February 20, 2012
Monday Geology Picture: Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Utah
I don’t have much time to blog today, but here’s a pretty picture of Delicate Arch. I hope everyone is having a happy President’s Day!
February 19, 2012
How a Geochemist Really Dresses
I am a geochemist. For my PhD thesis, undergraduate, and summer internship research, I have spent thousands of hours in geochemistry labs. I enjoy labwork, and I take laboratory safety seriously. When I work in the laboratory, I usually wear an outfit similar to the above. In the above photograph I am wearing an acid-resistant lab coat, long pants, closed-toed plastic lab clogs (out of the picture, but believe me), …
February 14, 2012
My First Storify: Pseudospeleothem
I’ve been meaning to play around with Storify for awhile, but I’ve been busy writing my thesis and haven’t had time. However, I couldn’t resist Storifying the fun discussion I had about the “word” pseuedospeleothem on Twitter. Enjoy! Don’t know what a speleothem is? Read here.
A Heart of Stone
A heart of stone. Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! For those of you who are grumpy on Valentine’s Day, here’s a heart of stone. For the geologists, this heart of stone that should make you slightly less grumpy. There are some good stones in there, including gabbros, purple calcite, nummulite-bearing rock, and some excellent shell fossils. I’ve had a busy Valentine’s Day. I’m tired from spending 12 hours working on my …
February 13, 2012
Monday Geology Picture: Tarague Embayment, Guam
Tarague Embayment, Guam. Photograph courtesy of Jason Vanover. My cousin Jason is in the Air Force, and he’s currently stationed on the island of Guam, which has some fantastic geology and also some gorgeous beaches. He’s been sharing some pictures of his travels around Guam, and I must admit I’m somewhat jealous of his travels. Perhaps I’ll have a chance to visit Guam one day. There certainly seems to be …
February 7, 2012
More Crabs in the Sand at Barr Al-Hikman, Sultanate of Oman
My post yesterday about the crab houses in the sand at Barr Al-Hikman turned out to be quite popular, so I thought I’d share some more pictures of crabs and crab houses and other crab life traces which I observed at Barr Al-Hikman. In addition to the Ocypode saratan “ghost” crab (thanks for the identification help, Tony Martin!), I observed at least two other species of crab at Barr Al-Hikman. …
February 6, 2012
Monday Geology Picture: Crab Houses in the Sand at Barr Al-Hikman, Sultanate of Oman
Last month I participated in a three-day geology field trip to Barr Al-Hikman, a peninsula in Oman. On the peninsula there are numerous beautiful beaches and interesting geological features such as sabkhas and paleolagoons. We visited the peninsula to look at some recent carbonate deposits and also to investigate some modern beach features, such as the coral reefs located just off shore and the traces left on the beach by …
February 1, 2012
Mystery Rock #6
Back in December, Diego emailed me pictures of an interesting looking, rounded rock that has some lighter markings on it that look like pictures. Diego wrote: Hello Evelyn, My name is Diego, and since you like to study rocks, I do have one for you! I was told it was sediment that created the pictures on the rock. Is it possible? What would you do if you have found this …
January 30, 2012
Monday Geology Picture: A Day in Pompeii
Today’s geology picture is courtesy of my friend Travis, who visited the “A Day in Pompeii” exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science this past weekend. This exhibit looks great and runs through February 12th. If you’re in the Boston area, you should check it out! Unfortunately, I’m going to miss the exhibit since I won’t be back in the Boston area until March. I’m very sad that I’m missing …
January 26, 2012
Global Warming is Scary
When I was visiting my friends in Abu Dhabi a couple of weeks ago, we had dinner at a local mall just before I headed to the airport for my flight home to South Africa. As we were leaving the mall, I bought myself a few children’s books in Arabic. After I finish up my PhD in April, I’m hoping to work through these Arabic children’s books as a way …
Evelyn Mervine is a geologist, writer, traveler, and aspiring polyglot. She is currently a Ph.D. student in the MIT/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program and will obtain her doctorate in Marine Geology & Geophysics (with a Geochemistry focus) in 2012. In the midst of much stress, long days in the lab, and long nights writing thesis chapters, Evelyn writes this blog to remind herself of why she loves geology. She also writes this blog to document some of her geology adventures and to share her love of geology with others.
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