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18 March 2012
Fossil interlude: Eighteen Mile Creek, New York
The weather has been freakishly nice for March in Buffalo, so yesterday I decided to chuck any ideas of getting work done and went fossiling with a friend instead. The area where I live sits right on top of the Devonian Onondaga limestone, so I’m already surrounded by a very fossiliferous unit (it’s full of things like coral and brachiopods and crinoids). But for a special locale, it’s worth it to head down to Eighteen Mile Creek, which flows into Lake Erie about 12 miles southwest of Buffalo.
10 March 2012
Learning moments in geology movies
Between digging into fluid dynamics papers, figuring out stability fields for alteration minerals and generally dealing with being a grad student, I haven’t had a lot of time to post lately. (Plus I had to do my taxes this weekend…) But I did get great comments on the “Survival Geology” post, especially about using movies and TV to teach science, and I thought I’d run with some thoughts on those. …
29 February 2012
Survival geology for the space traveler
For your reading pleasure: a totally frivolous post based off musing I’ve been doing when I actually have time to sit down and watch TV.
Recently I’ve been on a scifi kick (and got sucked into watching episodes of Stargate: Universe online, which is a great way to see a whole series but a massive free-time sink). Interpersonal issues aside, the characters on SGU, who are stuck on an alien spaceship on the other side of the universe, spend a lot of time visiting new planets, looking for resources like food and water. Sometimes the main barrier to this is an alien critter that doesn’t like them much, but often they end up on deserted planets with little more than a “well, you can breathe and it’s not too cold” from the probes they send through first.
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!)
Jessica Ball is a volcanologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, researching volcanic hydrothermal systems and stability, and doing science communication for the California Volcano Observatory. She previously worked at the Geological Society of America's Washington DC Policy Office, learning about the intersection of Earth science and legislative affairs. Her Mendenhall postdoc and PhD focused on how water affects the stability of volcanoes, and involved both field investigations and numerical modeling applications. Her blogging covers a range of topics, from her experiences in academic geosciences to science outreach and communication to her field and lab work in volcanology.