Well here we are, at the very end of the semester with just one last week of lecture and then next week it is finals. The work load has increased but nothing to bad as long as I keep hacking away at it.
This point of lecture is what I'm really excited about. I don't know if this has been my favorite part of the class but it is the most interesting, and simply because most of what we are studying right now has been preserved better than anything else.
We are talking about fossils and continental movement and glaciation and everything that can be seen in the rock record today.
This class has been one of my favorite classed in a long time. I understand the material, I;m doing well of the assignments and I like going to class. This hasn't happened for a couple of semester and I will kinda miss that.
Monday, May 5, 2014
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
New mineral, Putnisite
A new mineral was discovered in Australia. It purple to pinkish in color, its only .4 millimeters in size, it is cubic in structure, and it was found by miners. This mineral was found on volcanic rock and appears as a purple or dark pink spot but on a white rock it looks green.
The interesting thing is that its composed of a new chemical composition that has never been seen before.Strontium calcium chromium sulfate carbonate." Elliott told Live Science. "Over time, weathering released these elements and concentrated them, allowing Putnisite to crystallize." This new mineral is very soft and brittle.
This new mineral is unrelated to any other mineral that is known today.
The interesting thing is that its composed of a new chemical composition that has never been seen before.Strontium calcium chromium sulfate carbonate." Elliott told Live Science. "Over time, weathering released these elements and concentrated them, allowing Putnisite to crystallize." This new mineral is very soft and brittle.
This new mineral is unrelated to any other mineral that is known today.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Fossils
We did a fossil lab this week and it was a lot of fun. There were a number of samples to look at and using a chart we had to label which fossils were which.
I particularly enjoyed this lab because I like puzzles and to me this was one giant puzzle.
Each fossil that we had was usually from a different period but there was just a handful that repeated. Some of the fossils were very easy to identify because their characteristics were like none of the others that we had on our chart. However, the bivalves and clams were the most difficult. There were minute variations of the same species that it took quiet a bit of time to determine which one was which.
Each group of fossils belonged to a "time core" and we had to go down the line in each group and log which time period they were from. This is were it got tricky. I wish that I had filled out the questions and time scale with the fossils. The time did not always match up in the sequence like it was suppose to. But overall i enjoyed it.
I particularly enjoyed this lab because I like puzzles and to me this was one giant puzzle.
Each fossil that we had was usually from a different period but there was just a handful that repeated. Some of the fossils were very easy to identify because their characteristics were like none of the others that we had on our chart. However, the bivalves and clams were the most difficult. There were minute variations of the same species that it took quiet a bit of time to determine which one was which.
Each group of fossils belonged to a "time core" and we had to go down the line in each group and log which time period they were from. This is were it got tricky. I wish that I had filled out the questions and time scale with the fossils. The time did not always match up in the sequence like it was suppose to. But overall i enjoyed it.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Giant Impact
Here is something that is just mind boggling
Geologist from Stanford Unisversity have discovered and mapped a huge impact from an asteroid that was belived to be bigger than the one that killed all of the dinosaurs. This thing was gargantuan, 23 to 36 mile wide and speeing toward Earth at speeds up to 12 miles per second and the impact happened over 3.26 billion years ago. Which would have been in the Archean period, right on the edge of the mesoarchean period.
This asteriod is thought to have change the Earth in such ways as creating the plate technonics that we see today. This asteriod collision had enough energy to be able to reach all the way down the lithosphere and cause the plates to ove enought to change how they act. When the plates only move centimetters a year under normal conditions. That amount of energy is with out fathom. On top of all the earthquakes that happened afterward there were huge tsunamis.
The evidance from this impact was discovered in the Barberton greenstone belt sits east of Johannesburg near the border with Swaziland in southern Africa. The model provides evidence for the rock formations and crustal fractures that scientists have discovered in the Barberton greenstone belt, said Frank Kyte, a geologist at UCLA who was not involved in the study.
This research is all in effort to understand the Earth as it was forming and how life has evolved to what is it today.
Geologist from Stanford Unisversity have discovered and mapped a huge impact from an asteroid that was belived to be bigger than the one that killed all of the dinosaurs. This thing was gargantuan, 23 to 36 mile wide and speeing toward Earth at speeds up to 12 miles per second and the impact happened over 3.26 billion years ago. Which would have been in the Archean period, right on the edge of the mesoarchean period.
This asteriod is thought to have change the Earth in such ways as creating the plate technonics that we see today. This asteriod collision had enough energy to be able to reach all the way down the lithosphere and cause the plates to ove enought to change how they act. When the plates only move centimetters a year under normal conditions. That amount of energy is with out fathom. On top of all the earthquakes that happened afterward there were huge tsunamis.
The evidance from this impact was discovered in the Barberton greenstone belt sits east of Johannesburg near the border with Swaziland in southern Africa. The model provides evidence for the rock formations and crustal fractures that scientists have discovered in the Barberton greenstone belt, said Frank Kyte, a geologist at UCLA who was not involved in the study.
This research is all in effort to understand the Earth as it was forming and how life has evolved to what is it today.
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
History of the Earth Part one
This part of class has kinda been kicking my but. We are going into detail about what is going on in the geologic history of the Earth (sorry Mel Brooks fans) and its getting a little confusing.
The Hadean and the Archean time spans are easy enough because not so much has happened but as soon as we get into the Proterozoic that's when a lot of things happen all at once. I have been reading the book and that has been helping. But there are mountain building events going on, opening and closing of ocean basins, life is present, the atmosphere is changing, and glaciations are happening.
It did make sense when we went over cratons and how continents were formed from the cratons.
In class we did talk about fracking and the possible ramifications with earthquakes. That was very interesting because that's the type of field that I could see myself working in.
The idea that fracking can increase the pressure inside the earth and that increase pressure builds and builds until it causes a normal or large earthquake.
But i digress, the rest of the Proterozoic is still a little confusing.
The Hadean and the Archean time spans are easy enough because not so much has happened but as soon as we get into the Proterozoic that's when a lot of things happen all at once. I have been reading the book and that has been helping. But there are mountain building events going on, opening and closing of ocean basins, life is present, the atmosphere is changing, and glaciations are happening.
It did make sense when we went over cratons and how continents were formed from the cratons.
In class we did talk about fracking and the possible ramifications with earthquakes. That was very interesting because that's the type of field that I could see myself working in.
The idea that fracking can increase the pressure inside the earth and that increase pressure builds and builds until it causes a normal or large earthquake.
But i digress, the rest of the Proterozoic is still a little confusing.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Feild Trip
So yesterday as a class we went to Red Rock Canyon and Fossil Falls. It was an amazing experience. I have driven through Red Rock Canyon numerous times but never had the chance to stop and take a look around.
We have to do a scientific write up on the trip but this post is going to talk about the pictures that I took and what was going on instead of what rocks or formations are in them. At least not an in depth explanation.
I don't have any pictures from our first stop in Red Rock Canyon because my camera was dead but on our second stop I took quiet a few, while on the ground and as we climbed up the cliff face for lack of a better term.
These were just my favorite pictures. This was more fun than i had in a long time and the icing on the cake was that i didn't have to drive. Yes.
These pictures are for the most part in order but not all of them.
We have to do a scientific write up on the trip but this post is going to talk about the pictures that I took and what was going on instead of what rocks or formations are in them. At least not an in depth explanation.
I don't have any pictures from our first stop in Red Rock Canyon because my camera was dead but on our second stop I took quiet a few, while on the ground and as we climbed up the cliff face for lack of a better term.
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| This is the back side of our first stop its all pink. Rhyolit Tuff. |
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| This was the cliff face that we climbed. Its pretty fun and not as tiring as i originally thought |
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| Just cool colors and angular unconformitites |
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| This is were we climbed |
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| and now we are looking down to the road with people for scale |
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| there is a better view from up high |
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| this reminded me of the Flintstones because of red rock looking like a roof on a house |
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| this was actually a small step that is only about 2 inches high. I just got the camera in close |
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| We weren't the only ones to climb up high |
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| This was coming back down, we weren't the last ones |
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| look how pretty |
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| this was a road cut of basalts |
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| i just liked this because it looked like a flower |
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| Cinder cone with the Sierra Nevada's behind |
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| Lava flow at least a mile away |
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| Better picture of same lava flow |
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| look at the pretty colors and contrast |
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| a vesicular basalt with what i think is quatrz |
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| large ingenious intrusion just off the 14 |
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| MUD CRACKS YAY!!!!!!! |
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| Oooooh ripple marks with a foot for scale |
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| The start of Fossil Falls |
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| looking out toward the end |
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| Another road cut |
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| Lake Isabella road cut |
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| These people scared me because they were so close to the edge and the wind was very strong |
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| She was very brave |
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| Large basalt |
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| All these rocks were very smooth from the long gone water |
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| My attempt at climbing down |
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| The edge looking over the falls |
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| Other brave souls |
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| Road cut with folds |
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| I think you can see the dykes |
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| My favorite rock |
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| Holy Schist that's cool |
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| That's one big pile of schist |
These were just my favorite pictures. This was more fun than i had in a long time and the icing on the cake was that i didn't have to drive. Yes.
These pictures are for the most part in order but not all of them.
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Washington Mudslide
It is a terrible tragedy and my heart goes out to all the families that were affected by the mudslide.
With that said the mudslide itself was an amazing event. From the 1950's until now the Stillaguamish River has been eroding away the hill side taking with it all types of material. After the much of the soil was washed into the bottom of the river a small land slide happened in 2006. Then two weeks before the big mudslide happened there was a small 1.1 earthquake that could have displaced and shifted the already wet earth. Then finally 15 million cubic tons of material was sent down the river and covered everything in its path.
Geologist have called that area a slide area since the 1950's and records prove it but other than that there was no warning that this much could happen.
With that said the mudslide itself was an amazing event. From the 1950's until now the Stillaguamish River has been eroding away the hill side taking with it all types of material. After the much of the soil was washed into the bottom of the river a small land slide happened in 2006. Then two weeks before the big mudslide happened there was a small 1.1 earthquake that could have displaced and shifted the already wet earth. Then finally 15 million cubic tons of material was sent down the river and covered everything in its path.
Geologist have called that area a slide area since the 1950's and records prove it but other than that there was no warning that this much could happen.
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