Vacation Snaps

In keeping with last week I thought I'd post some of my personal photos that fit the topic of the week. I might have a problem next week when we get to plate tectonics.

This is from Hawai'i. I was traveling up Mauna Kea. In the background you can see the big shield volcano of Mauna Loa and in front of that there are some small cinder cones.


This photo is from Volcanoes National Park. It is one of the coolest places I've ever visited. The dried lava was just amazing to look at. Behind me you can see the ropy Pahoehoe.

Looking down towards the ocean you can see the variety of lava flows from the colors of the dried lava.

Looking down on the Kilauea Iki crater. This was filled with lava less than 50 years before this photo was taken in 2007.

On the Kilauea Iki Trail that crosses the crater. It is amazing to walk across this crater and look at the dried lava and the plants now starting to grow in cracks.

A black sand beach on Hawai'i. You can see the olivine and basalt in the sand.

Igneous Rocks

This week in class we're covering igneous rocks and volcanism and on Friday we'll be discussing Geological Hazards. It should be a fun week.

We started Monday's class by talking about the rock cycle. You can watch a youtube video about the rock cycle here. There are a bunch of rock cycle songs, most of which are not very watchable. This is one of the better ones.

Moving on to igneous rocks, did you know that ice cream is an igneous rock? The Green Gabbro blog provides an excellent explanation. Now I'm hungry. I had a small tub of Ben and Jerry's stashed in the departmental freezer. I wonder if it's still there.

This is a really interesting post on cooling fronts in igneous rocks and also talks about Devils Tower and whether it is an igneous intrusion (yes) or a volcanic neck (no). I would really like to go to Devils Tower some day. It is amazing and I'd like to see it in person.

Gold

To add on to my previous post I thought I would add a personal photo. In the summer of 2011 I took a trip to Georgia and stayed in the mountains in north Georgia. While I was there I visited Dahlonega, which is a cute little town that was the site of the first major gold rush in the US in 1828. While we were there my friend and I went panning for gold at one of the gold mines that operates tours. You're actually given the pan with the sediment already in it so I'm convinced that it's salted to make sure everyone can find a few specks of gold. I still have my small tubes with two tiny specks of gold at home.

Spring 2012

Once again I did not do a good job of updating last semester, but I'm trying again. This week was our first full week of classes, although classes did start last Thursday and we were off for Martin Luther King Day on Monday. This means that we've had the equivalent of one week of GEOL1030 classes. In our first week of classes we've discussed the scientific method and minerals.

I just read an interesting blog post (here) about conflict minerals. Gold, tungsten, tin and tantalum are minerals that are abundant in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an impoverished country that has been severely affected by civil war. Mining and trading of those minerals have helped fund the wars that have rocked DRC, but a new program will require US companies to certify with the SEC that any gold, tungsten, tin and tantalum acquired has not been used to fund conflict in DRC. I think this a great step to help resolve issues surrounding conflict minerals.

On a less serious note, go take a look at this huge ruby corundum collected from Maryland. Corundum, as discussed in class today, is a mineral that can be found in many colors and "forms", with both rubies and blue sapphires considered to be the mineral corundum.

New Semester

Obviously I did not do a very good job of updating this blog last semester. Our new semester starts on Monday August 29 and I will resolve to do better over Fall. I'm excited to be teaching Introduction to Earth Science to a new group of students and as usual our topic for the first week will be minerals. I will try and find something interestijng to discuss.

In the meantime there was an interesting geological event yesterday: the magnitude 5.8 Mineral, Virginia earthquake. Callan Bentley, an assistant professor of geology at Northern Virginia Community College, has a really interesting post about the earthquake over at his blog. You should take a look. He says one possible explanation for the earthquake might be differential rebound of the crust due to isostatic adjustments. We will be discussing isostasy later in the semester.

Week Two: Minerals

Today we had our second class in GEOL1030-010 and discussed minerals. Not only are minerals important as resources, but they are beautiful. Check out this link for some amazing photos of minerals.

In class, we also discussed diamonds and why they are so expensive. Part of the reason is thought to be that the De Beers Family of Companies controlled the supply of diamonds throughout much of the world in the 20th century and through monopolization controlled prices. In 2004 De Beers pleaded guilty to price fixing and paid $10 million to settle the indictment (see here). The charges brought by the Justice department in 1994 were keeping De Beers from directly doing business in the US. That article mentions that diamond jewelry is a $60 billion business. Much of that is from engagement rings. This 2007 Slate article is an interesting look at the history of engagement rings.

Week One of Class

Welcome to the blog for GEOL1030-010. This semester I will be attempting to inject some relevance into my teaching of Introduction to Earth Science. I hope you all check in from time and time. I'm looking forward to a fun semester.