Temporal Disconnect: An Underwater Oceanographic Institution?

Before I started a geology blog, I used to sporadically blog about geology over at Skepchick. These days, I blog here at Georneys about geology, and I blog over at Skepchick about other skeptical and scientific things, such as my dismay over recent CNN news features. Occasionally, I will re-post some of my old geology posts from Skepchick. I will also sometimes cross-post on both blogs. The post below originally appeared on Skepchick in 2007 here. I have made minor edits to the original Skepchick post.

Martha's Vineyard oceanview, Cape Cod, November 2008.

I was walking along the beach today* in Woods Hole here on Cape Cod. I wanted some fresh air and felt like collecting some seashells. You always find the best seashells in the winter. There’s no one else on the beach, usually, so the biggest, most beautiful seashells will just be waiting for you there on the sand, perhaps tangled in some seaweed. As I walked the beach and looked for shells, I thought about how in the next century or two– at most– all of Cape Cod will be underwater.

A Geology Conference in an Earthquake Zone

Hotel Earthquake Evacuation Guide, San Francisco, December 2010.

After a long day of travel yesterday, I arrived in San Francisco for the annual American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Conference. The conference is held here in San Francisco every year. This is my first time at AGU. I'm very excited to be here, if a little overwhelmed by all of the people! I have to wonder a little, though, about the choice of conference venue. San Francisco, as the above "Earthquake Procedures" emergency evacuation guide I found in my hotel room reminds me, is located along the San Andreas fault and is prone to Earthquakes.  Sure, there hasn't been a major earthquake (as far as I know) during this or previous AGU conferences, but it's only a matter of time. Hopefully, during this (and subsequent) AGU meetings there won't be a repeat of the great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. Perhaps AGU should consider moving their fall conference to a more geologically stable interior region- Kansas, for instance. Though I guess then you'd have to worry about tornadoes. And perhaps it wouldn't be quite as scenic.

I've had a great conference so far- I spent the day meeting with colleagues and attending a session on geological carbon sequestration. I also visited the vendor's hall and visited the life-size mock-up sphere of the Alvin deep-sea submersible, which was transported by truck from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), my home base of operations. Be sure to stop by and visit the sphere- you can also enter a raffle to win a real Alvin porthole! WHOI, by the way, is an oceanographic institution located on ephemeral glacial till that will likely be underwater in the near future due to sea level rise...

Me and the Alvin Sphere Mock-Up, San Francisco, December 2010.

Okay, off to explore San Francisco a little! Hope to see some of you tonight at the AGU Movie Event!