22 February 2012
“Magnificent column of smoke” (Accretionary Wedge #43 Entry)
My choice of favorite geologic illustration, for Accretionary Wedge # 43, comes from a book that geobloggers (and others) have written about in the past: Sir William Hamilton’s Campi Phlegraei, Observations on the Volcanoes of the Two Sicilies. I won’t repeat all the background about Hamilton, who was a British natural historian who observed eruptions of Mount Vesuvius in the 1760s and 1770s. Campi Phlegraei, a three-part work, contained wonderful descriptions of the volcanoes and eruptions of Naples and Sicily, including the 1779 eruption of Mount Vesuvius (discussed and illustrated in a supplement to the first two volumes).
13 February 2012
Archival Gold: U.S. Antarctic Program Photo Library
It’s finally decided to act wintry in Buffalo, so I decided to continue the theme with (finally!) another photo archive post. This one comes to you courtesy of the U. S. Antarctic Program (part of the NSF’s Office of Polar Programs). The U.S. Antarctic Program Photo Library is a collection of images from research expeditions to Antarctica (submitted by members of those expeditions). It includes photos focusing on science, research stations, wildlife (above and below the ice!), scenery, people, and images from historical expeditions. Properly credited photos are free for use for non-commercial purposes, and you can submit your own photos to the collection (although they become the property of the NSF if you do).
6 February 2012
This is what a geologist looks like
Recently there’s been activity on Twitter (#Iamscience) and Tumblr (the “This is what a scientist looks like” blog) with a simple message: Scientists are people too! (And boy, do we have some fun hobbies.)
I think these efforts are really important right now. In my opinion, one of the big problems with the anti-science attitude in this country is that people seem to think that scientists are aloof and unapproachable by anyone who isn’t a scientist. We’ve somehow acquired the image of being brainy but secretive folks who closet themselves in their labs with mysterious research, out of touch with the “real” world and unable to relate to non-scientists. Well, nothing could be further from the truth! Scientists, including geologists, are people who take their jobs just as seriously as anyone else, but we also have lives outside of science – and we do some pretty interesting things. My work as a volcanologist certainly defines a key part of who I am, but it’s not the only part of my life that matters.
30 January 2012
What’s your geologic genealogy?
Every once in a while this topic pops up among geologists – and the phrase “who is your grandfather” really means “who was your advisor’s advisor?” It’s kind of fun to trace your geologic heritage, so I thought I’d give mine a go. This usually involves looking at graduate degrees (most people don’t list who their undergraduate advisor was, and when you go back farther in time they rarely talk about anything but who the person studied under for their PhD).
25 January 2012
Rocks in the kitchen (Accretionary Wedge #42 Entry)
Ian Saginor of Volcanoclast is hosting the next Accretionary Wedge, and it should be a neat one: we’re supposed to explore the geology of the indoors – specifically, countertops. Here’s the challenge:
Have you seen a great countertop out there? Sure, everyone says it’s “granite”, but you know better. Take a picture, post it on your own blog or send it to me and I’ll post it for you. Do you think you know what it is or how it was formed? Feel free to include your own interpretation and I’m sure others will enjoy joining in the discussion. Ron Schott suggested that we expand the entries by including any decorative stone material that has been separated by humans from it’s source. This includes buildings, statues, etc. There’s a lot of really unusual stuff out there, so make sure to find a good one.
18 January 2012
Magma, P.I. (Or, I Go On Dr. Kiki’s Science Hour And Try To Sound Good)
So if anyone caught my tweet late last Thursday, you’ll know that I was interviewed on Dr. Kiki’s Science Hour, an internet video show on TWiT TV. Dr. Kiki (otherwise known as Dr. Kirsten Sanford) actually got in touch with me during AGU, hoping to tape a show, but electronic issues on my end of things delayed the interview until last week. Still, it was a lot of fun (and I hope I didn’t flub any of the geology too badly!)
13 January 2012
The volcanology library: choosing the classics
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ll have seen the post I did on essential reading for volcanologists last year. Recently, a fellow grad student and I were having a conversation about “classic” journal articles/papers in volcanology – which were our favorites, and what we consider “classic” (this doesn’t necessarily equal old, but often includes things like review papers, which try to treat a particular topic comprehensively in only a few pages). She suggested that I try something new this year: every few weeks, do a review of one of these “classic” papers – papers that give excellent overviews of a particular topic, or were the first to suggest a now-prevalent idea, or are referenced by just about everyone at one time or another.
31 December 2011
I’m a travelin’ (wo)man
It’s time for my yearly recap of travels geological and otherwise, and it looks like Chris and Anne at Highly Allocthonous have started up the meme again. This year had a few highlights (and a little more excitement over the summer than I would have liked), but I also got to spend more time at my home base in Buffalo. So let’s start there in January…
28 December 2011
Talking about geoblogging at AGU 2011
As I mentioned in several posts, I gave a talk at a Public Affairs session at this year’s Fall AGU meeting in San Francisco. I was invited to give the talk about my geoblogging experience in a session called “Science Communication in a Changing Media Landscape” on Wednesday afternoon. The session description gave me a lot of leeway, especially since the invitation was basically to talk about blogging – a topic where I can cover a lot of ground! I gave the first version of this talk in an hour-long seminar in my department, so cutting it down to twelve minutes for AGU was a big challenge. Here are the slides that I ended up with, and a general run-through of what I said in the talk.
Jessica Ball is a graduate student in the Department of Geology at State University of New York at Buffalo, where she is learning how to safely and productively play with very hot rocks. Her PhD research focuses on the interaction of water and lava domes, and involves both field investigations and modeling applications. Her blogging covers a range of topics, from life as a grad student to geoscience outreach to (of course!) her field and lab work in volcanology.
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