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14 June 2021
What the Eyes Don’t See, by Mona Hanna-Attisha
I just finished an excellent insider account of the Flint water crisis, written by the pediatrician who brought it to the attention of the wider world. Mona Hanna-Attisha practices medicine in Flint, has a background in environmental activism, and happened to be good friends with a specialist in the management of municipal water systems. An evening’s conversation between Dr. Mona (her preferred name) and her friend ends up launching her …
10 April 2020
Friday fold: Sorrosal Falls, Pyrenees
Folded Eocene turbidites exposed on the face of a spectacular waterfall in the Spanish Pyrenees. It’s Friday; enjoy this fold!
3 February 2014
Ice seeps along Passage Creek
This past week, there’s been a beautiful sight along the stretch of the Fort Valley Road that goes past the Blue Hole section of Passage Creek. Click to enlarge Ice has been forming beautiful forms as groundwater seeps out along bedding planes in the Massanutten Sandstone (a Silurian-aged quartz arenite, folded during late Paleozoic Alleghanian deformation). At this site, the bedding dips moderately to the south. This is close to …
10 December 2013
The trail to Crypt Lake
Today, I’d like to share some images with you from Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada. This is the Crypt Lake hike, a popular (but grueling) hike in the park. It starts at the Waterton Marina, across Emerald Bay from the Prince of Wales Hotel. Mount Crandell and the Bear’s Hump are visible in the distance. This image can be made much bigger if you click on it. Click …
9 November 2012
Friday fold: Boomer Falls
The Friday fold is seen at one of the stops on Callan’s pre-GSA-Charlotte field trip: a small waterfall in North Carolina’s Inner Piedmont.
23 May 2012
Fossil Falls fun
A few shots from Fossil Falls, in the southern Owens Valley, California… This is the now-dry river bed of the Owens River. There’s abundant evidence of water-induced erosion (potholes, polishing, etc.), but nary a drop of water to be seen – Though this particular portion of the Owens River drainage dried up in the Pleistocene, it parallels the more recent history of the valley’s water resources, which are now being …
4 March 2012
Scenes from Mono Lake
Yesterday I flew from DC to Reno, Nevada in the company of 11 students, and then we rented vehicles and drove south on Route 395, one of the greatest roads in America, to Bishop, California, where we area based for the next 3 days. We’re doing a regional field geology course examining the extraordinary rocks, structure, geomorphology, and water resource issues of the Owens Valley and Death Valley. Just before …
25 January 2012
Berlin Falls, South Africa
Here’s where to find it, if you want to. Can’t say I recommend it – just an overlook, with no opportunities to hike or swim or explore in any more detail than just passively observing gravity exert its pull on water unencumbered by underlying rock.
28 January 2011
Friday fold: Mavericks
The Friday fold is a series of strata underwater near California’s famed “Mavericks” surf break.
27 February 2010
Virginia water well shows seismic waves
This site, from the USGS, shows depth to the water table for a well in Virginia: You’ll notice the tidal influence on the water table (broad sine-curve-like up and down crests and troughs at ~12 hour intervals), and then a sudden perturbation which caused some wiggles almost two and a half feet of magnitude! This, presumably, is the seismic waves from the Chilean earthquake arriving — surface waves, I would …
Callan Bentley is Associate Professor of Geology at Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America. For his work on this blog, the National Association of Geoscience Teachers recognized him with the James Shea Award. He has also won the Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia, and the Biggs Award for Excellence in Geoscience Teaching from the Geoscience Education Division of the Geological Society of America. In previous years, Callan served as a contributing editor at EARTH magazine, President of the Geological Society of Washington and President the Geo2YC division of NAGT.