Pipe dream priorities at EWU...

are all about athletics and do little for academics:  EWU molds big dreams with Gateway Project.

How 'bout we spend less time and money turning the campus into a country club and focus more on academic excellence?   Silly me.  Nah.  That'll never happen at EWU.

Today's strong earthquake in Mexico...

was caught by the seismometer at EWU (click to enlarge):

The USGS fixes the location of the 7.4 magnitude event near Oaxaca.  Here's an early news account.

It's head-bangin' time...

as final exams get underway this week at EWU.  Study hard and good luck!

Experience a virtual field trip...

to Mount St. Helens using these two linked videos.  They were shot and narrated by me in the mid-1990s during a week-long EWU geology field trip to the volcano.  Realize there was no such thing as digital HD technology at that time, but they are still pretty cool to watch.  Enjoy.

• Mount St. Helens - The View From the Summit
• Mount St. Helens - Into the Crater

NOTE: These should work fine if you have the QuickTime player installed.

Darwin Day at EWU...

will kick off with a seminar presented by Dr. Jack Sullivan (University of Idaho) on the "Divergence with gene flow in chipmunks:  An emerging paradigm in speciation" at 2 pm in SCI 137.  Then, the winners of the birthday cake competition will be announced at about 3 pm, and I'll update this post after that time with pics of the most creative cakes.

11:50 am UPDATE:  The 16 cake entries have been examined and ranked by the judges, but I won't reveal the winners until after 3 pm today.  Stay tuned.

3:50 pm UPDATE:  And the winners are...

First place goes to a cake bearing beautifully crafted trilobite fossils:

 And second place goes to these fantastic tortoises:

There were many more wonderful cakes entered this year, and by now, they're probably mostly gone as there was a good crowd milling about with hungry eyes.  Congratulations to everyone involved.

Stream tables can be mesmerizing...

as one watches the gradual changes of the simulated fluvial landscape.  Here are several shots taken over the course of 2.5 hours in GEOL 121 lab yesterday afternoon, starting with the initial condition (click to enlarge):

Then we slowly increased the discharge in the channel and a cutoff of the meander occurred shortly thereafter:

Then later, we lowered the level of the pool and watched rapid headward erosion and incision of the lower part of the channel system, creating slightly elevated terraces:

Geology seniors heading to field camp...

this coming summer must attend a planning meeting on Wednesday, 8 February, at noon in SCI 118.  Be there or be left in the dark about the most important course in your undergraduate education.

RELATED:  Here's a previous post that includes a picture of your blog writer at his field camp at the Yellowstone-Bighorn Research Association field station.

Celebrate Charlie Darwin's 203rd birthday...

by baking a cake in his honor!

The EWU Department of Biology is hosting their annual cake competition and any group or individual may participate (hint to geology students).  Deliver your creative cakes that reflect some aspect of Darwin's work to SCI 258 by 11 am on 17 February for judging, with results announced at 3 pm in SCI 243 & 247.  Then we dig in and eat 'em.

RELATED:  Your humble blog correspondent is one of the judges for the event, and he can be easily influenced.  Think chocolate.  And bacon.

UPDATE:  Here's a look back to 2009, 2010 and 2011 if you need some inspiration.

The 6.3 M Peruvian quake...

that occurred today barely registers on the seismometer at EWU, seen near the center of this image (click to enlarge):

I post this only because our instrument has been down for repairs the last few months, and this is the first event of any significance since it went on-line last week.  The two blips at the very bottom of the screen are the doors opening in the lobby of the building as the day gets underway at the university. 

A guest lecturer in geology...

will be on campus at EWU this coming Monday, 30 January, at noon in SCI 118.  Dr. Scott Burns (Portland State University) will discuss the geohazards related to activity along the Cascadia subduction zone, including ground shaking, liquefaction, landslides and tsunamis in a presentation entitled "Engineering Geology Challenges Along the Cascadia Margin."  Geology majors - beginning and advanced - should plan to attend this highly relevant lecture.

RELATED:  Later in the evening Dr. Burns will present "Cataclysms on the Columbia" at Spokane Community College Lair Auditorium at 7 pm.  The lecture is free and open to the public.

Electrons flowing across the Interweb...

and to my computer have assembled themselves into an e-mail bearing terrific news this afternoon.  My research proposal for using ground penetrating radar to explore for caves has been fully funded for field study this summer.  Oh, the joy!

EWU's marketing motto...

seems like a natural domain name for a pornographic web site - startsomethingbig.xxx - don't you think?

RELATED:  Washington colleges pay to fend off porn sites.  "At Eastern Washington University, school officials decided against purchasing any of the domains during the two-month window but are continuing to consider their options."

So is EWU's reluctance to jump on this a) a missed opportunity to protect the university's fine reputation, b) overlooking a potential money-maker during a time of diminished state support, or c) a failure to generate greater student interest in our institution?

It's final exam week...

at the university so I thought I'd bring out this animated graphic in commiseration for my students:

Study hard and good luck!  And at the end of the week, when it's all over, just like banging your head against a wall, it will feel good when it stops.

Have a terrific winter break and I'll see you next year.

Ice Age Floods Institute lecture...

on the “Latest Pleistocene Geologic History of Upper Grand Coulee” by Dr. Patrick Spencer will occur this Thursday, November 17, at 7 pm on the Eastern Washington University, Cheney Campus, in Science Building Room 137.

Dr. Spencer is a professor of geology at Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington.  He will present a summary of his recent work on fine grained sediment in Upper Grand Coulee, including analysis of grain size distribution, sedimentary structures and radiocarbon age dates on key localities, suggesting that some of the sediments accumulated in a calm-water setting, possibly in a lake behind a moraine-dam. Grand Coulee was then swept by Missoula Floods, leaving behind a record of high energy processes.

The lecture is sponsored by the Cheney-Spokane Chapter and is free and open to the public.

Geology guest lecture next Monday...

by Dr. Frannie Skomurski from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory on nuclear waste management.  The presentation is scheduled for Monday, 14 November, at 10 am in SCI 118.  Frannie will also be available at 9 am in SCI 115 to meet with students about summer internship opportunities at PNNL.

The geohazards field trip...

this Saturday morning was chilly and rainy, but we braved the elements and managed to visit a number of interesting sites in the Spokane area related to mass wasting, stormwater management, stream bank erosion and meander migration.

This image was acquired on a previous field trip, but it illustrates a location where Hangman Creek is impinging on a high cut bank consisting of unconsolidated outburst flood deposits, triggering several slump failures in the 1990s (click to enlarge):

Pebble counts are underway...

at a local sand and gravel pit by students in my sedimentology and stratigraphy class in order to quantify the compositional variation of the deposit (click to enlarge):

It was a delightful autumn afternoon in the field, and opportunities like this will quickly diminish in the weeks ahead.

Despite the chilly temperature...

and gray skies on Friday afternoon, a number of geology students and most of the faculty and staff gathered together to bid farewell to Mr. Chuck Strout (standing in center; our departmental technician for 30 years) and wish him well in his retirement (click to enlarge):

Fortunately it never rained.  And the food was hot and plentiful.  And free.

The welcoming barbeque...

this Friday from noon to 2 pm in the Science Building courtyard is hosted by the faculty and staff of the EWU Department of Geology.  All majors, potential majors, and friends of the program are invited to attend.  We'll say goodbye to Chuck Strout, our capable technician for the last 30 years, and introduce the new staff and faculty.

Hey, it's free food!  What more do you want?

First meeting of the Geology Club...

for the academic year occurs this Friday, 30 October, at 2 pm in SCI 135.  Be there or miss out on being part of one of the coolest (and the geekiest) student groups on campus.