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17 October 2011
Words matter
A table from the article “Communicating the Science of Climate Change,” by Richard C. J. Somerville and Susan Joy Hassol, from the October 2011 issue of Physics Today, page 48: There’s a lot to ponder in this table. It strikes me as an important document – a compilation of one of humanity’s most tragic miscommunications. You can click on it to make it bigger – large enough that you could …
Hawk migration in Mexico
Two images that have me scheming to go down to Veracruz, Mexico, next September for a weekend of hawk-watching: …Impressive, no? Better yet, check this out: …Oh. Yeah.
16 October 2011
A graphical dalliance
I read an article in the current issue of Physics Today with interest. It deals with the nature of scientific controversies, as percieved by the public and by specialists in the field in question. The author, Steven Sherwood, compares the origin of the ideas of a heliocentric solar system, general relativity, and human influence on the Earth’s climate. Each of them follows a similar pattern, he argues, with the initial …
15 October 2011
Cross-bedding in Flathead Sandstone, Wind River Canyon
This is a boulder of Cambrian-aged Flathead Sandstone, the unit overlying the Great Unconformity exposed in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming. Click to make it 5000 pixels wide. Swiss Army knife for scale. It shows a lovely example of multiple upside-down cross-beds. It also shows a heavy layer of caliche on what is (now) the upper surface – a phenomenon which typically occurs on the underside of sedimentary clasts. So not …
14 October 2011
Friday fold: isoclinal dextral asymmetric granitoid vein
The “Friday fold” is an isoclinal dextrally-asymmetric granitoid vein exposed north of Fort Frances, Ontario. Taken on October 7, 2011, the photo features a centimeter-demarcated pencil for scale. It shows thickened hinges, boudinage of the lower right long limb, and incipient boudinage of the upper left long limb.
13 October 2011
Superior Craton trip, stop 1
The first stop on our pre-GSA field trip to the subprovince boundaries of the Superior Craton was a place just north of Virginia, Minnesota, where the Mesabi Iron Ranges are mined (same Proterozoic banded iron formations that were portrayed as the backdrop of the mining activity depicted in the film North Country). The pull-off is locally known (to geologists) as “Confusion Hill,” but marked on the roadside sign as the …
12 October 2011
The GSA meeting experience, 2011
I’m on the plane home from the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, held this year in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This annual event features a robust smorgasbord of science, with talks and posters detailing the research efforts of thousands of geoscientists from the US and other countries. It’s an amazing experience on many, many levels, and as I fly home now after a week in Minnesota, my feelings are …
7 October 2011
Friday fold: the Devil’s Backbone
The Friday fold is a guest photo by James Edward Bailey, a 5th grade student from Reston, Virginia. It is the anticline shown is known as “the Devil’s Backbone,” located near Marlinton, West Virginia, right on the boundary between the Valley & Ridge province and the Appalachian Plateaus. It clearly shows differential weathering of weaker layers and tougher layers. …Also some lovely fall colors!
6 October 2011
The time we didn’t get stranded by the flood
Last spring, I made two visits, six days apart, to Veach Gap, a small water gap superimposed on the Massanutten Synclinorium. One was with my Field Studies in Geology one-day field course, and the second was with my Structural Geology students from George Mason University. We go there to see some lovely parasitic anticlines that decorate the larger regional synformal structure. Well, on the first trip, it rained. A lot. …