Geobulletin alpha

The Hawai'i That Was: The Beginning of All Things, (Ba)salt of the Earth 

There are lots of places that are associated with a particular kind of rock. There's the granite of the Sierra Nevada, or the sandstone of Zion National Park. Geologists think Franciscan graywacke sandstone when someone mentions the California Coast Ranges. But nearly every mainland location is really made of a variety of different rocks. That's not the case with the Hawaiian Islands. There

Variably-cemented conglomerate – a virtual sample 

Here’s another example of a visualization combination that leverages the advantages of the GIGAmacro system with the 3D ‘virtual sample’ perspective of the Sketchfab-hosted model: the same sample presented in both formats. In this case, it’s a lovely example of a conglomerate that I found in our lab at NOVA, showing variations in the level of cementation around a central ‘nucleus’. Link GIGAmacro by Callan Bentley Photoscan model by Marissa

Cleavage refraction in Konnarock Fm. rhythmites – a virtual sample 

Here’s a visualization combination that leverages the advantages of the GIGAmacro system with the 3D ‘virtual sample’ perspective of the Sketchfab-hosted model: the same sample presented in both formats. In this case, it’s a lovely example of cleavage refraction going from meta-clay-shale (now ‘slate’) through a graded bed of fine sand and silt. Link GIGAmacro by Callan Bentley Photoscan model by Marissa Dudek The sample is of the Neoproterozoic Konnarock [...]

Tidal Troubles In The Mid-Atlantic 

NOTE: This post is based on some research I did for an on-air story that aired today: Sea level rise is what’s called a slow motion disaster. These kind of events tend to be blamed on the symptoms rather than the cause, and often the preparation/ response to these type of events is inadequate. This is much the case where I live and work here in the Mid-Atlantic, on the

Consensus, Cooperation, and Conversation 

This is one of my periodic mea culpas for a lack of posts. In this case, I have an excuse and I think it's a worthy one. I'm one of a group of people editing a new book on collection storage, due for publication late this year. Or early next year. It's a 650 page monster with 35 chapters and 60 authors and while I've never given birth, I suspect producing this thing will give me some sense of what that's like. When it comes out, buy it. We managed to assemble a fantastic group of authors [...]

Conflict, Displaced Persons and the Built Environment 

Changing personal and social narratives can address issues of internal displacement in the built environment as in this case in Medellín,

Things You Find in the Field: Pyramidal Objects #4 

It's not a pyramid, unlike the three pyramidal objects (#1, #2, #3) I posted about a couple years back. It's actually a frustum, in this case a pyramidal frustum, one based on an oblique, irregular, triangular pyramid. That is, it's a "chopped" triangular pyramid. The rock itself was on an alluvial fan not far from Walker Lake; it was pointed out to me by MOH, who spotted it on our

Coelospira virginia brachiopod from the Bois d'Arc formation of Oklahoma 

When I'm out collecting I often pick up anything that looks like it might be a fossil and sometimes I know what it is while other times it just looks similar to another shell. Such is the case with Coelospira virginia. This is a very small shell that I probably thought was an Atrypina sp. when I tossed it into my collecting bag. It wasn't until I got home and really looked closely at it that I saw there was a difference. White it does have the same rounded shape as Atrypina sp. with a wide fold [...]

Atrypa oklahomensis brachiopod from the Bois d'Arc formation of Oklahoma 

The brachiopod genera Atrypa makes an appearance in the Bois d'Arc formation, as one would expect. It's pretty much an index fossil for the Devonian period as far as I'm concerned. In this case we have Atrypa oklahomensis. The shell is rounded with a very convex brachial valve and a slightly convex to flat pedicle valve. The surface of both valves have regularly spaced ribs and fine concentric growth lines. There is a small fold and sulcus present to some degree on every specimen I have found [...]

What is Alexandra Elbakyan’s motivation for creating and running Sci-Hub? 

I’ve been a bit nonplussed recently to see some strange claims about Alexander Elbakyan, the creator of Sci-Hub. For example, this from Angela Cochrane in an article at the Scholarly Kitchen: She sincerely believes that she is above the law. I don’t think that’s the case at all. Nothing Elbakyan has said seems to communicate the kind of

2015 Top Ten Posts at LFD... 

...and—as for 2014, 2013, and 2012—a few more. My rules, as modified from last year: Because of the vagaries of stat reporting (in this case, by Google Analytics), I'm listing both the top ten posts for the year (in large font, with respective Top Ten number), and the top post for month's without a top-ten posting (non-Ten-rated posts are in a smaller font). And so, here are the top 10

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The PM 2.5 level reached over 310 ppm in Beijing Tuesday, and this level makes the air hazardous to breathe. In the U.S. (and most major countries), a level over 35 ppm is considered unhealthful. In Beijing, schools are closed and severe road restrictions are in force., and you can thank clean coal for the problem. Oh, and just in case you haven’t seen the most disastrous PR spot of all

Untreated depression takes its toll 

This latest shooting is probably just another case of untreated male depression.  Probably a good hunk of shooting deaths in the States is due to this.  He was about the age when it hits.  Perhaps the wife was abused, but Bonny and Clyde pairings have happened before. In the terrorist belts, there is a whole infrastructure dedicated to finding these suicidal depressives, and equipping them.

The case of the disappearing lake 

High in the Oregon Cascades, there is a lake attracting quite a bit of attention this summer. That’s because it is disappearing. The disappearing lake, appropriately called Lost Lake, isn’t just disappearing because of the drought that Oregon has been … Continue reading

Can Eggshells Crack the Case of Whether Dinosaurs Ran Hot or Cold? 

Some like it hot, some like it cold. Which did the dinosaurs prefer? New study aims to find out if dinosaurs ran hot or cold blooded by analyzing their eggshells. smithsonianmag.com One of the hottest debates surrounding the dinosaurs is temperature: Were these “terrible lizards” who stalked, tromped and flew around the ancient world​ warm or cold

Visit Savage Garden for a glimpse at some of nature’s nastiest plants 

In case you thought plants were not much more alive than a rock, think again! As David Attenborough pointed out in his wonderful series, The Private Life of Plants, plants have many behaviors as complex and interesting as those of … Continue reading

Fighting apatosaur art #1: Brian Engh 

In putting together our thoughts on how apatosaurs used their necks, we were motivated by genuine curiosity — which in Matt’s and my case, at least, goes back many years. (We briefly discussed the problem, if only to throw our hands up in despair, in our 2013 neck-anatomy paper.) We didn’t land on the combat

Imaggeo on Mondays: Electron cloud gone wrong 

Deciphering the past history of rocks and what they might reveal about the Earth’s future is a key part of geology, and tools such as Ion Probes can be used by Earth Scientists to extract valuable information about a rock’s past. Today’s Imaggeo on Monday’s image was acquired by Sarah Glynn, a researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand, in South Africa, who was analysing a potential calcite reference material (a mineral homogeneous enough to be considered a benchmark for future [...]

Florida Pool Pushed Out Of Ground After Heavy Rains 

The source website is calling this some kind of 'reverse sinkhole', which is definitely not the case. The article says there was a period of very heavy rain for about 11 days before this happened, with some areas seeing rainfall intensity up to 6.7 inches in 12 hours. It sounds like the water table rose to very close to the surface and buoyant forces pushed the pool out. The building inspector called it a 'popped pool'. [Source: Go see a video of this poor homeowners's pool at [...]

Boing 

Just in case you needed another reason for buying Sea Neuk, it comes with a limitless supply of tasty wild rabbit, like this one which has just had a few hours in the slow cooker with some red wine and a large bunch of rosemary. My bloodthirsty hungry sister tells me that she's bagged one since I was last there. Actually, before I get savaged by the bunny-huggers, I should let on that