The Geology P.A.G.E.

Geological Fact of the Month - January

2012-01-30T09:00:00.004-07:00

Here is the first Geological Fact of the Month for 2012.

For all the Geological Fun Facts I have mentioned before you can head on over to my website.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #80

2012-01-20T15:42:00.000-07:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because, well, just because.

- Rock Band -

The law of superposition states that any bed of rock must be older than another bed here

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A 250-million-year, old grayish-white limestone layer of sea fossils is referred to as this canyon's "bathtub ring"

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The earth's outermost layer of rock, it comes in oceanic & continental types (sorry, no whole wheat)

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Layers of rock are commonly referred to as these, from the Latin for "something spread out"

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Most exposed rock on the earth's surface is this type produced by the weathering & erosion of older rock

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All the answers as well as any other previous GeoJeopardy! questions can be found over at my website by clicking the link.

And if you enjoy this post as well as others, please consider subscribing to my blog via Google Reader or some other RSS feed so that way I better know my readership. Thank you.

Questions, images, and videos courtesy of j-archive.com

Geology in Pop Culture - Google Edition

2012-01-11T14:54:00.000-07:00

Well geology has finally hit up Google's homepage:

This in honor of Nicholas Steno's 374th birthday. I know that is a milestone I will be looking for in my own life. For those that don't know who he is not the guy named on the buffet line heating cans. That's Sterno:

Steno is one of the founders of modern geology. If modern geology has giants in it's past, Steno would be one of them. He defined the main laws of stratigraphy including the Law of Universal Horizontality (rocks were deposited horizontally) and the Law of Superposition (Rocks on top are younger than rocks below, this also applies to faults and other events). He is a name to know for all geology students to show that even though things seem obvious to us now-a-days, it was not always this way.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #79

2012-01-06T14:45:00.000-07:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because it's a new year, bring on the party.

- Volcanoes -

Popocatepetl, a volcano near this capital city, is a source of sulfur

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Mount Taranaki in this country gets its name from a Maori word for "Barren Mountain"

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Because of the May 18, 1980 eruption, this Washington volcano is now about 1,300 feet shorter

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Mount Etna is part of this mountain system

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Mount Erebus in this continent's Victoria Land region was discovered by Sir James Ross in 1841

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500th POST!!!! - A Recap

2012-01-01T13:03:00.001-07:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

This is my 500th post overall and I just wanted to say thank you to all my readers and anyone who has shared my posts with others. It also seems fitting that this post comes at the first of the year. A time for recollection but also for looking forward. To what could be.

For this post I just wanted to make a little recap of what this blog was, what it has become, and where it might be going. I started this about 5.5 years ago as DinoJim's Vent, a mixed blog of my own personal posts as well as some geology posts. As I became ingrained more into the geoblogosphere I separated the blog into 2 individual blogs, DinoJim's Rant and The Remnant.... The title had changed one further time to emphasize the focus on education and general geology as opposed to dinosaurs. The current title, The Geology P.A.G.E., has garnered more attention then I think either of the previous titles did and I'm glad I switched over.

My purpose for making this blog was to illustrate some of my ideas in geological education as well as publish some of the little things I like to do for my students. I usually don't like to read long blog posts or articles. I figured since I feel that way other people do as well, so that is why I have a tendency to keep most of my posts on the shorter side. Something to get in, get your information, and get out.

But I have noticed that most of my more visited posts include some of the more applicable uses for my geology lessons (you can see the entire most visited list on the sidebar) including Using Jello and Rice-Crispy Treats in Earthquake Education and my Geological Movie Reviews. These posts usually take me more time and I don't do them as often. So even though I do like to do more of the shorter posts I plan on spending some more time and create some of the longer, more cited posts.

So after 5+ years and 500 posts I want to thank all my readers again for their loyalty and here's to hoping for new and better content and more follows.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #78

2011-12-30T09:09:00.000-07:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because it's the end of the year so lets deal with some extinctions.

- Where the Wild Things Were -

In prehistoric times 10 foot tall "terror birds" ranged over much of this continent, including Patagonia

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The shamainu or Honshu type of this canine, died out early in the 20th century

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Though specimens still exist in zoos, the Barbary lion, native to the north of this continent, is extinct in the wild

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The Xerces Blue of this insect, native to sand dunes in San Francisco's Sunset District, became extinct in the 1940s

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The bulldog rat disappeared around 1900 from this Aussie-owned island named for a holiday

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There is no joy in Dinoville...T-Shirt

2011-12-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

The newest shirt design for "I Support ETP: The Ethical Treatment of Paleontologists" is one depicting how the end of the dinosaurs really came about.

And a closeup of the image.

If you would like to Support ETP, then head over to our Facebook page and click the "Like" button now. We are a small but ever expanding group of avid paleontologists dedicated to the preservation of our ethical integrity

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #77

2011-12-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because tis the season for some merriment.

- Geology -

Corundum makes up much of this rock used to make an abrasive "board"

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The sword of Damocles is a large one of these formations in Carlsbad Caverns

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Shatter cones, with radiating fracture lines, are only found at the sites of space object impacts & of these tests

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This fancy French word refers to a deep fissure in a glacier

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A giant ocean called Panthalassa once surrounded this supercontinent, whose name means "all earth"

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Geological Fact of the Month - December

2011-12-20T10:23:00.000-07:00

For all the Geological Fun Facts I have mentioned before you can head on over to my website .

Dirty Jobs - Paleo Style

2011-12-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

The Discovery Channel show - Dirty Jobs is going out with some Paleontologists. The show will be airing tomorrow (Tuesday 12/20) at 9:00 pm EST and is entitled Fossil Hunter. You can check out some of the preview clips Here.

I am posting about this for 2 reasons.

1) They are showing an episode of Dirty Jobs featuring a trip out with some vertebrate paleontologists. This should be a good opportunity for those wanting to get into vertebrate (dinosaur?) paleontology and not know what field work is like to get a first impression of it.

2) I actually know and are friends with most of the people that he is going out in the field with so this is my support for them (Jim Kirkland, Don DeBlieux, Scott Madsen, etc.).

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #76

2011-12-16T12:00:00.001-07:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because school is over for the semester (at least for some of us).

- Volcanoes -

The names of 2 types of lava flow, pahoehoe & aa, come from this language

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This Indonesian volcano just west of Java erupted in 1883 causing sea waves almost 130 feet high

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A 1963 underwater eruption began the formation of the island of Surtsey off this north Atlantic country

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In Roman mythology, this god of fire's blacksmith shops were located under Mount Etna

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Paricutin Volcano in this country began in a farmer's field in 1943; within 6 days, it had a cinder cone 500 feet high

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Geology Photo of the Day - Part 5

2011-12-16T07:19:00.001-07:00

I try to refrain from doing two posts in a day (Geojeopardy! Fridays must go on) but since I have done this all week I will keep it up. Check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 here. Also @GeoEvelyn has been reposting some of the Geology Picture Memes on her Twitter account.

The last picture of the week is one a couple of blocks from my office in Salt Lake City, UT. It may seem like a grassy hill but what you are actually looking at is one of the potentially deadliest faults in the US. This is the Wasatch Fault fault scarp at Faultline Gardens and it is currently overdue for one of it's typical ~7.0 magnitude faults. What that would do to Salt Lake City is pretty much level it to the ground (being build on loose sediment for the most part). Yea liquifaction.

I love how when people moved to SLC they didn't realize this was a fault and built directly on top of it. Even digging out the fault scarp to get a better foundation for their building. That has since become illegal (to build on the fault) but I know several apartment complexes that will be ripped right in half when the earthquake comes (there was one directly behind me when I took the picture).

Geology Photo of the Day - Part 4

2011-12-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

Continuing on. If you want to check out other Geology Pics of the Day @GeoEvelyn has been reposting them on her Twitter. Here is also Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of my posts.

Today's photo/panoramic is from one of my field areas. It is of the main beach in Zumaia, Spain. The rocks in the picture are deep sea tubidites that have been accreted onto the northern coast of Spain. In the picture you can see the K-T boundary (right where the grass runs into the bottom of the picture), and the P-E boundary (on the left side where the buildings are sitting on the beach.) The deposition here is so complete you can actually trace time through each of the deposited layers from the late Cretaceous up through the Lower Eocene. Absolutely beautiful.

Geology Pictures - Part 3

2011-12-14T10:12:00.002-07:00

Continuing on. Check out Part 1 for the backstory. Here are some others...Part 2, Georneys, Research at a Snail's Pace.

This is a panorama taken of Spotted Wolf Canyon in southern Utah. I love how the rocks lend to the perspective leading to the road down the canyon. Also Hugin is an awesome program for linking together panorama shots. I highly recommend it.

Geology Photos - Part 2

2011-12-13T13:57:00.001-07:00

And it continues...(Part 1, Georneys, Research at a Snail's Pace)

This picture is from a Paleobiology Field Trip that I TAed last year. It is a little difficult to see but if you look at the ridge in the background you can see a V-shaped structure. This is a lava flow that filled in a stream valley (a lava dam if you will). This was taken in southern Utah. Utah is/was actually very volcanically active due to the rifting that is causing/has caused the Basin and Range that extends across Nevada. We have several lava flows and cinder cones that are scattered across the landscape. And no, this has no relation to Yellowstone what-so-ever.

Geology Pictures!!

2011-12-12T09:45:00.001-07:00

I can hop on this bandwagon as well. With trying to get 2 grants and a poster completed before the end of the year I have been, and will be, fairly busy (almost too busy for blogging) so I am joining on the bandwagon of Evelyn's Geology Picture Meme, also joined on by MK at Research at a Snail's Pace, and Poikiloblastic.

My picture was taken a while ago while I was doing my Master's at Texas Tech. It is of a Maar Volcano taken somewhere in New Mexico (I don't remember exactly where). For those of you who don't know, a Maar Volcano is a low lying volcano typically formed by explosive eruptions when water comes into contact with magma. They are usually difficult to spot from far away because they don't form the "characteristic" volcano shape. But they do make a pretty hole in the ground. They are usually filled with water, but being the desert, that wasn't likely to happen here.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #75

2011-12-09T11:40:00.000-07:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because baby it's cold outside.

- Mountains -

At 14,433 feet, Colorado's Mount Elbert is the highest peak in this mountain chain

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Lake Kawaguchi is famous for its inverted reflection of this peak on its still waters

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Worn down by wind and rain, the mountains of this range that includes the Vesuvius are among the lowest in Europe

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Now dormant, this volcano in Eastern Turkey last erupted on June 2, 1840

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This range forms an arc from Slovakia to Romania with both ends lying on the Danube river

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Misleading Science

2011-12-05T14:31:00.000-07:00

This isn't a post about a specific topic but more of something I have been thinking about for a while. I recently came across this one graph (directly below) and no matter what the article said (because what I initially thought is NOT what the article said) I had one opinion on the subject:

The graph above (Veron, 2008) illustrates the growth of large reefs and their relationships to extinction events. If you add on the current extinction event to the far right side of the graph, I think it will be plainly obvious that reefs are the cause of mass extinction. What? No? How could that be??? Well, it's not. And that is not what the paper was trying to say, but that is how it looks upon first viewing of the graph (at least, to me). The point of the paper was to show that reefs are good places to study mass extinctions because they build up then dissapear across an extinction event. But, again, that is not how it looks to me as I scan across the article.

And this is the problem with science. Both as people doing the science and those reading the science. Sometimes, your first impression is wrong. Step back. Reanalyse what you are seeing, and try to think what else it could be. Sometimes the obvious answer is the correct one. Sometimes it isn't.

Another case is that of people misreading data. This is from the perspective of someone reading the paper but I think the writers missed something. The below graph (Hoffmeister and Kowalewski, 2001) is my case in point:

The authors stated this about the graph (as well as some other associated graphs):

"Spearman rank correlation shows a significant positive correlation in ..." (emphasis added by me)

Now , I don't know about you but I don't see significant, I don't even really see positive, I see a whole lot of random dots with a line that shouldn't have been place through the data. This is my point. Sometimes there is no correlation. Step back. Look at the data with new eyes, what you see is not always what is there. Take your time.

Science is a slow process. It takes a lot of man hours to do even simple experiments. Don't mess it up by throwing bad or missinterpreted data out there, because that is all people are going to see. They aren't going to notice your 100's of hours in the lab or the countless field hours. They are going to see one bad dataset and assume the rest of the information is junk as well. Don't let that happen to you.

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Hoffmeister, A.P., & Kowalewski, M., 2001, Spatial and Environmental Variation in the Fossil Record of Drilling Predation: A Case Study from the Miocene of Central Europe: Palaios, v. 16, p. 566-579.

Veron, J., 2008, Mass extinctions and ocean acidification: biological constraints on geological dilemmas: Coral Reefs, v. 27, p. 459-472.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #74

2011-12-02T17:37:00.000-07:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because it's winter, batten down the hatches.

- Harvard Museum of Natural History -

A relative of the plesiosaurs, this 42-foot reptile terrorized the seas of the early Cretaceous period; called Kronosaurus queenslandicus, it was discovered on a 1931 Harvard expedition to this continent

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The museum has 4,000 handcrafted glass flowers; created from 1887 to 1936, their accuracy allowed study in Boston of flowers from these regions, between 23^o 27' north & south

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The Harvard Museum has part of the famous Zagami meteorite, which fell to the Earth in Nigeria in 1962; gases trapped inside match those found by Viking spacecraft, confirming the rock's distant origin on this planet

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Suspended above the museum's dramatic Great Mammal Hall are the skeletons of three whale species--a finback whale, a right whale, & this, the largest of the toothed whales

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Weighing in at more than 1,600 pounds, the giant chunk of amethyst here is one of these stones that form under pressure inside cavities, from the Latin for "earth"

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AW #40 is now available..Pumpkinlicious

2011-12-01T09:55:00.000-07:00

The next Accretionary Wedge is available over at Uncovered Earth entitled Geo-lanterns. Go check it out.

GeoJeopary! Fridays #73

2011-11-25T10:58:00.000-07:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because in honor of Turkey day, here are some extinct animals.

- It's Extinct -

They include Mount Shasta in California & Kilimanjaro in Africa

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Known for its overbite, this prehistoric cat could be found throughout much of the world

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These birds became extinct on Reunion Island about 1750 & on Rodrigues Island about 1800

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Coccolithophorids that lived 70-100 mil. yrs. ago fossilized to form this famous seaside site in England

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Known & named for its 3 horns, this dinosaur became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous Period.

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Dino's in Pop Culture Thursday

2011-11-24T19:39:00.000-07:00

And we have a special edition this week. Happy Thanksgiving. Hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving Dino.

Geological Fact of the Month - November

2011-11-22T09:00:00.002-07:00

For all the Geological Fun Facts I have mentioned before you can head on over to my website .

Damn Big Pieces of Salt

2011-11-21T09:55:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of salt cubes that are displayed in the Geological Sciences building at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. Sorry for the lack of scale but the display is ~6 feet across. Unfortunately I did not have time to visit the salt mine but these come from one of the largest salt mines in the world - Wieliczka Salt Mine. Imagine these salt cubes being sprinkled on your food. I thought these pretty cool and I wanted to share them.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #72

2011-11-18T10:34:00.000-07:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because it's a lazy day so far.

- Rock -

More than half of sedimentary rock is this type from which oil & natural gas can be obtained

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Trachyte & rhyolite are the most common varieties of this porous igneous volcanic rock

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On average rocks consist of 46.5% this gaseous element

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In its purest form, this rock used in the cement industry contains only calcite

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Chert, a hard, dense sedimentary rock, is called jasper if it's brightly colored, & this if it's dark

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Dino's in Pop Culture Thursday

2011-11-17T09:23:00.002-07:00

Dino's in Pop Culture, where we highlight each week some of the more obscure instances of dinosaurs used in the pop culture realm to sell anything from slippers to wedding cakes.

This week a pin my wife saw and figured was appropriate.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #71

2011-11-11T11:03:00.000-07:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because it's 11-11-11 so thank a Veteran today

- Volcanoes -

About its eruption in 79 A.D., an observer wrote that "broad sheets of fire and leaping flames blazed at several points"

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At least 57 people died as a result of this U.S. volcano's May 18, 1980 eruption

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This youngest surface volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii has distinctive lava formations like Pele's Hair

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In 1908 members of Ernest Shackleton's expedition became the first to climb this continent's Mount Erebus

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This lake lies in a caldera formed when Oregon's Mount Mazama volcano collapsed 7,000 years ago

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UFOP Meeting Announcement - Joshua Lively

2011-11-10T09:05:00.002-07:00

Please join us for our chapter meeting on Thursday, November 10th at 7 PM in the Department of Natural Resources Auditorium, 1594 W. North Temple, Salt Lake City. Our speaker is Joshua Lively, a graduate student at the University of Utah Department of Geology & Geophysics. His talk is "Baenid turtles from the Kaiparowits Formation of southern Utah: Implications for Laramidian biogeography."

SVP Annual Meeting - Thoughts and Reflections

2011-11-08T12:24:00.000-07:00

I got back from the SVP (Society of Vertebrate Paleontology) conference Sunday night and I feel like I have a few things to say about it. This was my first SVP ever, even though I did my Master Thesis on vertebrate paleontology, and I must admit I wasn't really sure what to expect. I have been to multiple GSA's (both annual and regional) and over the summer I went to a smaller international workshop for ichnologists (trace fossil workers) and I assumed it would be similar to the annual GSA meetings.

I was wrong.

I also assumed that the meeting with a bunch of vertebrate paleontologists would be similar to a conversation I had back in 2009 at GSA. The unnamed paleontologist from the interaction was at this meeting as well, as well as several others that I knew to have a similar attitude. So, in general I did not put my hopes too high for this convention. I looked forward to meeting old friends and maybe learning some new information but I wasn't looking forward to spending time with a group of people that seemed to me, at least in my limited experience, to contain a bunch of arrogant bastards.

I was proved even further to be wrong.

In a nutshell, the conference was great. I spent time with a lot of old friends, even one I hadn't seen in 13 years. I met a lot of really cool new people. I spent time with some famous paleontologists who actually turned out to be really cool, laid back people. The conference was also large enough that I could avoid the said arrogant bastards. Because you know they are there. Everyone knows who they are. I think they even know it and just don't care. But they are a much, much smaller subset of the vertebrate paleontology world than I gave it credit for. And the conference was small enough that you could find someone you were looking for. Unlike GSA, where there is no chance in hell you're going to find anyone without prior arrangements, most people here just hung out in the exhibit hall until the someone they were looking for passed by.

This meeting has left a good impression on me about vertebrate paleontology and has created an urge to get back into the field. I still love what I am doing now (behavioral evolution using trace fossils) but I feel an old door has been reopened. I was also urged by several people to publish my Masters Thesis, so that will be my springboard back into the world of VP, hopefully relatively soon.

I did have some complaints though that I feel need to be voiced. The fact that a meeting this size did not include internet is beyond me. The hotel apparently offered it for $25 a day for the whole hotel or $15 for in the room but it was schoddy at best. So the one day my roommate got it he cancelled it. The second thing is the poster session. There was no reason to have such little space between rows of posters. There was plenty of room in the convention center to be able to expand it a little. It was to the point that during the poster session you couldn't walk up and down the rows of posters because there was so many other people there. There was even space on the one end of the poster boards to expand into and release the tension a little but it never happened.

Other than that, SVP went pretty well. There was a slew of talks, both good and bad. I saw a couple of memorable ones for both reasons. I thought the venue was good. There were plenty of things do in Vegas outside of the convention. Although the second hand smoke was a killer, as I am still coughing it up 3 days later. And I made a lot of new friends. Both those that I was "friends" on facebook before and never actually met and new people that I just met for the first time in Vegas.

Overall, I give it an A- and it has been ranked above GSA in my mind as a must-do event.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #70

2011-10-28T09:26:00.000-06:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because it's almost Halloween!

- Earth Science -

There are 2 major ice sheets on Earth; one covers most of Antarctica & the other most of this island

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The Bay of Fundy is famous for its range of these, the widest on Earth

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This 19th C. chemist, famous for a burner, devised a still-accepted theory on how geysers work

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The sling psychrometer & hair hygrometer are used to determine the relative amount of this

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The Earth is surrounded by the magnetosphere, which is shaped by this particle stream

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Geological Fact of the Month for October

2011-10-24T09:00:00.001-06:00

For all the Geological Fun Facts I have mentioned before you can head on over to my website .

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #69

2011-10-21T11:30:00.000-06:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because we have a current events question (sort of).

- Earthquake! -

The palace hotel in this U.S. city had to be rebuilt after it was gutted by fire following a 1906 earthquake

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The center of this Nicaraguan capital was almost completely destroyed in a 1972 earthquake

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The standard scale is logarithmic, so an 8.0 has waves this many times larger than a 7.0

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The August 23, 2011 5.8 quake near D.C. really shook up the scientists in Reston, Virginia at the USGS, short for this

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Roman emperor Trajan was nearly killed in a 115 A.D. quake in Antioch, now Antakya in this country

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Dino's in Pop Culture Thursday

2011-10-20T10:21:00.001-06:00

Dino's in Pop Culture, where we highlight each week some of the more obscure instances of dinosaurs used in the pop culture realm to sell anything from slippers to wedding cakes.

This week we have a "Dino Sculpture". This was a gift from my advisor from his recent trip to Puerto Penasco, Mexico. It is created using just shells from the area there. Pretty cool.

Non-Open Access Journals - A Call for Reform

2011-10-19T10:45:00.000-06:00

There has been a series of blog posts that I have been rather interested in and figured I would point them out to other readers. The topic involves Open Access Journals and scientists reviewing and publishing in them over the Non-Open Access Journals. The points are well made and I do agree with them, unfortunately I do not have any credentials of yet to be able to pick one side or the other. Basically I have to go where I can go, whether that is behind a pay fire wall or not to publish.

It seems to have started about here at SVPoW:

http://svpow.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/researchers-stop-doing-free-work-for-non-open-journals/

Then it continued on talking about Nature and Elsevier

http://svpow.wordpress.com/2011/10/15/nature-and-elsevier-on-peer-reviewing/

This was followed but a not really rebutal but reanalysis over at The Open Source Paleontologist:

http://openpaleo.blogspot.com/2011/10/should-we-review-for-any-old-journal.html

And a response to the last post is available back at SVPoW

http://svpow.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/collateral-damage-of-the-non-open-reviewing-boycott/

Whether you agree with them or not this is a very important issue. Especially as scientists become more global and journals should become easier to access. I know on campus I don't have as much problems as many scientists since my school provides me access to many journals that would be cost prohibitive if I did not have this access. Individual journal articles often cost $30-50 which is beyond absurd, and that's even before you know if that article has any content worth while to read. I believe this is something we can work towards, or at least make the current policies a little better.

Mike at SVPoW sums it up best:

"In the long term it is, unquestionably, to the advantage of all authors for open access to become ubiquitous."

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #68

2011-10-14T20:10:00.000-06:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because it's time for a little geochemistry.

- The Style of Elements -

Humphry Davy named this element after potash, its much older name

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The Chem Time Clock helps chemistry students learn the periodic table by using element's symbols in place of numbers. It's 1:35, or these two elements

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This element, atomic no. 17, is used as a bleach

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Make no bones about it, it's the fifth most abundant element in both the earth's crust & the human body

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For hundreds of years people have believed in the rejuvenating qualities of the Dead sea's black mud. Among its many components this element, symbol Mg, said to remove toxins from the skin. Makes you feel good.

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Dino's in Pop Culture Thursday

2011-10-13T15:10:00.000-06:00

Dino's in Pop Culture, where we highlight each week some of the more obscure instances of dinosaurs used in the pop culture realm to sell anything from slippers to wedding cakes.

This week is the fourth and final post about the Utah Hogle Zoo's exhibit Zoorassic Park. These are artistic pictures taken mostly by my wife of the various dinosaur animatronics scattered throghout the park.

UFOP Meeting Announcement - Brian Switek

2011-10-13T09:00:00.000-06:00

Please join us for our chapter meeting on Thursday, October 13th at 7 PM in the Department of Natural Resources Auditorium, 1594 W. North Temple, Salt Lake City. Our speaker is Brian Switek who will give a talk entitled "Thomas Henry Huxley and the Dinobirds." Brian is a freelance science writer specializing in evolution, paleontology, natural history, and the history of science. He blogs regularly at WIRED Science's Laelaps and Smithsonian magazine's Dinosaur Tracking. He is also the author of Written In Stone: Evolution, the Fossil Record, and Our Place in Nature. Links to his website and blogs are listed below:

http://brianswitek.com/
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/laelaps
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/

Happy National Fossil Day

2011-10-12T12:19:00.002-06:00

Go out and celebrate:

http://nature.nps.gov/geology/nationalfossilday/

Geology in SLC Pop Culture

2011-10-12T09:00:00.011-06:00

I have noticed that around both the campus of the University of Utah and Salt Lake City in general that there are a lot of instances where geology pervades into the pop-culture/art displayed in various places. Here are some instances where book sculptures that are geology "related" are located at the Trax station located outside the SLC Library.

Granted some of the books are pretty loosely related to geology, but I thought it was still fun.

The Big Rock Candy Mountain (This is actually a book?)

The bible of the evolutionary biologist The Origin of Species.

Under the Volcano (I bet it's hot)

Here is a view of the entire sculpture. Sorry it is a little washed out, it was pretty bright that day and my ipod apparently couldn't handle it.

Guest Post - Cool US Dino Dig Locations

2011-10-11T13:26:00.000-06:00

Are you an avid paleontologist?

If you’re wondering where dinosaur fossils have been found, you’ll be thrilled to hear that the most varieties of dinosaurs have been found here in the United States. However, if you’re looking for the location with the highest concentration of dinosaur fossils, you’ll have to go north to the Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada.

While studying dinosaurs is fun, there’s nothing like looking for fossils in real life. Dinosaur museums make great family adventures, and dino digs are a memorable way to learn about how true paleontologists discover and handle fossil finds. Trained excavation specialists use fun tools like:

Picks and shovels
Awls
Dynamite (you will just get to see someone else use it, but you will get to see how it’s done)
Crowbars
Drills
Screwdrivers
Brushes
Brooms

If you go on a dino dig, you’ll learn to appreciate how rare it is to find a fossil in good condition and how difficult it is to remove the rock and dirt without hurting the fossil. You’ll learn about fossil cleaning and preservation, too. Then, when you get back home, you can look for your own fossils. You never know what’s buried in your own back yard!

If you want to go out for a real dino dig, there are several places you can get your hands dusty and unearth some real fossils.

The Wyoming Dinosaur Center and Dig Sites

Thermopolis, Wyoming
This Dino center has over 80 digs spread out over a 500-acre span. You’ll get a real dig experience, complete with sand, sun and dirt.

You can sign up for an all-day expedition anytime during the dig season (late spring to early autumn). The digs take place every day of the week, and each dig lasts from 8:00 in the morning until 5:00 in the evening. You’ll attend an orientation at 8:00, be transported to the dig site at 8:30, and will work onsite all day. The program provides lunch, drinks, tools, and transportation—all for a cost of $150 per adult and $80 per child. If you are under the age of 18, you must have an adult accompany you.

PaleoAdventures

South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana
This dig group offers one-day and two-day dig packages in a variety of privately owned dig sites. You’ll get the full experience, overseen by professionals. Each day is an 8-8 operation, meaning you’ll be digging for a full 12-hour day. Costs are $150 per adult and $125 per child (must be over age 8 to participate) for a one-day trip and $250 per adult and $200 per child for two-day trips. Lunch, tools, and transportation to and from dig sites are all provided.

Museum of Western Colorado

Grand Junction, Colorado
This group offers everything from half-day digs to five-day dig and rafting expeditions (lodging and meals included). Kids as young as age 5 can participate, if accompanied by an adult, and kids 16 and older can attend some of the programs independent of adult supervision. Prices vary widely according to package deals, but every dig package includes a supervised, actual hands-on dig experience.

The Mammoth Site

Hot Springs, South Dakota
As if the Badlands themselves weren’t inspirational enough, this dig site and museum will provide an authentic dig experience for you and your family.

You can tour the museum and an active dig site, but if you want to participate, you’ll have to volunteer with Earthwatch. You have to be 16 or over to apply, but if you qualify as an Earthwatch volunteer, you can be part of a 4-week team that works on the dig site in July of each year.

Dinosaur State Park

Rocky Hill, Connecticut
Here you won’t get to participate in an actual dig, but you can make your own plaster castings of real dinosaur tracks. This site is the largest collection of dinosaur tracks in the United States.

If you can’t find a dig near you, start saving for a trip! You’ll make memories that will last a lifetime.

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Bio:

Leah Landly is the community manager for BluWiki, an informational Wiki service and free web publishing platform. She covers many topics and answers popular questions like, how to look attractive and how to get rid of black eye circles.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #67

2011-10-07T08:52:00.000-06:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because winter has reared it's ugly head.

- Earth Science -

An analysis of seawater shows that about 78% of the total solids are this one mineral

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It's a fracture of the Earth's rocky outer shell where sections of rock slide against each other

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Larger than dust, this particulate matter from volcanoes ranges from .01 to .16 inches in diameter

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From the Latin for "flowing together", it's where 2 or more streams flow together to form one

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This electrically charged layer of the atmosphere makes long-distance radio communication possible

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ETP - I'd Rather Be...Rock Hounding T-Shirt

2011-10-05T09:34:00.000-06:00

I'd Rather Be...Rock Hounding.

This is next T-Shirt design for "I Support ETP: The Ethical Treatment of Paleontologists", a kind of cross Geo/Paleo shirt.

And a closeup of just the image.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #66

2011-09-30T11:27:00.000-06:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because I'm working from home today.

- Down to Earth -

When it's closest to the Earth, this planet with a 687-day year is about 33 million miles away

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Eratosthenes calculated this c. 230 B.C. using the difference between the sun's angles at 2 places during June

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The Lambert one of these formations in the Antarctic is over 250 miles long

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"Cast" in the role of the fourth most abundant element in the Earth's crust, its atomic number is 26

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A clue for alien astronomers looking for life on Earth is the large amount of this gas, CH₄, in the atmosphere

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Geological Fact of the Month - September

2011-09-26T09:04:00.000-06:00

Here is something that is bound to change as we discover more and more but for now I thought it was pretty interesting.

For all the Geological Fun Facts I have mentioned before you can head on over to my website.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #65

2011-09-23T14:59:00.000-06:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because it is time for a break.

- Earth Science -

In a mining lode, the gangue is the junk & this is the mineral with the good stuff in it

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Venice is sinking because Italy is actually part of this continent's plate & it's sliding under Europe's plate

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It's not just oil -- Saudi Arabia has reserves of over 200 trillion cubic feet of this

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It Seismographers use the difference in speed between P waves & S waves to locate this point

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Some ocean sediment is radiolarian ooze, made of these parts of tiny protozoans

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Dino's in Pop Culture Thursday

2011-09-22T13:18:00.000-06:00

Dino's in Pop Culture, where we highlight each week some of the more obscure instances of dinosaurs used in the pop culture realm to sell anything from slippers to wedding cakes.

This week is the third post about the Utah Hogle Zoo's exhibit Zoorassic Park. I find it amazing how much Jurassic Park still influences our perceptions and displays of dinosaurs.

DINOSAURS: From Cultural to Pop Culture - ~400 BC

2011-09-21T12:28:00.002-06:00

Prehistoric Times

~400 BC

Following along through Greek mythology we have the griffin. The griffin is a well known animal which is a combination part bird, part lion. I picked ~400 BC because this is when the famous tale of Prometheus Bound was likely written by Aeschyles. In the story Prometheus is bound to a rock as torture for giving fire to humanity. While he is tied to this rock he is force to endure griffins repeatedly eating out his liver. Then when they are done it is allowed to grow back again, and the whole process starts over. This isn't the first occurrence of griffins in history but it is one of the first and most prominent so I figured this would be a good place to mark it. One of the principle traits of the griffin, other than its ability to fly, is that it is often found guarding a treasure of some variety.

The origin story for the griffin is not as well known as the cyclops but it is a pretty interesting one. Apparently the Greeks were trading with a group of people called the Scythian Nomads. The trade routes of these nomads traveled from Mongolia and down into Greece where they traded gold, among other things. The source location for their gold was likely at the base of some cliffs near the Gobi Desert. The gold would have likely eroded out of the Altai mountains in Mongolia and settled on the fringes of the desert. Along side the gold deposits they found these bizarre looking skeletons, unlike what they have ever seen before. When coming across such things most people try to relate it to what they know. They recognized the beak, like that of a bird, and the bird like talons but the size and shape of the body didn't make sense. This must be a beast that is a combination of a bird and something else, possibly a lion. The skeleton was that of a Protoceratops. The only question that now remained is what happened to the frill of the dinosaur in the nomads reconstruction? It is likely that if the frill was broken into pieces, the placement of the frill along the back could give evidence for the presence of wings. Once discovering these and creating the griffin myth, the nomads then transported this tale all over Europe during their trades (Mayor, 2000; Ancient Monster Hunters; Wikipedia).

References:

Mayor, Adrienne. 2000. The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protoceratops#Origin_of_griffin_myths

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6VLojsbAIQ

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #64

2011-09-16T11:16:00.000-06:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because I said so.

- Pick a Planet -

Its "day" is 24 hours & 39 minutes

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It's the third largest in our solar system

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It's never observable when the sky is fully dark

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It was the first to be discovered with the aid of the telescope

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Leda is its 13th moon

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Dino's in Pop Culture Thursdays

2011-09-15T12:10:00.000-06:00

Dino's in Pop Culture, where we highlight each week some of the more obscure instances of dinosaurs used in the pop culture realm to sell anything from slippers to wedding cakes.

This week is the second post about the Utah Hogle Zoo's exhibit Zoorassic Park. Want to play dress up as a dinosaur? Well now you can!!!

Geological State Symbols Across the US - #2 Alaska

2011-09-14T15:22:00.002-06:00

The state for this month is Alaska. Here are the stats:

                                                        Year Established
State Mineral: Gold                                1968
State Gemstone: Jade                              1968
State Fossil: Woolly Mammoth                1986

State Mineral: Gold

Gold is a mineral made up entirely by the element Au (gold). It is bright yellow and very dense and malleable. Currently gold is considered one of the mot valuable metals on Earth, being used as the standard for most money (gold standard). Gold has an important history in Alaska. Originally when the territory was purchased it was referred to as a folly because this big hunk of land couldn't be worth anything. That was before gold was discovered. It began in the 1870's and continued through most of the 1900's. The beginnings of many communities in Alaska got their start as gold mining towns. Today Alaska is more known for it's oil exploration but gold still holds a prominent place in it's heart with Fairbanks remaining as a major gold exploration area.

State Gemstone: Jade

Jade is the pure gemstone variety of nephrite which is a metamorphic mineral in the tremolite family. Alaska has large deposits of jade throughout the state but its principle claim to fame is an entire mountain made out of Jade. The mountain is located far from any road, north of the Arctic Circle, near Kobuk, AK. Very large blocks have been taken out of the mountain and used to create statues including a 3,600 lb block for a police memorial statue. Currently, jade statues and jewelry produced from Alaska's famed Jade Mountain can be found all over the world, including a plaque embedded in the Washington Monument.

State Fossil: Woolly Mammoth

The Woolly Mammoth, also known as Mammuthus primigenius, is a species closely related to modern day elephants which was covered with hair. Unlike most of the state fossils, mammoths are often found as complete specimens. They are usually frozen in the snow or buried in a swamp of Arctic regions. Most of the 100 or so remains of fully preserved mammoths have been found in Russia and Alaska. Mammoth remains are found throughout the northern reaches of the state as well as scattered throughout other regions. The local prehistoric people were known to have had interactions with the mammoths. Evidence includes tools that were created from their tusks.

A small island off the coast of Alaska is also one of the last remaining locations where woolly mammoths lived (until ~3,750 BC). Since the island was small the mammoths that have been found here were dwarf varieties of the typical continental mammoths (pictured right).

References

http://www.commerce.state.ak.us/ded/dev/student_info/student.htm

http://www.eed.state.ak.us/temp_lam_pages/library/goldrush/index.htm

http://www.alaskascenes.com/alaskagold.html

http://www.sitnews.us/JuneAllen/AlaskaJade/100504_jade_mountain.html
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v429/n6993/full/nature02612.html
http://www.shgresources.com/ak/symbols/fossil/

Previous States:

Alabama

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #63

2011-09-09T11:12:00.000-06:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because it's time for a break.

- Rock Your World -

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Geology Museum has the state rock of Wisconsin; not to be confused with the state rock of New Hampshire, it's the red type of this

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Formed by magma, this one of the 3 major types of rock may be plutonic, or formed deep in the Earth

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A schism is a division into faction; this type of rock, one letter different from "schism", has distinct layers

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Dacite is volcanic rock characterized by the presence of this common form of silicon dioxide

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Scattered material that can include sand & dust is called this "rock", after the layer below the Earth's crust

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First UFOP Meeting of the Season

2011-09-08T12:45:00.000-06:00

Announcing the first Great Basin Chapter meeting for UFOP for the season. Here are the details:

Instead of a regular speaker, we will have a number of the University of Utah students presenting posters of their current research in a program we have entitled a "Paleo Poster Presentation Palooza."

It will be in the department of Natural Resources in SLC. If you wish to join us, feel free. Contact me for the exact address if you need it.

Dino's in Pop Culture Thursdays

2011-09-08T11:22:00.000-06:00

Dino's in Pop Culture, where we highlight each week some of the more obscure instances of dinosaurs used in the pop culture realm to sell anything from slippers to wedding cakes.

This week we are shifting focus to for a couple of weeks to the Utah Hogle Zoo's exhibit Zoorassic Park. The first posting was a radio ad that was played and it is very reminiscent of Jurassic Park. I found it a very clever clip personally. Clip courtesy of the Hogle Zoo.

A Question and Perhaps a Puzzle

2011-09-06T16:53:00.000-06:00

I have a question for the geo- and paleo-minded folks out there:

How deep can a benthic diatom burrow?

Now the reason I ask this question is that the worm Paraonis makes spiral burrows (pictured above) that have been identified as "traps" for diatoms (Minter et al, 2006). This means that the diatoms must be able to burrow to at least the depth that the sprials are produced but I have read that diatoms have only been identified as burrowing up to 3 mm (which is a big deal for such a small creature) (Hay et al, 1993) but Paraonis burrows have been identified up to 10 cm down (Risk and Tunnicliffe, 1978). Quite a contrast.

This means that either they are wrong (this is not a diatom trap), they are eating other things (which they don't think so), or diatoms are burrowing deeper than I can find literature on.

So I was wondering if anyone has any knowledge of diatom burrowing depths. If you do please comment or send me an email.

Hay, S.I., Maitland, T.C., & Paterson, D.M., 1993, The speed of diatom migration through natural and artificial substrata: Diatom Research, v. 8, p. 371-384.

Minter, N.J., Buatois, L.A., Lucas, S.G., Braddy, S.J., & Smith, J.A., 2006, Spiral-shaped graphoglyptids from an Early Permian intertidal flat: Geology, v. 34, p. 1057-1060.

Risk, M.J., & Tunnicliffe, V.J., 1978, Intertidal spiral burrows; Paraonis fulgens and Spiophanes wigleyi in the Minas Basin, Bay of Fundy: JOURNAL OF SEDIMENTARY RESEARCH, v. 48, p. 1287-1292.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #62

2011-09-02T12:01:00.000-06:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because we are a laboring.

- Volcanoes -

Eruptions in 512 were so violent that Theodoric the Goth of Italy suspended taxes for those living on its slopes

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Lassen Peak in the southernmost part of this range was believed extinct until it erupted on May 30, 1914

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This volcano on the southeast slope of Mauna Loa has had a hotel on its rim since 1866

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Figurative name of the volcanic belt that nearly encircles the Pacific Ocean

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This Philippine volcano's 1991 eruption was one of the largest of the 20th century

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Dino's in Pop Culture Thursdays

2011-09-01T20:22:00.000-06:00

Dino's in Pop Culture, where we highlight each week some of the more obscure instances of dinosaurs used in the pop culture realm to sell anything from slippers to wedding cakes.

I don't know what I can really say about this one? I found it in a gift shop in Moab, UT, but I definitely did not buy it.

DINOSAURS: From Cultural to Pop Culture - ~800 BC

2011-08-31T10:00:00.010-06:00

Prehistoric Times

~800 BC

The next stop along our travels through time is not a dinosaur stop but an important one none-the-less. I placed it at ~800 BC because that is the estimated date that Homer wrote the Odyssey. In the Odyssey, Odysseus is making his way back home and along the way lands on the Island of the Cyclopes, where he meets Polyphemus (pictured right). Homer then goes on to describe the cyclops, which is usually what we would assume a cyclops to look like. They are typically very large and have one eye located in the center of their forehead (at least in most reconstructions). This is not the first historical encounter with a cyclops in Greek history, but this is just the first substantial reference to one that has survived to the modern day.

Looking at the geology of Greece, they are not known for large dinosaur deposits but what they do have is large amounts of Pleistocene deposits that are rich in fossil elephants. In particular are the ancient, dwarf elephants. The skulls of the dwark elephant are on average, twice the size of a human skull and posses a large hole in the center of the "forehead". Modern humans now know this is for the nasal passage of the trunk, but the ancient Greeks, who have had no contact with elephants, likely assumed that it is a lone eye socket (pictured left). This was all interpreted by a paleobiologists by the name of Othenio Abel in 1914, and it seems to make sense (Mythicalcreaturesguide.com). The ancient Greeks discovered the overly-large "human-like" skulls with the singular eye socket and assumed they belonged to a race of massive, one-eyed, giants.

AW #37 Now Available

2011-08-30T13:24:00.000-06:00

If you have had a hankering of geological sexiness then head on over to the new Accretionary Wedge post at Outside the Interzone: Sexy Geology (#37). It will leave you hot, sweaty, and bothered. A nice array of pictures of some nice looking geological features.

Breaking New - Geologists No Longer Needed

2011-08-28T13:35:00.001-06:00

Well since Dr. Michio Kaku, a physicist, is now taking on the job of interpreting geological events (see earthquakes are geological events), all geologists have decided they are no longer needed and have taken holiday.

Thanks to Dana over at En Tequila es Verdad and Erik Klemetti on Twitter for pointing this out.

Geological Movie Review - Armageddon: An Update

2011-08-28T13:13:00.004-06:00

Last year I had posted a series of updates going into a geological movie review of Armageddon in depth (You can go here for a link to all the individual updates). One of my readers has recently made a discovery that answers an unsolved question I had about the movie. In the post I state:

After the boosters separate, they then state "single engine (ok), press, demi-go." Now demi-go is another phrase that does not seem to have made it anywhere in the greater world. So whatever that is I also do not know.

A recent contact by Brian Pontz has suggested that the "single engine (ok), press, demi-go" is not actually what they were saying. The subtitles clearly show them saying "demi-go" but this may be made up by the script-writers to mimic what is actually said by astronauts. Brian suggests that they are actually saying "Single Engine Press to MECO". NASA explains this phrase as meaning "that orbit can now be reached on only one main engine". Since this makes much more sense in context of the movie, especially at this particular point in the movie, and it actually being a real-life phrase, I would say that Brian is right and the subtitles are wrong.

I would like to thank Brian for bringing this to my attention and I welcome anyone else who finds out something I missed or made a mistake on to contact me with the correct information.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #61

2011-08-26T10:24:00.000-06:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because the Earth is a rockin and a rollin.

- Quakes -

In early 2001 L.A. got 14" of rain; this city got 5" of rain & a 6.8 jolt that trapped people in its Space Needle

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In December 2000 this country felt several small quakes around Popocatepetl

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The Jan. 26, 2001 quake centered in this country was felt in Bangladesh, 1,200 miles across the Bay of Bengal

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A 1964 quake in this state caused tsunamis as far away as Siberia, & Hawaii & California

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On Jan. 13, 2001 a 7.6 temblor rocked this tiny Central American nation; a 6.6 quake hit exactly one month later

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Dino's in Pop Culture Thurdays

2011-08-25T12:04:00.000-06:00

Dino's in Pop Culture, where we highlight each week some of the more obscure instances of dinosaurs used in the pop culture realm to sell anything from slippers to wedding cakes.

This week is the last in a series of six posts from Spain. The pictures above represent what I have to say is the wierdest museum exhibit I have ever seen. And for those of you going "is that...?", it is. Photo taken of one of the MUJA's main displays.

Sexy Geology?!?! - The AW for this month

2011-08-24T14:48:00.004-06:00

This month the Accretionary Wedge is calling for Sexy Geology from Lockwood at Outside the Interzone: (The deadline is this Friday, August 26th, so get your submissions in!)

I mean geology that makes your heart race, your pupils dilate. Rocks and exposures that make you feel woozy and warm. Structures and concepts that make your skin alternately sweaty and covered with goosebumps. Places you’ve visited, read about, or seen photos of that make you feel weak-kneed, and induce a pit in your stomach.

So I sat and wondered, what have I seen that got me excited and made my heart race. The first thing that came to mind was my first Paleodictyon in the field. For anyone who doesn't know, and I imagine that is a good chunk of you, Paleodictyon is a trace fossil (evidence that an organism moved through the sediment, not the actual remains of the organism) that is very highly organized into a mesh-like maze of burrows. These burrows are often so perfect that they are usually all the same size with almost perfect edge lengths.

This is partially what I am studying. How did this pattern evolve, along with other patterned burrows called graphoglyptids from the deep sea, and what changes have occurred to their organization over time. So being a very noticeable and remarkable trace fossil, it is not something you find in the field everyday.

Well, on my trip to Spain this summer we went to some of the outcrops that are world renowned for graphoglyptids in Zumaia. We hit up one of the sea shore outcrops and were able to find very little. Our second stop was to wander up shore to the K-T boundary, where again we found very little. It wasn't until the second day in the field that we decided to travel to a roadside outcrop between a neighboring town. We proceeded to hunt around for a little while until Andreas Wetzel, one of the foremost experts on grapholgyptids calls us (Tommy, my field assistant, and I) over yelling "Here it is, our first Paleodictyon". The excitement was beyond belief. Here it was, what I came to Europe to find. My doubts had started to build that I wouldn't find much while I was there but this one little sample opened the floodgates and we started finding more and more graphoglyptids. I eventually took over 1,000 pictures of different samples in the field. All in all, a very nice start of my field excursion.

Geological Fact of the Month for August

2011-08-23T13:44:00.000-06:00

In light of the bizarre earthquake felt in Virginia this morning (5.9) here is this month's geological fact.

If you would like to read more, head on over to the NASA webpage. Also, for all the Geological Fun Facts you can head on over to my website.

ETP - NO! Not like Ross on Friends

2011-08-22T08:00:00.003-06:00

NO! Not like Ross on Friends

For anyone who has not heard, I set up a little group called "I Support ETP: The Ethical Treatment of Paleontologists" (a purely for fun group) and every once in a while I like to make t-shirts for the group. This is the next one I have come up with. It is inspired by a fellow grad student, Josh, who said he wanted one that said this.

And a close up of just the image below.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #60

2011-08-19T10:23:00.000-06:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because school is back on!!!

- Period -

The rocks of the Carboniferous period provide the Earth with this, some of it bituminous

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The Cenozoic's Tertiary period is logically followed by this period

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As evidenced by Dover, England, the Cretaceous period's name derives from this type of limestone

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Meaning "all Earth" in Greek, this hypothetical supercontinent tore apart during the Triassic period

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A period is one of 4 major units of geologic time; these are the other 3, & they all start with "E"

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Dino's in Pop Culture Thursday

2011-08-18T13:13:00.000-06:00

Dino's in Pop Culture, where we highlight each week some of the more obscure instances of dinosaurs used in the pop culture realm to sell anything from slippers to wedding cakes.

This week is the fifth in the series of six posts from Spain. This time it is something just a little bit unusual, in that I haven't seen something like it before. A flash drive in the shape of a dinosaur with the logo for MUJA on the side.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #59

2011-08-12T08:19:00.000-06:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because it's a nice day outside, so some easy questions for ya.

- How Continental! -

July temperatures on this continent range from about -94 to a balmy high of around -40

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This continent covers only about 5% of the earth's land area; deserts cover about 1/3 of the continent

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This continent has the longest freshwater lake, 420 miles, in the world

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Both the highest & lowest places on earth are on this continent

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A waterfall on this continent has the longest drop in the world, 3,212 feet

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Dino's in Pop Culture Thursday

2011-08-11T21:19:00.000-06:00

Dino's in Pop Culture, where we highlight each week some of the more obscure instances of dinosaurs used in the pop culture realm to sell anything from slippers to wedding cakes.

This week it is the fourth in the series of posts from Spain. Right inside the main entrance to the El Museo Jurasico de Asturias (MUJA) is keeping with the theme of the last post, which is toys to ride on. This time a nice little riding toy, although I don't think it is going anywhere anytime soon.

"Rock Stars" Sunday Morning Video

2011-08-07T12:27:00.002-06:00

As a little geological Sunday Morning treat, here is a video from this morning CBS Sunday Morning about "Rock Stars" AKA rock gardens.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7366896n&tag=mncol;lst;1

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #58

2011-08-05T11:21:00.000-06:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because summer is winding down :-(.

- Volcanoes -

Magma that reaches the earth's surface is called this

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The word volcano comes from the name of this Roman god of fire

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Of the world's active volcanoes, about 60% are along the perimeter of this ocean

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57 people died when this volcano in the Cascade range erupted in 1980

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This island nation has more than 100 active volcanoes including Krakatoa

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Dino's in Pop Culture Thursday

2011-08-04T19:08:00.000-06:00

Dino's in Pop Culture, where we highlight each week some of the more obscure instances of dinosaurs used in the pop culture realm to sell anything from slippers to wedding cakes.

This week it is the third in the series of posts from Spain. Outside the main entrance to the El Museo Jurasico de Asturias (MUJA) is a playground complete with, you guessed it, dino slides, and a huge dino jungle gym. Although I feel the dino look of the jungle gym thing may be stretching it a bit.

Geological Fact of the Month - July

2011-08-01T16:08:00.000-06:00

You can check out this NY Times article along with that. Also check out the rest of my Geological Fun Facts over at my website.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #57

2011-07-29T08:11:00.001-06:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because it's nice and hot out.

- Earth Science -

The caldera of a supervolcano that last erupted 640,000 years ago covers much of the 2.2 million acres of this national park

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This class of rock is made by changes in heat, pressure or shearing to pre-existing rocks

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Used to date artifacts because it has a half-life of 5,730 years, this isotope has 6 protons and 8 neutrons in its nucleus

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The Mohorovicic discontinuity separates the Earth's crust from this

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South America & Africa fit together like puzzle pieces; this theory says they were connected 200 million years ago & have been moving away from each other up to 4 inches a year

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Dino's in Pop Culture Thursday

2011-07-28T12:22:00.001-06:00

Dino's in Pop Culture, where we highlight each week some of the more obscure instances of dinosaurs used in the pop culture realm to sell anything from slippers to wedding cakes.

This week it is the second in the series of posts from Spain. These are cookies that were given out during my recent conference (The International Ichnofabric Workshop) at the El Museo Jurasico de Asturias (MUJA).

GeoJeopardy! Friday #56

2011-07-22T11:00:00.000-06:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because I am back in the US of A.

- Prehistoric Times -

The Megaloceros was the largest one of these mammals that ever lived; it was over 10 feet tall & had 11-foot antlers

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Cultivation of this 3-letter tree fruit may have started in the Middle East over 10,000 years ago

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Anthropologists say this was the first of the genus Homo to leave Africa, sometime after 1.8 million years ago

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The Mousterian industry was the tool culture associated with these humans who predated the cro-magnons

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These 3-lobed sea creatures breathed through gills on their legs

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Dino's in Pop Culture Thursdays

2011-07-21T13:36:00.000-06:00

Dino's in Pop Culture, where we highlight each week some of the more obscure instances of dinosaurs used in the pop culture realm to sell anything from slippers to wedding cakes.

This week it is the first of a series of posts from Spain. This time it is a couple of pictures of the El Museo Jurasico de Asturias (MUJA). The first image is from the front, then the second image is a sign in front giving a description of the building as well as an overview shot.

A Scientist Can't be an Atheist

2011-07-20T16:58:00.002-06:00

After some recent conversations I have had with some fellow scientists I have come to the conclusion that a good scientist cannot be an atheist. Now before you go jumping down my throat about how this can't possibly be correct or start cheering me on as a religious fanatic, hear me out.

The way I view science and the way that it was taught to me was that you can't prove anything. Even if something has happened 100% of times in the past does not mean it will happen again in the future. If I hold up an apple and then drop it, I am fairly certain it will fall to the ground. But science dictates that there is a small amount of uncertainty that it might not actually do that. In science, you can't prove, you can only disprove.

So how could a good scientist be a "true" atheist? By being a "true" atheist I mean a person who is 100% convinced there is no God or anything of the sort. That, in my opinion, goes against what science is really about, which is questioning things. To be 100% convinced of something insinuates more like faith than science. Science is about being a skeptic, to be unsure of things. Now this analogy also applies to religious fanatics, like those who believe that the Earth is 6,000 years old. They ignore tons of scientific data to the contrary just to fill their belief system.

As a qualifier to my post, here are the definitions I am using. Definitions differ, so yours may be different than mine:

atheism: Disbelief in, or denial of, the existence of a god

agnostic: One who holds that the existence of anything beyond and behind material phenomena is unknown and (so far as can be judged) unknowable, and especially that a First Cause and an unseen world are subjects of which we know nothing.

Source - Oxford English Dictionary

Scientists should fit somewhere in the middle based on their way of thinking. I think that the majority of scientists if they are religious, view religion as a moral compass and not as a "this is the way things are" sort of thing and if they aren't religious then they are most likely agnostic. Although, agnostic usually gets lumped into the Atheist category on most questionnaires. Agnostic is not the same thing as atheist, contrary to what public media tends to make it out as.

I feel agnostic is the perfect "belief system" for scientists because it is basically what we study. It is uncertainty. You can't know one way or the other what is right. And that is how I feel a scientist should feel. Now I don't intend to inflame criticism with this post as to more incite conversation. This has also extended from a previous conversation with someone about whether it was even right to use the word believe as a scientist.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #55

2011-07-15T09:00:00.002-06:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because I am coming home from Europe today. But due to flying all day the answers to this week as well as the last 2 will be posted tomorrow (most likely).

- Geology -

At the mouth of the Mississippi River, this major class of rock is said to be more than 40,000 feet thick

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Intense glaciation has formed these long, steep-sided coastal inlets; the ones in Norway & Chile are especially deep

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This landmark in Rio's Guanabara Bay is an example of an inselberg, or "island mountain"

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This crater is formed when a volcano explodes & the cone collapses; Oregon's Crater Lake is an example

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Meaning "rock globe", it's the layer of rock encompassing the crust & outermost part of the upper mantle

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All the answers as well as any other previous GeoJeopardy! questions can be found over at my website by clicking the link. (Remember the answers will be posted ~July 16th)

And if you enjoy this post as well as others, please consider subscribing to my blog via Google Reader or some other RSS feed so that way I better know my readership. Thank you.

Questions, images, and videos courtesy of j-archive.com

Dino's in Pop Culture Thursday

2011-07-14T09:00:00.000-06:00

Dino's in Pop Culture, where we highlight each week some of the more obscure instances of dinosaurs used in the pop culture realm to sell anything from slippers to wedding cakes.

To add to the vein of dino foot wear and Dino Train tie-ins we have sandles with a picture of the main character from Dino Train on them. Needless to say, I did not buy these.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #54

2011-07-08T09:00:00.004-06:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because I am still enjoying my time away. Remember the answers to this week and lasts won't be posted until ~July 16th.

- Earthquakes -

This well-known fault is considered the main boundary between the North American & Pacific plates

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The biggest quake ever recorded, a magnitude 9.5, occurred in 1960 off this South American nation's west coast

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S, or secondary, seismic waves travel fairly slowly, but these waves deep in the earth exceed 25,000 mph

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The USA's most powerful quake occurred in 1964 in Alaska on this Christian holiday also associated with a quake

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A 2005 quake beneath Lake Tanganyika on this 3,500-mile-long "Great" African fault was felt 600 mi. away in Nairobi

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All the answers as well as any other previous GeoJeopardy! questions can be found over at my website by clicking the link. (Remember the answers won't be posted until ~July 16th)

And if you enjoy this post as well as others, please consider subscribing to my blog via Google Reader or some other RSS feed so that way I better know my readership. Thank you.

Questions, images, and videos courtesy of j-archive.com

Dino's in Pop Culture Thursday

2011-07-07T09:00:00.000-06:00

Dino's in Pop Culture, where we highlight each week some of the more obscure instances of dinosaurs used in the pop culture realm to sell anything from slippers to wedding cakes.

Another child's toy (with my daughter for scale) of a dino bike/walker.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #53

2011-07-01T09:00:00.003-06:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because I am going to be in the field for a couple of weeks. Because of that these are on autopilot and the answers will not be posted to the website until I get back ~July 16th.

- Volcanoes -

In 2010 stranded airline passengers learned that Eyjafjallajokull is a volcano in this country

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A Japanese proverb says, "he who climes" this peak "once is a wise man, he who climbs it twice is a fool"

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According to National Geographic, it's the most dangerous volcano in the lower 48 states

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In Sicilian it's called Muncibeddu, meaning "mountain"

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A specific eruption style is named for this Caribbean volcano that erupted in 1902, killing thousands

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Dino's in Pop Culture Thursday

2011-06-30T09:00:00.000-06:00

Dino's in Pop Culture, where we highlight each week some of the more obscure instances of dinosaurs used in the pop culture realm to sell anything from slippers to wedding cakes.

This week we have a toothbrush holder in the shape of a dino egg with a Triceratops skull on top of it. I think it's kind of cute.

Ichnology Meeting and Field Work

2011-06-28T09:00:00.000-06:00

For those who do not know, "Ichnology" means the study of trace fossils and that is what I am currently doing for my PhD Dissertation. In that vein I am going to Spain for the International Ichnofabric Workshop to give a presentation on what is essentially the start of my PhD prep. I am currently working on building up a trace fossil database for research purposes. After that I am going to be in the field at Zumaia, Spain to study a specific group of trace fossils called "graphoglyptids", which I will explain what are at some later time. Following that I am going to Krakow, Poland to take pictures in the geology museum of more graphoglyptids.

Following that I am coming back. So, since my schedule looks to be pretty full for the next couple of weeks I am going to have the blog be running on autopilot, posting GeoJeopardy! as well as some other posts automatically. I may have time for a new post here or there but I really don't know. So I wanted to leave you with my abstract for the conference.

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Internet databases in ichnology: The benefits and need for a dynamic Universal Ichnological Database

Lehane, J.R.and Ekdale, A.A.

Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, 115 South 1460 East,

Room 383 FASB, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0102, U.S.A.

Jazinator@hotmail.com

Introduction

Scientific research has been steadily progressing into the digital realm to the point that most, if not all, journals offer a digital means of obtaining their articles, and some journals now are exclusively digital, including Palaeontologia Electronica and PLoS ONE. This has created a tremendous advantage to researching scientists, because what used to take days or even weeks to obtain articles on some obscure subject can now take minutes with a careful search and appropriate access. Research tools like GeoRef, the American Geological Institute’s geoscience database, and Google Scholar make finding information extremely timely and most of the time relevant.

In the case of paleontology, numerous databases have made attempts at synthesizing the information into one all-encompassing portal. These databases include FossilPlot (Tapanila, 2007), The Paleontology Portal (http://www.paleoportal.org/) and The Paleobiology Database (http://paleodb.org) (PBD). However, these resources currently have been of little use to ichnologists. There are also more specific databases that deal with ichnology in particular. These most commonly are collection-specific databases, which may or may not be widely, or personal online databases.

It is to the benefit of current ichnologists that a Universal Ichnological Database (UID) be set up with all of the available ichnological information readily available to facilitate future research. Paleontology has often taken advantage of biostratigraphic and paleobiogeographic data to analyze data. With the advent of a UID, this could then be more readily applied to ichnology. The database could be used to help develop ichnological range charts and ichnobiogeographic maps for applications in ichnostratigraphy.

Literature Search Engines

There are several literature search engines on the internet that may be used in ichnological research. The problem with these is that you still need to wade through the piles of information to find what you want. For example, if we search for the trace fossil Zoophycos within GeoRef and Google Scholar (as of March 2011), we get 467 published works returned in GeoRef, including abstracts and conference materials. This result can be narrowed down by limiting the search to just Zoophycos located within the title (94 results) or a number of other variables. While GeoRef confines its searches to titles, abstracts, and keywords, Google Scholar is a little more diverse, usually being able to search the entire document. A search of Zoophycos in Google Scholar returns about 2,480 results. Google Scholar though only has the option to limit the search to the entire article (if available) or the title. A title-only search of Zoophycos returns 137 results.

Paleontology Databases

Of all the available paleontology databases online, there are three primary ones which seem to be the most diverse and dynamic. The first one, FossilPlot, is an Excel-based spreadsheet of the Sepkoski Compendium, but it does not include trace fossils. So for a direct trace fossil analysis, this database is not useful. However, it does have tremendous value in listing the concurrent ranges of marine taxa body fossils that may be trace makers. The concurrent range charts which can be produced are useful in ichnology if the trace fossil maker is known, or at least assumed.

The next paleontology database, The Paleontology Portal, is an educational resource that lists fossils by period. For example, it is possible to click on “Jurassic” and see what animals lived during that time period. The Paleontology Portal does contain some trace fossils, but they are extremely limited in their extent and contain almost no information other than a picture, the ichnogenus, and a general locality of the specimen. The available trace fossils on the site are divided roughly equally between vertebrate and invertebrate traces (46% to 54%). This is in contrast to what is actually seen in the fossil record, which is dominated by invertebrate traces. When working through The Paleontology Portal, there are two main ways to find information. The most straightforward way is to click on the “Trace Fossils” link, and then click on the time period, which will then give you an image list available for trace fossils from that time period. Unfortunately, there are only 39 individual trace fossils listed (as of March 2011) with 32 unique trace fossils. For example, when you click on the Devonian, you will get one result, which is Zoophycos. The information that is associated with that trace fossil also is limited. When you click on the link for the trace fossil, you get a larger image, the same one that was previously shown, as well as the state in which the trace fossil was found, but that is it. Another way is to search for trace fossils is through the search function. This basically just pulls up all available occurrences of that trace fossil in the database. If you type in “Zoophycos”, you will get back one result, the same one from the Devonian. If you type in another common trace fossil, “Thalassinoides”, you get no results at all, since that common ichnogenus is not in the database. So for use in ichnological research, The Paleontology Portal does not currently serve well.

The third primary paleontology database is The Paleobiology Database (PBD). This is the paleontology database that has the most potential in ichnology. As of March 2011, it currently had over 180,000 species listed. However, the number of trace fossils in the database is not available, since there was no specific search function for trace fossils. If we are to search for Zoophycos again, it returns a list of 132 separate occurrences of Zoophycos, most of which are located in the Devonian of New York (94). When you click on the “Show More Details” tab, you learn that Zoophycos is a genus, and that is it. Since the database is primarily based on literature identifications, most of the links of the fossils point back to the primary sources. The database also is very helpful in identifying the locations of the fossils on a paleogeographic map, but it is not able to search for specific characteristics. So although this database has potential as a starting off point, it is not much better than doing more personalized research using Google Scholar or GeoRef.

Ichnology Databases

There also are more ichnologically specific databases where one can search for data. One group of these are the collection-specific databases, including one used at the University of Utah and also one being developed for the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris (Goldstein et al., 2010). Collection-specific databases can provide important information, since they often include many fossils that have not been reported in formal publications. Thus, such collection-specific tabulations include information that ordinarily would not make it to the online databases, since those are built primarily upon published information (either published in a journal or through an online forum). What can be gleaned from these databases are range and locality information. Usually there are no images associated with the databases, so if you are not in the actual presence of the trace fossils you have to rely solely on the database information. The main problem with this approach is that if you are not in the vicinity of the fossils, you need to rely on someone else’s knowledge of the trace fossil for identification, and you probably do not know that name of the identifier, since it is not usually listed.

There is also the Trace Fossil Image Database , which is a website run by Anthony J. Martin at Emory University, who has catalogued the images of about 61 different trace fossils (as of March 2011) (http://www.envs.emory.edu/faculty/MARTIN/ichnology/images.htm). Unlike most of the other databases, this one includes a descriptive analysis of the trace fossil as well as an image with the age, formation, location, and collector information of each of the images. Although very useful, the main problem with this website is that there is no easy way to search through the database or update the information. You need to know what you are looking for to help find the information.

Developing a Universal Ichnological Database

At this time, there is no real one-stop-shopping location for all your ichnological database inquiries. There is no one place where you can find the range data as well as a photo and a description of each trace all in an easily searchable database. This means that a comprehensive, easily accessible database of ichnological information must be built. The best solution for accomplishing this objective may be a dataset that already has the infrastructure to handle the input and searching for information. The database should be dynamic and not reliant on any single contributor. The problem with most websites and institutional collection-specific databases is that they are run by individuals who are not only fallible but temporary. A database should transcend the temporary. Among the existing internet databases, FossilPlot is useful but not as widely used, is maintained by one individual, and does not contain any trace fossils. The Paleontology Portal seems to be an elementary introduction website that is not very useful in scientific research. The Trace Fossil Image Database and the institutional collection-specific databases may be used as building blocks for a Universal Ichnological Database (UID), but at this point they are not set up for easy input of information needed to build and maintain a universal database. The Paleobiology Database (PBD) has one of the largest online communities, who are daily adding new species or information to old species, so it holds promise as a possible vehicle to build a comprehensive internet-accessible UID.

Since the PBD fits all of the criteria for a good starting point, it has been chosen as the repository for the UID. To start off, some information already has been included into the database. Roy Plotnick, the only current ichnological contributor to the PBD, has already entered most of the genus names from the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Volume W (Häntzschel, 1975). The only thing that was needed was to go back and supplement that information. The important information that should be included is the First Appearance Datum (FAD), the Last Appearance Datum (LAD), the diagnostic information, a photographic representation, and any identified species. The secondary information, which would sometimes be included if available, would be the possible trace maker, the inferred behavior, the paleoenvironment, and the ichnofacies. The PBD already has most of these columns setup prior to any input of information.

When the information of most available trace fossils is entered into the database, it then will be available for a variety of ichnological analyses. These analyses may include creating range charts to identify the age of rocks, studying behavioral evolution, producing a searchable diagnosis database for people to identify unknown trace fossils, and creating paleobiostratigraphic maps, to name just a few.

Acknowledgements

JRL thanks ExxonMobil for the ExxonMobil Science Grants for Students, which paid for the work on this project.

Literature Cited

Goldstein, D.H., McKinney, M.L., Pacaud, J.-M. & Merle, D. 2010. The Ichnological Database. Facilitating reseach and educational access with an integrated database. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 42, 569.

Häntzschel, W. 1975. Trace fossils and problematica (1^st supplement). In: R.C. Moore (Ed.) Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. W (2^nd ed.), Miscellanea. The Geological Society of America and The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, 2-148.

Tapanila, L. 2007. FossilPlot, an Excel-based computer application for teaching stratigraphic paleontology using the Sepkoski Compendium of fossil marine genera. Journal of Geoscience Education, 55, 133-137.

Geology Fact of the Month - June

2011-06-27T09:00:00.001-06:00

Here is this month's geology fact of the month.

You can check out the rest of Geology Fun Facts at my website.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #52

2011-06-25T07:30:00.002-06:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because it's still Friday somewhere, right?.

- Prehistoric Times -

Scientists believe that Eohippus, about the size of a small dog, was the earliest ancestor of this animal

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Scientists have placed 5 species of prehumans into the genus Australopithecus, which means "southern" this

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This prehistoric people that followed Neanderthal man produced the first examples of human artwork

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The 2 dinosaurian orders are saurischia, which means "lizard hips", & ornithischia, which means this

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This coal-forming period of geologic time is split into Mississippian & Pennsylvanian periods

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Dino's in Pop Culture Thursday

2011-06-23T09:00:00.003-06:00

Dino's in Pop Culture, where we highlight each week some of the more obscure instances of dinosaurs used in the pop culture realm to sell anything from slippers to wedding cakes.

Here we have some T Rex slippers from the Discovery Store. I bought these for my office use in school and they looked pretty cool online but I must admit they are pretty ugly, although still cool.

Geological State Symbols Across the US - #1 Alabama

2011-06-22T09:00:00.004-06:00

Our first state alphabetically is Alabama. Here are the stats:

                                                                    Year Established
State Rock: Marble                                         1969
State Mineral: Hematite                                 1967
State Gemstone: Star Blue Quartz                  1990
State Fossil: Basilosaurus cetoides                 1984

State Rock: Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock that forms from limestone. It is mainly composed of calcite or dolomite but will often have other minerals as well (i.e. quartz, talc, forsterite, tremolite, etc.). It is often found to be primarily white with swirls of darker colors (black or brown) but can be almost any color of the rainbow depending on the impurities. The primary source of marble in Alabama is in Talladega County and it is referred to as the Sylacauga marble. This marble has been quarried and used in art and building stones throughout Alabama and the US.

State Mineral: Hematite
Hematite is a mineral often referred to as rust. It is produced from the oxidation of iron and forms iron oxide in the form of Fe2O3. It is also one of the most common sources of iron ore and is often referred to as red iron ore. The hematite in Alabama was primarily mined from the Red Mountain Formation until 1975, where it became cheaper to import it. But at one time it was the states most developed non-fuel mineral industry, helping to build up Birmingham as an industrial center. In the 135 years hematite was mined, they produced ~375 million tons of ore. Birmingham is also known for the largest cast-iron structure ever made, the stature of Vulcan (picture right), produced entirely with Birmingham iron ore.

State Gemstone: Star Blue Quartz
Quartz is one of the most common minerals on Earth, primarily due to its simple structure and chemical formula, SiO2. Not to mention it is harder than most other common minerals. Quartz can come in almost any color, which is caused by impurities in the crystals, and has a variety of names including amethyst (purple quartz), smokey quartz (grey), etc. The special thing about Alabama's "Star blue quartz" is that it often contains little bits of amphibole (another type of mineral) and displays asterism (a star pattern in the light) when polished.

Although the state website claims that star blue quartz is common, it does not appear to be so. There are very few pictures of this specific variety of quartz, although blue quartz by itself is rather abundant.

State Fossil: Basilosaurus cetoides
Basilosaurus is a member of the whale family first discovered in Alabama in 1834. It was originally thought to be a swimming reptile but was later discovered that it was indeed a whale from the Eocene period. This whale also had hindlimbs that were mostly nonfunctional (it is theorized they could have been used during sex). The hindlimbs are likely a vestigial "organ" from the evolution of land animals to modern whales. Basilosaurus is most abundant in Alabama and has been found in Clarke, Choctaw, and Washington counties.

References
http://www.archives.state.al.us/emblems/emblems.html
http://www.sylacauga.net/library/sections/Sylacauga%20Marble%20Fiestival/Marble%20Fiestival%202010.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_statue
http://geology.about.com/od/regional_geology/ig/stategems/stateblueqtz.htm
http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Multimedia.jsp?id=m-3931
http://wapedia.mobi/en/Basilosaurus

News of the Day - Creationists at GSA?

2011-06-21T10:40:00.000-06:00

Here is an article from Earth Magazine where the writer went on a field trip and later listened to a talk from a well known Creationist as a GSA meeting. What? A Creationist at a GSA meeting? What the hell?

But I think he makes a valid point and I agree that, should the science warrent it, they should be allowed to say what they think, let the science stand on its own, and let other people judge. It is when the science is crap and they ignore facts that I have a problem.

Creationism creeps into mainstream geology

Amateur Paleo Blog

2011-06-18T21:54:00.000-06:00

Recently, while at the annual UFOP meeting I met some physicists who like to travel around to amatuer paleo sites, do digs, and visit museums. They also have their own blog, The Paleo-Tourist about their travels and paleo adventures. I recommend it as a good way for people wanting to get into paleontology but not sure how. It shows how a couple of amateurs do it. It also doesn't hurt that they referenced me in a post either.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #51

2011-06-17T12:22:00.000-06:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because it is time to take a brake.

- Rocks & Stuff -

A rock called pridotite produces this hardest gem

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This form of molten rock deep within the earth can reach a temperature of over 2100 degrees

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This agreeable-sounding metamorphic rock has alternating bands of dark- & light-colored minerals

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Most rocks are composed primarily of oxygen & this element

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Soapstone, used as an electrical insulator, is a greenish-gray variety of this soft mineral

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Dino's in Pop Culture Thursdays

2011-06-16T10:32:00.002-06:00

Well I have been keeping this up for several Thursday's now, so we will make it a weekly theme.
This week we have a disemboweled dinosaur filled with balls (a ball pit) and a baby.

State Symbols Across the US - Introduction

2011-06-14T21:05:00.000-06:00

It is fairly common knowledge that the individual states in the US like to acknowledge specific items of historic or cultural significance in that state by declaring them the "State ...." whatever (flag, song, rock, etc.). I think some of them have interesting histories and I figured I would catalogue all of them in alphabetical order, starting with Alabama and working my way to Wyoming. I can't promise you one a week but I can try for at least one a month. The lists will most likely include categories like State Rock, State Mineral, State Gemstone, and State Fossil, along with anything else that may be of importance. I think this will be fun.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #50!!

2011-06-10T16:43:00.000-06:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because it's a sick day.

- What Planet Are You From? -

It has seasonal weather patterns & iron-rich minerals in the soil, giving it a distinct red color

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Greater in mass than all the other planets combined, it's surrounded by dozens of moons

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Its mean distance from the Sun is only about 36 million miles

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It's the smallest & densest of the outer gas giants & has an appropriate name, as it has a watery interior

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Bands of debris & ice surround it, as do its satellites, including Titan

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Dino's in Pop Culture

2011-06-09T12:53:00.001-06:00

Here is an awesome postcard I received advertising the new Natural History Museum of Utah http://www.nhmu.org

Survival of the Fittest - My PhD Exam Experience

2011-06-07T14:42:00.002-06:00

There was several things that were said to me about the PhD Quaification Exam before, during, and after I took it. These mostly pertain to geology PhD's but may relate to other disciplines. I have heard other stories from other disciplines and other departments though and know that geology is relatively consistent with this.

1. Nobody ever feels like they are doing well.
2. It is meant to push you until you break.
3. They want to see how much you know, not what you don't know.
4. Hahahaha, good luck.
5. "We'll see if you know about this."

My entire experience started last semester. During the semester I was taking 2 classes as well as TAing a lab and trying to get my research off the ground. My PhD committee is made up of 5 people, 4 of which were in my department and one was my math professor from a previous class I had taken. I arranged to have a meeting at the end of the semester where everyone could attend and critique what I had been working on/plan to work on. Well they commented, critiqued, and ripped apart parts of it (I hate those meetings). And it ended with one of my committee members having to leave early. This is the same member who had problems with me wanting to use cladistics in behavioral evolution (I think his problem was more the general use of cladistics and its validity and not my particular use of it). During this meeting before this member left we were discussing when to host my PhD exam and what each exam should be on. They all agreed that early March was a good idea and I should get a date set as soon as possible so that people could work around me and not the other way around. Ok, sounds good. The topics for the exams were up to each committee member as well as myself and the committee as a whole to verify. I will go into the general topics that were finally worked out a bit later, but generalized topics were figured out during the meeting.

Well the next day I find out that the committee member that left early wants out. Crap. It turns out he has too much on his plate and he wants to shed as much of it as possible. I don't really buy that, but whatever, the point is moot. He said he would stay on if he was needed but I'm not going to make anyone stay on my committee if they don't want to. So now I'm off to find a new committee member as soon as possible because I need to get things going on his exam. Well I'm not sure who exactly to ask and eventually it comes around to a former student of my advisor who is a professor at a nearby college. Sounds great. I email him over winter break and wait to hear. And wait. And wait. Well it turns out he was away for the break and just got back to me as the semester started. But he can do it. This is good.

So now I can start to set up times. The most important one was the Oral Exam. This was the only one where I needed all of my committee members present at the same time in the same place.. So I focused all of my attention on this first. Spring break was the last full week of March (21st-25th), so we couldn't do it that week. And I wanted it done before my birthday (19th) so it had to be earlier. Well at least one of the committee members wanted to have the option to go into the field the week before Spring Break, or at least the second half of the week, so that was out. I wanted it within the first 2 weeks anyway. To be able to fit in all of my written exams (1 from each committee member, so 5 in total) it would need to be towards the end of the first 2 weeks, especially since one member was going to be gone the entire month of February. So now we are looking at the end of the second week of March (Thursday or Friday). One member needs to drive in from out of state (the new committee member) and would prefer it to be on Friday. So far so good, this works for most people. Until the committee member that will be away for February waits to see when she is giving a presentation for a conference around that time. Towards the end of January they finally get back to her and her presentation at the conference, which is in Houston (I think), is the day before we were planning my exam. Crap again. So we push it to Monday. Everyone is happy now. We have a time set as well. 3:15, since one person or another is busy in the morning until that time.

It is now the end of January. I have not studied a thing for these exams. I really don't even know for certain what will be on the exams. Things don't seem to be going well. My stress level is consistently rising everyday. Now I don't mean to spend time bitching about the setup of the time slots but this is to emphasize the degree of stress this whole process places on the student. So I confer with the committee what exactly will be on the exam. Luckily things seemed to have been narrowed down a bit from the previous meeting so I will list them in random order. Instead of listing the names on my committee (for my own personal protection) I will just give them random letters.

Advisor - Ichnology
Committee Member F - Sedimentary Processes (yea because that couldn't be any more vague)
Committee Member A - Paleoecology
Committee Member I - Macroevolution
Committee Member L - Data Analysis

The next step was to schedule my other exams. All the exams were to be no longer than 3 hours and each ended up being 3 hours. Unfortunately, my daughter needed to have surgery on her eyes at the beginning of February and might have needed surgery later in the month (she ended up not needing it) so I wanted to spread out my exams so I could take care of her. This ended up in me having one exam a week for 4 weeks with the first 3 on Fridays and the last 2 the last week on Monday and Thursday. Since I have finally set up the topics I started to have meetings to figure out what would be on the exams. F was going to be gone for February so I met with her first. She basically stated to be sure to look over a sedimentology text book. That is pretty much all of the information she gave me. I received other information from other students that she likes to ask questions regarding recent discoveries in sedimentology and how would you convey scientific ideas to the nonscientific community, like evolution. Alright, read sedimentology textbook and look up recent articles online. Check. This exam was scheduled for the first Friday in March since that would be one of the only times F would actually be in the state.

The first exam I took I was fairly confident on since it was my advisors exam and was on Ichnology, which I just finished. He didn't really give me any tips to take the exam since I just finished the class but I gathered from previous conversations that he wanted me to know major names in ichnology. That is where Tony Martin's History of Ichnology site really came in handy. I made flash cards of all the people mentioned and what was their primary contribution to ichnology. Other than that I just made sure I was familiar with terms like "ichnofacies", "ichnocoenosis", and "ichnofabric".

Then came the date of my first exam. I don't want to give the exact questions, even though my advisor didn't prevent me from doing it, just for my own security's sake. The topics though I will go over and give a generalized impression of the questions. 1. Give 3 ichnologists who revolutionized the field. Awesome, this is what I studied and I felt I nailed it. I used Seilacher as the quinticentral ichnologist, then Edward Hitchcock as one of the first ichnologists, and Alfred Nathorst as the ichnologist who transformed thinking about traces as algal growths into really being depositional features created by organisms. The next questions was about using ichnology in the search for precious metals, a kind of the out of left field question but I think I did pretty well. The third question was about how can burrowing organisms alter the composition, texture, and consistency of the sediment in which they are burrowing. And the final question was on ichnotaxonomy and what I thought about it. Overall, pretty much what I was expecting.

The second exam I was hoping to take was the macroevolution exam since I just had a class on that as well but it needed to be scheduled last due to conflicts. The next one I ended up taking was on Paleoecology and I was told to read up on concepts by Bambach and Vermeij, there may have been others but I have forgotten the email exactly. So I downloaded a bunch of papers, looked over my old Paleobiology notes, and got a few books from the library and was "ready" for the next exam. Well that one sucked. Basically it had a couple of questions that focused on my PhD research on graphoglyptid burrows, and since I haven't had much time to go into them I wasn't all that positive on my answers but I think I worked them out. Then there was a question on Bambach's and Bromley's guilds. I had never heard this term before so I had no clue what to do for that. I kind of guessed but I completely missed the mark. This was subsequently brought back up at the oral exam. Then a question on Vermeij' theory of escalation, which I skimmed through previously but was able to piece the information together well enough I think for a descent answer. The main topic brought back up in the oral exam was the guild concept since I missed it.

The third exam was on Sedimentary Processes and I was told I wasn't allowed to discuss it at all, so all I will say for this is that some of the questions were on what people told me may be on the exam and nothing I studied by reading that text book helped at all. There was one topic that kept coming back up from this exam because I misread the question as petrology when it actually stated petrography, quite a significant difference. Afterwards another student asked me if I took F's exam. I said yes and she asked me, "Well what is it?" "What is what?" "The thing she had you look at." "Oh, that must be for the oral exam." It turned out that one of the items purchased for a school auction was going to be on my oral exam. Oh boy, can't wait.

The fourth exam was the next one and the most different. Basically it was the Data Analysis exam given to me by my math professor, L, who was unaccustomed to the way PhD exams work in the geology department so when we went over what the specific topics would be we laid out all four questions, 1 on statistical methods, 1 on chaos theory, 1 on fractals, and 1 on data fitting. And although it seemed like it might be easy because it was also open book, I opted to have a closed book and closed Internet on all my other ones, the day for the exam came and these are the actual questions:
1. Fractal dimensions.
2. Bifurcations and chaotic attractors in nonlinear dynamical systems.
3. Method of least squares for data fitting.
4. Statistical hypothesis testing.
What?!?!? So I ended up writing as much as I could in the 3 hours and turned it in. I asked what to study before the exam and she stated that I had open book and open Internet and 3 hours, I shouldn't have any problems but to look over the Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos textbook and some statistical methods. I ended up doing fine with only one question on fractals coming back.

The fifth and final exam was on Macroevolution with not much to study on since I just took the class, I ended up just looking over the principle concepts and theory's. And this was the only exam I wasn't allowed to type up, so I had to hand write it. By the end of the exam my hand was definitely cramping. At least this is the only exam that had only 3 questions instead of 4 as well. I don't have the questions since the answers were written on the question sheets and I don't remember them exactly but I do recall that they had a large part to do with my research on graphoglyptids again as well as some straight forward questions that I was expecting on basic macroevolutionary theory.

That last exam was on a Thursday and the Oral Exam was on the following Monday. Between these two I also had to lead/participate in the Paleobiology class's field trip that I was TAing for Saturday and Sunday. Up until Friday no one told me I had to look over anything so I felt pretty good and I was told that the Oral Exam is more about finding out what you already know so there is no point in studying. But about an hour before I had to go and get ready for the field trip, F told me I messed up one of the questions and it was going to come back up on the oral. Fantastic. So I basically have 2 free hours before my exam, due to the field trip taking up all the other time, to look this stuff up. Anyway, this was on top of F asking to change the time or date of the Oral Exam because a prospective professor was going to be giving a lecture at the time of my Oral Exam and she wanted to move it either earlier or to Friday instead. This had me livid because the reason it was on Monday was due to her demands but basically I just stated that it was impossible and she could come late if she wanted to. She ended up just skipping the lecture.

So the day of the oral exam arrives. I am freaking out the entire day but I somehow make it through. They start off asking questions around the table and my advisor gives them all 15 minutes to ask me questions. L was first with just a clarification on how to analyze for fractal dimensions. I did fairly well but forgot how to use the box dimension method. Then came A with the Paleoecology questions and he starts trying to lead me to the answer without actually giving it to me but my mind basically went blank. I couldn't think of the word that he wanted but I believe it was trophic. Mostly the questions regarded around guilds, which I looked up since the exam but still wasn't entirely sure positive about them. The next set of questions by I again focused on my thesis topic (behavioral evolution of graphoglyptids) and how that could be influenced by the properties of the oceans during extinction events, primarily anoxia. Which is really interesting and things I haven't really thought of before but I should be able to incorporate relatively easily. He also placed a list of 3 names on the board (Massalongo, Ehrenberg, and my advisor) and asked me what significant thing did they do for ichnology. For the life of me I had no idea who the first 2 were (it turns out they named Zoophycus and Ophiomorpha respectively) but I gave a little information about my advisor and we moved on (he didn't expect me to know the two other names). He also asked me about transitional evolutionary forms, which I gave a short answer referencing the Futurama episode but I didn't realize they wanted more. Then came F's turn who then went over the question I misunderstood and basically I still bombed it. But she also pulled out this bizarre rock sample (pictured left above) and said "Now, pretend I am a new student who doesn't know much and tell me about this rock." Well I went off telling how it is likely brachiopods since bivalves typically come undone when they die and these are clearly shown still together. I amend that now and state they are likely bivalves due to the shape of the shell, but whatever. Then you can also see what way is up based on the sediment filling the shells. She then asks "And what are those structures called?" and I responded with "Geopetal structures, but I didn't want to throw terminology at her since she was a new student." Then it came down to my advisor who basically gave me a rock (pictured left below) with a graphoglyptid (Spirorhaphe) on it and asked what it was and how did it form? Well I wasn't terribly sure how they formed before and this didn't help me to understand because basically I had it backwards. I said they were worm fecal tubes left over from feeding, when it turns out they were hollow tubes filled in by turbidites. Damn. He also asked me to put 4 names on the board (Ida, Sue, Tiktaalik, and Lucy), tell them what they were, and put them in chronological order. Well I didn't know who Ida was (turns out I mentioned it earlier, I just didn't know it was the nickname of Darwinius) and I had never heard of Tiktaalik. Things did not seem to be going well.

So after all is said and done they ask me to leave, talked about me for ~15 minutes, then I was asked to come back in. In essence, I passed but with stipulations. They said they couldn't see my use of the scientific method and my deductive reasoning skills. So I needed to write a paper about the graphoglyptid explaining what it was and how it formed using the scientific method. I also need to rewrite by PhD proposal in a more hypothesis testing method. They also went over all the things I got wrong and what I should look up afterwards.

Even though I "passed" I felt like I didn't. I thought, as well as many other people who told me I would do awesome, that this would be done and I would be passed without a problem. I wasn't expecting stipulations. I felt like a failure even though I wasn't. The next day was horrible. I felt I did nothing right for the whole thing. I then got a couple of emails as follow ups from my advisor. The one just stated the stipulations, the other went over optional things that my committee felt like needed to be gone over (transitional fossils, guilds, Tiktaalik and Ida, fractal box method, and petrography). This made me feel even worse. I then ended up talking with my advisor and he made feel a little better but things still sucked. He mentioned how after the exam he was talking with one of my committee members and they agreeded that perhaps this is too stressfull on the student because I, as well as those before me, missed questions we should have known all due to nerves and the stress of the situation. This doesn't help me at all, but it did make me feel a little better.

I'm still pissed about it, but whatever. I ended up doing the paper on the graphoglyptid in April since it was due before school let out. And during the beginning of the summer I went through all of the optional things and sent out emails about those. I only have the PhD proposal rewrite to do, which is due at the end of June. I also saw that stupid ball as the school auction so I ended up purchasing it. It now sits proudly on my desk, mocking me.

Darwin Awards - Geology Strikes Back 8

2011-06-06T10:05:00.000-06:00

"If you go in the water, you WILL die"

Algae covered rocks, a swift moving current, a giant waterfall, and a sign that states "If you go in the water, you will die" do not deter this hiker from cooling his feet off in the river. Needless to say, the river won.

Article courtesy of John Fullmer

All of the other Darwin Awards - Geology Strikes Back can found at my website by clicking the link.

AW - Call for Posts

2011-06-04T10:24:00.000-06:00

A new call for posts is up at Georneys for the next Accretionary Wedge. She is looking for:

What's your favorite geology word?

You can post just the word if you want. You can also add anything you want-- a definition, some pictures related to the word, a story about the word, a poem, a drawing. Anything at all!

I must warn you, though: if you post about a good word, I may use the word in a future Geology Word of the Week post!

So head on over there and participate!

GeoJeopardy! Fridays #49

2011-06-03T12:54:00.001-06:00

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because it's a nice day out.

- Geology -

A placer is a deposit of sand containing metals such as this, which brought an influx to Placer County, California

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A cauldron subsidence is when a mass of solid rock sinks into a pool of this subterranean molten rock

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In geology, BYO isn't on a faculty party invitation; it stands for this, in Canada's Acasta Gneiss, about 4 BYO

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In the mountain type of this, rock projects above the frozen stuff

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William Smith's 1815 map "of New England and Wales" showed these rock layers in different colors

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