Geobulletin alpha

GA Conference - October 21st and 22nd 

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A look at serpentinization 

Joaquin Miller Park contains excellent examples of serpentinite. This large boulder, placed by the park entrance, is a textbook example of how this rock type forms. (Click the photo for a 1000-pixel version.) Serpentine rock starts out as peridotite (“per-RID-a-tight”), a very important rock type that is rarely seen because it composes most of the

Box Rock Circus - new metal casts for fossil rubbings 

The original fossil casts which had weathered badly have now been replaced by metal. Hopefully, these will last a bit longer.Further details can be found on the website. Click here to download a leaflet with all the

Magnetic Earth and Toilet roll of time 

We have added a suggestion to our Magnetic Earth activity. This idea uses a sponge ball globe instead of Plasticine. Click here to see the original Earthlearningidea. We have also added some photos to the photo gallery on the website of students in Slovakia trying out the 'Toilet roll of

Chesapeake Bay Grasses Making a Comeback 

My colleague Ty Butler did an excellent piece on our air (WBOC TV Eastern Shore of Maryland/Delaware) tonight about the recovery of the Chesapeake Bay grasses. This is really good news, and a sign that the health of the Bay is indeed improving. Ty has some great underwater photography in his piece, and it’s an exc. example of really good environmental science reporting. Call me impressed. Click the image below

Geological time-line - evolution of life on Earth 

The new ELI published today is 'The toilet roll of time; make a geological timeline to take home'. This activity has been devised to address the common lack of knowledge about geological time. Research has shown that many people have no idea of the great length of geological time nor of the order of the key events during the geological history of the Earth. Click here for a video clip

On the Road in Nebraska (geo-challenge answers) 

Where on Google Earth (click on image to view).Lynn David met all three of the recent geo-challenges:"Obviously Nebraska.... cannot mistake that bend in the Platte River. #1 Looks like you're on the bluffs above the Niobrara River (one of my favorite rivers) just northeast of the sand hills area, which might make that the Ogallala. Though I keep thinking it shoud be something older in the Arikaree, Laramie or Chadron? #2 Looks to be the Scotts Bluff area which would make it the [...]

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Do you know about Earthwise, produced by the British Geological Survey?Click here for an

On the road again … but where? (geo-challenge) 

Where on Google Earth? (click on image to view)Here’s a special deal to celebrate the start of 2016 geo-tripping: three geo-challenges for the price of one! I visited all in a period of five days, traveling by car. Where was I?Ordered by increasing age of strata:#1 Darker brown is caused by seepage from the base of a super important aquifer.#2 Thousands of immigrants passed by—did anybody notice the white ash layers and curious wavy contact? #3 This rock is gray when fresh, [...]

EGU 2016: Get the Assembly mobile app! 

The EGU 2016 mobile app is now available for iPhones and Android smartphones. To download it, you can scan the QR code available at the General Assembly website or go directly to http://app.egu2016.eu/ on your mobile device. You will be directed to the version of the EGU 2016 app for your particular smartphone, which you can download for free. Once you open the app, the dashboard will show you five possibilities: you can browse and search the meeting programme, select presentations to be [...]

All good things… 

by Nanci Bompey Nanci Bompey is AGU’s public information manager. She is spending a week aboard the R/V Oceanus with scientists from Oregon State University (OSU) who are studying the role that small rivers play in the productivity of the coastal ocean during the winter. Click here to read Nanci’s previous blogs from this trip. We arrived at the dock at Newport Wednesday evening, unloaded our gear from the ship

Waiting for the weather to clear 

by Nanci Bompey Nanci Bompey is AGU’s public information manager. She is spending a week aboard the R/V Oceanus with scientists from Oregon State University who are studying the role that small rivers play in the productivity of the coastal ocean during the winter. Click here to read Nanci’s previous blogs from this trip.   On Sunday afternoon, we headed back to Newport. The scientists and crew were closely watching

15th March Chartership with the Geological Society and Geology Career Pathways 

 Everyone welcome - click here for further details********************New from The Geological SocietyGEOLOGY CAREER

Ooma working totally for me 

I have completed my ooma-ization.  I have my old number back with no more calls from India.  It got so bad that we never answered our phone.  Now we can answer it, for calls from our friends and family. Bell didn't screw up my Internet, I now have a 'dry loop', no extra effort needed. Here's the recipe.  Click on this reference.  This gives me Ooma credit, which I'll probably never use.

Historic Pennsylvania Tunnel Reopens with Help From NCFI’s TerraThane Polyurethane Foam 

MOUNT AIRY, NC—A $2 million tunnel construction project on the Great Alleghany Passage (GAP) is reopened to the public with help from a geotechnical polyurethane foam called TerraThane, by US company, NCFI Polyurethanes. The GAP rail-trail is 150 miles of hiking and biking between Cumberland, Md, and Pittsburgh, Pa. created along the former railway line. In Cumberland, the GAP joins the C&O Canal Towpath, creating a continuous 335-mile long trail experience all the way to Washington, [...]

Why Meteorologists Don’t Go By The Same Seasons You Do 

To most folks today marks the first full day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, but to we meteorologists, it’s been winter since the first of December. NOAA’s National Climate center has written a nice piece today on why we do it that way. Click the image below to read it, and you will see that it makes a lot of sense.   It may not feel like winter int

Slump in progress on Corridor H 

I was out on Corridor H last week, looking at rocks with my Honors student, and on the way back from the field work, I noticed this: Click to enlarge That’s a fresh slump scarp running across a slope that is gradually sliding downhill. (The left half of the image is moving down relative to the right.) To judge from the rip-rap-filled culverts, this slope must have a previously-documented history

Terracon Acquires NORCAL, Strengthens West Coast Presence 

OLATHE, Kan. – Terracon, a leading provider of environmental, facilities, geotechnical, and materials engineering services, is pleased to announce the acquisition of NORCAL Geophysical Consultants, Inc. of Sonoma County, Calif. Terracon is retaining NORCAL’s 11 employees. Founded in 1983, NORCAL offers geophysical technologies in support of geologic, groundwater, environmental, and engineering investigations. NORCAL’s capabilities, including their unique geophysical [...]

Geological timechart quiz 

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My cat’s neck skeleton (first five cervicals) 

When I separated my cat’s head from its body, the first five cervical vertebrae came with it. Never one to waste perfectly good cervicals, I prepped them as well as the skull. Here they are, nicely articulated. (Click through for high resolution.) Dorsal view at the top, then right lateral (actually, slightly dorsolateral) and ventral