Another short post

In the last week and a half I have completed finals, gone camping, started my intensive Statistics class and had my sister out to visit for a few days.  Tomorrow, I leave for Denver to visit family, so no big post until next week.

I would liketo put up a short post on a current event. Here link to the blog of a Geomorphologist from Illinois and his takes on the problems with current media coverage of the disastrous flooding along the Mississippi.  http://lrrd.blogspot.com/   There are quite a few posts, so I will put up a couple which I think are important.

This one explains the reasons for a floodway.
http://lrrd.blogspot.com/2011/05/floodways-are-for-floods.html

This one breaks down poor media coverage of the flood with an article from The New York Times.
http://lrrd.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-york-times-falls-down-on-this-flood.html

See you next week!

Study intermission!

Down to my last final tomorrow and wouldn't you know it, I got distracted looking around the USGS website (What do you mean I don't have time for that while studying the entire 4.6 billion year Geologic history of  North America?).  Lucky for you, I found some exciting pictures and videos of recent volcanic activity in Hawaii.

This video shows the collapse of the Pu`u `Ō `ō crater.
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/update/archive/2011/Mar/PuuOoCollapse_20110305_small.mov

This video shows lava pouring from a volcanic fissure into a large crack running through the surface.
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/update/archive/2011/Jan/20110306_0675_torr_small.mov

Here is a picture of the above in case Quicktime is being a pain.

Here is the main site if you want to peruse some more lovely photos.
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/update/images.html

Ok enough exciting vulcanism (no, not this kind)...back to studying.

Just kidding, one more quick movie.  This is of a phenomenon called "gas pistoning" where lava is pushed up by underlying gases which ends up looking like the piston of an engine.
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/gallery/kilauea/volcanomovies/movies/Drainhole%20pistons%20night%20-%20Jun%203,%202006-small.mov

Ok, I'm done...or am I?
Yeah, I am.

Busy busy busy!

Sorry for the lack of posts these past couple weeks.  Between last tests/presentations, my cousin's wedding and now finals coming up this week, I have been feeling like a perpetual motion machine.  Yesterday I embarked upon a makeup field trip (which I missed for my wonderful cousin Natalie's wedding) that entailed driving up through Rifle, Dotsero, Gypsum and Glenwood Springs (where I was able to have lunch with Natalie and her awesome new husband Dany as they are spending a honeymoon at the hot springs) .  Here are some of the photo's from the trip!

This first picture is from the east end of the bike trail that runs through Glenwood Canyon.  The rocks directly to my right are from the Leadville Limestone which near the town of Marble, with some help from metamorphism, turns into the Yule Marble which was used for construction of the Lincoln Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  The stratified layers in the background are much older in age and were forced up with the White River Uplift.  This area is near the boundary of the White River Uplift and the Eagle Basin.

Looking west down Glenwood canyon.

 The next two pictures are from the youngest volcano in Colorado.  The Dotsero volcano last erupted over 4000 years ago.  At present, it is being mined to make cinder blocks and landscaping materials.

Basalt flow from a fissure eruption at the base the Dotsero volcano.

The dark red to black in the center of the photo denote the cinder cone.

 The town of Gypsum is aptly named for the flows of gypsum throughout the area.Gypsum is a lighter mineral and will flow, somewhat like Silly Putty, to reach the surface. The sedimentary layers in this area are churned up and folded in this process.  The company American Gypsum mines the mineral and produces varieties of wall board which are shipped throughout the nation.

The dark rocks to the right contains both siltstone and gypsum. 

A white chunk of gypsum lying on the surface of the road cut.

 Rifle Gap, also known for the Cristo's Valley Curtain, is a large recreational state park.  The damn that holds in the reservoir was constructed between a fairly narrow gap in the Grand Hogback .  The Grand Hogback also helps define the boundaries of the white River Uplift to the northeast and the Piceance Basin to the southwest.

Looking from the gap out into the resevoir.

Cretaceous fossile clams are abundant in the rocks seen in the foreground of the photo above.

 Here is a picture of the Rifle Meteorite Crater.  It is actually disputed as to whether a meteorite or a landslide produced the feature. A meteorite was in the area in the early 1900's, though no records show from where exactly it was collected.

Can you see it? No it's not the lake in the bottom of the photo. 

Tadaa! Yes, that little guy is the culprit.

While there were quite a few more photos from this trip, I must begin studying for my final tomorrow.  I do have a backlog of subjects on which to post, so you may get a second installment of Geology joy later this week, or I may just sleep for a few days.