Geobulletin alpha

Imaggeo on Mondays: Storm on the Rock 

This is a photograph of Uluru, in the Northern Territory of Australia, on a hot and humid summer afternoon. As lightning flashed about, torrential rains swept across the landscape and silver rivulets of water began to rush down the sides of the mountain. Uluru is made of red-coloured Proterozoic arkosic sandstones, a coarse grained lithology rich in quartz and feldspars. However, on rare days such as this, the storm clouds and moisture in the atmosphere filter out much of the red end of the [...]

Camarotoechia haraganensis brachiopod from the Bois d'Arc formation of Oklahoma 

I found a few of these tiny, elongated brachiopods while searching the Bois d'Arc formation. I believe it is called Camarotoechia haraganensis. It's a small shell that is longer than it is wide. Both valves are equally convex with strong costellae (or ribs as I sometimes call them). The sides of each valve are fairly flat and nearly at a right angle to the rest of the valve. On the pedicle valve, the beak extends well past the brachial valve with little to no curving with the umbo at the [...]

Back at Palmer Station 

We traveled to Cape Evensen, which is an extra site that we added to our trip. Because we were so far ahead of schedule, we got permission to go even farther south to sample in a small gap in our overall gradient. Cape Evensen is at 66°S, so just below the Antarctic Circle.The weather was nice enough while we were there. Since it had snowed the day before, though, we found that it was difficult to find any sampling sites. We saw moss in several locations, but not in large enough patches to [...]

New Zealand’s Alpine Fault biggest mover in the world 

by Samantha Fisher New Zealand’s Alpine Fault has moved more in the last 25 million years than any other known land fault on Earth, according to new research from the Victoria University of Wellington and GNS Science. The findings reveal that over this time period, the two sides of South Island have shifted relative to each other more than 700 kilometers (435 miles) along the Alpine Fault, dramatically changing the understanding

For Sale: 514 East Main in Carbondale, Illinois 

After a great eight-year run in this building, we’ve moved to a bigger one. Baine Roofing putting on metal roof in 2014.   We've outgrown this space.We have updated and fixed all major mechanicals, this building should be maintenance free for many years.  2008  just after after we moved in.  Things got very messy after this!—Less than 1/2 mile from SIUC campus—Four blocks to downtown Carbondale.—Earth sheltered with thick concrete walls on three sides, very [...]

Getting a Creepy Feeling in Central California: A "Transforming" Experience 

Faults can be active without producing major earthquakes. When the fault plane is not locked by frictional resistance, the sides of the fault can slide past each other without building up the stress that leads up to huge quakes. In Central California, there are several faults that creeping on a more or less consistent basis year after year. They are close enough to each other that they can

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: Reptile tracks from the Lower Permian of southern Nevada 

Always lead with your most interesting image. The fossil here is the thin orange slab of siltstone underneath my magnificent Komodo Dragon model. Here is the slab itself. On the far right and the far left you can see two fossil footprints from both sides of some ancient reptile. The plastic Komodo Dragon just happens

A Series of Nearly Unfortunate Events: Fall in Yosemite National Park 

Oh jeez, that's not something one likes to see on a field trip... How many horror movies begin with people ignoring the warning signs, both literally and metaphorically? The doomed characters doggedly soldier on, minor disasters mount, and then major disasters. Today felt a little like that. At our second stop, two CHP units took up positions on both sides of the bus. Uh-oh... It turned

POTD October 6, 2015: Zion National Park, Kane County, Utah 

The mornings are becoming a little crisper, and night comes a little quicker. It won’t belong before we see this scene! Zion National Park, Kane County, Utah Photographer: Adam Hiscock; © 2015 Snow highlights cross-bedding on the sides of buttes and mesas along the Clear Creek drainage on the east side of Zion National Park.

Meet the EGU’s new Science Policy Fellow 

I seem to have moved to Munich at the perfect time – glorious weather and three weeks before Oktoberfest! My name is Sarah and I’ve joined EGU as their Science Policy Fellow – a position created to implement science-policy related activities for EGU scientists. Before Munich, I studied a Masters in Chemistry at the University of York, which included my final year being spent in industry working in organic synthesis. I realised I wanted to get back into academia during a year off after my [...]

Streptelasma (Enterolasma) strictum coral from the Kalkberg formation of New York 

The horn coral Streptelasma (Enterolasma) strictum is very commonly found in the Kalkberg formation of New York. It's rugose, or horn, coral that is generally found as small, straight cone shaped fossils often with linear striations along the sides. Most are either crushed or have the calice (the cup like area where the animal lived) infilled with matrix and so the septa are not readily visible. Here are three specimens that I collected from the same road cut that show a variety of sizes. The [...]

Sciencespeak: Pteroid 

I’m going to teach you how to do a pterosaur impression. Stick your arms out to your sides

Leymeriella regularis ammonite from France 

The fossil for today is Leymeriella regularis from the Albian stage (Jurassic) rocks near Bellegarde sur Valserine, Ain Department, France. The whorls are not overly wide but do cover approximately 90% of the previous generation. Moderate ribbing marks the sides of the whorls but does not continue completely across the keel of the shell. The cross section of the living chamber is square in shape.Specimen #1Specimen #2Thanks to Gery for the

Climacograptus typicalis graptolite from the Verulam formation 

Of the two Graptolites that are common in the Verulam formation (middle Ordovician, Katian/Mohawkian stage)of Ontario, Climacograptus typicalis is by far the most common. I've found several pieces of it during my many visits but none are very well preserved. Climacograptus can be distinguished from the similar looking Diplograptus by the upturned "teeth" along the sides of the colony.Specimen #1 Specimen #2 I found some better preserved examples of this species near Lusters Gate in [...]

The perfect machinist's apron. 

(Ed. note: No river science or geomorphology today!  This is a post about the perfect shop apron, designed at Little River Research & Design!)As a thanks to all the professional machinists who’ve helped me online, here’s a shop apron design.Please not I am NOT selling anything here, not the design, not aprons; just passing along my experience. You’ll wonder why you didn’t do this years ago if, like me, you’ve not liked any of your shop aprons. I haven’t been able to find [...]

A few recent mollusks from the Windom Shale 

My spring visit to the Penn Dixie site near Blasdell, NY yielded some new mollusk fossils for me that I'd not found at the site previously.First is this very delicate Paleozygopleura sp. gastropod. It's preserved on both sides of a very thin shale chip. the curved growth lines that can be seen are the tell tale sign of what this is. Next up is a Paleoneilo emarginata next to a Rhipidomella penelope brachiopodLastly are these Nuculoidea corbuliformisAll three specimens came from the Bay View [...]

Favosite turbinatus coral from the Onondoga Formation 

Prior to finding the specimen below, Favosites turbinatus was a species that I'd found only in Givetian aged rocks. This specimen was found in the Edgecliff member of the Onondoga Formation south of Syracuse, NY. The fossil is somewhat cramped looking so let me walk you through the pictures.This is a view of the bottom of the coral. This is the side that would have been lying in the mud. Note that in this view the corrallites appear smooth but without an epitheca as though they were in contact [...]

Cornuproetus sp. trilobite from Morocco 

I picked up a few new Moroccan trilobites recently. This was one of them, a Cornuproetus. It's a smaller genera of trilobite but has long genal spines off the sides of the Cephalon. There was no label included with this fossil but most sources I see on the internet ID their specimens as coming from the Hamar Laghdad Formation (Devonian, Eifelian stage), Djebel Issoumour, Alnif , Morocco. The preparation is not too bad but there are some chips missing from the exoskeleton and portions of the [...]

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A helpful echinoid from the Upper Cretaceous of Israel 

These beaten-up fossils have served me well in the field this month. They are the regular echinoid Heterodiadema lybicum (Agassiz & Desor, 1846). They are common in the Cenomanian throughout northern Africa and the Middle East. These particular specimens, the other sides of which are shown below, are from the En Yorqe’am Formation we’ve been

OK M3.1 earthquake in a new place 

New places are exciting, especially in this earthquake business.  Normally, we expect two shear wings joined by the thrust, appearing like a thunderbolt.  This is what we have in New Madrid.  But I think this is only for a fully grown NM.  A baby NM like OK can take other geometries.  Much like Arkansas, we can see a single shear wing, with the sense of shear reversed on both sides of the