Georneys Has Moved!

Georneys has a new home on the American Geophysical Union Network of Earth and Space Science Blogs. 

The new url for Georneys is: http://blogs.agu.org/georneys/

Be sure to update your RSS feeds! We're currently working on moving my Google Friend Followers over to the new site. I'll give you an update on that in a day or two.

I hope that you'll continue to read Georneys over at AGU! I will keep the blogger site for Georneys up as an archive.

Geology Word of the Week: F is for Fumarole

Fumarole 1. Yellowstone, Western USA, Fall 2005.

def. Fumarole:
A crustal opening, usually in the vicinity of a volcano, through which steam and other hot gases-- such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide-- are emitted. Fumarole comes from the Latin word "fumus," which means smoke. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word was incorporated into English through the French word "fumarolle" [1].

Interesting Search Terms That Found My Blog #2

For the past little while, I have been keeping track of some interesting search terms that found my blog. These are just a sampling of ones that I happened across. I've put some "answers" below the search terms. Enjoy!

Also see:
Interesting Search Terms That Found My Blog #1

A Swiss Fold

Last week I blogged about the "Chondrite Town" of Chur in Switzerland. As I was going through my pictures from Switzerland to find the Chur picture, I came across some photographs of a spectacular Swiss fold. Of course, I was reminded of my fellow geoblogger Callan Bentley and his Friday Fold posts! If you like folds, Callan provides them a-plenty on Fridays.

Gorgeous Swiss Fold. Switzerland, June 2010.

4th of July Rocks: Red, White, and Blue

Happy 4th of July, everyone! In honor of the 4th, here are some red, white, and blue rocks.
Red sandstone:

Red Standstone. Arches National Park, Utah, Fall 2005.

Newly-deposited white travertine:

Travertine forming in an alkaline pool. Oman, January 2009.

And, last but not least, brilliant bright blue kyanite crystals:

Blue kyanite. Image courtesy of Ian Stimpson's Flickr stream.

Geology Word of the Week: E is for Eclogite

Eclogite from the Mariánské Lázně Complex in the west Czech Republic.
Keele collection. Check out those gorgeous pink garnets!
Photo courtesy of Ian Stimpson.

def. Eclogite:
A high-pressure, high-temperature, coarse-grained metamorphic rock consisting primarily of pink-red garnet (almadine-pyrope variety) and green pyroxene (omphacite, a sodium-rich variety). Eclogites may also contain small amounts of other high-pressure minerals such as kyanite, quartz, hornblende, and zoisite. Eclogites form when mafic rock (basalt or gabbro) descends deep within the Earth, generally at a subduction zone. Mafic rocks consist primarily of pyroxene and plagioclase (along with some amphibole and olivine). At high pressures and temperatures, the original minerals in mafic rock are squished into the more compact (denser) minerals garnet and omphacite, and the mafic rock becomes eclogite. Eclogites form when mafic rock encounters temperatures greater than ~400 degrees Celsius and pressures greater than ~12 kbar (or ~1.2 GPa). These temperatures and pressures mean that eclogites form at a minimum depth of ~40 km; some eclogites may form as deep as ~150 km. As a reference, ocean crust (which is comprised primarily of basalt and gabbro) is generally only 6-10 km thick. Because they are very dense and inclined to descend even deeper into Earth's mantle, eclogites are rarely brought to Earth's surface. Eclogites may be exposed in ophiolite sequences and other places where deep mantle rocks are brought to Earth's surface. Often, eclogites experience partial or full retrograde metamorphism as they are brought to Earth's surface. That is, if eclogites are brought to the surface slowly, their minerals may change back into minerals that are stable at lower temperatures and pressures. Sometimes, higher-pressure minerals will have rims of lower-pressure minerals around them.

Bad Geology: Young Earth Creationists are Not Geologists

On twitter today, @geosociety and @earthmagazine were asking if people would attend a field trip led by Young Earth Creationists-- people who believe Earth is only ~6,000 years old. The question on twitter was in response to this Earth Magazine article about Young Earth Creationists leading a field trip at a recent Geological Society of America conference. I replied that, yes, I would attend such a field trip, but only so that I could rip the Young Earth Cretationists leading the field trip to shreds.

Accretionary Wedge #35: Favorite Geology Words

As many of you know, I hosted the Accretionary Wedge Geoblog Carnival for June, and I asked What's Your Favorite Geology Word? Turns out, many of you have favorite geology words! Geologists-- like many scientists, I suppose-- are fond of their jargon. Personally, I'm so fond of jargon that I blog about a geology word every week. I love many geology words, but if I had to pick an absolute favorite, it's ophiolite.

Thanks so much to everyone who participated and shared a favorite geology word! The words are listed below, in the order in which they were posted. If I somehow missed your word, please let me know in the comments, and I'll add it.

Chondrite Town

The road to the chondritic uniform reservoir. Switzerland, June 2010.

Last June I spent ten days in Switzerland and Italy exploring the geology of The Alps as part of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's annual Geodynamics Program. As we were driving one day on the trip, several geochemists in the group became very excited about the above sign. Apparently, the mysterious chondritic uniform reservoir (CHUR) is located in Switzerland! We tried our best to persuade our instructors that we should visit this important Earth reservoir, but we were told that Chur is a charming little Swiss town, not a place where we could find chondrites. So, we continued our drive to the mountains, but not before I snapped a photo as we passed a sign for Chur.

***For those who are not familiar, chondrites are primitive, stony meteorites that have not undergone significant melting or differentiation. Thus, chondrites are considered the original "starting material" for planet Earth, which scientists believe formed through accretion of chondritic bodies. The Earth probably started out as roughly chondritic then underwent chemical differentiation. To put it simply, the heavy stuff sunk to the center of the Earth (the core) and the lighter stuff floated to the top of the Earth (the crust) and the medium stuff stayed in the middle (the mantle).  For long-lived chemical systems (for example, the samarium-neodymium isotope system), geochemists like to think about how these chemical systems may have evolved over the ~4.54 billion year history of the Earth. Often, geochemists like to compare the evolution of certain chemical systems to a baseline. One baseline that is sometimes used is CHUR-- the chondritic uniform reservoir. The chemical composition of CHUR is based on the average chemical composition of chondritic meteorites. Where do we obtain these chondrites, if planets differentiated? Well, not all bits and pieces of the original chondrite parent bodies were incorporated into planets, which then differentiated. Some chondrite bits and pieces survived and have been zooming around our solar system. Chondrites often fall to Earth as meteorites, where they are sometimes recognized. Since these meteorites are stony, they look like Earth rocks and are tricky to tell apart. There could be one in your backyard! Most chondrite meteorites are found in places where there are few rocks, such as in deserts and in Antarctica.***

Geology Word of the Week: D is for Delta

The Nile Delta as seen from Earth orbit. Photo courtesy of
NASA and taken from Wikipedia here.

def. Delta:
1. The fourth letter of the Greek alphabet (uppercase Δ, lowercase δ).
2. A popular US airline with questionable service (except for those delicious little snacks they serve with your drink), often-delayed flights, and a hilarious in-flight safety video. 
3. A triangle-shaped deposit of sediment that forms where a river or stream flows into an ocean, lake, or other large, standing body of water.

Sorry, Folks, but Callan was Attacked by a T-Rex

This morning I had the pleasure of meeting up with Callan Bentley of Mountain Beltway. After several months of interacting on the internet, it was great to meet up in real life! I hope to meet some more of my fellow geobloggers over the next year or so.

Unfortunately, shortly after we met up, Callan was attacked by a T-Rex in the University of Wyoming Geology Museum:

A T-Rex attacks Callan.

Fortunately, Callan managed to escape, and we were able to tour the rest of the museum and have a sandwich afterward. Safe travels to Montana, Callan!

Limestone, Wildflowers, and Big Sky: A Wyoming Trail Run

I arrived in Wyoming last Sunday, and I'll be here for two months working with one of my advisors. I haven't had too much time to explore yet, but today (Monday) I went on a beautiful trail run*. Wyoming really is beautiful. I enjoy all the quiet, wide-open spaces. Here are a few pictures from today's trail run:

Wyoming big sky 1.

Forget Rent... I'm Moving to the Smithsonian

Note: For the next couple of weeks, I am going to be fairly busy. This weekend I started (finally) finishing up the book in which I compile all the interviews I carried out with my dad about the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Disaster. I've been listening to all the interviews again, cleaning up the transcripts, and writing a couple of background chapters. The task is taking me longer than I expected because, frankly, it is somewhat depressing to listen to all of the Fukushima interviews again. I can only handle one or two before I need to take a break. I am persevering, though. I am also busy working on a couple of super secret (for now) guest blog pieces. I'm also doing my regular graduate school work for ~8-9 hours a day. As I work on these other projects, I am going to limit my regular blogging to the geology word of the week and the occasional picture of my summer digs in Laramie, Wyoming. So, to keep my blog readers entertained over the next few weeks, I am going to re-post some geology posts that I wrote on Skepchick before I started a geology blog. The first post is below. This post originally appeared on Skepchick in 2006 here. Enjoy!

Elephant in the Rotunda, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Picture taken from wikipedia here.

There is nothing better than having an empty museum all to yourself. If I ever become wealthy, I think that I’ll rent out the great museums of the world at odd hours so that I can quietly appreciate them. Or maybe I’ll just hone my burglary skills and sneak it at night. I’m not interested in stealing anything, just enjoying the richness of the exhibits without all the lines, tourists, and misbehaving toddlers. 

One of my favorite books from childhood is From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, a book about a little girl and her brother who run away from home and live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a week or so. After all of the tourists go home for the day, the two children have the run of the museum, bathing in the public fountain, sleeping in an antique bed in one of the exhibits, and generally having a good time with all of the artwork and artifacts. After reading this book, I nearly packed a bag and ran away to the nearest big museum, which fortunately was several hours away. Running away from home is not easily accomplished by an eight-year-old stuck in rural New Hampshire with no public transportation.

Geology Word of the Week: C is for Coquina

Coquina rock. Image taken from wikipedia here.

def. Coquina ("co-keen-ah"):
A sedimentary rock consisting of loosely-consolidated fragments of shells and/or coral. The matrix or "cement" consolidating the fragments is generally calcium carbonate or phosphate. Coquina is a soft, white rock which is often used as a building stone. Coquina forms in near-shore environments, such as marine reefs. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, coquina is a loanword from Spanish meaning "shell-fish" or "cockle" (a type of bivalve mollusc). Also according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word was first used in English (to refer to the building stone) in 1837 in the book The Territory of Florida by J.L. Williams.

My New Favorite T-Shirt

I just love this shirt.

Just before leaving the East coast, I picked up a new t-shirt. Isn't it great?

Chapman's Peak Nonconformity

Chapman's Peak Nonconformity, South Africa, May 2011.

On my recent trip to South Africa (see also my recent posts Sevilla Rock Art Trail, The Maltese Cross, The "Peace in Africa" in Port, and Cape Peninsula in Pictures), I spent my very last day touring around Cape Town with my fiance, my future sister-in-law, and her boyfriend. One of the things that we did just before I headed to the airport was drive along the Chapman's Peak Drive, a road just outside Cape Town that stretches from Noordhoek (which means "North Corner" in Afrikaans) to Houtbaai (which means "Wood Bay" in Afrikaans; the Afrikaans-English hybrid "Hout Bay" is commonly used). The drive follows the rocky coastline and provides breathtaking views. First constructed during World War I (and considered an incredible feat of engineering for the time), the drive was closed for a time in the 1990s due to safety concerns. The winding road is built on quite steep terrain and is frequently covered by rockfalls. However, the drive was re-opened in the 2000s (with reinforced safety features) as a scenic toll road catering to foreign tourists. However, there are many residents of Hout Bay and the surrounds who travel along Chapman's Peak everyday. Occasionally, the drive is closed because of weather or rockfall.

Finalists Announced in the 3 Quarks Daily Science Blogging Contest

Georneys didn't make it to the final round of judging in the 3 Quarks Daily Science Blogging Contest-- I guess ophiolites and geology words weren't the editors' cup of tea, and there was some stiff competition-- but that's fine. As I said, I'm thrilled to have just made it to the semifinal round and to have had so much support during the voting round. Since I'm relatively new to the science blogging scene, I'm proud to have such a strong following. Thanks again for all your support!

Here are the 9 finalist posts (6 chosen from the 20 semifinalists, and 3 wildcard entries added by the 3 Quarks Daily editors):

1. Cosmic Variance: The Fine Structure Constant is Probably Constant
2. Dr. Carin Bondar: Sacrifice on the Serengeti
3. Empirical Zeal: Blind Fish in Dark Caves Shed Light on the Evolution of Sleep
4. Highly Allochthonous: Levees and the Illusion of Flood Control
5. Laelaps: The Pelican's Beak - Success and Evolutionary Stasis
6. Oh, For the Love of Science: Prehistoric Clues Provide Insight into Climate's Future Impact on Oceans
7. Opinionator: Morals Without God?
8. Scientific American Guest Blog: Seratonin and Sexual Preference: Is It Really That Simple?
9. Starts With A Bang: Where Is Everybody? 

There are some great posts among the finalists, but I'm rooting for the geology-themed posts by Anne Jefferson of Highly Allochthonous and by Brian Switek of Laelaps. Good luck to them!

Geology Word of the Week: B is for Brunton

Brunton "Pocket Transit" Compass. Image taken from here.

def. Brunton:
A fancy, highly-precise compass used by geologists (and surveyors, engineers, archaeologists, etc.) for navigation and also to measure the strike and dip of rock layers in the field.

Semifinalists Announced in the 3 Quarks Daily Science Blogging Contest

The semifinalists were just announced in this year's 3 Quarks Daily Science Blogging Contest. These semifinalists are the twenty blog posts (out of 87) that had the most votes in a public voting contest. There are some great posts in there, including one by Anne Jefferson of Highly Allochthonous, one by Brian Switek of Laelaps, and two by my friend (and former Middle School classmate) Christie Wilcox of Observations of a Nerd. Congratulations, everyone!

I am also happy to announce that my post Geology Word of the Week: O is for Ophiolite is one of the semifinal posts. Amazingly, my post received the second-most votes! I am relatively new to the science blogging scene, so I'm humbled and very grateful that so many people voted for me. Most of all, I'm thrilled that-- hopefully-- many more people are now learning the word "ophiolite," which is one of my favorite geology words.

There are two more rounds of judging before the winners are announced. First, the editors of 3 Quarks Daily are going to select six posts from the top twenty semi-finalists. The editors may also add up to three "wild card" posts of their own choosing. Then, the top three final winners will be chosen by Lisa Randall.

Whether or not Georneys advances into the final rounds, I'm thrilled to be a semifinalist in the 3 Quarks Daily contest. Thanks again to everyone who voted!

Why We Need Scientific Ocean Drilling

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) recently announced that they will fund only 6 months of scientific ocean drilling on the ship JOIDES Resolution in 2012. There is much need for scientific drilling, but NSF has been debating the expense of ocean drilling in the midst of budget cuts. There's a chance that NSF may choose not to fund any scientific ocean drilling in the near future (The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program ends in 2013), but for now drilling is cut down to just half the year. Since most drilling expeditions take ~2 months, this means only ~3 drilling expeditions will be funded next year.

As a marine geologist, the cut-back of ocean drilling makes me very sad. Ocean drilling provides much valuable scientific information, much of which cannot be obtain except with drilling.

Why is scientific ocean drilling important? My PhD advisor Susan Humphris explains why in this recent EOS article "The Need for Scientific Ocean Drilling."

Blast from the Past: The Rock Cycle

Rock Cycle drawing, circa 1993 or so. Click to view larger.

I'm trying to finish up my packing today, so here's one last gem (for now) from the past: a poem that I wrote in third or fourth grade about the rock cycle. There is also an accompanying drawing (see above). Enjoy!

Blast from the Past: The Goldilocks Planet

Earth, the Goldilocks Planet. Click to view larger.

On Saturday I am leaving Woods Hole to spend the summer in Laramie, Wyoming. Between now and then I have a zillion things to do. I pretty much have to work constantly prepping samples in lab, running the mass spectrometer, packing, and cleaning out my apartment. Oh, and maybe remembering to eat and sleep now and again.

Geology Word of the Week: A is for Accretionary Wedge

Illustration of a convergent plate boundary. I've added a red arrow pointing out the
location of the accretionary wedge. Illustration from TASA graphics and taken from here.
Click to view larger.

def. Accretionary Wedge (aka Accretionary Prism, Subduction Complex):
A wedge- or prism-shaped mass of sediments and rock fragments which has accumulated where a downgoing oceanic plate meets an overriding plate (either oceanic or continental) at a subduction zone. The sediment is generally marine sediment that has been scraped off of the downgoing plate by the overriding plate. However, sediment from the overriding plate can also contribute to the accretionary wedge. Fragments of rock from the colliding tectonic plates can also accumulate in an accretionary wedge.  The sedimentary rocks which form at accretionary wedges are deformed, faulted, poorly-sorted mixtures which are often referred to as "melange" (which means "mixture" in French).

Accretionary Wedge #35: What's Your Favorite Geology Word?

I'm hosting this month's Accretionary Wedge Geoblog Carnival here at Georneys. Since I write about a geology word every week (see the "Geology Word of the Week" tag on the sidebar or the post "A Geologist's Alphabet"), I thought it would be fitting to host an etymological Accretionary Wedge. This month's Accretionary Wedge is easy-- if you want you can post just a single word!

The theme for this month is:

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!

To join the geoblog carnival, just write a post on your blog and then link to it in a comment below or in a comment over at the Accretionary Wedge site. If you don't have a blog, you should start one. If you don't want to start a blog, just type your word in a comment below. Please submit your entries by the 26th or thereabouts so that I can compile them by the end of the month. Happy blogging!

Finally, be sure to check out last month's Accretionary Wedge #34: Weird Geology.

Vote for Me in the 3 Quarks Daily Science Blogging Contest

The nominations are in for the 3 Quarks Daily Science Blogging Contest. Now, the general public can vote for which blog posts they like best. The top twenty posts with the most votes will go on to the next round of judging.

If you like this blog or like ophiolites or like me, please go vote for my entry "Georneys: Geology Word of the Week: O is for Ophiolite." You can vote in the 3 Quarks Daily Science Blogging Contest here. I'm not sure if my post has a chance of winning, but it would be sweet to make it through the voting round to the semi-finals.

If for some reason you don't like ophiolites (though I don't know who doesn't just love ophiolites), I'd also recommend voting for the posts "Highly Allochthonous: Levees and the Illusion of Flood Control" and "Lounge of the Lab Lemming: Dear Hypothesis" as these are two of my favorite recent posts from the geoblogosphere.

Happy voting! I'm spending the evening on the mass spectrometer, but I'll post the next geology word of the week this weekend.

Tornadoes in Massachusetts

Downtown Springfield, MA after the tornado.
Photo by the Associated Press/Jessica Hill and taken from here.

I am moving out of my Cape Cod apartment this week, and today* my dad drove down from New Hampshire to help me. We spent the early afternoon loading a U-Haul trailer with some furniture items my parents and sister wanted-- as well as a dozen or so large boxes of my books and school notes* --and then started on the drive from Cape Cod to New Hampshire via Boston. As we were driving in the Boston area in the late afternoon, we drove through quite the impressive storm. There was downpouring rain and very close thunder and lightning. We drove well under the speed limit, and at times visibility was quite poor. My dad drove the U-Haul, and I followed in my little car with a very long fiberglass racing kayak strapped to the roof. My kayak is very light, and though I tied it on well, I was quite anxious that it might be blown off the roof in the storm. My dad and I passed through at least two distinct thunderstorms, but we made it safely to New Hampshire. My mom was quite fretful for us on the way, however. We didn't realize why she was so concerned about us until we sat down with a late take-out dinner and watched the news.

This evening a State of Emergency was declared in Massachusetts as a result of at least two tornadoes and severe thunderstorms. At least four people have died as a result of the severe weather. The deaths occurred in the towns of Springfield, Westfield, and Brimfield. Looking at this gallery of images of the destruction, I am surprised that there were not more casualties. Thank goodness, most people were able to take shelter in  basements. There are some incredible stories coming out-- people taking random strangers into their basements for shelter, a man who survived a tree and electric line falling on his car, news reporters having to take shelter in the middle of reporting when the thunderstorm became too severe, entire roofs blown away, top floors of brick buildings demolished, short minutes between warning and arrival of the tornado, an interrupted senior prom, people standing outside their demolished homes to prevent looting of what few possessions still remain; the list goes on and on.

A Memorial Day Rock: Marble

Marble headstones at Arlington National Cemetery.
Photo taken from Wikipedia here.

On Memorial Day I always remember the trips I've taken to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA. I still remember my first visit to the cemetery. I was seventeen and applying to the United States Naval Academy. I was down in Washington, DC for the Naval Academy's Summer Seminar, an intense week that gives Naval Academy applicants a taste of what it's like to be a Midshipman. After hours of early morning PT with Navy Seals, fitness tests, mini courses, and serious hazing, the visit to Arlington was relaxing in a way. However, seeing row upon row of white marble tombstones also made me wonder if I really wanted to attend the Naval Academy. Was I cut out for this? Was I going to be able to spend enough time doing the science I love so much? Most importantly, was I willing to sacrifice for my country? Make the ultimate sacrifice?

I was admitted-- early action-- to the Naval Academy, and I almost went there. Some days I regret my decision to attend Dartmouth rather than the Naval Academy, and I wonder how different my life would have been if  had become a Midshipman. I would be stronger, I know. Tougher. Probably less self-centered and selfish. I tell myself that I turned down the Naval Academy because I wasn't going to be able to do enough science as a Naval Officer, but I know that's not a complete explanation. I know that I also turned down the Naval Academy because I was afraid. Afraid of war, of being mistreated as a woman, of a minimum eight year commitment, of not being able to follow an order I disagreed with, of fighting in a war I disagreed with, of danger, of violence, of death.

I may have turned down the opportunity to serve my country in the Navy, but I grew up in a military family. Many of my loved ones have served and still serve their country. My grandfather and father were both Naval Officers, and my cousin currently serves in the Air Force. Actually, the Mervine Family has a long history of military service, dating back to Rear Admiral William Mervine. There's even a Fort Mervine out in California.

I was too afraid to serve and sacrifice for my country, but there are thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people who were not afraid. Or maybe they were afraid, but they served-- and sometimes died-- anyway. Whenever I am down in the Washington, DC area, I try to make a point of visiting Arlington National Cemetery. Standing amongst thousands of matching marble headstones, I feel sadness, pain, and pride for all those who served and died for the United States of America. I may not agree with all of the wars in which these soldiers fought and died, but I still feel grateful for and humbled by the countless soldiers who sacrificed their lives. To all those soldiers-- at Arlington and elsewhere-- thank you. We remember you.

Christmas wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery, December 2005.
Photo taken from Wikipedia here.

Mystery Rock #2

Earlier this month I posted pictures of a mystery rock that were sent to me by one of my blog readers. On Friday I received an email from someone who had been directed to my blog from the Skeptics Guide to the Universe Forum. A friend of this person had found an interesting rock in a rock wall in El Paso, Texas and wanted to know if anyone could identify this rock. Below are some pictures of beautiful Mystery Rock #2:

Mystery Rock #2, Photo 1.

Just a Typical Sunday Morning Conversation at WHOI

I had an interesting conversation with one of the security guards here at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) just a few minutes ago. The conversation went something like this slightly stylized version:

**************

Security guard: Do you know where Mary* is? I noticed her car wasn't in the parking lot last night.

Me: Hmm... haven't seen her recently.

Security guard: I know she's been working in New York, so I sent her an email to make sure the car was okay. But I got one of those away messages.

Me: Oh yes! That's right. I forgot-- she's in Antarctica. The car is back this morning. I bet a friend just borrowed it.

Security guard: Antarctica?

Me: She probably has email there.  Don't worry. She'll probably reply soon.

Security guard: Antarctica? Isn't it winter there?

Me: Yes, but I think she's on a ship.

Security guard: On a ship in Antarctica in winter? Crazy scientists.

**************

Yes, we scientists are crazy. Speaking of which, I need to hurry on to my labwork. On Sunday morning. On a holiday weekend.

*Name changed to protect the identity of the crazy scientist.

Cape Peninsula in Pictures

Flowers at Cape Point, South Africa. April 2011.

I'm working late tonight running samples on the mass spectrometer. I've been in lab since 8:30am and really should go home, but I've decided it's better to stay up all night and run samples. Okay, maybe not all night. But probably until 2am or 3am. Actually, I'm happy about this long lab day. I spent a good four hours tuning the machine (which is a bit tempestuous, like many mass spectrometers) this morning, and the mass spectrometer is running beautifully right now. The machine is very stable, and the data quality is very high. So, rather than shut the machine down and return in the morning, I'm going to run as many samples as possible. As many of you know, I'm sure, mass spectrometers are usually happiest when they're constantly being run. So, I don't want to risk coming in tomorrow and losing all of the tuning and stability. Besides, I've been working on difficult chemistry for months, and the mass spectrometry is the final step. With every passing minute I am gathering more data that can be used in my thesis. Very exciting! I can sleep tomorrow.

Fortunately, now that the machine is tuned and running I only need to keep an eye on it and change something every few minutes. So, I have some time to post some more pictures of my recent trip to South Africa.

3 Quarks Daily Science Blogging Contest

My friend Christie Wilcox over at the blog Observations of a Nerd alerted me to the upcoming deadline for the third annual 3 Quarks Daily Science Blogging Contest.

Are you a science blog reader*? Or writer? Feel free to go over to the comments here and nominate a science blog post that you like for the 3 Quarks Contest. The deadline is May 31st.

Personally, I nominated Anne Jefferson's fantastic recent post Levees and the Illusion of Flood Control. 

[Warning: Shameless self-promotion ahead] I'm a fairly new science blogger and a scientist, not a professional writer. However, if you like any of my writings here on Georneys, please feel free to nominate them. Below I've listed a few blog posts of mine which I like. [End: Shameless self-promotion]

At the very least, please do go nominate some geology-themed posts! Geology needs to represent in these science blogging contests.


Georneys Posts:
Why are there Earthquakes and Volcanoes in Japan?

Geology Word of the Week: H is for Hotspot

Geology Word of the Week: L is for Lithosphere

Geology Word of the Week: O is for Ophiolite

A Million Random Digits

Technology Anachromisms in Science

*Since this is a science blog, the answer to that question is "yes."

A Geologist's Alphabet

Every week (except for the month when I interviewed my dad about Fukushima) since I started this blog back in November 2010 I've posted a "Geology Word of the Week." For some reason I decided it would be fun to cycle through the alphabet from A to Z, and I've now accomplished that, writing about words from Alluvium to Zanclean.

Perhaps the alphabet theme is cliche, but I'm having fun with it. So, I think I'll cycle through the alphabet at least one more time. You can expect another A word (Allochthonous? Alvin? Albite? You'll have to stay tuned!) next week.

Here's my first geologist's alphabet:

A is for Alluvium
B is for (Volcanic) Bomb
C is for Coprolite
D is for Dredge
E is for Eustasy
F is for Fabric
G is for Gondwana
H is for Hotspot
I is for Ichnite
J is for Jurassic
K is for Komatiite
L is for Lithosphere
M is for Magma
N is for Nabkha
O is for Ophiolite
P is for Peridot
Q is for Quaternary
R is for Rock
S is for Speleothem
T is for Travertine
U is for Uraninite
V is for Vesicle (and Vug)
W is for Wadi
X is for Xenolith
Y is for Yardang
Z is for Zanclean

Geology Word of the Week: Z is for Zanclean

 Note: This is a modified version of a post that originally appeared on Skepchick in 2010.

Geologic Timescale Spiral. Image courtesy of USGS. Taken from Wikipedia here. Click to enlarge.

def. Zanclean:
A geologic Age spanning from ~5.33 million years ago to ~3.60 million years ago in the Pliocene Epoch.

Blast from the Past: Element Talk Show

Atom Unit Report Booklet.

Element Talk Show page. Note volcano lamp, James Randi picture, and
artwork (by Randi's talented partner) in the background. Click to enlarge.

I've been sorting through more boxes today (trying to finally pack up all my books and notes!), and I've found a box that contains reports, drawings, and other assignments from my elementary school days. I can't date most of these reports exactly, but they are definitely from my 2nd through 6th grade days. I was a student at a Montessori school in Vermont back then. I actually attended Montessori schools from pre-K through 8th grade. Montessori schools encourage creativity, among other things, and boy did I have some creative assignments. In Montessori school students tend to work on themed units, which can last a week to a few months. During this time, students study and produce work related to that theme.

Here's a gem of a story, from my report booklet on the "Atom Unit." I believe that I wrote this story (with my friend Joy) in 4th grade. I was (still am) *such* a weirdo and nerd, even back in elementary school. All punctuation, spelling, and grammar are original. Enjoy!

Update: I just noticed that I wrote the year (1994) on the back of the report. So, I was 10 years old and in either 4th or 5th grade when I wrote this report.


Element Talk Show

Interviewer: Today on E.T.S. we are going to interview Miss Fluorine and here she comes now.

Fluorine: Hello all you fans I'm Fluorine. Any Hydrogens out there? I'm a little jumpy I only have seven electrons.
(sits down)

GeoLOLCats

Dana Hunter, Callan Bentley, and Lockwood DeWitt have started a new geoblog meme-- GeoLOLCats! Seems that many geobloggers have adorable kittehs, and we're LOLing pictures of cats that have geology themes.

If you're unfamiliar with LOLCats, see here. For the GeoLOLCats, you can see entries here and here, including some LOLs starring my two beautiful cats Samira (calico) and Zayna (black-and-white with a funny mustache). Like cats and geology? Feel free to join us in this meme!

Just this evening, my cat Samira-- who is very fluffy-- provided me with another great LOLCats pose. Below are the original picture and my LOLed version.

By the way, the booklet Samira is lying on is a "Rocks and Minerals Unit" report that I put together back in 3rd or 4th grade at my Montessori School. I will be featuring some material from this report in future "Blast from the Past" posts. There's even a (rhyming!) poem about the rock cycle. I was such a nerd, even back in elementary school.

Samira the fluffy, original photo. Woods Hole, MA, May 2011.

Samira the fluffy, LOLed. Woods Hole, MA, May 2011.

Interesting Search Terms That Found My Blog

For the past little while, I have been keeping track of some interesting search terms that found my blog. These are just a sampling of ones that I happened across. I've put some "answers" below the search terms. Hope you enjoy. Happy Friday!

what is at the center of any self respecting volcano (4/5/11)
Answer: The lair of a mad scientist.

is jurassic park too scary for 8 yr old (4/6/11)
Answer: My grandmother took me to see Jurassic park in theaters when I was 9 years old, and I was very, very scared and had nightmares about velociraptors. However, the movie also helped inspire my interest in geology & dinosaurs.

synonym: hot liquid that come from tsunami in japan  (4/6/11)
Answer: Oil and gas that caught on fire? The only thing worse than a tsunami is a tsunami ON FIRE.

what is komatiite used for today (4/8/11)
Answer: Many komatiites are mined for diamonds.  D'oh, that would be kimberlites. Thanks for the correction, Chuck. More here.

is there a volcano in japan (4/9/11)
Answer: Yes. Many, actually.

dress code geology convention (4/10/11)
Answer: Recommended dress code for a geology convention is a t-shirt with a dinosaur and/or a geology pun on it, hiking pants, and teva sandals with socks.

I Want a Meteorite to Hit My House

I like meteorites. I think it would be very cool if one struck my house, as long as I, my fiance, and my two adorable kitties made it through the impact okay. Alas, while many, many meteorites hit our planet every year, they rarely fall on houses. However, just a few weeks ago a meteorite hit a house in Poland. Thanks to Phil Plait and Ryan Brown for the tip-off on this story. I wonder... if  a meteorite hits your house or car, do you think insurance covers the damage?

A few years back on Skepchick, I jokingly asked for my house in Boston to be hit be a meteorite.. Unfortunately, God had poor aim and hit Bloomington, Illinois instead (though there's a chance this wasn't a real meteorite at all-- anyone know the result of the scientific investigation?).

Note: I am a happy atheist, though I harbor no ill will against most religious people, including many members of my family. I hope no one who is religious takes offense at my tongue-in-cheek joking about asking God to hit my house with a meteorite. At least, I hope my jesting doesn't keep you from reading this blog, which I try to keep geology-focused. I'll only rant here about religion if you tell me the Earth is only 6,000 years old or if you tell me some nonsense such as that the rapture (raptor?) is coming this weekend.

Geology Word of the Week: Y is for Yardang

Yardangs 1. Photo courtesy of Michael Welland.

Cross-posted at Through the Sandglass. 

def. Yardang (also sometimes: jardang):
An elongated erosional landform, commonly found in deserts, resembling the hull of an inverted boat. Similar to sand dunes, yardangs typically have a tall, steep side facing the prevailing wind direction and slope gently down away from the wind. Yardangs are formed when looser material is eroded away (primarily by the wind and particle abrasion), leaving behind more consolidated material that is then sculpted into strange, ship-like shapes by further erosion. Yardangs most commonly form in soft rocks such as siltstone and sandstone (rocks commonly found in deserts) but can also form in harder rocks in places where the wind is the primary erosional force. The word yardang is of Turkish origin coming from the word "yar" which means "steep bank or precipice." According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word yardang was first introduced to the English language in 1904 by the Swedish explorer Sven Anders Hendin.

Geology Word of the Week: X is for Xenolith

Mafic xenolith, Ontario, Canada, 2002. Photo Credit: Ron Schott.

Note: Sorry for the re-post. This post was lost and then mangled somewhat in the blogger mishap last week. I managed to correct the post, but I had to re-post it under a new day and time.   

def. Xenolith:
A foreign rock inclusion, usually in an igeneous rock.

3D Dinosaur Stamps

 Postcard for Dinosaur-lover Brian Switek, South Africa, May 2011.

Note: Sorry for the re-post. This post was lost and then mangled somewhat in the blogger mishap last week. I managed to correct the post, but I had to re-post it under a new day and time. 

Just before I left South Africa several days ago, my fiance and I went to the post office to buy some international postcard stamps.

The clerk handed me the five stamps I requested, and I turned to my fiance and said, "Cool! Dinosaur stamps!"

My fiance and I looked more closely at the stamps, and he said, "Huh, that's funny. They're blurry."

I replied, "Oh, that's too bad. Maybe they weren't printed properly?"

For a moment, I was dismayed at the poor quality of the South African stamp printing system. Then I realized I was mistaken. The South African stamp printing system wasn't bad. It was awesome! Far more awesome than the American one, in fact.

I shouted, "Wait... I think they're 3D!"

Several customers in line behind us gave us whimsical looks as my fiance and I excitedly chattered about our 3D dinosaur stamp discovery. The clerk just smiled. 

After finishing our shopping, we headed back to our apartment and managed to find a set of 3D glasses. Yes, we are geeky enough to have 3D glasses at home. Sure enough, the dinosaur stamps jumped to life when viewed with 3D glasses! We have decided that these are the coolest stamps EVER.

Here is some more information on the 3D South African dinosaur stamps:
3D Dinosaur Stamps on StampsWiki

The stamps show five different African dinosaurs. There are two images of each dinosaur: one of the skeleton and one as the dinosaur may have looked in the flesh.

Dinosaur stamps- skeletons. Image from StampsWiki.

Dinosaur stamps- in the flesh. Image from StampsWiki.

Of course, I had to send a postcard with a dinosaur stamp on it to dinosaur-lover Brian Switek. If you haven't already, I recommend checking out Brian's Wired Science blog Laelaps.

Blast from the Past: Iguanodon Poem

Iguanodon skeleton. Picture taken from Wikipedia here.

I have decided to introduce a new, semi-regular feature to this blog, at least for the next little while. "Blast from the Past" will feature past items from my life: pictures, geology-themed childhood sketches, old school essays, etc.

I am currently in the process of packing up my apartment so that I can move to Wyoming this summer and then to South Africa later in the year. I have been sorting through some boxes of high school and college notes and letters and have been finding some interesting tidbits from years ago.  I think some of these tidbits are worth sharing on this blog as they are records of my budding and developing interest in science, travel, and other topics-- or simply because they are entertaining. 

For the first "Blast from the Past," let me share with you a poem I wrote for a high school English class. We could chose any topic we wanted for the poem and I chose... dinosaurs. I guess in English class I was daydreaming about geology. Enjoy!

Sexism in Science

I just wanted to write a short post to recommend that you all go and read this post by my friend Bug Girl about her experiences with sexism in entomology. I am proud to call Bug Girl my friend. Bug Girl is a fellow Skepchick, and I've known her for a long time through skeptical circles. Bug Girl was very supportive and encouraging of me when I was studying science back in undergrad, and she continues to be an inspiration for me.

I wish I could say that I have never encountered sexism in my own academic experiences, but unfortunately I have. I do not remember encountering any sexism (at least, nothing too blatant) during my undergrad days at Dartmouth. However, I have encountered sexism at MIT a number of times, ranging from subtle to blatant. Actually, some of the sexism I encountered at MIT contributed to my decision to leave my first advisor after passing my PhD qualifying exam. There were many factors that influenced my decision, and one of them was that I did not feel that the environment at MIT was particularly encouraging for young female scientists. And I was not the only young woman to leave my lab group. Two of us left at about the same time, actually. I still bitterly remember one particular comment, said to me after I mentioned that I was tired after a long shift on a summer research cruise. A male lab technician (not my first advisor, fortunately) from MIT said to me, "You know, if science is too difficult, it's not too late to become a housewife." He laughed and said he was joking, but the comment stung nevertheless.

Recently, I recounted the story of the housewife comment to my current advisor, who is a woman. She was a graduate student back in the 1970s, and I'm sure she encountered much worse sexism than that during graduate school. Shaking her head, she said to me, "You know, I thought we'd moved past comments like that." I think that says it all. Please, let us move past this sexism. 

Things are improving, and fortunately I have never encountered the level of sexism that Bug Girl encountered. I am very impressed at how she managed to persevere in spite of all the blatant sexism. There is still a long way to go to combat sexism in science, but at least progress is being made.

Mystery Rock

Mystery Rock, Photo 1.

A few weeks ago a blog reader named Bob wrote me to ask if I could help identify a "mystery rock" in his backyard. Bob sent me several photos of the rock and wrote:

Hi Evelyn,

I'm reasonably sure I'm wasting your valuable time with these "silly"
rock pictures, but I've been searching the web for similar pictures or
descriptions with no real satisfaction.

I am a computer tech by trade and know nothing about rocks.

I found this one unique looking rock on my property in Bergen County NJ.
It was one of I'm sure tens of thousands in a large rock wall that is at
least more than 75 years old. (It could be much older.)
I have seen none else that look like this one so far.

To keep this email short, here is my question:
Should I be more curious about this rock or just place it in a garden
bed for decoration?
 
Thank you very much for humoring me on this.
Bob.

Well, as a geologist I like nothing better than puzzling over an interesting rock-- so, Bob, you're not wasting my time at all!

A Quick Note: Lulu Book

I want to give you a quick update on the status of the book "Conversations with My Dad, a Nuclear Engineer, about the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Disaster in Japan" which I plan to self-publish on Lulu. I am still working on putting this book together, albeit in my very limited free time. Now that I'm back from my South Africa trip, I'm working 10-12 hour lab days to finish up the labwork for my PhD thesis. The good news is that the interviews are all transcribed now (thanks to my volunteers; if I haven't sent you a rock yet I'll do so in the next few weeks), so I just need to finish editing and compiling them.

My plan is to have the book available on Lulu around the first week of June. I want to include a few pictures of my father and I in the "extra" chapter. I was compiling some photographs, and I realized that my dad and I have not taken a picture together since my college graduation back in 2006! I'd like to include a recent picture of my dad and I. Fortunately (maybe unfortunately for him), my dad is visiting me on June 1st to help me move out of my apartment, so we'll do our best to take some photos then to include in the book. You should expect the book on Lulu shortly thereafter. The interviews will of course be out-of-date, but there is still plenty of good information and explanation in these interviews, much of which will still be relevant even three months after the nuclear disaster began. Also, our interviews tell a story, in a way, of the first month of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

As a reminder to everyone, the nuclear disaster at Fukushima is far from over. There has been so much damage to the Fukushima reactors 1-3 and the spent fuel pools at reactors 1-4 that restoration of normal cooling systems will still take months. Meanwhile, the situation at Fukushima remains precarious.

The "Peace in Africa" in Port

The M/V Peace in Africa is an enormous mining vessel that mines alluvial diamonds off the coast of Namibia (and which used to mine off the coast of South Africa as well). The ship dredges up large amounts of diamond-bearing sediment, which is processed on the ship to concentrate the diamonds. The ship is owned and operated by De Beers.

The M/V Peace in Africa spends most of its time out at sea. However, when I was in Cape Town just over a week ago, I was lucky enough to catch sight of the M/V Peace in Africa in port. The M/V Peace in Africa is an extraordinary, very unique mining ship and is an impressive feat of engineering design and ship manufacture. I was excited to catch a glimpse of her, if only from a distance.

Here are a few pictures of the M/V Peace in Africa viewed from Signal Hill: 

Port from Signal Hill, Cape Town, South Africa, May 2011.

Label showing location of M/V Peace in Africa.

The Maltese Cross

I'm back to working long days in lab, and I miss being outdoors in South Africa. So, to make myself happy after a long 12-hour lab day, I thought I'd post some more pictures from my recent trip to the Cederberg Mountains in South Africa.

The day after we visited the Sevilla Rock Art Trail, my fiance and I hiked up to a rock feature known as "The Maltese Cross."  Hiking up to the cross is a relatively easy, ~1/2 day hike if you're in good hiking shape. For various reasons (too much time in lab for me and too much time at sea for my fiance), we are not currently in top hiking form. So, we decided to allocate a full day to the Maltese Cross hike. We also needed a full day because we were staying in a little cabin near the town of Citrusdal. The cabin where we were staying is actually very close to the cross as the bird flies, but there is no road or path leading directly from Citrusdal to the cross. So, we had to drive north-- about halfway to Clanwilliam-- and take a small, pothole-riddled dirt road through the town of Algeria and then down to the little village (just a wine farm, really) of Dwarsrivier. The drive from Citrusdal to Dwarsrivier takes about 1.5 hours-- including about an hour on the dirt road-- each way.

Driving from Algeria to Dwarsrivier is very scary, particularly when you are driving an old, rusty 1994 VW CitiGolf. Note that the car actually has the word "Citi" in it. This is a city car, not a Cederberg car. However, my fiance's trusty CitiGolf-- named Hubert-- has made many a trip along the dirt roads of the Cederberg. As you might expect, Hubert always comes back from the Cederberg with an injury. On this trip a rock badly cracked one of his front lights. A month or so ago when my fiance was in the Cederberg, a tire blew out in a dramatic fashion. Last September we snapped the muffler in two. As you can imagine, driving along a dirt road in Hubert is somewhat nerve-wracking and destructive (to poor Hubert), which is why we are now looking into buying a proper 4-by-4 vehicle.

My fiance's "field" CitiGolf at the farm in Dwarsrivier, South Africa, May 2011.

Sevilla Rock Art Trail

Jumping man with spear, Sevilla Rock Trail, South Africa, May 2011.

Last week my fiance and I spent a few days in the Cederberg Mountains, a couple of hours drive north of Cape Town, South Africa. One day we drove from our cabin in Citrusdal to the town of Clanwilliam and then a little farther up the R364 to a little place called "Traveller's Rest." After buying permits, obtaining a map and guidebook, and eating a tasty lunch (only 25 rand, just under $4 US at the current exchange rate) at the Khoisan Kitchen, we set out on a self-guided hike along the Sevilla Rock Art Trail. 

Delicious lunch at the Khoisan Kitchen, South Africa, May 2011.

The trail is only 4km long, and the hiking is flat and easy. However, we spent an entire afternoon slowly walking along the trail and marveling at hundreds of rock art paintings. These paintings were made by the San people hundreds to thousands of years ago. In South Africa "San" is now the favored, politcally correct term used for the bushmen people.