Geology

ICELAND – Team Iceland has arrived! We have been joined by our collaborators from Dickinson College and now number 9 strong. The Dickinson crew arrived early on Friday morning, so we spent much of the day recovering from our overseas travel and preparing for fieldwork. In addition to obtaining vehicles and food, we met our Icelandic collaborator, Steinunn Hauksdóttir, at the Iceland Geosurvey (ISOR) to discuss logistics. (Steinunn also showed us their latest geological map of the northern volcanic zone. We promptly offered to map the rest of Iceland for them in exchange for bread and Skyr). When the group awoke from their jet-lagged slumber, they were hungry for food and geology. So, we thought we’d try a twist on the introduction to the field area: Pizza on the Pillows. In a spur of the moment decision, we thought it might be fun to have an informal dinner at the quarries where we’ll be studying the formation of subglacial pillow lavas. We picked up pizzas and headed to the field. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the field site, the weather was perfectly Icelandic. Although you can’t see it, the wind and rain would have made our pizzas soggy. We got the cliff notes version of the overview instead. We are creative bunch, though, and were still able to have a different kind of Pizza on the Pillows back at the hostel. Team Iceland and their “Pizza on the Pillows” in the dry hostel dining room. Pictured from left to right: Michael (’16, Wooster); Aleks (’14, Dickinson); Ellie (’14, Dickinson); Liz (’16, Dickinson); Dr. Ben Edwards; Alex (’14, Wooster); Adam (’16, Wooster); Jim Ciarrocca (GIS, Dickinson).

A summary of photos posted on flickr today, tagged with “geology.” Displayed below are 17 geology-related photos were added to flickr today. Similar Posts on Geology News: Daily Geology Photos – May 10 Daily Geology Photos – May 19 Daily Geology Photos – May 21 Daily Geology Photos – May 15 Daily Geology Photos – May 2 The Geology News Blog, 2013. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Who is linking?

Here’s the story behind this photo. I just got back from five days in Fresno at the annual meeting of my regional section of the Geological Society of America, the Cordilleran Section. The first order of business was a field trip to see the Pleistocene fossils of the Fairmead Landfill, near Chowchilla. The guy whose hand this is is Blake Bufford, director of the Fossil Discovery Center just across the road from the site. His job is to follow around the giant scrapers at the landfill when they dig new pits and watch for fossils, so he’s the most important pair of eyes in the entire project. Blake showed our group the latest pit and then accompanied us to the Center for a tour and a reception by the FDC’s owners, the San Joaquin Valley Paleontology Foundation. Some nice Madera County wine, local cheese, “mammoth” meat balls and so on. Blake and I got to talking, and the topic of Oakland came up. He asked if I knew anything about the traditional ochre diggings he had visited there. I told him about the Holy Names site, but that’s not the one he meant. No, he said, this was another place that was in the process of being wiped out to build a supermarket, where both red and yellow ochre were produced. “Let me show it to you.” The Center is full of fossils, but it also has a little display cabinet dedicated to the people who once had the area to themselves, the Chowchilla tribe. There was an antique woven reed basket, of course, but everything else was a modern replica made with traditional techniques: arrows with interchangeable arrowheads, various kinds of twine, deerbone trowels and scrapers, a tiny wooden flute, necklaces, a soapstone bowl and trade beads, and balls of red and yellow ochre. Blake made all of it. He unlocked the case and showed me everything in it. He made the ochre balls, the size of a small egg, by grinding the stone to powder, then mixing it with boiled soaproot to hold it together. “We don’t know exactly what they used, but this worked.” There were a couple of raw ochre specimens lying next to them. “I collected this one from Oakland,” he said, and I said, “Please let me photograph that.”

A new report from the USGS warns that on the high demand basis for nuclear power through 2035, the identified resources from operating and developing mines is inadequate.In the report, Critical Analysis of World Uranium Resources, they found that "This analysis indicates that mine development is proceeding too slowly to fully meet requirements for an expanded nuclear power reactor fleet in the near future (to 2035), and unless adequate secondary or unconventional resources can be identified, imbalances in supply and demand may occur." [Right, head frame of the Arizona #1 uranium mine, currently operating in northern Arizona. Courtesy, Denison Mines]"At 2010 rates of consumption, uranium resources identified in operating or developing mines would fuel the world nuclear fleet for about 30 years. However, projections currently predict an increase in uranium requirements tied to expansion of nuclear energy worldwide. In the low demand case, uranium identified in existing and developing mines is adequate to supply requirements. However, whether or not these identified resources will be developed rapidly enough to provide an uninterrupted fuel supply to expanded nuclear facilities could not be determined." Ref: Hall, Susan, and Coleman, Margaret, 2013, Critical analysis of world uranium resources: U.S. Scientific Investigations Report 2012–5239, 56 p. http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2012/5239/

JM, Jim and Nathan, LRRD fabricators/prototypers, at River Rally 2013. Nathan, Jim, JM and I spent last weekend exhibiting our Em2 at the River Network's annual River Rally.We met people from all over the country who are dedicated to river conservation - a pretty regular thing in this business. But this meeting, held in downtown St. Louis on the edge of the Mississippi River, was special for us. All four of us grew up in Missouri or Illinois, in the Mississippi watershed. In Carbondale, Ill., our home, we can drive a half hour and dip our toes into the Mississippi.So we were thrilled to meet so many people who are working to protect the river in our own back yard, like the crew from Living Lands & Waters, who spend most of their days on a barge traveling the Mississippi, picking up trash and planting trees. (Nathan will attend one of their environmental educator workshops next month.)A main event on Monday included the mayors of St. Louis, Grafton, Ill., and Wickliff, Ky. -- all nearby towns to Carbondale -- who gathered at River Rally for a panel discussion about the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, a cooperative among mayors all along the river. The mayors aim to approach river policy as a group, rather than as individual cities and towns (read an article from the Quad City Times about the initiative here). During the discussion, the three mayors talked about the trouble with building and farming in floodplains (Wickliff is just a few miles away from Cairo, Ill., which we blogged about extensively during the big spring flood of 2011), and controlling Asian Carp, an invasive species that has infested the Mississippi (watch a short video about Asian Carp here). These are issues the folks at River Rally have been talking about probably since River Network began 25 years ago (yep, it's a milestone year for them), and will continue to talk about in the years to come.Nathan talks with a visitor at River Rally 2013 in St. Louis

Going through some of my old files I had discovered this little gem. I was unable to fine a digital copy of it online and barely a reference to it so I figured I would repost it here for the benefit of any presenters. This is presented verbatim.-----------------------------------------------------------------Geotimes May 1999Geologic ColumnTen Commandments for PresentersBy Hugh Hay-RoeAnyone who has attended even a few earth science society conferences has noticed the range in quality of the presentations. Some papers are a joy to sit through; others can leave you confused, frustrated, or fast asleep. Presentations may fail because the speakers prepare the script as if they were writing a paper for publications. They forget that a paper given orally differs from a published paper in three crucial ways:A live audience is like a group taking a guided tour - unless they have reviewed the subject in advance, they are totally dependent on the speaker to orient them before they set off. If the speaker fails to do so properly at the outset, the group will soon be lost.Unlike readers, listeners cannot pause to re-read what they didn't understand. They cannot jump past the dull stuff to get to what interests them, nor go back to find an important point they missed.Most people take in information better by eye than by ear, so visual aids are crucial. The more complex the subject, the more important it is to have clear visuals.With those distinctions in mind, here are 10 guidelines for better oral presentations.1. Define clearly what you wish to accomplish with your presentation. In most instances, your purpose is to inform, but sometimes your primary goal is to persuade. Or you may wish to entertain. Some talks are a combination of these purposes.2. Write down in concrete specific terms what you offer to your readers (if it's information) or what you want from them (if you are trying to persuade). For example, don't write, "I want to tell them about the Yippahoopy Quadrangle." Write, "I want to tell them that the Yippahoopy Quadrangle is almost certainly the site of a significant meteorite impact during the Early Miocene."3. Having defined your key ideas, present them at the beginning and - unless the presentation is very short - again at the end.4. Organize your supporting information in a sequence in which listeners will most likely want it. To do that effectively, you have to know your audience - their technical backgrounds, main interests, and limitations. In the example above, you might present your evidence for the meteorite, offer questions and doubts, describe your field and lab methods, and finally discuss the implications of your findings.5. Use visual aids that are attractive and highly readable. Never use a visual aid that you have to apologize for. A digital image projector (fed from a laptop or notebook computer and controlled by a "remote mouse") is the most effective projection device.6. Hold onto your reading material until your talk is finished. The only good handout at the beginning of a presentation is a simple outline, with space between the headings for listeners to take notes.7. Unless you are speaking in a very large auditorium, eye contact with the audience is important. But even in a vast hall, don't read from a detailed script. If you do, your voice will tend to drop to a monotone, losing its "vocal variety." Use cue cards (or cue yourself from your visuals). And practice! Get feedback from a "guinea pig" audience during dry runs beforehand.8. Anticipate questions and decide how you'll handle them. Are you going to present anything that is controversial or extremely complex? Some listeners might ask about aspects you did not cover in your talk.9. If possible, check out the logistics ahead of time - room arrangement, lights and dimmer switches, sound system, visual equipment, and other aids. Find out what assistance will be available, if any. If there is a speakers' breakfast, don't play hooky.10. If you are th

A summary of photos posted on flickr today, tagged with “geology.” Displayed below are 16 geology-related photos were added to flickr today. Similar Posts on Geology News: Daily Geology Photos – May 10 Daily Geology Photos – May 19 Daily Geology Photos – May 21 Daily Geology Photos – May 15 Daily Geology Photos – May 2 The Geology News Blog, 2013. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Who is linking?

“One grain of sand, it is all that remains of my vast empire." This line is from the classic film The Never Ending Story. When the mythical land of Fantasia is destroyed, the protagonists are able to wish it back into existence using that one grain of sand, which had escaped destruction. If I could have wished Rockaway back to normal using sand I would have been in luck. Because of our sand? Instead of disappearing it climbed into our houses, streets, cars, beds, bathtubs and just about every other imaginable place. As Memorial Day approaches one can feel the return to normalcy knocking at the door. Some of the signs of destruction haven't quite left us yet, although more and more our hometown is starting to feel like itself again. One of the ways that I kept my head through the storm and the winter months that followed was by remembering what I love most about living here. The beach. Every morning, I walk the shoreline with my pooch. Today I invite you to join me, to see what we find in the sands of Rockaway. Our first find, a paper plate with a child’s drawing on it. Next, Nina and I encountered this guy, in quite a compromising position. It’s a bit of a hobby of mine to rescue horseshoe crabs that end flipped over and helpless. After he was vigorously sniffed, he was re-released into the wild Next up, this purple broom head. Lines in the sand that remind me of tree branches. A series of seashells and sea glass. A little patterned feather. And a shred of yellow caution tape. So there you have it, the best of one morning’s exploration in the sand along the shore. And should the day ever come when I can wish upon a sand grain, I’ll be in luck. Right now, there are about a thousand of them in my shoes. .....................................................................................................  [As I wrote in my previous post on the rebuilding of Breezy Point, Susanne, a resident of neighbouring Rockaway, contacted me about using Larry Deemer’s photos on her Rockaway Rises blog (which she started because she “was tired of looking at all the negative news stories and photography about Rockaway.” Larry was, of course, delighted, and Susanne used some of his Wave to Wave photos from his book of the same title. It also seemed like a great opportunity for a guest post, and Susanne kindly agreed – this is the very enjoyable result. Susanne grew up in Breezy Point and is a freelance photographer and photo editor who “spent several weeks after Hurricane Sandy digging out my parents’ flooded basement before driving to Florida where I had to stay for 6 weeks because my office had also been flooded and my job temporarily moved down there.” Thanks for this post, Susanne, and best wishes for a great Memorial Day weekend to you and everyone in Rockaway and Breezy Point.]

Blue belly lizard near some foliated andesite (this is the Great Basin Fence Lizard, or Sceloporus occidentalis longipes). (click any photo to enlarge) The lizard was rather skittish, and I couldn't get very close. Read more about blue bellies in an earlier post. A lizard of unknown denomination running over a lichen-covered outcrop. A very small gray and white bird perched on a gray rock atop an iron-stained outcrop (upper right). Two shining leaf chafers or "Little Bears." AKA Paracotalpa granicollis, a kind of scarab beetle. Ladybug! And finally, a meadowlark atop a sagebrush. I hear meadowlarks often, but am not always quite so lucky as to see them. This time, I was crossing a muddy little stream by a meadow, on my way to take the long way home (I didn't know it was *such* a long way, but oh well) when I heard this one singing.

Lots of people enjoy going to fee mining sites where you can prospect inactive surface mines, mine tailings, soil, sediments or outcrops and keep any rocks, gems, minerals or fossils that you find. Examples include: Herkimer Diamond Mines where you can search for doubly-terminated quartz crystals, and Crater of Diamonds where you might be lucky enough to find a real diamond.