note: The original CNN link is now broken, so I found a different article to reference.

**I couldn't resist adding the life in alkaline pools in Oman-- something I've seen first-hand during my 2009 and 2010 field seasons for my thesis research. In these highly alkaline (pH 11-12) pools in Oman, there are sometimes even fish and little, strange-looking, crab-like critters!

***In 2009, I adopted my two adorable kitties, Zayna (with the mustache) and Samira (calico). They're from a Martha's Vineyard shelter, though... not from Mars.

And now, a perfect excuse to post pictures of my adorable cats:

Zayna on the bed.

Samira on the sofa.

Snuggling together.

Sorry, Folks, but Callan was Attacked by a T-Rex

2011-06-21T13:54:00.001-04:00

This morning I had the pleasure of meeting up with Callan Bentley of Mountain Beltway. After several months of interacting on the internet, it was great to meet up in real life! I hope to meet some more of my fellow geobloggers over the next year or so.

Unfortunately, shortly after we met up, Callan was attacked by a T-Rex in the University of Wyoming Geology Museum:

A T-Rex attacks Callan.

Fortunately, Callan managed to escape, and we were able to tour the rest of the museum and have a sandwich afterward. Safe travels to Montana, Callan!

Limestone, Wildflowers, and Big Sky: A Wyoming Trail Run

2011-06-21T01:47:00.004-04:00

I arrived in Wyoming last Sunday, and I'll be here for two months working with one of my advisors. I haven't had too much time to explore yet, but today (Monday) I went on a beautiful trail run*. Wyoming really is beautiful. I enjoy all the quiet, wide-open spaces. Here are a few pictures from today's trail run:

Wyoming big sky 1.

Start of the trail.

The trail.

Phil Plait's astronomy dreamhouse.

Wyoming big sky 2.

Wyoming big sky 3.

Wyoming big sky 4.

Along the trail, I found some interesting limestone (not sure which unit; still have to learn the local geology):

Limestone trail 1.

Limestone trail 2.

Limestone trail 3.

Limestone rock 1.

Limestone rock 2.

Limestone rock 3.

There were also some pretty flowers:

Wildflowers 1.

Wildflowers 2.

Finally, I made it to the top of the trail:

Cairn at the top of the trail.

Windswept, tired self-portrait.

Where there was a beautiful valley view:

Valley view 1.

Valley view 2.

And then I ran all the way back down again as the sun began to set... what a beautiful run!

Wyoming big sky 5.

Wyoming big sky 6.

Wyoming big sky 7.

*Okay, so really a run/walk with frequent picture stops, since I'm a tad out of shape and also not yet fully accustomed to running at 7,000+ ft.

Forget Rent... I'm Moving to the Smithsonian

2011-06-19T23:50:00.017-04:00

Note: For the next couple of weeks, I am going to be fairly busy. This weekend I started (finally) finishing up the book in which I compile all the interviews I carried out with my dad about the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Disaster. I've been listening to all the interviews again, cleaning up the transcripts, and writing a couple of background chapters. The task is taking me longer than I expected because, frankly, it is somewhat depressing to listen to all of the Fukushima interviews again. I can only handle one or two before I need to take a break. I am persevering, though. I am also busy working on a couple of super secret (for now) guest blog pieces. I'm also doing my regular graduate school work for ~8-9 hours a day. As I work on these other projects, I am going to limit my regular blogging to the geology word of the week and the occasional picture of my summer digs in Laramie, Wyoming. So, to keep my blog readers entertained over the next few weeks, I am going to re-post some geology posts that I wrote on Skepchick before I started a geology blog. The first post is below. This post originally appeared on Skepchick in 2006 here. Enjoy!

Elephant in the Rotunda, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Picture taken from wikipedia here.

There is nothing better than having an empty museum all to yourself. If I ever become wealthy, I think that I’ll rent out the great museums of the world at odd hours so that I can quietly appreciate them. Or maybe I’ll just hone my burglary skills and sneak it at night. I’m not interested in stealing anything, just enjoying the richness of the exhibits without all the lines, tourists, and misbehaving toddlers.

One of my favorite books from childhood is From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, a book about a little girl and her brother who run away from home and live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a week or so. After all of the tourists go home for the day, the two children have the run of the museum, bathing in the public fountain, sleeping in an antique bed in one of the exhibits, and generally having a good time with all of the artwork and artifacts. After reading this book, I nearly packed a bag and ran away to the nearest big museum, which fortunately was several hours away. Running away from home is not easily accomplished by an eight-year-old stuck in rural New Hampshire with no public transportation.

Just over a year ago [Note: in 2005 since this is a re-post], I was again ready to run away from home (well, from my apartment, I guess…) and move into a museum. More specifically, I was ready to move into the Smithsonian Department of Mineral Sciences, the behind-the-scenes home of the thousands of rocks, minerals, and gems which are not on public display. Far less than 1% of the Smithsonians mineral collection is on display for the public. The reason there is so little on display relates to space constraints, not to lack of impressive specimens.

There are hundreds upon hundreds of more minerals and gems that should be on public display but which are instead tucked away in storage. Yes, I’m quite willing to take sponge baths in the department bathroom and roll out my sleeping bag in one of the labs or collection rooms. So many beautiful samples to appreciate, so little time. I really must move in there.

As part of a summer internship in geochemistry, I went to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum to pick up some volcanic glass samples. Really, the samples could have been Fed-Exed to the lab where I was working, but I was so excited about the prospect of interacting with the curators of the Smithsonian that my summer boss surprised me with a ticket to Washington and meetings with several of the curators.

At couple of weeks later, I flew up to Washington and took the subway to the museum. I went in the public entrance and found the special office where I was signed in as a visitor. Tim, a researcher in the volcanology and petrology division, came down and brought me up to the department. I felt very cool and professional as I was led upstairs– not everyone gets to go behind-the-scenes at the Smithsonian! I was also very curious. Tim led me by doors that had very interesting signs, such as “meteorite collection” and “time-of-flight mass spectrometer” and by laboratories that had intriguing-looking machines and chemicals. I didn’t realize that the Smithsonian did so much research. In addition to taking care of the thousands upon thousands of mineral, gem, and rock samples in their collection, they also actively conduct research on many of the samples.

Within about five minutes of arriving at Tim’s office, my “work” for going up to the Smithsonian was done. Tim had already organized, photographed, and documented the samples I was taking, so all he had to do was hand me the envelope, really. There was an awkward moment or two, then finally I asked somewhat sheepishly and also as politely as possible, “So, could I please see some of your rocks?”

Tim generously indulged my interest, showing me bits and pieces of the volcanological reference collection, the seafloor collection, and the ultramafic xenolith collection. We chatted about rocks and petrology as he browsed for interesting samples. I asked him if there were any fulgurites in the collection, and he showed me several. I’d never seen a fulgurite before, and I was impressed.

After showing me through the rock collections, Tim arranged for me to be shown some of the mineral, gem, and meteorite collections. For the rest of the afternoon, I was given attention by various middle-aged, male curators who clearly don’t see too many pretty, young females in their day-to-day work. They easily impressed me.

The mineral collection took my breath away. There were a few particularly impressive samples on display in large glass cases, and the rest were neatly filed away in dozens upon dozens of large, metal cabinets. The curator of the mineral collection knew the place by heart and was a walking encyclopdia of mineral knowledge. He kept trying to find unusual specimens to impress me. At one point, he told me to close my eyes and hold out my hands. He filled my hands with what felt like many crystals, maybe a half-inch in diameter. After a few seconds, my hands become very cold. I felt as if the crystals were sucking all the heat out of my hands. The mineral curator told me to open my eyes, and when I did I saw that there were about two dozen large, raw diamonds in my hands. A single one of those diamond crystals would probably have paid for my college education…

I was able to see only a couple of pieces in the gem collection, which has somewhat tighter security than the rest of the collection. However, who needs gems when you can see meteorites? The meteorite samples are kept in a large, room-sized vault. Another Tim, whom I’ll refer to as “Meteorite Tim,” showed me the collection. There were many impressive samples, but I think I enjoyed looking at the tektites most. Filed away with the tektites were several samples of Libyan Desert Glass, a beautiful yellow-green glass that is actually impact glass created when a meteorite hit the desert sands millions of years ago.

I became so interested in this glass that I wrote an article about it for Skeptic Report shortly after my trip to the Smithsonian. I’m pleased to say that Dr. Farouk al-Baz recently discovered Kabira Crater, the crater formed by the meteorite that almost certainly formed this desert glass. Note that I made a mistake in this article-- a small one, but one I think I should point out. Cristobalite is a high-temperature polymorph of quartz, not a high-pressure one. The high-pressure polymorph of quartz is actually sitshovite. You can find both cristobalite and stishovite in the desert glass, I believe, but I’d double-check with Meteorite Tim on that.

Anyway, after showing me many wonderful tektites and meteorites, Meteorite Tim pointed to a very special-looking meteorite sitting in a fancy, round glass case.

“Do you know what that is?” he asked.

I didn’t have a clue. I peered at the rock and guessed, “A moon rock?”

Meteorite Tim picked up the sample, case and all, and put it under a nearby microscope.

“Look there,” he said.

I looked at the microscope, adjusting the focus slightly and trying to look all professional. I saw a few reddish-brown little patches on the rock surface. I still had no idea what I was looking at.

Finally, Meteorite Tim said, “This is ALH 84001.”

I jumped, saying, “Really?” I eagerly peered back through the microscope.

“Is that…?” I couldn’t even finish my question.

“Yes, that’s the little bit of rock that caused the big ‘life on Mars’ debate.”

Microscopic view of ALH84001. Image taken from wikipedia here.

I didn’t see a view of the meteorite that was this close-up, but the above picture gives you a sense of what I was looking at… possible traces of fossil life from another planet. Now, that’s a cool rock.

Honestly, I think that the recent images from Mars showing evidence that water is actively transforming the planet are far more compelling evidence for the potential for life on Mars than some possible little fossilized traces of life in a single Mars meteorite. Still, seeing a rock from Mars– any rock from Mars, since there’s only thirty or so identified Mars rocks here on Earth– is a neat thing to see. I was definitely ready to move into the meteorite vault at that point.

Finally, after several hours of showing me around, I decided that I had taken up enough time of the generous curators and scientists in the Mineral Science Department. I was impressed with how they treated me. I was just an undergraduate student at the time, but they treated me with great respect. Of course, they tried to impress me by showing off their best samples, but in their conversation they engaged me as if I were a colleague of theirs. In a way, I guess I was. After all, I was taking some of their precious rocks away with me.

I think that this story highlights one of the biggest perks of being a scientific researcher: access to all kinds of neat museums and the knowledgeable researchers and curators who work there. Scientists maybe don’t get paid a lot, but who would begrudge, say, The Bad Astronomer a behind-the-scenes tour of a meteorite collection? Maybe my friends with consulting and finance jobs make far more money than I ever will as a scientist, but how many behind-the-scenes tours of the Smithsonian’s Mineral Department have they had?

Yes, there are definitely perks to being a scientist.

At the end of my afternoon visit, I walked out the front door of the Smithsonian with three dozen volcanic glass samples in my purse. Security didn’t even check my bag… I should have palmed one of those diamonds. Or, better yet, a meteorite.

Geology Word of the Week: C is for Coquina

2011-06-18T13:54:00.019-04:00

Coquina rock. Image taken from wikipedia here.

def. Coquina ("co-keen-ah"):
A sedimentary rock consisting of loosely-consolidated fragments of shells and/or coral. The matrix or "cement" consolidating the fragments is generally calcium carbonate or phosphate. Coquina is a soft, white rock which is often used as a building stone. Coquina forms in near-shore environments, such as marine reefs. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, coquina is a loanword from Spanish meaning "shell-fish" or "cockle" (a type of bivalve mollusc). Also according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word was first used in English (to refer to the building stone) in 1837 in the book The Territory of Florida by J.L. Williams.

I remember exactly when I first learned the word "coquina." When I was in high school, I had the opportunity to take some science electives in addition to the normal biology, chemistry, and physics courses. One of the electives I took was geology. I remember reading the textbook for the class (I believe it was Essentials of Geology), and there was a picture of coquina rock in the chapter on sedimentary rocks. I remember thinking, "Cool!" when I saw the picture of coquina. To me, coquina was a great rock because it was so simple: the rock was clearly composed of shell and coral fragments which had been cemented together. The fragments were large and obvious and just barely cemented together. I think I liked coquina so much because I was a bit overwhelmed by all of the rock and mineral types when I took that first high school geology class. I loved learning about rocks and minerals, but I found myself somewhat befuddled by all of the names and strategies used for identification. I had to think before I could confidently distinguish amphibole from pyroxene or diorite from dolerite. Coquina, on the other hand, was a refreshingly simple rock to identify.

While relatively simple to identify, coquina can actually be a complex rock. There are many different types of shell and coral fragments that can cement together to form coquina. Identification of these fragments is important in order to fully classify and understand the origin of a particular coquina, but this identification can sometimes be challenging. Like with any sedimentary rock, the origin of a particular fragment in coquina may sometimes be mysterious. Coquina may also be covered in mud and dirt or weathered, making identification difficult at first glance. Many coquina rocks were formed recently (within the past few thousand years), but some coquina rocks are older. Determining the age of older coquina is sometimes important for understanding local geology. For instance, since coquina forms in a near-shore environment, determining ages of coquina deposits (either marine or on land) can help reconstruct sea level rise and fall over time. However, determining the ages of sedimentary rocks, including coquina, is always a challenge since diverse fragments (often of different ages) have come together to form new rock.

Below is a picture some coquina that was collected from the seafloor just off the coast of southern Africa by my fiance, who is also a geologist. My fiance regularly finds coquina and shell fragments in the marine sedimentary rocks he studies. He is sometimes able to date coquina and other shell-containing sedimentary rocks by identification of shells. Since certain shell-making organisms lived at specific times in the past, identification of some types of shells can be used to date coquina rocks. Coquina rocks can also sometimes be dated by their location within a sequence of sedimentary rocks. For instance, if the ages of rock layers on either side of a coquina layer are of a known age, then the age of the coquina layer can be bracketed.

My fiance writes about this particular coquina,

Here is a picture of the coquina rocks – bear in mind these were photographed right after being collected off the sea-bed so are still covered in bits of mud. The entire “rock” consists of shell cemented by calcareous material and phosphorite. The sample contains least two different species of shell: a thin, long, spirally shell and a clam-like shell. From my seismic work I’ve interpreted this unit as Miocene in age (Burdigalian ~ 20 million years old).

Coquina collected at sea off the coast of Southern Africa.
Photo courtesy of Jackie Gauntlett.

Coquina is commonly used as a building stone, particularly in places (such as Florida and the West Indies) with large coquina deposits. Coquina is a very soft building material, so soft that it needs to be dried out in the sun for a few years before being used as a building stone. Apparently, the softness of coquina made it an ideal building stone for some forts. For example, coquina was used to build the Castillo de San Marcos Fort in St. Augustine, Florida. The fort was built by the Spanish in the late 1600s when Florida was a Spanish territory. When British forces attacked the fort in 1702 during the Siege of St. Augustine, they fired cannon balls at the fort. However, the cannons were not effective at destroying the fort because the cannonballs kept sinking into the soft coquina. Forts are normally made out of harder stone, which fractures or punctures when hit with cannonballs.

Since the British could not break through the coquina walls, they were forced to lay siege to the fort. Eventually, Spanish relief ships forced the British to withdraw. The British managed to burn down much of the St. Augustine fort as they retreated (not sure why they didn't try that earlier, honestly), but the fort was rebuilt and refurbished by the Spanish a few years later. However, the British did not give up, returning for a second siege and eventually taking over the fort in 1763. Just think, though... that pesky soft coquina kept the British from taking over the fort for 61 years.

Castillo de San Marcos fort. Image taken from wikipedia here.

In addition to being a good cannonball protector, coquina is a beautiful ornamental building stone. In response to my request on twitter (@GeoEvelyn) for coquina pictures, Phoebe Cohen (@PhoebeFossil) sent me some beautiful coquina pictures which she took just a couple of days ago in Shark Bay, Australia. The building where she is currently staying is made out of gorgeous coquina that was mined locally.

Phoebe writes,

This building at Carbla Station, Western Australia, is made entirely of blocks of coquina. The coquina comes from the nearby beach of Shark Bay, a hyper-saline semi-restricted area. The coquina forms right near the beach, mainly from tiny clam shells washed up onshore. The shells are compressed and turned into a cohesive mass as rain water filters through them, dissolving a little bit of the shell's calcium carbonate, which then glues the shells together. The coquina here is no longer used for building stone, as it is now in a protected marine park area.

Here are Phoebe's pictures of the coquina building:

Coquina building in Shark Bay, Australia. Photo courtesy of Phoebe Cohen.

A closer look at the coquina building stones, Shark Bay, Australia.
Photo courtesy of Phoebe Cohen.

An even closer look at a coquina building stone in Shark Bay, Australia.
Photo courtesy of Phoebe Cohen.

And here's a picture from Phoebe of an old coquina mining site:

Old coquina mining location, Carbla Beach, Shark Bay, Australia.
Photo courtesy of Phoebe Cohen.

My New Favorite T-Shirt

2011-06-17T02:08:00.000-04:00

I just love this shirt.

Just before leaving the East coast, I picked up a new t-shirt. Isn't it great?

Chapman's Peak Nonconformity

2011-06-14T01:54:00.042-04:00

Chapman's Peak Nonconformity, South Africa, May 2011.

On my recent trip to South Africa (see also my recent posts Sevilla Rock Art Trail, The Maltese Cross, The "Peace in Africa" in Port, and Cape Peninsula in Pictures), I spent my very last day touring around Cape Town with my fiance, my future sister-in-law, and her boyfriend. One of the things that we did just before I headed to the airport was drive along the Chapman's Peak Drive, a road just outside Cape Town that stretches from Noordhoek (which means "North Corner" in Afrikaans) to Houtbaai (which means "Wood Bay" in Afrikaans; the Afrikaans-English hybrid "Hout Bay" is commonly used). The drive follows the rocky coastline and provides breathtaking views. First constructed during World War I (and considered an incredible feat of engineering for the time), the drive was closed for a time in the 1990s due to safety concerns. The winding road is built on quite steep terrain and is frequently covered by rockfalls. However, the drive was re-opened in the 2000s (with reinforced safety features) as a scenic toll road catering to foreign tourists. However, there are many residents of Hout Bay and the surrounds who travel along Chapman's Peak everyday. Occasionally, the drive is closed because of weather or rockfall.

Google map showing location of Chapman's Peak Drive. Click to enlarge.

Google map showing location of Chapman's Peak Drive (zoomed out).
Note the location of Cape Peninsula just below the drive. Click to enlarge.

I highly recommend that every visitor to Cape Town go on the Chapman's Peak Drive, which has gorgeous views of the coastline and ocean. If you are a geologist visiting Cape Town, you absolutely have to go on the Chapman's Peak Drive. The reason is simple: the road follows a spectacular nonconformity between ~550 million year old Cape Peninsula granite and ~450 million year old sandstone of the Table Mountain Sandstone Group. The basal (bottom-most) layer of this sandstone group is called the Graafwater*. The Chapman's Peak road was built by carving out the cliffside into the softer sandstones; the road itself rests on top of the harder granite.

Same picture as above, but with the nonconformity marked,
South Africa, May 2011. Click to enlarge.

For those of you who are not geologists, a nonconformity is a place where there were igneous or metamorphic rocks that were eroded are in contact with overlying sedimentary rocks. Nonconformities form when, after a period of erosion, sedimentary rocks are deposited on top of igneous or metamorphic rocks. There is missing time (the time of erosion) in the rock record. Thus, there is a nonconformity of geologic time. At the Chapman's Peak nonconformity, about 100 million years of time is missing in the geologic record. The word nonconformity is closely related to the word unconformity, which is a similar contact between two sedimentary rocks (or rock groups).

Here are some figures (taken from University of Cape Town Geology Department websites here and here) that give you a sense of the geology of the Cape Town area, including along the Chapman's Peak Drive:

Postcard view of Cape Town. Taken from here. Click to enlarge.

Similar view to above postcard, but with rock types colored in. Figure taken from here.
By the way, one of my favorite things to do in Cape Town is take a moonlight hike up
Lion's Head, the little knob of sandstone sticking out of the Cape Granite.
Note the location of Hout Bay. Click to enlarge.

Rock types of Table Mountain, Cape Town. The red link marks the
unconformity/nonconformity. Figure taken from here.
Click to enlarge.

This University of Cape Town website has a good description of the geologic history of the Cape Town area. The oldest rock around Cape Town is the Malmesbury Group (alternating graywacke sandstone and slate), which was intruded by the Cape Granite (and some later dykes). Then there was erosion, and then the impressive Table Mountain Sandstone Group was deposited. I look forward to learning more about Cape Town geology when I move to Cape Town in August, but the above figures should give you a rough idea of the geology in which the Chapman's Peak nonconformity is found.

Below are some more pictures of Chapman's Peak Drive. These pictures are from my recent trip and also from my first visit to the Chapman's Peak Drive in January 2008.

Sign for the Chapman's Peak Drive toll road, South Africa, January 2008.

A trio looking over Hout Bay, South Africa, May 2011.

Another Hout Bay view, South Africa, May 2011.

Viewing platform at Hout Bay, South Africa, May 2011.

Cliffs along Chapman's Peak Drive, South Africa, May 2011.

Another viewing platform at Hout Bay, South Africa, May 2011.

Jackie contemplates some geology (and scenery), Hout Bay, South Africa, May 2011.

Hout Bay Sentinal, South Africa, January 2007.

Beach view, Chapman's Peak Drive, South Africa, January 2008.

Looking across Hout Bay, South Africa, January 2008.

Another spectacular Chapman's Peak Drive view, South Africa, January 2008.

Can you spot the nonconformity?
Chapman's Peak Drive, South Africa, January 2008.

Roadcut through the Graafwater formation.
Chapman's Peak Drive, South Africa, May 2011.

A perilous place to investigate the Graafwater-- but we did anyway!
Chapman's Peak Drive, South Africa, May 2011.

Jackie takes a closer look at the Graafwater. Do you see the cross-bedding?
Chapman's Peak Drive, South Africa, May 2011.

Found something interesting...
Chapman's Peak Drive, South Africa, May 2011.

What is it?
Chapman's Peak Drive, South Africa, May 2011.

It's a trace fossil! A filled-in burrow.
Chapman's Peak Drive, South Africa, May 2011.

More trace fossils in Graafwater.
Chapman's Peak Drive, South Africa, May 2011.

These fossilized burrows were filled with either sand or organic material.
Chapman's Peak Drive, South Africa, May 2011.

More trace fossil burrows!
Chapman's Peak Drive, South Africa, May 2011.

Another view of the road along the nonconformity.
Chapman's Peak Drive, South Africa, May 2011.

Yet another view of the road and nonconformity.
Chapman's Peak Drive, South Africa, May 2011.

Obligatory cute (and slightly sunburnt) geologist couple shot in
front of the nonconformity. Chapman's Peak Drive,
South Africa, May 2011.

*I asked my fiance what "Graafwater" means. He says: "directly translated [from Afrikaans] it's rubbish, 'spade-water.' "

Finalists Announced in the 3 Quarks Daily Science Blogging Contest

2011-06-13T20:23:00.002-04:00

Georneys didn't make it to the final round of judging in the 3 Quarks Daily Science Blogging Contest-- I guess ophiolites and geology words weren't the editors' cup of tea, and there was some stiff competition-- but that's fine. As I said, I'm thrilled to have just made it to the semifinal round and to have had so much support during the voting round. Since I'm relatively new to the science blogging scene, I'm proud to have such a strong following. Thanks again for all your support!

Here are the 9 finalist posts (6 chosen from the 20 semifinalists, and 3 wildcard entries added by the 3 Quarks Daily editors):

Cosmic Variance: The Fine Structure Constant is Probably Constant
Dr. Carin Bondar: Sacrifice on the Serengeti
Empirical Zeal: Blind Fish in Dark Caves Shed Light on the Evolution of Sleep
Highly Allochthonous: Levees and the Illusion of Flood Control
Laelaps: The Pelican's Beak - Success and Evolutionary Stasis
Oh, For the Love of Science: Prehistoric Clues Provide Insight into Climate's Future Impact on Oceans
Opinionator: Morals Without God?
Scientific American Guest Blog: Seratonin and Sexual Preference: Is It Really That Simple?
Starts With A Bang: Where Is Everybody?

There are some great posts among the finalists, but I'm rooting for the geology-themed posts by Anne Jefferson of Highly Allochthonous and by Brian Switek of Laelaps. Good luck to them!

Geology Word of the Week: B is for Brunton

2011-06-12T19:37:00.014-04:00

Brunton "Pocket Transit" Compass. Image taken from here.

def. Brunton:
A fancy, highly-precise compass used by geologists (and surveyors, engineers, archaeologists, etc.) for navigation and also to measure the strike and dip of rock layers in the field.

Since I am waiting to board a flight to Wyoming, I thought it would be appropriate for this week's geology word to be "Brunton." Brunton compasses are made by the Brunton Company of Riverton, Wyoming. The first Brunton compass was made by David W. Brunton in 1894. Since then, the Brunton compass (often shortened to just "Brunton") has become standard field equipment for the geologist. Today, the Brunton company makes a variety of compasses and navigational devices. Their "Pocket Transit" compass is the most common compass used by geologists. Personally, I own a Conventional Brunton Pocket Transit as well as a stand-alone Brunton inclinometer called the Clinomaster. Brunton compasses aren't cheap (the Pocket Transit is about $500), but a Brunton is an important investment for the field geologist.

Geologists use Bruntons for general navigation (like a regular compass, the Brunton has a needle that points to magnetic north) as well as to measure the strike and dip of rock layers. Using a Brunton can be a little intimidating at first, but geology students generally learn all about the Brunton at field camp. After a few days of practice, measuring strikes and dips of rock layers using a Brunton becomes second-nature. Geologists use these strike and dip measurements to make geologic maps. Strike and dip measurements are also useful for understanding the geologic structure and history (e.g. uplift and deformation) of a region. Bruntons can also be used (along with camera lens covers, pencils, field notebooks, hammers, etc.) to provide a sense of scale in pictures of rocks.

Here is a website that teaches you how to use a Brunton to measure strike and dip:
MIT Website on Using a Brunton Compass

Figure showing strike and dip of rock layers. Figure taken from here.

Below are a few pictures of Bruntons in the field. Feel free to add more pictures of you with your own Brunton. Either put a link in the comments or email me the pictures, and I'll add them to this post.

Bruntons can be mystifying at first to geology field camp students. The Stretch
(Dartmouth College's geology field camp), Western USA, Fall 2005.

Using a Brunton inclinometer to measure a far-off mountainslope angle. A
regular Brunton rests on the rock to show me the direction I am looking,
Oman, January 2009.


Collecting a rock sample with Brunton safely stored in its leather carrying pouch (at my waist), Oman, January 2009.

Semifinalists Announced in the 3 Quarks Daily Science Blogging Contest

2011-06-11T10:36:00.005-04:00

The semifinalists were just announced in this year's 3 Quarks Daily Science Blogging Contest. These semifinalists are the twenty blog posts (out of 87) that had the most votes in a public voting contest. There are some great posts in there, including one by Anne Jefferson of Highly Allochthonous, one by Brian Switek of Laelaps, and two by my friend (and former Middle School classmate) Christie Wilcox of Observations of a Nerd. Congratulations, everyone!

I am also happy to announce that my post Geology Word of the Week: O is for Ophiolite is one of the semifinal posts. Amazingly, my post received the second-most votes! I am relatively new to the science blogging scene, so I'm humbled and very grateful that so many people voted for me. Most of all, I'm thrilled that-- hopefully-- many more people are now learning the word "ophiolite," which is one of my favorite geology words.

There are two more rounds of judging before the winners are announced. First, the editors of 3 Quarks Daily are going to select six posts from the top twenty semi-finalists. The editors may also add up to three "wild card" posts of their own choosing. Then, the top three final winners will be chosen by Lisa Randall.

Whether or not Georneys advances into the final rounds, I'm thrilled to be a semifinalist in the 3 Quarks Daily contest. Thanks again to everyone who voted!

Why We Need Scientific Ocean Drilling

2011-06-08T21:36:00.002-04:00

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) recently announced that they will fund only 6 months of scientific ocean drilling on the ship JOIDES Resolution in 2012. There is much need for scientific drilling, but NSF has been debating the expense of ocean drilling in the midst of budget cuts. There's a chance that NSF may choose not to fund any scientific ocean drilling in the near future (The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program ends in 2013), but for now drilling is cut down to just half the year. Since most drilling expeditions take ~2 months, this means only ~3 drilling expeditions will be funded next year.

As a marine geologist, the cut-back of ocean drilling makes me very sad. Ocean drilling provides much valuable scientific information, much of which cannot be obtain except with drilling.

Why is scientific ocean drilling important? My PhD advisor Susan Humphris explains why in this recent EOS article "The Need for Scientific Ocean Drilling."

Blast from the Past: The Rock Cycle

2011-06-07T17:12:00.005-04:00

Rock Cycle drawing, circa 1993 or so. Click to view larger.

I'm trying to finish up my packing today, so here's one last gem (for now) from the past: a poem that I wrote in third or fourth grade about the rock cycle. There is also an accompanying drawing (see above). Enjoy!

The Cycle

Volcanoes,
Blowing their tops.
Volcanoes,
Spraying igneous rocks.

Weathering,
Wind and rain.
Weathering,
Making rocks not the same.

Oceans,
Where the rocks go.
Oceans,
The bottom floor we know.

Sedimentary,
These rocks now are.
Sedimentary,
Fossils near and far.

Pressure,
This and heat.
Pressure,
Hard to beat.

Metamorphic,
Like the butterfly.
Metamorphic,
I hate to say goodbye.

The Cycle,
Goes on and on.
The Cycle,
Never stopping beyond.

Rock Cycle poem, mounted on stylish (but faded) construction paper.
Click to view larger.

I think my understanding of the rock cycle was pretty good for a 9-year-old, but in reality the cycle is a little more complex. In addition to the cycle of igneous to sedimentary to metamorphic to igneous, there are other pathways for rock transformation. Igneous rocks can go directly to metamorphic rocks and sedimentary rocks can go directly to igneous rocks. Metamorphic rocks can also become part of sedimentary rocks. The cycle is complex with rocks taking different transformation pathways depending on environmental conditions.

A more realistic rock cycle diagram. Figure taken from here.

Blast from the Past: The Goldilocks Planet

2011-06-06T21:41:00.005-04:00

Earth, the Goldilocks Planet. Click to view larger.

On Saturday I am leaving Woods Hole to spend the summer in Laramie, Wyoming. Between now and then I have a zillion things to do. I pretty much have to work constantly prepping samples in lab, running the mass spectrometer, packing, and cleaning out my apartment. Oh, and maybe remembering to eat and sleep now and again.

I'm pretty tired as aside from my trip to South Africa to visit my fiance back in April and a weekend trip to go wedding dress shopping, I haven't taken any time off since December. I work every weekend and many evenings. Grad school is hard work, that's for sure! However, there are many benefits to being a grad student. I am paid to explore and travel and do fun things, like go spend the summer in beautiful Laramie. I need to work on data interpretation and writing, but I should be able to take a weekend day off here and there to explore some of the beautiful Wyoming countryside. And there will be NO labwork! I love the lab, but frankly I'm a bit sick of labwork after the last six months of grueling lab labor.

Despite the recent long months of labwork, I love working as a geologist because through my geology work I am able to explore the amazing planet on which we live. Earth is pretty amazing, don't you know? As my 9-year-old self put it in the drawing above, Earth is the Goldilocks planet-- it's not too hot, it's not too cold. It's just right*.


The Goldilocks drawing came from my school report "Space Unit" from 1993.

*Though Carl Sagan might say that Earth only feels like a Goldilocks planet to us because we evolved to live on it. If life exists on other planets, that life probably thinks their planets are pretty perfect, too. Even if those planets are very different from our Earth.

Geology Word of the Week: A is for Accretionary Wedge

2011-06-05T01:34:00.008-04:00

Illustration of a convergent plate boundary. I've added a red arrow pointing out the
location of the accretionary wedge. Illustration from TASA graphics and taken from here.
Click to view larger.

def. Accretionary Wedge (aka Accretionary Prism, Subduction Complex):
A wedge- or prism-shaped mass of sediments and rock fragments which has accumulated where a downgoing oceanic plate meets an overriding plate (either oceanic or continental) at a subduction zone. The sediment is generally marine sediment that has been scraped off of the downgoing plate by the overriding plate. However, sediment from the overriding plate can also contribute to the accretionary wedge. Fragments of rock from the colliding tectonic plates can also accumulate in an accretionary wedge. The sedimentary rocks which form at accretionary wedges are deformed, faulted, poorly-sorted mixtures which are often referred to as "melange" (which means "mixture" in French).

Since I'm hosting this month's Accretionary Wedge Geoblog Carnival and I'm at the letter A in my second geologist's alphabet, I thought it would be fitting for "accretionary wedge" to be featured as this week's geology word (phrase) of the week.

An accretionary wedge is basically a hodge-podge collection of various sediments and rocks, scraped up and squished together where two tectonic plates collide and one plate subducts underneath another. The downgoing plate is always an oceanic plate (continental plates don't really subduct as continental crust is too buoyant), but the overriding plate can be either another oceanic plate (such as the Japan subduction zone) or a continental plate (such as the Cascades subduction zone). The sediments in an accretionary wedge are mostly marine sediments scraped off of the downgoing oceanic plate. Most of the marine sediments on the oceanic plate actually subduct down into the mantle. However, some of the marine sediments pile up and are accumulated into a wedge or prism-shaped pile of sediments where the downgoing plate meets the overriding plate. This scraped-off marine sediment is mixed with other material such as sediments weathered/transported from the overriding plate and fragments of rock broken off of the colliding tectonic plates.

Because the sediments are primarily scraped off of the downgoing plate, accretionary wedges actually accrete new material primarily on the bottom of the wedge. This means the younger sedimentary rocks in an accretionary wedge are generally on the bottom, which is topsy-turvy to the classic Law of Superposition in geology.

The primary rock type which forms at accretionary wedges is a jumbled, fractured sedimentary rock known as melange. I'm not sure why-- I guess French sounds smarter and more scientific?

Geologist Donald Prothero describes melange wonderfully in his textbook Interpreting the Stratigraphic Record:

"The most characteristic rock type of the accretionary wedge is melange (French, "mixture"), a mass of chaotically mixed, brecciated blocks in a highly sheared matrix. This deformation and pervasive shearing and brecciation are due to the tremendous compressional and shear forces generated by the downgoing slab [aka tectonic plate]. Melange is so mixed that it shows no stratigraphic continuity or sequence, and blocks and boulders from everywhere are mixed together. Some are exotic blocks from terranes no longer present in the vicinity."

Does anyone have any good pictures of melange rocks? If so, post a link below in a comment or send me the pics by email (see sidebar), and I'll add them to the post.

I think that Accretionary Wedge is a great name for a Geoblog Carnival, which is a jumbled mixture of blog posts just as a real accretionary wedge is a jumbled mixture of sediments and rocks.

Reference:
Prothero, Donald. Interpreting the Stratigraphic Record. New York: W.H. Freeman & Company, 1990.

Accretionary Wedge #35: What's Your Favorite Geology Word?

2011-06-04T00:41:00.005-04:00

I'm hosting this month's Accretionary Wedge Geoblog Carnival here at Georneys. Since I write about a geology word every week (see the "Geology Word of the Week" tag on the sidebar or the post "A Geologist's Alphabet"), I thought it would be fitting to host an etymological Accretionary Wedge. This month's Accretionary Wedge is easy-- if you want you can post just a single word!

The theme for this month is:

What's your favorite geology word?

You can post just the word if you want. You can also add anything you want-- a definition, some pictures related to the word, a story about the word, a poem, a drawing. Anything at all!

I must warn you, though: if you post about a good word, I may use the word in a future Geology Word of the Week post!

To join the geoblog carnival, just write a post on your blog and then link to it in a comment below or in a comment over at the Accretionary Wedge site. If you don't have a blog, you should start one. If you don't want to start a blog, just type your word in a comment below. Please submit your entries by the 26th or thereabouts so that I can compile them by the end of the month. Happy blogging!

Finally, be sure to check out last month's Accretionary Wedge #34: Weird Geology.

Vote for Me in the 3 Quarks Daily Science Blogging Contest

2011-06-03T18:03:00.003-04:00

The nominations are in for the 3 Quarks Daily Science Blogging Contest. Now, the general public can vote for which blog posts they like best. The top twenty posts with the most votes will go on to the next round of judging.

If you like this blog or like ophiolites or like me, please go vote for my entry "Georneys: Geology Word of the Week: O is for Ophiolite." You can vote in the 3 Quarks Daily Science Blogging Contest here. I'm not sure if my post has a chance of winning, but it would be sweet to make it through the voting round to the semi-finals.

If for some reason you don't like ophiolites (though I don't know who doesn't just love ophiolites), I'd also recommend voting for the posts "Highly Allochthonous: Levees and the Illusion of Flood Control" and "Lounge of the Lab Lemming: Dear Hypothesis" as these are two of my favorite recent posts from the geoblogosphere.

Happy voting! I'm spending the evening on the mass spectrometer, but I'll post the next geology word of the week this weekend.

Tornadoes in Massachusetts

2011-06-02T00:51:00.011-04:00


Downtown Springfield, MA after the tornado. Photo by the Associated Press/Jessica Hill and taken from here.

I am moving out of my Cape Cod apartment this week, and today* my dad drove down from New Hampshire to help me. We spent the early afternoon loading a U-Haul trailer with some furniture items my parents and sister wanted-- as well as a dozen or so large boxes of my books and school notes* --and then started on the drive from Cape Cod to New Hampshire via Boston. As we were driving in the Boston area in the late afternoon, we drove through quite the impressive storm. There was downpouring rain and very close thunder and lightning. We drove well under the speed limit, and at times visibility was quite poor. My dad drove the U-Haul, and I followed in my little car with a very long fiberglass racing kayak strapped to the roof. My kayak is very light, and though I tied it on well, I was quite anxious that it might be blown off the roof in the storm. My dad and I passed through at least two distinct thunderstorms, but we made it safely to New Hampshire. My mom was quite fretful for us on the way, however. We didn't realize why she was so concerned about us until we sat down with a late take-out dinner and watched the news.

This evening a State of Emergency was declared in Massachusetts as a result of at least two tornadoes and severe thunderstorms. At least four people have died as a result of the severe weather. The deaths occurred in the towns of Springfield, Westfield, and Brimfield. Looking at this gallery of images of the destruction, I am surprised that there were not more casualties. Thank goodness, most people were able to take shelter in basements. There are some incredible stories coming out-- people taking random strangers into their basements for shelter, a man who survived a tree and electric line falling on his car, news reporters having to take shelter in the middle of reporting when the thunderstorm became too severe, entire roofs blown away, top floors of brick buildings demolished, short minutes between warning and arrival of the tornado, an interrupted senior prom, people standing outside their demolished homes to prevent looting of what few possessions still remain; the list goes on and on.

I must admit that, personally, I find the recent tornado damage in Massachusetts more shocking than the recent tornado damage that occurred out west in places such as Joplin, Missouri. The death and destruction in Joplin were much more extensive than in Massachusetts, but I've never been to Joplin. However, I've been to downtown Springfield, Massachusetts many times. So, I find the images of the destruction of downtown Springfield very unsettling.

These recent tornadoes hit very close to home. My dad and I were very lucky that we did not encounter a tornado, and we really should not have been driving through those storms. We both brushed off the news of the storm, thinking it just another day of showers and thunderstorms. Next time I need to drive through a storm, I'm definitely checking the for tornado warnings beforehand.

Below is an incredible video of the tornado hitting Springfield earlier today. Just look at how that tornado whips up water and debris! Humbling, especially since I've driven over that bridge many times and would not have thought twice about driving over the bridge today, even if a thunderstorm were forecast.

*On Wednesday; I'm actually writing this after Midnight, so very early on Thursday.

**Yes, I hoard books. Whenever I move I find it easy to discard furniture, kitchen items, decorations, and (to a lesser extent) clothes, but I find it very difficult to discard books, even if I'm fairly certain I'll never read them again. Oh, well. I suppose there are worse traits than being a book hoarder. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for storing all these books in your garage.

A Memorial Day Rock: Marble

2011-05-30T13:00:00.008-04:00


Marble headstones at Arlington National Cemetery. Photo taken from Wikipedia here.

On Memorial Day I always remember the trips I've taken to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA. I still remember my first visit to the cemetery. I was seventeen and applying to the United States Naval Academy. I was down in Washington, DC for the Naval Academy's Summer Seminar, an intense week that gives Naval Academy applicants a taste of what it's like to be a Midshipman. After hours of early morning PT with Navy Seals, fitness tests, mini courses, and serious hazing, the visit to Arlington was relaxing in a way. However, seeing row upon row of white marble tombstones also made me wonder if I really wanted to attend the Naval Academy. Was I cut out for this? Was I going to be able to spend enough time doing the science I love so much? Most importantly, was I willing to sacrifice for my country? Make the ultimate sacrifice?

I was admitted-- early action-- to the Naval Academy, and I almost went there. Some days I regret my decision to attend Dartmouth rather than the Naval Academy, and I wonder how different my life would have been if had become a Midshipman. I would be stronger, I know. Tougher. Probably less self-centered and selfish. I tell myself that I turned down the Naval Academy because I wasn't going to be able to do enough science as a Naval Officer, but I know that's not a complete explanation. I know that I also turned down the Naval Academy because I was afraid. Afraid of war, of being mistreated as a woman, of a minimum eight year commitment, of not being able to follow an order I disagreed with, of fighting in a war I disagreed with, of danger, of violence, of death.

I may have turned down the opportunity to serve my country in the Navy, but I grew up in a military family. Many of my loved ones have served and still serve their country. My grandfather and father were both Naval Officers, and my cousin currently serves in the Air Force. Actually, the Mervine Family has a long history of military service, dating back to Rear Admiral William Mervine. There's even a Fort Mervine out in California.

I was too afraid to serve and sacrifice for my country, but there are thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people who were not afraid. Or maybe they were afraid, but they served-- and sometimes died-- anyway. Whenever I am down in the Washington, DC area, I try to make a point of visiting Arlington National Cemetery. Standing amongst thousands of matching marble headstones, I feel sadness, pain, and pride for all those who served and died for the United States of America. I may not agree with all of the wars in which these soldiers fought and died, but I still feel grateful for and humbled by the countless soldiers who sacrificed their lives. To all those soldiers-- at Arlington and elsewhere-- thank you. We remember you.

Christmas wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery, December 2005.
Photo taken from Wikipedia here.

Mystery Rock #2

2011-05-29T13:24:00.013-04:00

Earlier this month I posted pictures of a mystery rock that were sent to me by one of my blog readers. On Friday I received an email from someone who had been directed to my blog from the Skeptics Guide to the Universe Forum. A friend of this person had found an interesting rock in a rock wall in El Paso, Texas and wanted to know if anyone could identify this rock. Below are some pictures of beautiful Mystery Rock #2:

Mystery Rock #2, Photo 1.

Mystery Rock #2, Photo 2.

Mystery Rock #2, Photo 3.

Mystery Rock #2, Photo 4.

This rock is a little bit easier to identify than the first mystery rock. Again, though, geologists do find it more challenging to identify rocks from pictures (rather than in person) and from a rock wall (rather than an outcrop).

Let's go through our identification questions:

-Is the rock man-made or natural?
This is a natural rock.

-Is the rock igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic?
This is an igneous rock.

-What type of igneous rock is this?
This appears to be a porphyritic igneous rock with phenocrysts of feldspar in a very fine-grained or possibly glassy matrix.

Let me explain some of the terms in the rock description for those of you who are not geologists. Igneous rock literally means "fire rock" and is a rock that solidified from a partially or completely molten state. Igneous rocks either slowly crystallize deep in the Earth or rapidly crystallize on Earth's surface from molten rock erupted by volcanoes.

Porphyritic is a term used to describe igneous rocks that have a distinct size difference in crystals. In the case of the rock above, there are phenocrysts (large crystals) in a matrix of much smaller crystals. It is a little difficult to tell from the photos, but the matrix seems to be very fine-grained, possibly even glassy. The matrix either consists of tiny crystals that are too small to see in the photos or is glassy, meaning that there are no defined crystals but rather amorphous, unordered solidification.

How to porphyritic igneous rocks form? Well, they generally form when magma that has been slowly cooling for a long time, possibly in a magma chamber, is suddenly erupted to Earth's surface. Deeper in the Earth where magmas can cool more slowly, large crystals have time to form and grow. Those phenocrysts are quite large (they are so large I'd even venture calling them "megacrysts"), so they had to form through slow growth over a very long time in a magma chamber or similar environment deep in the Earth. Magma takes while to crystallize completely, so sometimes partially-crystallized magmas are brought to Earth's surface and erupted as lavas. When these partially-crystallized lavas are erupted, the rest of the molten rock cools quickly, and there is no time for large crystals to form.

Minerals crystallize out of magma in a certain order, following something called Bowen's Reaction Series. In certain magmas, feldspar is one of the first minerals to crystallize out of a magma. My guess is that the large crystals in Mystery Rock #2 are feldspar. It's always difficult to identify minerals from pictures, but the crystals look like feldspar to me-- they are the proper shape, and they exhibit characteristic feldspar twinning. So, my guess is that Mystery Rock #2 formed when magma first spent some time deeper in the Earth and crystallized large feldspar crystals. Then, that magma containing the feldspars was brought to Earth's surface and erupted. The rest of the molten rock cooled so quickly that there was no time for large crystals to form. Instead, the lava rapidly solidified into very tiny crystals or perhaps even glass, which forms if the cooling is very, very rapid. If the rest of molten rock had had time to slowly cool deeper in the Earth, perhaps the rock would have been something like a granite rather than a porphyritic igneous rock with feldspar phenocrysts.

The person who found this rock also mentioned that the large crystals have a very pretty green hue to them. Feldspar is generally white, brown, gray, or pink, so perhaps I'm missing something, but I believe the green hue is just from alteration of the feldspar crystals.

Other geologists-- what do you think? Please weigh in on the identification of Mystery Rock #2.

Finally, to the owner of this rock-- this is a truly gorgeous rock. If you ever decide you want to rid yourself of this rock, please give it to a geologist or other rock-lover.

Just a Typical Sunday Morning Conversation at WHOI

2011-05-29T11:24:00.003-04:00

I had an interesting conversation with one of the security guards here at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) just a few minutes ago. The conversation went something like this slightly stylized version:

**************

Security guard: Do you know where Mary* is? I noticed her car wasn't in the parking lot last night.

Me: Hmm... haven't seen her recently.

Security guard: I know she's been working in New York, so I sent her an email to make sure the car was okay. But I got one of those away messages.

Me: Oh yes! That's right. I forgot-- she's in Antarctica. The car is back this morning. I bet a friend just borrowed it.

Security guard: Antarctica?

Me: She probably has email there. Don't worry. She'll probably reply soon.

Security guard: Antarctica? Isn't it winter there?

Me: Yes, but I think she's on a ship.

Security guard: On a ship in Antarctica in winter? Crazy scientists.

**************

Yes, we scientists are crazy. Speaking of which, I need to hurry on to my labwork. On Sunday morning. On a holiday weekend.

*Name changed to protect the identity of the crazy scientist.

Bloggy Changes

2011-05-28T18:02:00.003-04:00

As some of you may have noticed, over the past few days I've given Georneys a bit of a facelift. I've removed the pretty but distracting background picture and changed the post colors from white on gray to simpler (and hopefully more readable) black on white. I've also photoshopped my blog text onto my title image, which I cannot seem to center despite my best efforts. I mostly chose the font on the title image because it's named "Papyrus" and it reminds me of Egypt, a country I very much hope to visit in the next few years.

Let me know what you think. I'm not a graphic designer, but I hope these changes are for the better.

Actually, I'm not really known for my fashion sense or sense of color at all, as the photo below illustrates. My mom recently posted this photo of me (I'm about four years old in the photo) on Facebook. My friends and relatives laughed and posted teasing comments about my outfit, so I replied to them in a Facebook comment:

"In my defense, let me say 1. I think that's a wooly mammoth (and maybe dinosaurs?) on my shirt, and that is awesome; 2.The green socks & pink jellies color coordinate perfectly with my mammoth/dino outfit; and 3.Poor fashion sense is a trait often associated with scientific brilliance."

That said, I do hope the bloggy changes are better looking than my green-and-pink outfit. Particularly that spidery hair clip.

GeoEvelyn, circa 1988 or so.

Blast from the Past: Carbon Cycle Story

2011-05-28T01:53:00.010-04:00

Atom Unit Report Booklet.

I'm finishing up my packing this weekend, so that means it's time for another "Blast from the Past" post. This is a story narrated by a carbon atom going through the carbon cycle. This story comes from my "Atom Unit" report booklet. Last week I shared a story called "Element Talk Show" with you from this same booklet. Just this evening I noticed that I wrote the date on the back of the booklet. I wrote this booklet in 1994 when I was ten years old and in either 4th or 5th grade.

This is another nerdy, weird story, but at least I had a pretty good understanding of the carbon cycle for a ten-year-old. All spelling, grammar, and punctuation are original.

The Life of a Carbon Atom:

The Atmosphere:
My life started out easy, in the air. I had the pleasure of being in a molecule with two extremely nice oxygen atoms. I just drifted in the air, happy that I had my full supply of electrons. Perhaps I should introduce myself. I am a typical carbon atom with six electrons. I now am in a carbon dioxide molecule and am just drifting. I waved to my friends, oxygen gas, a molecule of two oxygen atoms (I find oxygen the nicest atom), and nitrogen gas, a molecule of two nitrogen atoms. All of us are in our gas form. I've heard stories of becoming solids and many different things, but now I just like the aaaaaaaaaaaaair*. I was being sucked in by something, I was leaving the air. "Goodbye!" my friends yelled, "you'll like being a solid. Good luck."

The Plant:
It turned out I was being breathed in by an eggplant. It wasn't bad being an eggplant, but I prefer being in the air much better. I was in the eggplant for several days. One day the eggplant was picked. I was relieved because it was turning into cold weather and at night frost reached its arms over the eggplant. I remember being put in an icebox and staying there for a day or so. This cold was not like the cold of the frost, but a more gentle concentrated cold.

"Ray, get some eggplants out, Marilyn is going to have company tonight."

"Not eggplant tonight, Martha. You know Marilyn doesn't favor eggplant," he replied.

"I never asked her to eat any. Will you just get 'em out?"

The icebox door opened and I was lifted out and set on a table. The eggplant was cut up into little slices, myself being part of the smallest slice. I was placed on the table with some parsley and the rest of the eggplant. There was not just eggplant on the large white table, but turkey, corn, rolls, butter, salad, potatoes, salt, pepper, napkins, plates, spoons, forks, knives, salad forks, roast beef, and some other things that I haven't any idea what they are. One of the best things on the table was fried yams.

"Martha! Martha! Where is that producer I invited for dinner? He's Late! I'm eager to sign that contract," Marilyn complained.

"Hello," a famous hollywood producer walked into the dinning** hall, "this must be Marilyn, Marilyn Monroe."

"Of course I'm Marilyn Monroe. Who do you think I am? Now what about that contract? Pass the eggplant please."

I felt the eggplant being bumped around on the platter. A fork was lifted and the eggplant was eaten by Marilyn Monroe!

The Human Body:
Shining white sharp teeth chewed the eggplant and then Gulp! A long dark passage led straight downward into a larger space called the stomach. I was bumped around and jumbled about. I was not in the human body for long. It was just a couple of hours***. Just as Marilyn Monroe was about to turn out the light for the night, eager to start work on her new movie she took a deep breath, and I caught sight of two very nice oxygen atoms. I had been a bit cranky without my full eight electrons and I was eager to join them. So I did and Marilyn Monroe breathed me out as carbon dioxide.

The Atmosphere Again:
I was free! Happy, in the atmosphere again. I came to know my two oxygen atoms and was very happy in my new molecule. I stayed in this molecule for a few years, floating around and having the time of my life. My molecule rested near the ground, maybe too close because sooner than I knew it I was being sucked up by the roots of some plant.

Rain Forest:
The roots belonged to some berries. These berries nested in the middle of a vast rain forest. I heard some birds tweeting around me. A leopard pounced on something, catching his prey. I stayed in this plant for a million years or so (I really just lost count) until eventually it was pressed and compacted so much that I turned into a different substance altogether. I still lay in the rain forest until I heard the noise of shovels digging up the ground above me. Finally after such a long time light shone around. For the first time I saw what I was.

Coal:
"This is is it Ricky, coal. We'll haul in a good bundle for this lot."

"Would you be quiet? You're forgetting we have to use some of this in our own research. We'll sell the rest though. Help me get this out of here."

I felt bits of coal being lifted up and put into a weird carrier type thing. It was really a compartment of their space mobile used for storing items that were not needed until their next stop.

"What should we try now?" a strange voice asked.

I had been in the coal that had not been sold and now scientists were staring at me through advanced equipment.

"Lets try burning the coal. Ancient Americans often used this process to heat things, but it was most commonly used for cooking things. We are going to take this recreation of what they called bacon and try to cook it in coal and in order to do that we must burn the coal."

And so I was burned and set free by it. I mixed with oxygen and became carbon dioxide. I was free for the present, but soon I would be in a human or plant. I would never be free from the carbon cycle.

*I think I transcribed the correct number of "a"s here.

**Hee hee first "dinner" now "dinning hall."

***Not sure about the science of this, but since this is a story narrated by a sentient carbon atom, I'll roll with it.

My interest in the carbon cycle has continued to adulthood. For my PhD thesis, I study the formation of carbonate rocks in mantle peridotite in the Samail Ophiolite in Oman. These carbonates form when mantle peridotite interacts with carbon dioxide (CO2) and alters to form solid carbonate minerals. Alteration of mantle peridotites to carbonates is a process that naturally removes CO2 from the atmosphere and hydrosphere and stores this CO2 in solid mineral form. So, we call this process a natural "carbon sink" or natural "carbon sequestration." Understanding natural CO2 storage in carbonate rocks may help geologists and engineers figure ways to artificially store CO2 in carbonate rocks as a way of offsetting anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Today, my understanding of the carbon cycle is slightly more sophisticated than my understanding when I was ten, but, hey, you have to start somewhere.

The carbon cycle is a little more complex than the above story indicates. Perhaps I should write a new story in which the carbon atom cycles through even more reservoirs. For instance, the carbon atom could spend some time in an ocean foram and in a carbonate vein in one of my Oman peridotites. If the carbon atom goes through every possible reservoir, the story could be very long indeed.

Here are a couple of figures showing the carbon cycle:

First, a pretty one from wikipedia:

The carbon cycle. Taken from Wikipedia Commons here.
Click to enlarge.

Second, a boring but precise (though slightly dated) carbon cycle drawing (and associated table) that I like:

Carbon cycle. From Holser et al. (1988).
Click to enlarge.

Data table for above cycle. From Holser et al. (1988).
Click to enlarge.

Cape Peninsula in Pictures

2011-05-27T02:03:00.018-04:00

Flowers at Cape Point, South Africa. April 2011.

I'm working late tonight running samples on the mass spectrometer. I've been in lab since 8:30am and really should go home, but I've decided it's better to stay up all night and run samples. Okay, maybe not all night. But probably until 2am or 3am. Actually, I'm happy about this long lab day. I spent a good four hours tuning the machine (which is a bit tempestuous, like many mass spectrometers) this morning, and the mass spectrometer is running beautifully right now. The machine is very stable, and the data quality is very high. So, rather than shut the machine down and return in the morning, I'm going to run as many samples as possible. As many of you know, I'm sure, mass spectrometers are usually happiest when they're constantly being run. So, I don't want to risk coming in tomorrow and losing all of the tuning and stability. Besides, I've been working on difficult chemistry for months, and the mass spectrometry is the final step. With every passing minute I am gathering more data that can be used in my thesis. Very exciting! I can sleep tomorrow.

Fortunately, now that the machine is tuned and running I only need to keep an eye on it and change something every few minutes. So, I have some time to post some more pictures of my recent trip to South Africa.

A few weeks ago I blogged about some interesting sandstone weathering that my fiance and I observed at Cape Point, South Africa. Below are some more pictures from our day visit to the Cape Peninsula. If you're ever in the Cape Town area, I highly recommend visiting the national park located on the Cape Peninsula. The area is gorgeous, and you're likely to see several different types of wild animals. You can also visit two lighthouses, take a picture next to a sign proclaiming the southwestern-most point of the African continent, see giant white crosses commemorating the voyages of famous explorers, and walk along a beach to a shipwreck. There are also some beautiful visitor centers (or centres, to be properly South African) that have some interesting displays about the history of the peninsula and about some of the local flora and fauna.

Before moving on to my pictures, here is an amazing satellite image of the Cape Peninsula:

Cape Point Satellite Image. Courtesy of NASA. Taken from wikipedia commons here.

And here's a nice map showing the location of Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope (which are both on the Cape Peninsula) relative to each other and the city of Cape Town:


Map showing the Cape Peninsula and surrounding areas. Taken from Wikipedia Commons here.

Now, on to my own pictures of the Cape Peninsula. First, some pictures of Cape Point:

View walking up to the lighthouse. Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.

View looking out from the lighthouse. Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.

Looking back on the old lighthouse. Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.

Lookout point. Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.

Lookout point and lighthouse. Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.

Old WWII bunker. Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.

Ruins of WWII bunkers. Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.

My fiance made fun of me for taking the two pictures below, but they're cooler than they look. I promise! The waves are splashing just offshore of Cape Point because of an igneous intrusion (granite, I believe), which is a harder rock that doesn't erode as much as the rest of the seafloor. This particular underwater igneous intrusion is called "Bellows Rock" and is responsible for at least one shipwreck (probably several). Most famously, in 1911 a ship named the Luisitania ran aground on Bellows Rock because the ship's crew could not see the lighthouse in the fog. There are actually two lighthouses at Cape Point. The old lighthouse (on top of the cliffs in the previous photos and built in1860) is located on higher ground than the new lighthouse. The new lighthouse (low down on the very tip of the point and thus difficult to photograph) was built because the old lighthouse was too high up and often obscured by fog. The new lighthouse was built shortly after the wreck of the Luisitania on Bellows Rock and still guides ships navigating the dangerous waters around Cape Point.

Bellows Rock 1. Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.

Bellows Rock 2. Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.

After hiking to the old and new lighthouses, we had lunch at the fancy visitor center (centre) near the Cape Point parking lot.We made some animal friends during lunch: a baboon statue, a bird, and a mouse. Actually, the bird was not our friend. The bird swooped in and-- I kid you not-- took off with a significant chunk of my fiance's sandwich, which was in his hand at the time. The bird then perched on a rock near us and glared at us as we finished our lunch in a guarded fashion. As I was making a fool of myself trying to take a picture of the bird thief with tuna (from the sandwich) on his beak, I noticed an adorable little mouse eating crumbs underneath our table. I thought the mouse was cute, but some of the tourists around us did not share the same opinion when I excitedly pointed the mouse out to them.

Baboon statue. Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.


Lunch thief. Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.


Crumb-eating mouse. Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.

After lunch, we drove the short distance from Cape Point to the Cape of Good Hope (see above map). We took the obligatory picture next to the "South-Western Point of the African Continent" sign. We also encountered some rather naive (idiotic maybe?) Asian tourists on the drive. Part of the road was blocked by wild ostriches. We observed the ostriches safely from our car and patiently waited for the "ostrich jam" to pass. However, several Asian tourists emerged from their vehicles and started chasing the ostriches to take pictures of them. This is not a good idea. Ostriches, especially wild ones (there are also domesticated ostriches in South Africa; ostrich meat is delicious by the way), are dangerous animals. Ostriches can easily hurt or kill you with a peck or kick. A mighty ostrich kick can knock you senseless or rip your chest open. Fortunately, a park ranger came along and told the Asian tourists to return to their vehicles and leave the ostriches alone.

Jackie and I at the South-Western Point of Africa, April 2011.

Ostrich jam. And idiotic Asian tourists. Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, April 2011.

Tourists way too close to the ostriches. Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, April 2011.

Male and female ostrich, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, April 2011.

Male ostrich. Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, April 2011.

Another ostrich, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, April 2011.


Ostrich portrait 1, taken safely from the car. Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, April 2011.

Ostrich portrait 2, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, April 2011.

After visiting the Cape of Good Hope, we drove to a place called Venus Pools. Actually, we walked part of the way to the pools since the road on the map we had is no longer maintained. We enjoyed walking, though, and the pools were deserted except for us. At both Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope there are usually large, noisy groups of tourists. The Venus Pools were lovely and quiet, except for the crashes of waves and subsequent rushes of water in the pools. We almost expected to catch a glimpse of Venus herself bathing there.

Male and female ostrich near Venus Pools. South Africa, April 2011.

Old, abandoned parking area near Venus Pools. South Africa, April 2011.

Venus Pools 1, South Africa, April 2011.

Venus Pools 2, South Africa, April 2011.

Venus Pools 3, South Africa, April 2011.

Venus Pools 4, South Africa, April 2011.

Venus Pools 5, South Africa, April 2011.

Venus Pools 6, South Africa, April 2011.

Venus Pools 7, South Africa, April 2011.

Interesting sandstone weathering at Venus Pools, South Africa, April 2011.

Next, we drove over to a beach where we took a walk to a shipwreck. On the drive, we saw some adorable bokkies.

Bokkie near the road 1, Cape Peninsula, South Africa, April 2011.

Bokkie near the road 2, Cape Peninsula, South Africa, April 2011.

Many bokkies, Cape Peninsula, South Africa, April 2011.

Scattered shipwreck, Cape Peninsula, South Africa, April 2011.

Jackie on a bleached whale bone, Cape Peninsula, South Africa, April 2011.

Rowboat mini-shipwreck, Cape Peninsula, South Africa, April 2011.

We also went to another visitor center (centre) with a view of one of the giant white crosses. Inside the center were several cases of beautiful stuffed birds. I think I will become a birder when I move to South Africa later this year. I really like the birds with the long tail feathers and the black birds with the bright orange heads. I once spent about an hour taking pictures of one of those orange-headed birds that was hanging out in a shrub Jackie's parents' yard. Jackie's family thought I was crazy. I guess I can understand why they thought I was crazy. The first time Jackie visited me in America, he very excitedly told me to come to the window as there was "the most beautiful bird" outside. There was a blue jay in a tree outside. Blue jays are beautiful, I must admit, but I see them all the time so they seem quite ordinary to me.

Cross from a distance. Cape Peninsula, South Africa, April 2011.

View from visitor center parking lot, Cape Peninsula, South Africa, April 2011.

Gorgeous bird case, Cape Peninsula, South Africa, April 2011.

Look at those tail feathers! Cape Peninsula, South Africa, April 2011.

Seriously, how do those birds with the long tails fly? Cape Peninsula, South Africa, April 2011.

Pretty orange-headed birds. Cape Peninsula, South Africa, April 2011.

More crazy tail feathers. Cape Peninsula, South Africa, April 2011.

Beautiful orange-headed birds. Cape Peninsula, South Africa, April 2011.

3 Quarks Daily Science Blogging Contest

2011-05-25T00:31:00.004-04:00

My friend Christie Wilcox over at the blog Observations of a Nerd alerted me to the upcoming deadline for the third annual 3 Quarks Daily Science Blogging Contest.

Are you a science blog reader*? Or writer? Feel free to go over to the comments here and nominate a science blog post that you like for the 3 Quarks Contest. The deadline is May 31st.

Personally, I nominated Anne Jefferson's fantastic recent post Levees and the Illusion of Flood Control.

[Warning: Shameless self-promotion ahead] I'm a fairly new science blogger and a scientist, not a professional writer. However, if you like any of my writings here on Georneys, please feel free to nominate them. Below I've listed a few blog posts of mine which I like. [End: Shameless self-promotion]

At the very least, please do go nominate some geology-themed posts! Geology needs to represent in these science blogging contests.

Georneys Posts:
Why are there Earthquakes and Volcanoes in Japan?

Geology Word of the Week: H is for Hotspot

Geology Word of the Week: L is for Lithosphere

Geology Word of the Week: O is for Ophiolite

A Million Random Digits

Technology Anachromisms in Science

*Since this is a science blog, the answer to that question is "yes."

A Geologist's Alphabet

2011-05-23T11:45:00.002-04:00

Every week (except for the month when I interviewed my dad about Fukushima) since I started this blog back in November 2010 I've posted a "Geology Word of the Week." For some reason I decided it would be fun to cycle through the alphabet from A to Z, and I've now accomplished that, writing about words from Alluvium to Zanclean.

Perhaps the alphabet theme is cliche, but I'm having fun with it. So, I think I'll cycle through the alphabet at least one more time. You can expect another A word (Allochthonous? Alvin? Albite? You'll have to stay tuned!) next week.

Here's my first geologist's alphabet:

A is for Alluvium
B is for (Volcanic) Bomb
C is for Coprolite
D is for Dredge
E is for Eustasy
F is for Fabric
G is for Gondwana
H is for Hotspot
I is for Ichnite
J is for Jurassic
K is for Komatiite
L is for Lithosphere
M is for Magma
N is for Nabkha
O is for Ophiolite
P is for Peridot
Q is for Quaternary
R is for Rock
S is for Speleothem
T is for Travertine
U is for Uraninite
V is for Vesicle (and Vug)
W is for Wadi
X is for Xenolith
Y is for Yardang
Z is for Zanclean

Geology Word of the Week: Z is for Zanclean

2011-05-23T11:14:00.005-04:00

Note: This is a modified version of a post that originally appeared on Skepchick in 2010.

Geologic Timescale Spiral. Image courtesy of USGS. Taken from Wikipedia here. Click to enlarge.

def. Zanclean:
A geologic Age spanning from ~5.33 million years ago to ~3.60 million years ago in the Pliocene Epoch.

Q: What do the words Zanclean, Burdigalian, and Maastrichtian have in common?
A: They’re all Ages of geologic time! So are the Tithonian, Albian, Sinemurian, Norian, and dozens of others.

Never heard of the Zanclean? Don’t worry. I had never heard of it either before I did a little research for this blog post. I have only memorized the geologic timescale through the Epochs, and then only for the Cenozoic (65 million years ago to present).

The Zanclean is defined as the geologic Age which spans from ~5.33 million years ago to ~3.60 million years ago. You might be thinking to yourself that this is a strange bracket for geologic time. Why not just make the Age an even 5 to 3 million years ago? If you look closely at the geologic timescale you’ll notice that the geologic Ages (as well as the Eons, Eras, Periods, and Epochs… but we’ll get to that in a minute) are all different lengths of time that seem random.

The geologic Ages do span inconsistent lengths of absolute time. This is because Ages such as the Zanclean (which was introduced in 1868, according to Wikipedia) were defined long before absolute dating of rocks became possible after the discovery of radioactivity in the late 1800s and the development of radioactive dating of rocks and minerals in the early to mid 1900s. Scientists have only been able to confidently determine absolute ages for rocks since the 1960s or so, and every year techniques for dating rocks become better with smaller error bars.

Remarkably, geologists defined the entire geologic timescale (although standardizing this timescale internationally is still an ongoing process) prior to the development of absolute dating of rocks and minerals. Although the absolute ages were unknown, geologists were able to work out the time periods based on the evolution of the fossil record. The main divisions of time are based on time periods when certain types of ancient organisms lived.

Boundaries between different periods of geologic time often mark periods of mass extinctions where there was a sudden, dramatic change in the fossil record. The most famous example of this is the boundary between the Tertiary and the Cretaceous, also known as the K-T boundary. This boundary ~65 million years ago is marked by a mass extinction event famously known to have wiped out all non-avian dinosaurs. The boundary is known at the K-T boundary because “K” is used for Cretaceous and “T” is used for Tertiary on geologic maps and other places where shorthand is appropriate. Geologists have known for generations about boundaries such as K-T and about ages such as the Zanclean, but it has only been in the second half of the 1900s that they were able to start assigning absolute ages to these geologic times.

I mentioned above that I had never really heard of the Zanclean before. That’s true– I have never bothered to memorize the geologic Ages, one of the smallest divisions of geologic time, and the smallest one recognized by the International Commission on Stratigraphy or ICS. I don’t think I will ever bother to memorize them as I can easily look them up and, honestly, I think it’s a bit silly to subdivide geologic time into such small sections. Whenever I read papers that bother with naming various Ages, I just keep a copy of the geologic timescale nearby. I have taken the time to memorize the larger divisions of geologic time, which are (from largest to smallest): Eons, Eras, Periods, and Epochs. And, as I mentioned previously, I’ve only memorized the Cenozoic Epochs because they’re the only Epochs with names. Otherwise, it’s just “early,” “middle,” and “late,” and I find these very difficult to memorize.

The way that I originally memorized the Periods and so on was through use of mnemonics. My favorite mnemonic for the geologic Periods is Cold Oysters Seldom Develop Many Precious Pearls, Their Juices Congeal Too Quickly which helps me remember: Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, Quaternary. For the Cenozoic Epochs, I like the mnemonic Pigeon Egg Omelets Make People Puke Hourly which helps me remember Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Holocene.

So perhaps what I need to remember the Ages is an appropriate (and very long!) mnemonic. I propose a challenge* to my blog readers: come up with a mnemonic for the geologic Ages.

The Ages are: CALABRIAN, GELASIAN, PIACENZIAN, ZANCLEAN, MESSINIAN, TORTONIAN, SERRAVALLIAN, LANGHIAN, BURDIGALIAN, AQUITANIAN, CHATTIAN, RUPELIAN, PRIABONIAN, BARTONIAN, LUTETIAN, YPRESIAN, THANETIAN, SELANDIAN, DANIAN, MAASTRICHTIAN, CAMPANIAN, SANTONIAN, CONIACIAN, TURONIAN, CENOMANIAN, ALBIAN, APTIAN, BARREMIAN, HAUTERIVIAN, VALANGINIAN, BERRIASIAN, TITHONIAN, KIMMERIDGIAN, OXFORDIAN, CALLOVIAN, BATHONIAN, BAJOCIAN, AALENIAN, TOARCIAN, PLIENSBACHIAN, SINEMURIAN, HETTANGIAN, RHAETIAN, NORIAN, CARNIAN, LADINIAN, ANISIAN, OLENEKIAN, INDUAN, CHANGHSINGIAN, WUCHIAPINGIAN, CAPITANIAN, WORDIAN, ROADIAN, KUNGURIAN, ARTINSKIAN, SAKMARIAN, ASSELIAN, GZELIAN, KASIMOVIAN, MOSCOVIAN, BASHKIRIAN, SERPUKHOVIAN, VISEAN, TOURNAISIAN, FAMENNIAN, FRASNIAN, GIVETIAN, EIFELIAN, EMSIAN, PRAGHIAN, LOCKHOVIAN, PRIDOLIAN, LUDFORDIAN, GORSTIAN, HOMERIAN, SHEINWOODIAN, TELYCHIAN, AERONIAN, RHUDDANIAN, HIRNANTIAN, KATIAN, SANDBIAN, DARRIWILIAN, DAPINGIAN, FLOIAN, TREMADOCIAN, STAGE 10, STAGE 9, PAIBIAN, GUZHANGIAN, DRUMIAN, STAGE 5, STAGE 4, STAGE 3, STAGE 2, FORTUNIAN.

Phew! I hope I didn’t miss any of the ages. I apologize that they are all written in capital letters. I’m not yelling at you. I just copied and pasted the names from a geologic timescale, and I’m too lazy** to change them out of all capital letters.

So, see if you can come up with a long-winded mneumonic. You know, something like:
Campbell gave pretty, zany, messy, terribly sexy, lovable, bright, amazing, cheerful Rachel praises by letters youthfully, tentatively sent. Did Mister Campbell say convincing truths carefully ascertained about beautiful, hauntingly vividly beautiful, tantalizing, kiss-invoking, outstanding, creative, breathtaking, blushing, all-knowing, terrific, pleasing, scintillating, hot Rachel? No. Courage leaves an overwhelmed, inconsolable Campbell. Why?! Campbell wondered. Rachel knows a summer affair grows kinda muted because summer visions tear, famously fragmenting ephemeral, end-bound, primitive love. Perhaps lust graces hot summer times, announces Rachel. However, keep summer dreams dampered, flowing temporally, staying 10, staying 9, painfully gone days, staying 5, staying 4, staying 3, staying 2, forgotten.

Please improve upon my rather “film noir”, adjective-filled, and, admittedly, very terrible mneumonic. Though, on second thought, I don’t think this (or any) epic mnemonic is going to be that helpful in memorizing geologic Ages. On third thought, memorizing the geologic Ages is stupid. The only reason I can fathom for memorizing the Ages is to impress geology friends at a bar. Maybe I’ll work on it sometime, but honestly I think it’s only marginally more useful than memorizing digits of pi.

*I presented this challenge to Skepchick readers last year, and unfortunately no one has been able to come up with a good mneumonic. Perhaps the task is futile.

**A Skepchick reader pointed out that with some simple programming I could easily fix this all-caps problem. So, I amend my previous statement: I am too lazy and too bad at programming to change them all of out capital letters.

Blast from the Past: Element Talk Show

2011-05-21T01:42:00.015-04:00

Atom Unit Report Booklet.

Element Talk Show page. Note volcano lamp, James Randi picture, and
artwork (by Randi's talented partner) in the background. Click to enlarge.

I've been sorting through more boxes today (trying to finally pack up all my books and notes!), and I've found a box that contains reports, drawings, and other assignments from my elementary school days. I can't date most of these reports exactly, but they are definitely from my 2nd through 6th grade days. I was a student at a Montessori school in Vermont back then. I actually attended Montessori schools from pre-K through 8th grade. Montessori schools encourage creativity, among other things, and boy did I have some creative assignments. In Montessori school students tend to work on themed units, which can last a week to a few months. During this time, students study and produce work related to that theme.

Here's a gem of a story, from my report booklet on the "Atom Unit." I believe that I wrote this story (with my friend Joy) in 4th grade. I was (still am) *such* a weirdo and nerd, even back in elementary school. All punctuation, spelling, and grammar are original. Enjoy!

Update: I just noticed that I wrote the year (1994) on the back of the report. So, I was 10 years old and in either 4th or 5th grade when I wrote this report.

Element Talk Show

Interviewer: Today on E.T.S. we are going to interview Miss Fluorine and here she comes now.

Fluorine: Hello all you fans I'm Fluorine. Any Hydrogens out there? I'm a little jumpy I only have seven electrons.
(sits down)

Interviewer: So what exactly are you?

Fluorine: I'm a gas. They use me in toothpaste as SnF2, stannous fluoride.

Interviewer: So you mean I brushed with you this morning. You are inside this little tube?
(holds up toothpaste tube)

Fluorine: It's a tight fit, but that's right.

Interviewer: How nice. What else are you used for?
(Takes a sip of water)

Fluorine: They use me in water for your teeth.

(Interviewer spits out water)
Interviewer: What! I think I just drank your cousin!

Fluorine: That's all right. I've got to go. Ta! Ta!

Interviewer: Now it's time to have your star reporter Joy with her weekly report. Take it away Joy.

Reporter: Thank you, Evelyn. Mr. Neon was spotted by our cameras at Bob's Dinner* in the window. He was last seen advertising foods the dinner serves. Let's see if we can get a word with Mr. Neon.

Neon: It's Miss Neon.

Reporter: How does it feel to be a light?

Neon: Well it's a tight fit in this glass tube, but I enjoy giving off my glow.

Reporter: What are you Mr. Neon.

Neon: A Miss Neon, I'm a Miss Neon.

Reporter: No, I mean what element are you?

Neon: Well, I'm a gas. If I didn't have an electrical current running through me I'd be colorless, odorless, and tasteless.

Reporter: Anything else? Where are your friends? Perhaps we can get one on our show.

Neon: I'm happy by myself. My outside shell is full of electrons. I don't make any compounds.

That's it. If there was another page, it was unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) lost.

*Yes, dinner, not diner. Hee hee.

GeoLOLCats

2011-05-21T00:07:00.001-04:00

Dana Hunter, Callan Bentley, and Lockwood DeWitt have started a new geoblog meme-- GeoLOLCats! Seems that many geobloggers have adorable kittehs, and we're LOLing pictures of cats that have geology themes.

If you're unfamiliar with LOLCats, see here. For the GeoLOLCats, you can see entries here and here, including some LOLs starring my two beautiful cats Samira (calico) and Zayna (black-and-white with a funny mustache). Like cats and geology? Feel free to join us in this meme!

Just this evening, my cat Samira-- who is very fluffy-- provided me with another great LOLCats pose. Below are the original picture and my LOLed version.

By the way, the booklet Samira is lying on is a "Rocks and Minerals Unit" report that I put together back in 3rd or 4th grade at my Montessori School. I will be featuring some material from this report in future "Blast from the Past" posts. There's even a (rhyming!) poem about the rock cycle. I was such a nerd, even back in elementary school.

Samira the fluffy, original photo. Woods Hole, MA, May 2011.


Samira the fluffy, LOLed. Woods Hole, MA, May 2011.

Interesting Search Terms That Found My Blog

2011-05-20T10:08:00.010-04:00

For the past little while, I have been keeping track of some interesting search terms that found my blog. These are just a sampling of ones that I happened across. I've put some "answers" below the search terms. Hope you enjoy. Happy Friday!

what is at the center of any self respecting volcano (4/5/11)
Answer: The lair of a mad scientist.

is jurassic park too scary for 8 yr old (4/6/11)
Answer: My grandmother took me to see Jurassic park in theaters when I was 9 years old, and I was very, very scared and had nightmares about velociraptors. However, the movie also helped inspire my interest in geology & dinosaurs.

synonym: hot liquid that come from tsunami in japan (4/6/11)
Answer: Oil and gas that caught on fire? The only thing worse than a tsunami is a tsunami ON FIRE.

what is komatiite used for today (4/8/11)
Answer: ~~Many komatiites are mined for diamonds.~~ D'oh, that would be kimberlites. Thanks for the correction, Chuck. More here.

is there a volcano in japan (4/9/11)
Answer: Yes. Many, actually.

dress code geology convention (4/10/11)
Answer: Recommended dress code for a geology convention is a t-shirt with a dinosaur and/or a geology pun on it, hiking pants, and teva sandals with socks.

dress code for geologists (4/27/11)
Answer: See above.

best reporting on fukushima (4/11/11)
Answer: My blog? Maybe? I'm honored that this search reached my blog.

bee bop the bear (4/11/11)
Answer: Is the general exam bear! And I'm not the only one who thinks he's a bear. Yay!

can average students become great scientists (4/12/11)
Answer: Yes. Absolutely.

why do geologists hate the core movie (4/17/11)
Answer: Well, I'd define it as more of a love-hate relationship.

cimarec hot plate, error message (4/18/11)
Answer: I bet you hate Cimarec hotplates, too. I have no idea what the f**k the error messages mean. And I've read the manual ten times.

mit lab fire hot plate (4/27/11)
Answer: Yes, crappy (probably Cimarec) hot plates can cause fires. And melt valuable samples.

blatt and tracy, petrology: igneous, sedimentary and meta (4/19/11)
Answer: Obviously, you want to see cute pictures of my cats.

are the lithosphere and crust the same (4/19/11)
Answer: No.

low budget movie about a volcano (4/29/11)
Answer: I recommend Magma: Volcanic Disaster.

how do vesicles form? geology (4/29/11)
Answer: This might be helpful.

nonfiction geology novels (4/29/11)
Answer: Pssst... novel = fiction.

travertine bathroom pictures (5/1/11)
Answer: Here's more than you ever wanted to know about travertine.

most cluttered offices (5/7/11)
Answer: Yes, my office is a bit cluttered... but that's just related to my brilliance. Maybe.

whoi general exams difficult (5/10/11)
Answer: Yes and no. But Bee-Bop helps.

hamsters move the tectonic plates (5/8/11)
Answer: Say what???

what composition is the mantle felsic (5/9/11)
Answer: No. Ultramafic.

have people died at geo field camp (5/14/11)
Answer: Probably. But geo field camp is awesome! Take a wilderness first aid class if you're worried. Actually, I highly recommend that for all geologists.

small picture of eating raccoon (5/15/11)
Answer: Is a jungle raccoon eating pizza okay?

honnybees interact with the lithosphere (5/17/11)
Answer: Say what???

alternate careers for geologists (5/17/11)
Answer: Why on Earth would you want an alternate career? Being a geologist rocks. Actually, I've had days when I've considered alternate careers, too.

beep bop break dancing (5/19/11)
Answer: I'm sorry that you were looking for information about break dancing and instead found information about PhD qualifying exams.

card games for 2 people (5/19/11)
Answer: No idea why this search reached my blog. I don't have any posts about card games, but here's one about the most awesome car game ever.

geologists name for the first continent (5/19/11)
Answer: Vaalbara, maybe?

iguanodon poem (5/19/11)
Answer: Yes! I happen to have one of those.

I Want a Meteorite to Hit My House

2011-05-19T23:30:00.008-04:00

I like meteorites. I think it would be very cool if one struck my house, as long as I, my fiance, and my two adorable kitties made it through the impact okay. Alas, while many, many meteorites hit our planet every year, they rarely fall on houses. However, just a few weeks ago a meteorite hit a house in Poland. Thanks to Phil Plait and Ryan Brown for the tip-off on this story. I wonder... if a meteorite hits your house or car, do you think insurance covers the damage?

A few years back on Skepchick, I jokingly asked for my house in Boston to be hit be a meteorite.. Unfortunately, God had poor aim and hit Bloomington, Illinois instead (though there's a chance this wasn't a real meteorite at all-- anyone know the result of the scientific investigation?).

Note: I am a happy atheist, though I harbor no ill will against most religious people, including many members of my family. I hope no one who is religious takes offense at my tongue-in-cheek joking about asking God to hit my house with a meteorite. At least, I hope my jesting doesn't keep you from reading this blog, which I try to keep geology-focused. I'll only rant here about religion if you tell me the Earth is only 6,000 years old or if you tell me some nonsense such as that the rapture (raptor?) is coming this weekend.

Geology Word of the Week: Y is for Yardang

2011-05-19T00:07:00.019-04:00

Yardangs 1. Photo courtesy of Michael Welland.

Cross-posted at Through the Sandglass.

def. Yardang (also sometimes: jardang):
An elongated erosional landform, commonly found in deserts, resembling the hull of an inverted boat. Similar to sand dunes, yardangs typically have a tall, steep side facing the prevailing wind direction and slope gently down away from the wind. Yardangs are formed when looser material is eroded away (primarily by the wind and particle abrasion), leaving behind more consolidated material that is then sculpted into strange, ship-like shapes by further erosion. Yardangs most commonly form in soft rocks such as siltstone and sandstone (rocks commonly found in deserts) but can also form in harder rocks in places where the wind is the primary erosional force. The word yardang is of Turkish origin coming from the word "yar" which means "steep bank or precipice." According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word yardang was first introduced to the English language in 1904 by the Swedish explorer Sven Anders Hendin.

I had actually never heard of the word "yardang" until quite recently. Earlier this year I wrote to Michael Welland, author of the book Sand: The Never-ending Story and the Through the Sandglass blog, and asked him if he had any pictures of nabkhas for my "N is for Nabkha" word of the week. Michael wrote back promptly and sent me a beautiful picture of some nabkhas in Namibia. He also told me that he had some great yardang pictures for when I reached the letter Y.

Well, I've finally reached the letter Y, and Michael has been kind enough to send me some pictures of yardangs and also some musings on these strange desert landforms. Both the pictures and the musings are below. Thanks so much, Michael!

Yardangs 2. Photo courtesy of Michael Welland.

Yardangs 3. Photo courtesy of Michael Welland. Click to enlarge.

Yardangs 4. Photo Courtesy of Michael Welland. Click to enlarge.

Michael's Yardang Musings:

In the distance, in the morning desert sun, would seem to be herd of great beasts, grazing on the sand. They are, like all good herds, all facing in the same direction, but barely moving. On closer inspection, they are, of course, not moving at all and are completely inanimate clay and silt – but herd would still seem to be the right collective noun for yardangs. Yardangs. For once, a piece of geo-terminology that seems right, exotic but with a vague and indefinable animate sound to it that suits these things – “a yardang can go for days without water.”

They cluster together in a slight depression in the landscape, in all likelihood an old lake bed in which their clay and siltstone were deposited. The lake dried up as the climate changed, bringing with it the desert, the sand, and the wind. And the sand and the wind conspired as a great sculptor, sand-blasting the softest sediment, liberating the rough forms of the harder rock. The abrasional power of the sand is greatest within a meter or so of the ground, the height of flying grains in a sandstorm limited by the physics that Ralph Bagnold set out. And the sculpting takes place in the face of the prevailing wind, the face of the rock heading into the wind receiving the fiercest blasting, eddies and the slipstream chipping away in its lee. So these things explain some of the forms of the yardangs – the front face undercut to the maximum height of the strongest sandblast, leaving the “head” above. The result is, of course, reminiscent of the Great Sphinx, and romantic speculators like to think of yardangs as the inspiration for the iconic monument. Just as the Sphinx was for so long draped and buried in the sand, so the yardangs are draped in the debris of their deterioration, and drifts of sand pile up against their flanks. But they are simply the inevitable result of aeolian processes – they are all facing the same way because they are facing into the prevailing wind, their shapes are determined by the interplay between the physics of flying sand and the varying resistance of the rocks that are in its way.

So far, so good – but think about them some more, and yardangs have their mysteries. Why are they spaced out the way they are? Some intrinsic depositional variation in the old lake sediments? Or is there some feedback going on here, one yardang influencing the flow of the wind so as to preclude another one developing within some critical distance? And, while I talked blithely about “eddies and the slipstream” chipping away in the lee of the front face, what does this actually mean? Why is the slope and curve of their “backs” so remarkably uniform? I don’t know that we know the answers to such questions – which is why there is an intrinsic geo-weirdness to them. But, regardless of any geo-weirdness, a herd of yardangs is simply weird in its own right, making for a distinctly weird landscape.

And you just can’t not think of them as a herd. As we walked away, I could have sworn some of them were watching us.

Geology Word of the Week: X is for Xenolith

2011-05-18T14:10:00.002-04:00

Mafic xenolith, Ontario, Canada, 2002. Photo Credit: Ron Schott.

Note: Sorry for the re-post. This post was lost and then mangled somewhat in the blogger mishap last week. I managed to correct the post, but I had to re-post it under a new day and time.

def. Xenolith:
A foreign rock inclusion, usually in an igeneous rock.

Xenolith literally means "foreign rock" coming from "xenos" (foreign) and "lithos" (stone) in Ancient Greek. A xenolith is a fragment of foreign rock within a host rock. To be considered a xenolith, the inclusion must be different in composition from the enveloping rock. Inclusions of similar rocks are called "autoliths" or "cognate inclusions." Xenoliths are generally easy to recognize because they are very different in composition (and often in color) from the encompassing rock. For example, in the picture below the bright green olivine crystals and shiny black pyroxene crystals of a mantle peridotite xenolith stand out in contrast to the fine-grained, gray basalt in which they have been encompassed.


Peridotite xenolith in basalt, Hawaii, 2009. Photo Credit: Einat Lev.

Xenoliths most often occur in igneous rocks. For those of you who are a little rusty on Geology 101, igneous rocks are rocks which form by the cooling and solidification of molten material-- either magma or lava. As magma or lava migrates and cools to form igneous rock, it may pick up inclusions of foreign rock. Where do these foreign rock inclusions come from? There are several possible sources. Often, molten magma intrudes into preexisting rocks (known as "country rocks") and may pick up fragments of this country rock. Commonly, xenoliths are fragments of the walls of a magma chamber or conduit. Xenoliths may also be picked up by lava during explosive volcanic eruptions or may be picked up by lava as it flows along Earth's surface (if a different type of rock is at the surface).

The term xenolith is most commonly applied to foreign rock fragments in igneous rocks. However, a broad definition of the word xenolith might include foreign rock fragments in sedimentary rocks and inclusions found in meteorites.

Xenoliths are generally small in size relative to the overall body of rock. However, xenoliths can range in size from single crystals (called "xenocrysts") to rock fragments of several meters.

A small peridotite xenolith in basalt, Hawaii, 2009. Photo credit: Einat Lev.

"Teboho-size xenolith." Cape Columbine, South Africa, 2009.
Photo credit: Christie Rowe.

Xenoliths are important because by studying xenoliths geologists can learn about the origin and evolution of the host rock. For example, when an igneous rock contains a xenolith, geologists know that at some point the magma or lava that cooled to form the igneous rock was in contact with that foreign rock. Xenoliths are also important because they often allow geologists to sample and study rocks which are difficult to access. For example, mantle rocks are not generally exposed at Earth's surface (except at ophiolites), so xenoliths of mantle rocks are important for learning about the composition of Earth's mantle. Some xenoliths come from very deep within the Earth. For example, diamonds are famous and economically valuable xenocrysts that formed at high pressures and temperatures very deep within the Earth, ~140 km deep or deeper. Diamond are brought to Earth's surface as xenocrysts in kimberlite rock.

Here are a few more pictures of xenoliths:

Peridotite xenolith in basalt, Hawaii, 2009. Photo credit: Einat Lev.

Many peridotite xenoliths in basalt, Hawaii, 2009. Photo credit: Einat Lev.

Xenolith in lamprophyre, Ontario, Canada, 2002. Photo credit: Ron Schott.

Peridotite xenolith collected at Dish Hill Cinder Cone, Mojave Desert. Photo credit: Ron Schott.

Oxidized mantle xenolith collected at Dish Hill Cinder Cone, Mojave Desert. Photo credit: Ron Schott.

Finally, Callan Bentley of the Mountain Beltway blog has a zillion majillion photos of xenoliths on his blogs (Mountain Beltway used to be the NOVA Geoblog):

Xenolith Label on Mountain Beltway

Xenolith Label on NOVA Geoblog

Here is one of Callan's xenolith pictures that I found particularly striking:


Mafic xenolith in a statue carved from porphyritic andesite, Ankara, Turkey, 2010. Photo Credit: Callan Bentley. Read more about Callan's trip to Turkey here.

Thanks to all of my geologist friends and fellow geobloggers who sent me pictures of xenoliths. If you have any good xenolith pictures, post a link below in the comments.

3D Dinosaur Stamps

2011-05-18T11:36:00.005-04:00


Postcard for Dinosaur-lover Brian Switek, South Africa, May 2011.

Note: Sorry for the re-post. This post was lost and then mangled somewhat in the blogger mishap last week. I managed to correct the post, but I had to re-post it under a new day and time.

Just before I left South Africa several days ago, my fiance and I went to the post office to buy some international postcard stamps.

The clerk handed me the five stamps I requested, and I turned to my fiance and said, "Cool! Dinosaur stamps!"

My fiance and I looked more closely at the stamps, and he said, "Huh, that's funny. They're blurry."

I replied, "Oh, that's too bad. Maybe they weren't printed properly?"

For a moment, I was dismayed at the poor quality of the South African stamp printing system. Then I realized I was mistaken. The South African stamp printing system wasn't bad. It was awesome! Far more awesome than the American one, in fact.

I shouted, "Wait... I think they're 3D!"

Several customers in line behind us gave us whimsical looks as my fiance and I excitedly chattered about our 3D dinosaur stamp discovery. The clerk just smiled.

After finishing our shopping, we headed back to our apartment and managed to find a set of 3D glasses. Yes, we are geeky enough to have 3D glasses at home. Sure enough, the dinosaur stamps jumped to life when viewed with 3D glasses! We have decided that these are the coolest stamps EVER.

Here is some more information on the 3D South African dinosaur stamps:
3D Dinosaur Stamps on StampsWiki

The stamps show five different African dinosaurs. There are two images of each dinosaur: one of the skeleton and one as the dinosaur may have looked in the flesh.

Dinosaur stamps- skeletons. Image from StampsWiki.

Dinosaur stamps- in the flesh. Image from StampsWiki.

Of course, I had to send a postcard with a dinosaur stamp on it to dinosaur-lover Brian Switek. If you haven't already, I recommend checking out Brian's Wired Science blog Laelaps.

Blast from the Past: Iguanodon Poem

2011-05-18T11:20:00.008-04:00

Iguanodon skeleton. Picture taken from Wikipedia here.

I have decided to introduce a new, semi-regular feature to this blog, at least for the next little while. "Blast from the Past" will feature past items from my life: pictures, geology-themed childhood sketches, old school essays, etc.

I am currently in the process of packing up my apartment so that I can move to Wyoming this summer and then to South Africa later in the year. I have been sorting through some boxes of high school and college notes and letters and have been finding some interesting tidbits from years ago. I think some of these tidbits are worth sharing on this blog as they are records of my budding and developing interest in science, travel, and other topics-- or simply because they are entertaining.

For the first "Blast from the Past," let me share with you a poem I wrote for a high school English class. We could chose any topic we wanted for the poem and I chose... dinosaurs. I guess in English class I was daydreaming about geology. Enjoy!

Attack of the Fossils

Pit-fallen Iguanodons.

Not false white casts

But black Belgian dinosaurs

Glasscaged, pinheld.

Too quiet.

Dimly lit, temperature-controlled.

Sunlight fading

Between great windowbarshadows,

Clawshadows,

Tallteethshadows, lengthening.

Nighthunters.

Blood spattering out, blue to red.

Cascading down white plaster molding,

Fingering across green marble tile,

Slowing then stopping,

Cesspooling.

Do not touch, merci.

Grasseaters, cow dinosaurs,

Flat teeth displayed intact,

Wide round skulls uncracked.

Predators mired.

Running lizards,

Hunters: tripped, tricked,

Falling, roaring,

At then escaping prey,

Now centuries fossil-trapped.

The above poem was inspired by my visit to the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences Museum in Brussels. My dad lived in Brussels for two years when I was in high school, and I went to visit him during school holidays. The Natural Sciences Museum was my favorite place to visit in the city.

I'm afraid the above poem is misleading scientifically. I think Iguanodons were actually large herbivores, so they probably wouldn't hunt or harm humans if they suddenly came to life in a museum. Well, maybe they would. I mean, they are still very large compared to humans.There are also other, predator dinosaurs displayed in the museum, so perhaps I was actually talking about those ones coming to life. Who knows-- poetry is vague and suggestive, not literal.

My English teacher liked the poem, despite the dinosaur theme. She did tell me, though, that the last line of the poem was "too abrupt and literal." Oh, well. I have never been very good at poetry. Any suggestions for a better last line?

Sexism in Science

2011-05-16T22:25:00.004-04:00

I just wanted to write a short post to recommend that you all go and read this post by my friend Bug Girl about her experiences with sexism in entomology. I am proud to call Bug Girl my friend. Bug Girl is a fellow Skepchick, and I've known her for a long time through skeptical circles. Bug Girl was very supportive and encouraging of me when I was studying science back in undergrad, and she continues to be an inspiration for me.

I wish I could say that I have never encountered sexism in my own academic experiences, but unfortunately I have. I do not remember encountering any sexism (at least, nothing too blatant) during my undergrad days at Dartmouth. However, I have encountered sexism at MIT a number of times, ranging from subtle to blatant. Actually, some of the sexism I encountered at MIT contributed to my decision to leave my first advisor after passing my PhD qualifying exam. There were many factors that influenced my decision, and one of them was that I did not feel that the environment at MIT was particularly encouraging for young female scientists. And I was not the only young woman to leave my lab group. Two of us left at about the same time, actually. I still bitterly remember one particular comment, said to me after I mentioned that I was tired after a long shift on a summer research cruise. A male lab technician (not my first advisor, fortunately) from MIT said to me, "You know, if science is too difficult, it's not too late to become a housewife." He laughed and said he was joking, but the comment stung nevertheless.

Recently, I recounted the story of the housewife comment to my current advisor, who is a woman. She was a graduate student back in the 1970s, and I'm sure she encountered much worse sexism than that during graduate school. Shaking her head, she said to me, "You know, I thought we'd moved past comments like that." I think that says it all. Please, let us move past this sexism.

Things are improving, and fortunately I have never encountered the level of sexism that Bug Girl encountered. I am very impressed at how she managed to persevere in spite of all the blatant sexism. There is still a long way to go to combat sexism in science, but at least progress is being made.

Mystery Rock

2011-05-16T00:57:00.025-04:00

Mystery Rock, Photo 1.

A few weeks ago a blog reader named Bob wrote me to ask if I could help identify a "mystery rock" in his backyard. Bob sent me several photos of the rock and wrote:

Hi Evelyn,

I'm reasonably sure I'm wasting your valuable time with these "silly"
rock pictures, but I've been searching the web for similar pictures or
descriptions with no real satisfaction.

I am a computer tech by trade and know nothing about rocks.

I found this one unique looking rock on my property in Bergen County NJ.
It was one of I'm sure tens of thousands in a large rock wall that is at
least more than 75 years old. (It could be much older.)
I have seen none else that look like this one so far.

To keep this email short, here is my question:
Should I be more curious about this rock or just place it in a garden
bed for decoration?

Thank you very much for humoring me on this.
Bob.

Well, as a geologist I like nothing better than puzzling over an interesting rock-- so, Bob, you're not wasting my time at all!

My fiance Jackie (a geologist who currently works for AuruMar) and I took a close look at all of the photographs Bob sent of this mystery rock, and we've tried to identify it to the best of our ability. I thought I'd write up a post with some pictures of the mystery rock and our attempt to identify the rock. If any other geologists want to weigh in on the identification of this rock, please do so in the comments.

Before I proceed with the pictures and our identification, I want to make two comments:

-First, identification of this rock is limited by two factors:
1. We are identifying this rock from pictures, which is not ideal. Geologists like to see rocks in person so that they can squint at them with hand lenses, scratch them with their fingernails, feel their density, break them open with hammers, and-- on occasion-- taste them.
2. This rock was in a stone wall, not in situ. Identifying rocks that are no longer in situ is always more challenging because of the lack of geological context.

-Second, Bob sent some good pictures in his first email, but when I wrote back to him I asked him to do two things: 1. If he was willing, break off a piece of the rock so that I could see the less-weathered interior, and 2. Try pouring some weak acid on the rock to see if it fizzed. You can see pictures with broken surfaces below. Bob informed me that when he poured muriatic (aka hydrochloric) acid on the mystery rock, "the muriatic acid from the hardware store caused my patio pavers to fizz up!... but not the 'odd rock'." I asked Bob to pour acid on the rock because carbonate rocks (such as limestone) fizz when acid is poured on them. Since the rock did not fizz, it does not have a significant carbonate component.

Here are some more pictures of Bob's mystery rock (click to enlarge):

Mystery Rock, Photo 2.

Mystery Rock, Photo 3.

Rock wall where the mystery rock was found.

Mystery Rock, Photo 4.

Mystery Rock, Photo 5.

Mystery Rock, Photo 6.

Mystery Rock, Photo 7.

Mystery Rock, Photo 8.

Mystery Rock, Photo 9.

Mystery Rock, Photo 10.

Here is our attempt at identifying this mystery rock:

Identification: A poorly-sorted sandstone containing some angular rip-up clasts and with possible animal burrows (edited to add: probably not, but that would have been cool). We suspect this rock formed in a fluvial (rather than marine) environment. This rock likely formed in a high-energy stream or river and was also rounded in this fluvial environment. Edited to add: Another possibility is that this is a glacial erratic (a rock picked up by a glacier and dropped elsewhere). Perhaps the rounding occurred in the glacier?

Now, let me explain our reasoning behind the identification:

The first question to answer when identifying a rock is if the rock is natural or man-made. Geologists must be careful not to misidentify anthropogenic materials such as brick, cement, and road tar as natural geological materials. We believe that this is a natural rock, not an anthropogenic material.

The second question to answer when identifying a rock is if the rock is igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic. This rock is clearly sedimentary as you can see rock fragments and grains of different sizes which have been cemented together.

Okay- so we've identified the rock as natural and sedimentary. Now, let's move on to some of the rock's features. The rock has larger clasts (some of which are angular) of at least a couple of different rock types (maybe the one angular clast is a red mudstone?) set in a finer-grained (but still fairly coarse) matrix that looks (to us) to be mostly quartz grains, which would make the matrix of this rock a sandstone. Because of the rock's sandstone matrix, we don't think the angular clasts indicate that this rock is a breccia. Rather, we think these angular clasts are something called "rip-up clasts"-- basically, fragments of rock that are ripped up in a high-energy sedimentary environment. This environment could be a high-energy stream or possibly a marine environment (for example, turbidites often have such rip-up clasts in them). Since the rock is well-rounded, we suspect this rock came from a river or streambed, meaning that it may have originally formed in a streambed as well.

Finally, we wanted to comment on the rounded holes located in the rock. These could be cavities which used to contain large, rounded clasts that have now weathered out of the rock. However, we think these large, deep, round holes could be some type of animal burrow.

That's our attempt at identifying this rock-- any thoughts from other geologists?

I hope this helps you, Bob! Thanks for sending so many great pictures of this mystery rock. Finally, to answer your original question: please do place the rock in your garden bed, but be sure to point it out to people and say, "did you know that's a poorly-sorted sandstone?"

A Quick Note: Lulu Book

2011-05-15T16:36:00.002-04:00

I want to give you a quick update on the status of the book "Conversations with My Dad, a Nuclear Engineer, about the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Disaster in Japan" which I plan to self-publish on Lulu. I am still working on putting this book together, albeit in my very limited free time. Now that I'm back from my South Africa trip, I'm working 10-12 hour lab days to finish up the labwork for my PhD thesis. The good news is that the interviews are all transcribed now (thanks to my volunteers; if I haven't sent you a rock yet I'll do so in the next few weeks), so I just need to finish editing and compiling them.

My plan is to have the book available on Lulu around the first week of June. I want to include a few pictures of my father and I in the "extra" chapter. I was compiling some photographs, and I realized that my dad and I have not taken a picture together since my college graduation back in 2006! I'd like to include a recent picture of my dad and I. Fortunately (maybe unfortunately for him), my dad is visiting me on June 1st to help me move out of my apartment, so we'll do our best to take some photos then to include in the book. You should expect the book on Lulu shortly thereafter. The interviews will of course be out-of-date, but there is still plenty of good information and explanation in these interviews, much of which will still be relevant even three months after the nuclear disaster began. Also, our interviews tell a story, in a way, of the first month of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

As a reminder to everyone, the nuclear disaster at Fukushima is far from over. There has been so much damage to the Fukushima reactors 1-3 and the spent fuel pools at reactors 1-4 that restoration of normal cooling systems will still take months. Meanwhile, the situation at Fukushima remains precarious.

Water: Morganza Spillway Opened for First Time Since 1973

2011-05-15T00:46:00.010-04:00

Saturday afternoon the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened part of the Morganza spillway-- a flood control structure in Louisiana along the Mississippi River-- for the first time since 1973 (and for the just the second time since the spillway was constructed in the 1950s). The spillway was opened yesterday to help mitigate severe flooding in the Mississippi River system. Just one floodgate was opened. As needed, additional floodgates of the spillway will be opened. The opening of the spillway diverts floodwaters from the cities of Baton Rogue and New Orleans. Hopefully, the opening of the spillway will spare those two cities from severe flooding. However, the opening of the spillway means that much of low-lying, rural, south-central Louisiana will be flooded. Large parts of Louisiana have already been evacuated. The floodgates will need to remain open for weeks until the river levels drop.

The impact of the flooding on Louisiana is going to be extensive: crops drowned, homes destroyed, people displaced, communities thoroughly soaked. I imagine many communities will take years to dry out, rebuild, and recover, even if the floodwaters recede in a few weeks time.

I suppose Louisiana had no choice but to open the floodgate. The rain just kept falling. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can only work to minimize the damage caused by the flooding by strategically diverting the water to less-populated areas. The flooding along the Mississippi is a potent reminder for all of us of the immense power of rivers and of the hazards of living close to and trying to control a large river.

Here is an impressive video showing the opening of the single floodgate today:

Video taken from YouTube.