10 January 2011
Call for posts: AW#30, the Bake Sale
Posted by Callan
Recent discussion of the geologically incorrect cake t-shirt at Threadless (earlier take-down here) and the actual baked equivalent have inspired me to issue a call for Accretionary Wedge #30: Let’s have a Bake Sale!
I hereby challenge my fellow geobloggers (and any newbies who want to participate) to explore the interconnections between geology and food. This can take any form you want, but I’m really hoping for some edible, geologically accurate models. Yummy stuff that illustrates and informs about earth science? Yes, it is possible!
Here’s an example from my own kitchen, several years ago:
A delicious analogy for the Blue Ridge Thrust Fault. I baked a chocolate & peanut butter cake last week. Yesterday, I baked a carrot cake. The carrot cake is younger; the chocolate cake is older. Then I shoved the older cake on top of the younger cake by pushing sideways (A). Traveling along a layer of icing, the older chocolate cake moved up and over the younger carrot cake. The surface of contact between the two is analogous to the Blue Ridge Thrust Fault, shown as a dotted line (B). Arrows show relative motions of the two cakes. This thrust-faulted cake was served at the NOVA-Annandale end-of-semester party for the Mathematics, Science and Engineering Department, May 2006. [From here]
What have you got, geobloggers? If it’s not baked goods specifically, I’m good with that. But something food related would be great. I’m lickerish for something delectably illustrative. Let your taste buds guide you on a geologic journey! Let’s plan on submitting our dishes to the Bake Sale by January 28, 2011, (by leaving a comment here including a link to your post) and I’ll lay out the smorgasbord over that weekend, so we can get this thing online by the last day of the month.
In the meantime, if you have a clever idea for the next Accretionary Wedge, or the one after that, leave a message in the lengthy chain of comments at “Who’s Hosting the Next Accretionary Wedge?” We’re a bit behind the game here with January’s announcement, but hopefully we can remedy that with enthusiastic participation in the planning of future Wedges. …Perhaps if everyone resolved to host a Wedge this year, and to submit suggestions a bit in advance? Thanks!
Callan Bentley is an assistant professor of geology at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Virginia. He is particularly interested in structural geology and the evolution of the Appalachian mountain belt. Callan draws cartoons and writes for EARTH magazine. He lives in the Fort Valley of Virginia.
Sarah said on 10 January 2011
Will a food-related groundwater flow model suffice?
Callan said on 10 January 2011
Hells yeah!
Anne Jefferson said on 24 January 2011
I hope you’ll consider including Maria’s excellent posts on the geology of ice cream:
http://scienceblogs.com/greengabbro/2008/08/the_igneous_petrology_of_ice_c.php
http://scienceblogs.com/greengabbro/2008/08/the_metamorphic_petrology_of_i.php
http://scienceblogs.com/greengabbro/2008/08/the_sedimentary_geology_of_ice.php
http://scienceblogs.com/greengabbro/2008/12/red_bean_xenoliths_janessa.php
Lockwood said on 24 January 2011
I’ve been having a hard time deciding how to approach this… too much I want to say. I’ve decided to submit two posts. Here’s the first, from last June. The other one will be less cakey, more bakey, and more biogeochemically oriented, assuming I can get it together. I’ve been sort of organizing it and fleshing it out for a while now in the back of my mind, and I’ve found that when I’m in that pattern, it pours out faster than I can type, once I sit down to write. Nice topic.
Lockwood said on 24 January 2011
Also, if you didn’t see it, here’s a post from Friends of the Pleistocene that is relevant to the food theme. I don’t think that blog has participated in the AW before, and it might tickle them to be included.
Callan said on 26 January 2011
Dino cake!
Jessica Ball said on 26 January 2011
Of course I get the post done and forget to leave a comment. Here you are: (Edible) rheomorphic tuff
Silver Fox said on 26 January 2011
And here’s my non-baked entry.
Lockwood said on 27 January 2011
Here’s another dino cake; this one is disastrous: http://dinosaurs.fossilfinds.info/dinosaur-extinction-cake/
Dana Hunter said on 27 January 2011
Right, then. Here it is. The first cake I’ve baked in four years:
Bake Sale Madness
Only for the Accretionary Wedge!
Lockwood said on 27 January 2011
Cycles Without End… and cake!
Andrew Alden said on 28 January 2011
Geology recipes for kids:
http://geology.about.com/od/teacher_aids_k12/a/Geologic-Recipes.htm
Ann Willis said on 28 January 2011
Here’s my bake sale item
http://annsmusingsongeologyotherthings.blogspot.com/2011/01/bake-sale-accretionary-wedge-30.html
Anne Jefferson said on 28 January 2011
From me: a (non-cake) debris flow http://all-geo.org/highlyallochthonous/2011/01/edible-debris-flow/
From Chris: Hutton’s unconformicake http://all-geo.org/highlyallochthonous/2011/01/the-baking-of-an-angular-unconformity-huttons-unconformicake/
Jim Lehane said on 28 January 2011
I really wanted to do something new but I just don’t have the time, so here is one of my older posts:
http://jazinator.blogspot.com/2010/08/demonstrating-earthquake-effects-using.html
Chris Rowan said on 30 January 2011
We got a great contribution to Earth Science Erratics: bubbles, bread… and volcanic bombs!
http://all-geo.org/erratics/2011/01/bubbling-up/