Monday, May 30, 2011

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.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

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.

Friday, May 27, 2011

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.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

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."

Monday, May 23, 2011

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.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

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.

Friday, May 20, 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.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

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.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

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!

Monday, May 16, 2011

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!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

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.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

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.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

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.


Saturday, May 7, 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.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Geology Word of the Week: W is for Wadi (وادي‎ )

A Wadi, Oman, January 2009.
def. Wadi ( وادي):
1. An Arabic word meaning "valley."
2. A valley or canyon-- usually in an arid part of the world such as the Middle East-- that contains an ephemeral streambed, which generally fills with water only after heavy rainfall.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Interesting Sandstone Weathering at Cape Point

Gorgeous sandstone, Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.
Back in January Callan Bentley over at Mountain Beltway posted these pictures of some rocks with interesting weathering patterns. In response, I posted pictures of some more rocks with similar weathering patterns.

A couple of days ago my fiance and I did a few hikes around Cape Point, South Africa. There is abundant sandstone all around the point-- most of the sandstone around Cape Point and Cape Town is part of the Table Mountain Sandstone Group (TMG).