Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Giant isopod...

found attached to a remotely operated undersea survey sub (click to enlarge). The nearly 2.5 foot-long arthropod Bathynomus giganteus latched on at about 8,500 ft depth. Read more about these unusual abyssal creatures.

One does have to wonder: do they taste like lobster?

Image courtesy Reddit.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Good to know...

Venn diagram of geek/nerd/dork/dweeb attributes.

I think my friends would tell you that I lay in the warm, fuzzy center of geekdom, with distinct tendencies towards nerdiness.

Another day, another hike,...

and a couple more sandstone arches. Here's a gigashot of Bowtie (left) and Corona (right) Arches, a few miles west of Moab and a short distance off the Potash Road (click to enlarge):
The careful observer will spot human ants on the slickrock surface, midway between the arches. And, for fellow geologists, both arches are developed in the Navajo Formation (Jurassic).

Ed Abbey was bang on: "This is the most beautiful place on Earth."

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Gigaviews from Island in the Sky...

in Canyonlands National Park, acquired on 24 March 2010, from the Murphy Trail overlook into the Green River drainage:
and from the Gooseberry Trail overlook into Monument Basin:
The prominent White Rim Sandstone (a member of the undifferentiated Cutler Formation) appears in both images (click to enlarge).

Stay tuned. I'm just getting started.

Friday, March 26, 2010

A rainy day in Professor Valley...

will allow me to catch up with some entries I meant to post, but the weather was so good upon arrival that I immediately got out and went hiking during the last four days. I am back-dating the posts so that they correspond to the date when the images were taken. Scroll down to see them.

The image displayed above is a screen grab of conditions at the time of this post, taken by the web cam at the Red Cliffs Lodge (looking east), about 15 miles upstream of Moab, Utah (click to enlarge).

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Ensconced deep in the Needles District...


of Canyonlands National Park is Druid Arch, arguably one of the most peculiar arches in canyon country (click to enlarge). This imposing structure is developed in the Cedar Mesa Sandstone (Permian).

From the it's a small world department: I met two friends from Spokane while on a ~16 mile hike this day!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Perfectly framed La Sal Mountains...


by Mesa Arch in the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park (click to enlarge). I wonder if the bighorn sheep that graze the immense plateau ever take time to enjoy the view?
Or perhaps they're more interested in the large scale foresets and reactivation surfaces in the Navajo Sandstone (Jurassic) in Aztec Butte?

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Klondike Bluffs is a semi-remote area...

of Arches National Park, accessible only by wash-boarded gravel road, and is consequently devoid of most tourists. Therefore it's a perfect place to hike.

Here, a helpful cairn is seen in the foreground of the deeply jointed Entrada Sandstone (Jurassic) on the western flank of the Salt Valley anticline (click to enlarge).

You have to pass the Marching Men and traverse an eolian dune:
in order to get to the main objective, Tower Arch, shown below:

Monday, March 22, 2010

Azure skies dominated...


the first day after arrival in southern Utah, so, hey, why not go hiking and start acclimating?

The towering Fisher Towers (click to enlarge) are mostly composed of the Cutler Formation (Permian) capped by the chocolate brown Moenkopi Formation (Triassic). The gravel-sized clasts in the arkosic sandstones comprising the Cutler, interpreted to be an alluvial fan depositional environment, are nicely observed in the bird-necked pinnacle on the left. Here's a wider shot:

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Time out...

while I shift my position from N 47° 28' - W 117° 37' to N 38° 38' - W 109° 24' for the next few months. I am on professional (sabbatical) leave from the university during spring term and am engaged in several projects in southern Utah. I'll write about some of the work as it progresses.

And, oh yeah, there's hiking, mountain biking, climbing, canyoneering....

Friday, March 19, 2010

More fossilized poop makes the news...

Shark-Bitten Crocodile Poop Fossils Found (No, Really)

Previous crappy post.

Final field work Friday...

in the Rathdrum Prairie occurs today, at least for the next several months. I'm heading to Utah tomorrow where I will spend the spring term on professional leave from the university, engaged in various field activities. Stay tuned, people who like to tune in.

Has it been that long?

It was 30 years ago this coming weekend a relatively small 4.2 magnitude earthquake beneath Mount St. Helens initiated a drama that lasted about two months, until its cataclysmic eruption on 18 May 1980, killing 57 people. The image shown above (click to enlarge) shows the mountain's northeast side, prior to the eruption.

Here's the announcement from the USGS: Mount St. Helens Reawakens: The Thirtieth Anniversary.

Image courtesy Wikipedia.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

I love sinkholes...

because they occasionally provide access to the subterranean world, however, they can present a significant geohazard in regions that are underlain by limestone or gypsum. This classic pamphlet on Sinkholes in Pennsylvania (1.5 MB .pdf file) offers an excellent overview of karst terrains and the potential hazards found there (but I can't say that I like the cover).

"Their biology is obviously flexible"...

Phylogenetic Analysis of Mexican Cave Scorpions Suggests Adaptation to Caves Is Reversible

Hey, that's good news for the GEICO cavemen.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

The assimilation has commenced...

Future Bio-Nanotechnology Will Use Computer Chips Inside Living Cells

Parking fail...

It's not easy being green...

How Going Green May Make You Mean

This has nothing to do whatsoever with today being Saint Patrick's Day.

Best ORV park...

found in the solar system: Phobos flyby images taken by the Mars Express orbiter during its recent encounter with this tiny Martian moon (click to enlarge).

Previous related post.

Scientists go 'gaga'...

to find creatures beneath 600 feet of ice.

Is this a preview of what we might find on Europa?

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

This is not a joke...

Swiss Company Unveils Watch Made From Dinosaur Poop. (Click image to enlarge.) Go ahead, indulge yourself. It's only ~$11k.

Image credit: redOrbit.

Eww, yuck...

You’re Leaving a Bacterial Fingerprint on Your Keyboard.

Admittedly this is good for forensic identification, but, eww. Where's the Purell?

Are we alone?

SETI at 50.

Like Fox Mulder, I want to believe.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Something to consider...

when founding your dynasty: Orange Dwarf Star Confirmed to be On Collision Course With Earth. We're all gonna die:
"Our solar system's 'hood may get a bit rougher sometime during the next 1.5 million years. An astronomer has given an 86 percent chance for a neighboring star to smash into the frozen Oort Cloud surrounding the outskirts of the solar system, and may scatter some comets toward Earth."
More here. Stay calm. Don't panic.

Put 21 August 2017 on your calendar...

so you won't miss the next total solar eclipse in North America (click to enlarge). Learn more about these rare events.

It's on mine, and I hope to be there.

Image credit: Gizmodo.

Well, experts say a lot of things...

Oil Production to Peak in 2014, Scientists Predict

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Buttercups springing forth...


in the ponderosa pine forest of eastern Washington (click to enlarge). Spring is only six days away!

Wise words...

Science means simply the aggregate of all the recipes that are always successful. All the rest is literature.

-- Paul Valéry

Geeks going wild today...

On Pi Day, one number 'reeks of mystery'

And just for fun, here's the first 100,000 digits to get you started.

Hat tip: the Bu bro.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Spring ahead tonight...

by advancing your clocks one hour as Daylight Saving Time takes effect. And please note: it's "Saving" not "Savings."

Requiem for my Palm T/X...

as I make the switch to a BlackBerry Storm2 smartphone. The jump occurs on Monday when I become eligible for an upgrade from my LG Dare through Verizon.

I surrender the aging Palm device with some reluctance as it has worked reliably, had Wi-Fi, handled PDF and Word documents and Excel spreadsheets, and ran various special applications along with the usual calendar/contacts/memos/tasks capabilities. Unfortunately, however, Palm has not kept pace with the rapidly evolving market and their smartphone offerings leave a lot to be desired.

RIM clearly dominates the business world and the BlackBerry platform offers all the above and much, much more. I've done my due diligence and the Storm2 seems like a good fit as it syncs with the University calendar/e-mail system, is a global phone, and also runs countless specialized apps. Verizon allows you 30 days to test drive a new phone, during which you can return it for another, no questions asked.

I considered some of the new Android OS smartphones but am reluctant to adopt first generation technology. The Bu bro grabbed one last week (Motorola Droid) so it will be interesting to compare our experiences with all this newfangled technology.

So long T/X. Gone but not forgotten.

UPDATE: Oh yeah, I used PocketCopy to transfer all my Palm OS information into Outlook in order to sync with the new BlackBerry. Worked like a charm. Recommended.

Desperate efforts...

to save endangered bats may fail.

Remember: bats need friends.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Final exam in hydrogeology...

is scheduled for Thursday, 18 March, from 1 to 3 pm. Good luck!

How fast is your broadband?

Take the Consumer Broadband Test, Help the FCC Keep ISPs In Check

I've performed several speed checks after I switched from satellite to DSL for my home Internet service and am getting the promised upload/download speeds, if not a bit more.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Good point...

Credit: Wall Street Journal.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

These mollusks...

aren't clamming up: Two Millennia of North Atlantic Seasonality and Implications for Norse Colonies. Let's cut to the chase with a glance at the abstract:
"δ18O values of mollusks recovered from near-shore marine cores in northwest Iceland quantify significant variation in seasonal temperature over the period from ∼360 B:C: to ∼A:D: 1660. Twenty-six aragonitic bivalve specimens were selected to represent intervals of climatic interest by using core sedimentological characteristics. Carbonate powder was sequentially micromilled from shell surfaces concordant with growth banding and analyzed for stable oxygen (δ18O) and carbon (δ13C) isotope values. Because δ18O values record subseasonal temperature variation over the lifetime of the bivalves, these data provide the first 2,000-year secular record of North Atlantic seasonality from ca. 360 cal yr B.C. to cal yr A.D. 1660. Notable cold periods (360 B.C. to 240 B.C.; A.D. 410; and A.D. 1380 to 1420) and warm periods (230 B.C. to A.D. 140 and A.D. 640 to 760) are resolved in terms of contrast between summer and winter temperatures and seasonal temperature variability."
Likely a better climate record than what tree rings can provide.

Why wouldn't they?

Virgin Galactic Applauds Legal Protection Against Space Tourist Lawsuits

Previous related post.

Database of periodic tables...

on the web can be found here. I particularly like the periodic table of elephants.

And non-chemistry periodic tables are here. Heh.

None of them seem to include Bu. Hmm.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Heading to the Tri-Cities today...

to reprise my talk on "The Geology of Mars and the Scablands Connection" to the Lake Lewis Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute.

The illustrated presentation will be held at the Benton PUD auditorium (2721 West 10th Avenue, Kennewick) and will commence at 7:00 pm. The lecture is free and open to the public.

That's going to leave a mark...

Rock Slide Drops Boulders, Closes Interstate in Colorado

Good video at the link.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Geologic sequestration...

of anthropogenic carbon dioxide will be discussed at a presentation by Dr. Charlotte Sullivan (of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) later this week. This geology club sponsored talk will take place on Thursday, 11 March, at noon in SCI 141. Some refreshments will be provided by the club.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Too much testosterone...

and not enough common sense: Washington Skiers Hike 26 Miles in the Wrong Way All Night. Good that it turned out well, though.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

A more perfect day...

is impossible to imagine, in the company of about 50 curious hikers, all willing to bushwhack through one of the most geologically wondrous terrains, in perfect spring-like weather beneath cloudless skies, all the while being equipped with the proper gadgetry to memorialize the event. Hands down a fantastic day. Do I make myself clear?

The Ice Age Floods Institute sponsored walk began early by mustering together at Lyons Ferry State Park at the confluence of the Palouse and Snake Rivers. The briefing by trip leaders L. Stoess and E. Kiver (EWU emeritus geo prof) at departure consisted of a review of the outburst flooding from glacial Lake Missoula that was responsible for the headward erosion of the narrow Palouse Canyon in the Columbia River basalts. Here's a map (click to enlarge) that I compiled with my GPS during the walkabout:

The orientation and geometry of the Palouse River canyon is strongly controlled by the jointing patterns in the basalts as evidenced in this Google Earth image of nearly the same area as the topographic map seen above:
Several informal lectures were conducted along the way, and here L. Stoess is seen describing the local cultural history near the beginning of the trek with the Snake River behind him, flowing left to right:

Eventually we entered the canyon, becoming boxed in by the high basalt escarpment on one side and the river on the other. Following vague game trails we made our way slowly northward, peeling off layers of clothing as the day warmed:

Native Americans utilized several flood-plucked rock shelters as food caches, and in fact, the important Marmes Rockshelter lies close to this location. Here we pause at one along our route while E. Kiver describes the columnar nature of the basalts:

Deer, hawks, and a bald eagle were all sighted at various times during the day. We exploited the bench-like topography of the basalt outcrops to carry us up the canyon, following perched trails that provided continuously awesome views:

The canyon slowly narrowed and increasingly zig-zagged as we got closer to the falls at the northern end of our excursion:
Ultimately, we reached the terminus of the trail in Palouse Falls State Park where we were richly rewarded with a stunning view of the 200 foot high cascade:

In sum, the hike took about six hours to complete, gained 775 ft over 8.7 miles and was, in a word, priceless. If you want to participate in similar adventures, here's the schedule of events sponsored by the IAFI.

Breaking news...

Friday, March 5, 2010

"Ice Age Floods" layer...

created by former EWU student Ron Hall for Google Earth can be found here. Once you import the .kmz file into GE you can turn on/off or adjust the opacity of glacial lakes, the channeled scablands, glacial ice and significant landmarks.

Great job, Ron.

Karst topography hypothesized...

on Titan: Is That Saturn's Moon Titan or Utah?

Hmm, perhaps. But I don't agree that White Canyon, Utah is representative of karst topography at all. The interesting area certainly hosts an array of classic slot canyons (I've engaged in canyoneering in some of them) but there's no significant limestone and/or gypsum present. Here's the geologic map and stratigraphic column for your perusal.

An image of Earth...

from space showing snow blanketing much of the western US on 23 February 2010 (click to enlarge). I'll leave it to you, dear reader, to figure out the geography.

Image credit: MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Burger wars mapped...

in the US at Weather Sealed. Check out the maps, and indeed, the McForce is strong.

Matrimony Spring...

near Moab, Utah may be rehabilitated: County engineer says reopening Matrimony Spring would be costly, but may be possible.

I hope this works. The landmark spring should never have been closed in the first place, in my opinion.

Previous related post.

First six mirrors polished...

for the next generation James Webb Space Telescope that is expected to launch in 2014 (click to enlarge). There are another 12 mirror segments to finish in the foldable optical array. Here's the NASA press release regarding the achievement.

Let's hope the contractors do a better job than Perkin-Elmer did with the flawed primary mirror for the Hubble Space Telescope.

Roundup of rugged digital cameras...

that are waterproof and shock resistant can be found at CNET.com. These aren't just for recreational use, but are also suitable for field work.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Arriving in the mail...

last week was USGS Circular 1329: Bat Rabies and Other Lyssavirus Infections. A copy of the excellent publication can be downloaded free of charge (3.9 MB .pdf file).

According to the data contained in the report, there were 51 cases of rabies transmitted from bats to humans in the US and Canada from 1951 to 2006, a rate slightly less than one per year. Compare that with the number of deaths associated with infant carriers, where the CDC reports that 26 toddlers died between 1986 and 1991, a rate of more than four per year.

This is not an attempt to minimize the danger of acquiring rabies as it has always (with only three exceptions world wide) been fatal. Indeed, I have been inoculated with the rabies vaccine since I regularly handled bats with my late wife who was a bat biologist. But it does seem that public health officials and the media overhype the threat of rabid bats each and every summer. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that raccoons, skunks and foxes are the greater threat.

The bottom line: if you encounter a wild animal that allows you to approach it while on the ground, then it is likely unhealthy and should be left alone. More importantly, teach your kids to call an adult if they encounter any animal in the wild.

Remember: bats need friends.

More and more water ice...

found in our local neighborhood in the solar system:

All eyes on Phobos...

today, one of the two moons of Mars, at least by the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter (click image for high-res version). The spacecraft will swing by the diminutive moon at a distance of only 67 km and train its cameras and instruments on the object. Follow the science on the Mars Express Blog.

Deimos must be feeling left out.

UPDATE: Success.

Jewel Cave...

in South Dakota reaches 150 miles of mapped passage. Impressive, but it still has a long way to go to catch the leader:
"At 150 miles, Jewel Cave continues to be the second longest cave in the world, following 367-mile-long Mammoth Cave in Kentucky."
Link to Jewel Cave National Monument.

Hat tip: the Bu bro.

Tell me something new...

Pacific Northwest at Risk of Megaquake

Related previous post. More here, here, here, and here. Oh, and here and here.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

We have ignition...

of the plasma torch earlier today on the brand spanking new Thermo ICP-OES in the EWU geochemistry lab. Here's the Thermo technician setting up the software and instructing Professor C. Nezat on its use:

Argon gas is flowing into the instrument, and the glow of the plasma flame can be seen in the window just to the right of the vertical red handle:

And that equals one very happy geochemist:

Sickness tsunami that wasn't...

The Flu Season That Fizzled.

It sure seems that way, and the students/faculty/staff at the university weren't particularly impacted. I did get the seasonal flu shot last autumn, but never did follow through with the H1N1 (Swine Flu) inoculation, and never got sick.

Perhaps it's a miracle?

Residents stunned as hundreds of fish fall out of the sky over remote Australian desert town.

Things do feel a bit out of kilter...

NASA: Quake May Have Shifted Earth's Axis

If you need an FTP client...

then I recommend FileZilla. It works well, and it's free.

I give it two binary digits up.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Late Cretaceous lunch...

67 Million-Year-Old Snake Fossil Found Eating Baby Dinosaurs

Here's the technical article.

Airline food is bad...

but this is ridiculous: The most expensive inflight meal.

Uh oh...

Scientists Restart World’s Most Powerful Atom Smasher

Ice Age Floods Institute lecture...

this coming Thursday where Greg Behrens will present:

"EXTRA! EXTRA!: Missoula Flood Helps Carve Massive Coulee,
Creates Irrigation Pathways For Hundreds Of Thousands Acres!"

The Okanogan ice lobe blocked the Columbia River near the site of Grand Coulee Dam and, in concert with the Missoula Floods, assisted in channeling of the Grand Coulee. Evidence of this ice age event allowed visionaries in the early 1920s to visualize the construction of a dam and irrigated farming on a grand scale. Engineering consequences of these events with the construction of Grand Coulee Dam will be discussed. Behrens has degrees in Geology and Geography from Eastern Washington University and has worked at the Grand Coulee Project for 30 years as their geologist and GIS specialist (now retired).

This free lecture will be held on Thursday, 4 March, at 7 pm at Eastern Washington University, Science Building, Room 137.

Link to IAFI calendar of upcoming field trips and lectures.

Right on...

Chilean Quake a Warning to U.S. Northwest

Necessary chores were completed...

yesterday in preparation for the field season that commences in late March when I am on leave from the university. I spent much of the morning updating the unit software on my handheld GPS receiver as well as transferring map sets from DVDs to micro-SD cards. Here are some of the details:

1.) I use a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx for my field work. Garmin makes it easy to keep your unit software updated to the latest version by using their on-line WebUpdater. In my personal opinion this is the best and most versatile GPS device available.

2.) Map sets are available at various scales that can be uploaded to micro-SD cards from DVD (or you can buy the pre-loaded cards) and then inserted into the GPSMAP 60CSx. I don't like the pre-loaded cards as they contain gobs of megabytes of map data for areas that are irrelevant to my projects, and consequently the GPS unit boots much more slowly because of the gargantuan map files. Hence I like to use the Garmin MapSource software to specifically select the maps from the DVD that correspond to my particular area of interest.

I have the following Garmin map sets:

a.) WorldMap v4 is used for my voyages with Zegrahm Expeditions.
b.) TOPO U.S. 100K includes coverage for the entire US at 1:100,000 scale.
c.) TOPO U.S. 24K includes all 1:24,000 topographic maps for various regions in the western US.
d.) US TOPO 24K National Parks, West v3 includes all of the National Parks in the western US (really not necessary if you have 'c' above).

I have ten micro-SD cards onto which I've loaded subsets of map files from the DVDs listed above. So when I'm engaged in a project, or travel, in a particular place I can pop the appropriate card into the GPS unit and, voila, all of the relevant cartographic information is available.

UPDATE: Previous related post and a couple of pics.