You are browsing the archive for January 2011 - Page 3 of 4 - Mountain Beltway.
12 January 2011
Experimental vs. historical science, and environmentalism
A diagram on “how science works” betrays an “experimentalist” bias. This sets Callan off on a rumination on the much-maligned validity of historical science, and that leads to a discussion of the Big Experiment, which is humanity’s influence on the Earth system.
11 January 2011
Blogger deserves GSA History Award
Join me in nominating David Bressan’s History of Geology blog for the Geological Society of America’s Mary C. Rabbitt History of Geology Award. To my knowledge, this would be the first time a blogger has won that honor. Every time I read one of David’s posts, I learn something new. I think it’s a wonderful service that he provides. Who among you appreciate David’s efforts enough to support the application …
10 January 2011
Call for posts: AW#30, the Bake Sale
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 …
Mystery rock with radiating crystals
A mystery rock is presented. Can you puzzle out what this beautiful thing is, and how it formed?
8 January 2011
Radiating crystals of wavellite
My once and future Honors student Robin R. brought back some sweet wavellite [Al3(PO4)2(OH,F)3•5(H2O)] samples from her holiday travels*. Check out these beautiful radiating crystals! A penny will serve as your sense of scale. The wavellite is a “crust” on top of a layered rock that appears to be a quartzite. (The layering in the quartzite is cross-cut by the wavellite layer.) It looks like the host rock fractured, then …
7 January 2011
Friday fold: snow on a roof
The weekly example of a fold is especially… “cool” this week.
6 January 2011
Book review video: Climate change
Links, mostly to Amazon pages for the 6 books mentioned in the video: Thin Ice by Mark Bowen Ice, Mud, & Blood by Chris Turney Turney’s Twitter stream from Antarctica What’s the Worst that Could Happen? by Greg Craven Link to the AGU10 blog post mentioned and to Greg Craven’s response. The Carbon Age by Eric Roston Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum by William Ruddiman CO2 Rising by Tyler Volk Link …
5 January 2011
Dirt: the Erosion of Civilizations, by David Montgomery
The final book I read over the break was Dirt: the Erosion of Civilizations, by David Montgomery. Montgomery got a MacArthur “Genius” Award for his soil work, and I use an article he wrote for GSA Today (2007) as one of the assigned readings for my Environmental Geology course. In Dirt, he lays out the case for protecting civilization by protecting soils. Attention is given to soil-forming processes, and rates …
Dirt: the Erosion of Civilizations, by David Montgomery
The final book I read over the break was Dirt: the Erosion of Civilizations, by David Montgomery. Montgomery got a MacArthur “Genius” Award for his soil work, and I use an article he wrote for GSA Today (2007) as one of the assigned readings for my Environmental Geology course. In Dirt, he lays out the case for protecting civilization by protecting soils. Attention is given to soil-forming processes, and rates …
4 January 2011
Diamictite close-ups
Here’s three shots of the Konnarock Formation diamictite, taken with my Nikon microscope. Field of view is about 1 cm in each shot.
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.