GSCI 100 - Intro Geology

Grand Canyon National Park is a glorious erosional structure, carved by the Colorado River. The Canyon is comprised of many layers, Kaibab Limestone being at the uppermost. The following layers are composed of various varieties of sandstone, shale, and schist. The lower part of the canyon also contains Zoroaster Granite.

The carving of the canyon itself has occurred in the past five to six million years. While the oldest rocks in the canyon are about two billion years old.

The article titled “Tsunami warning map for 3 areas finished” is located at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071203/ap_on_sc/tsunamis_2, and discusses how digital elevation models have been implemented for 3 U.S. cities. This brings the total to 21 of these devices which are used to help discover the impact a tsunami could have. Tsunamis are created by undersea earthquakes caused by oceanic crust sliding along a fault, or by vibrations caused from a off-shore earthquake. Tsunamis are not caused by tidal effects resulting from the phases of the sun and moon. They move extremely quick, up to 600 miles an hour, and can sometimes even reach heights of 100 feet. The information from collected by these devices allows professionals to run simulation tests to determine what areas will be struck the hardest if a tsunami was to occur.

“Are Words Worthless in the Climate Fight”

The article touched on the use of language and its ineffectiveness to prompt people to do anything about the climate change.
In this day and age of scams, political agendas and the like, it’s no wonder that people just don’t believe anything they hear anymore — even if it means the death of their own planet. On top of that, the human race has basically gotten selfish and lazy, so when scientists use phrases like “long-term strategies” or “grim outlook for future generations” people think one of two things: “Eh, we’ve got plenty of time. Why do something right now?” or “Long-term? Come on, I don’t have time for that!” Since there is a lack of visual and physical evidence to back that grim outlook prediction, and because we are a society of “see it to believe it”, by the time we actually do see what’s going on it will be too late.

Devil’s Tower

I have been to Devil’s Tower before and it is an amazing structure. The picture at http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcsaegesser/2084845653/ shows how amazing it is but there wasn’t a story with it so I went to http://www.nps.gov/archive/deto/geology.htm to find out more information. When I first visited it, I didn’t care much for learning about how it came to be, but now I wish I had. The oldest rocks at the base of the tower were formed about 225 to 195 million years ago, during the Triassic age. It was formed by an igneous intrusion, which means that the rock crystallized at depth and then eventually revealed by erosion. What is also very interesting is that no one is very sure how this progress took place. If it is studied more, I am sure we can find out more about how it was formed and more about the history of the Earth.

My bad… :S

I chose to respond to this right sidebar link. It states: “The photograph above depicts a pahoehoe lava flow, which is a consistent, ropey, smooth flow as opposed to its jagged aa’ counterpart (though pahoehoe may become aa’ depending upon the slope and other factors). Pahoehoe flows occur in Hawaii, where the term was coined. This type of flow is consistent with that which might be found flowing out of a lava tube on Mount Kilauea. Pahoehoe is primarily composed of basalt. While this particular lava naturally has a low viscosity (compared with other land-borne lavas), it can mix with the rock that it travels over and the viscosity can increase dramatically. Depending on whether or not the pahoehoe comes from a volcano that is also prone to pyroclastics, it can mix even further and contribute to lahars, which can devastate anything in its path as it mixes with mud and other debris.”

I’m responding to “Geologist uncovers earth’s secrets, says Southern California is overdue for a major earthquake” It talk about the major quake along the san adreas fault, and how on the average a major one happens every 100 to 120 years, and we are beyond this average right now. We all know from class that this fault is the biggest and the potential to produce massive earthquakes. The site http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/earthq3/when.html talks more about the average in years and how we are due for the big one in more detail. Of course the last major quake was in 1857 its magnitude was a 7.9! So this Appalachian State geologist is using everything she has right now to dig and try and find out just when the next quake could be. This here shows the probability of future eruptions and seismic activity: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/hazmaps/index.php. It will be interesting to see just when this phenomenon will happen, and we will also see if they are able to predict it. Lets hope so as it could save many lives, and prevent a natural disaster from being so devastating..

My response is to Western Brook Pond Fjord, Nfld.

This picture is, first of all very beautiful and somewhat breathtaking. Fjords are interesting to me because they are created when the melting of glaciers occurs, like that of the most recent ice age. The u-shaped valleys that fjords are often found in are carved by abrasion from the sediment glaciers carry. It amazes me how this long process forms such a beautiful lake.

In response to “When Four Years Just Aren’t Enough - The Student Life”

I am only a sophomore this year, but I can see how a great education could cause an individual to want to stick around as long as possible. I have already made some amazing relationships with some of my professors and I think it would be fairly easy to get a job working under them. It would also serve as a great experience. For someone going into geology, Fort Hays State University seems like it would be an excellent opportunity to prepare for a powerful future. Not only is the geology in Kansas exciting, but the professors are well-equipped to teach life-long lessons in geology that will greatly improve one’s career path. And Fort Hays, having an integrated campus, a geologically-focused museum, and a good teacher-student environment, would be more than capable of forging one’s path into an exciting career in geology.

After reading this ron pick, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071207000819.htm
it talks about how there is an need to have somewhere to store the power from the wind because some days the wind is going to be stronger then others. This to me sounds like common sense since i live in ks and the wind changes from mourning to nighttime but thats just me. I think this is an way we can make power that is power from an resource that isnt going to run out, grant it they make noise and it takes an bunch to make power, but in all the spaces you got nothing anyway u might as well be producing power, if anything it will help conserv the resources that we are using now.

I chose to comment on the article “Amazing find of dinosaur mummy” from the website http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7124969.stm
It appears that there has been actual skin and tendon tissue found with a newly discovered dinosaur. It stated that this rarely happens to actually survive the fossilization process. It is a 67 million year old duck-billed hadrosaur. The preservation of these muscles and tendons led scientists to believe that they are actually more muscular than thought before. It is also thought that there are mummified organs to go along with this new found dinosaur. Also because it has been fossilized, scientists are not for sure of the skin color, but looking at the monochrome shows a stripped pattern, which is associated with different skin colors.

The fossil was found in 1999 and is being analyized in the world’s largest CT scanner. This particular machine is used for space shuttle engines and scientists are hoping such technology will help them learn more about the fossilised insides of the creature.

Something I found interesting was the fact that the fossilised creature had no chest cavity, meaning that it might have been particaly eaten by predetors before being “mummified.” This is interesting to me because, I think that it is amazing that a person can tell so much of something from millions of years ago. They can tell its history and how exactly it dies. That is amazing to me.

I am commenting on “wind power not being backed by an equal amount…” the article talks about how wind energy is going to impact the country. It talks about how wind energy is going to be a good source of energy once it gets rolling, however their is still sum question about how to deal with the fluctuation of the wind and its power. personally i think that it is very smart to take advantage of the wind power like we are especially here in Kansas. As much as the wind blows out here you wouldn’t even have to worry about fluctuation that much. My high school just bought one and put it up by our practice field. So far i have heard nothing but positive things that it is doing for the school. I asked the principle and he said that it should pretty much pay for itself within 5 years.

I chose the the article “Ancient Animal Treasures Found in Bahamas Sinkhole”. In this article they were able to recover all kinds of bones of animals of all kinds,fossilized leaves, twigs, flowers, fruits, seeds, pollen and spores. They were able to recover these things because of the oxygen-free saltwater layer of the sinkhole, which is free of the bacteria and fungi that typically munch on bones. Sinkholes are mostly common in areas where the rock below the land surface is limestone, carbonate rock, salt beds, or rocks that can naturally be dissolved by ground water circulating through them. As the rock dissolves, spaces and caverns develop underground. The land usually stays intact until the spaces underground get too big, which causes the land to collapse. This sinkhole was probably in an area around water and thats why it was able to preserve things so well. I think its very interesting the things you can find from the past, that’s what great about our history.

I chose “Ron’s pick Real Climate.” This article talks about how you can’t go exactly off of a certain weather pattern from history but rather you can go off of how multiple weather patterns and track how the weather has so called “evolved” and use that to better predict the weather. This makes sense because everything else in the universe changes through evolution. In the future we may be able to better predict weather patterns with the advancements of our technology. This specifically reminded me how currently we are unable to accurately predict earthquakes. We can look at past earthquakes to help us better predict a future one but we can not accurately predict one.

I Chose Ron’s Pick “Debris Flow Hazard Maps for Southern California Released.” The article talked about how the maps showing mud-slide possibilies. Maps where made avalable to the public and to emergencey responders. This gives people a chance to know the dangers and maybe choose a different path. The maps give a good guess at the size of the mudslides and the size of debri they can carry. Mudslides are the most dangerouse of post-fire hazzards. The wildfires burn down the vegitation so there is nothing to hold the land in place, all it would take is a little rain to set it all off.

I choose to write about Ron’s “Fresh Oil and Gas Finds in Brazil” pick. This article talks about a new oil find off of the coast of Brazil. This was a very good find because this boosted the economy of Brazil and gave them more resources to use. This is also a big deal because about a month earlier they found about eight billion barels found not to far from this spot. This discovery could boast Brazil to one of the top ten distributers of oil world wide.

I choose to write about Ron’s “Where Dinosaurs Colorful” pick. Although we do not know for sure what color they were, they most likely had very rough and bumpy skin similar to that of a alligator or some sort of a reptile. Most of the dinosaurs probably used there skin color for camoflauge and display. Even though we do not know the exact color that they were, the males were probably more colorful then the females were.

I choose to write about Ron’s “Debris Flow Hazard Maps for Southern California Released” pick. This article talks about how there is a potential for destructive mudflows due to the recent Southern California wildfires. There is a map that shows the estimated size and potential destruction for mudflows, and the areas that could be affected by them. The main reason for this is because of the rain that would fall on the recent burned areas. Mudslides are some of the most devestaing types of natural disaters. They ruin peoples homes and sometimes even ruin peoples lives.