Crystallizations

Summer Field Work #2

2009-08-22T17:09:00.001-07:00

The Kohm-Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center opened in October 2008. It is a beautiful new building that replaced the Lassen Chalet. The building is of green construction like recycled glass counters and low flush toilets. The geology exhibits are well done. My favorites are trying to make a earthquake and of course anything on the Chaos Crags.

Continuing from my last entry, it was all clouds and rain, the entire weekend. I know there is a 10,000 ft volcano somewhere!

Oh, I forgot snow to add to the rain and clouds, the main park road had just opened the night before I got to Lassen, you might recognize this as the trail head to Lassen Peak. I am not even that crazy to attempt that!

This was the best view of Lassen Peak all weekend! The picture was taken to the east, looking back west at the plug dome.

Wonderful snowflowers to entire this trip. My next trip was in July.

Summer Field Work #1

2009-07-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

I tried to due some field work in early June, as you can see from the above photo of my area, I experienced rain the entire time. Even with excellent rain gear, it is still not fun to work in a constant rain when it is 40 degrees. It would of been better if it would of snowed. Who would of figured that California would be rainy in June and it wasn't related to thunderstorms!

The above picture is of a wet enclave with crenulated margins. It is hard to distinguish between the different types of enclaves when wet. So far the total different number of encalves is five. The lower picture is my homemade net to point count enclaves in the talus slopes of each dome. (A quick reminder, there are six different domes at Chaos Crags) The grid is 1m by 1m and the spacing is 1 in apart. It is constructed out of rope and string and at each cross point to make the grid rigid, I applied superglue to both sides of the grid. I did not want to make a rigid grid since I have to hike miles over rough terrain, this way it is easy to stick in my backpack.

Feeling like a Teacher!

2009-07-14T13:26:00.000-07:00

That was my final grading before the semester was done. It was research papers, 12 articles on current events, and some late work. I know too forgiving. Hey, it was only my first time! I enjoyed teaching and the comments the students gave me. They said I gave too much work, but they got over it because I had almost every student tell me that they are going to make more informed decisions about the environment! Which was my goal at the beginning of the semester, since most of the students did not even know why they were having to take environmental science and now they too much! I look forward to the next quarter starting in a week.

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-22T20:37:00.001-07:00

I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Earth Day! I know I have been absent for awhile, I have had good reasons. My thesis work is keeping me really busy and I just started teaching two Environment Science classes at a private college in my spare time. (hahaha!)

Tis the season for grant writing

2009-01-30T00:12:00.001-08:00

Well time has gone by fast for me during my winter break, lots of research completed with plenty more things to start. But what I really want to say is thank you to Kim over at All of my Faults are Stress-Related. Awhile back she posted a blog entry about grants and scholarships. This made me realize the dates of some grants and scholarships I wanted to apply for were soon approaching and that I better get my butt in gear! Since then, I have learned alot about writing grants and the stress that comes with filling out my first grant. Everyday I am starting to feel more like a graduate student.

Geological playground

2009-01-18T13:32:00.000-08:00

I saw this and just had to take a picture. Somebody had to be a geology geek............

Picture of the day- the fluffy stuff

2009-01-09T08:25:00.001-08:00

It has been awhile since my last post. I hope every had a great holiday and a Happy New's Years. Fresh snow in the Sierra Nevada makes for wonderful pictures!

My Geology meme list

2008-12-15T12:33:00.000-08:00

Here is my geology meme list! Bold the ones you have done (mine are in the comments).

1. See an erupting volcano (Mt St. Helens in summer 2006)
2. See a glacier (Glacier National Park and Sierras)
3. See an active geyser such as those in Yellowstone, New Zealand or the type locality of Iceland (Yellowstone in summer 2006)
4. Visit the Cretaceous/Tertiary (KT) Boundary. Possible locations include Gubbio, Italy, Stevns Klint, Denmark, the Red Deer River Valley near Drumheller, Alberta
5. Observe (from a safe distance) a river whose discharge is above bankful stage (A creek near my house in Jan 1997)
6. Explore a limestone cave (Several in the foothills in the Sierra, wild and by tours, Crystal Cave in Sequoia NP, and Lehman Caves in Nevada)
7. Tour an open pit mine, such as those in Butte, Montana, Bingham Canyon, Utah, Summitville, Colorado, Globe or Morenci, Arizona, or Chuquicamata, Chile (Round Mountain in Nevada)
8. Explore a subsurface mine (Sutter Gold mine in Sutter Creek, CA; mines outside of Ruth, NV)
9. See an ophiolite, such as the ophiolite complex in Oman or the Troodos complex on the Island Cyprus (The coast ranges of California)
10. An anorthosite complex, such as those in Labrador, the Adirondacks, and Niger (there's some anorthosite in southern California too)
11. A slot canyon, many of these amazing canyons are less than 3 feet wide and over 100 feet deep. They reside on the Colorado Plateau. Among the best are Antelope Canyon, Brimstone Canyon, Spooky Gulch and the Round Valley Draw
12. Varves, whether you see the type section in Sweden or examples elsewhere
13. An exfoliation dome, such as those in the Sierra Nevada (I like Turtleback dome in Yosemite, which give nice views of valley)
14. A layered igneous intrusion, such as the Stillwater complex in Montana or the Skaergaard Complex in Eastern Greenland (I have seen the Stillwater Complex in summer 2006)
15. Coastlines along the leading and trailing edge of a tectonic plate (I live in California)
16. A gingko tree, which is the lone survivor of an ancient group of softwoods that covered much of the Northern Hemisphere in the Mesozoic (I remember a bunch around my high school)
17. Living and fossilized stromatolites (Glacier National Park is a great place to see fossil stromatolites, while Shark Bay in Australia is the place to see living ones) (I have seen in the ones in Glacier National Park)
18. A field of glacial erratics
19. A caldera (Crater Lake National Park and Long Valley Caldera)
20. A sand dune more than 200 feet high (I have rolled down smaller dunes!)
21. A fjord
22. A recently formed fault scarp
23. A megabreccia
24. An actively accreting river delta
25. A natural bridge (Natural Bridges National Momument)
26. A large sinkhole (Does TV count?)
27. A glacial outwash plain
28. A sea stack (Nice ones along the California and Oregon Coast)
29. A house-sized glacial erratic (Out in Washington and Idaho)
30. An underground lake or river
31. The continental divide (Glacier National Park)
32. Fluorescent and phosphorescent minerals (some of my favorite samples are at a state mineral muesum in Mariposa, CA)
33. Petrified trees (Ginko Petrified Forest and some in Utah and Nevada)
34. Lava tubes (Of course, Lava Beds National Monument)
35. Grand Canyon, part way down and back (I have been out on the edge of Horseshoe Mesa)
36. Meteor Crater, Arizona, also known as the Barringer Crater, to see an impact crater on a scale that is comprehensible
37. The Great Barrier Reef, northeastern Australia, to see the largest coral reef in the world
38. The Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada, to see the highest tides in the world (up to 16m)
39. The Waterpocket Fold, Utah, to see well exposed folds on a massive scale (I was there this summer, swam in the Fremont River, and did a remote sensing project for one of my classes)
40. The Banded Iron Formation, Michigan, to better appreciate the air you breathe
41. The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
42. Lake Baikal, Siberia, to see the deepest lake in the world (1,620 m) with 20 percent of the Earth's fresh water
43. Ayers Rock (known now by the Aboriginal name of Uluru), Australia. This inselberg of nearly vertical Precambrian strata is about 2.5 kilometers long and more than 350 meters high
44. Devil's Tower, northeastern Wyoming, to see a classic example of columnar jointing (Does Devils Postpile count?)
45. The Alps
46. Telescope Peak, in Death Valley National Park. From this spectacular summit you can look down onto the floor of Death Valley - 11,330 feet below (I have been to Augerberry Point)
47. The Li River, China, to see the fantastic tower karst that appears in much Chinese art
48. The Dalmation Coast of Croatia, to see the original Karst
49. The Gorge of Bhagirathi, one of the sacred headwaters of the Ganges, in the Indian Himalayas, where the river flows from an ice tunnel beneath the Gangatori Glacier into a deep gorge
50. The Goosenecks of the San Juan River, Utah, an impressive series of entrenched meanders
51. Shiprock, New Mexico, to see a large volcanic neck (only in the distance)
52. Land's End, Cornwall, Great Britain, for fractured granites that have feldspar crystals bigger than your fist
53. Tierra del Fuego, Chile and Argentina, to see the Straights of Magellan and the southernmost tip of South America
54. Mount St. Helens, Washington, to see the results of recent explosive volcanism (in 2003 and 2006)
55. The Giant's Causeway and the Antrim Plateau, Northern Ireland, to see polygonally fractured basaltic flows
56. The Great Rift Valley in Africa
57. The Matterhorn, along the Swiss/Italian border, to see the classic "horn" (How about the ride at Disneyland?)
58. The Carolina Bays, along the Carolinian and Georgian coastal plain
59. The Mima Mounds near Olympia, Washington (I have seen some in California, previous post)
60. Siccar Point, Berwickshire, Scotland, where James Hutton (the "father" of modern geology) observed the classic unconformity
61. The moving rocks of Racetrack Playa in Death Valley (I hope to soon)
62. Yosemite Valley (Numerous times)
63. Landscape Arch (or Delicate Arch) in Utah (I have been to both and wish I had more time to explore)
64. The Burgess Shale in British Columbia (I want to plan a trip soon)
65. The Channeled Scablands of central Washington (very cool)
66. Bryce Canyon (several different times)
67. Grand Prismatic Spring at Yellowstone
68. Monument Valley
69. The San Andreas fault (What part?)
70. The dinosaur footprints in La Rioja, Spain
71. The volcanic landscapes of the Canary Islands
72. The Pyrennees Mountains
73. The Lime Caves at Karamea on the West Coast of New Zealand
74. Denali (an orogeny in progress)
75. A catastrophic mass wasting event (Mt. St. Helens; rockslides in Yosemite Valley)
76. The giant crossbeds visible at Zion National Park
77. The black sand beaches in Hawaii (or the green sand-olivine beaches)
78. Barton Springs in Texas
79. Hells Canyon in Idaho
80. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado
81. The Tunguska Impact site in Siberia
82. Feel an earthquake with a magnitude greater than 5.0 (Loma Prieta, 1989)
83. Find dinosaur footprints in situ
84. Find a trilobite (or a dinosaur bone or any other fossil) (Lots)
85. Find gold, however small the flake (been goldpanning)
86. Find a meteorite fragment
87. Experience a volcanic ashfall
88. Experience a sandstorm (Red Rock Canyon, Mojave Desert, summer 2003)
89. See a tsunami
90. Witness a total solar eclipse
91. Witness a tornado firsthand. (Important rules of this game)
92. Witness a meteor storm, a term used to describe a particularly intense (1000+ per minute) meteor shower
93. View Saturn and its moons through a respectable telescope
94. See the Aurora borealis, otherwise known as the northern lights
95. View a great naked-eye comet, an opportunity which occurs only a few times per century
96. See a lunar eclipse
97. View a distant galaxy through a large telescope
98. Experience a hurricane
99. See noctilucent clouds
100. See the green flash

Not bad with 45 completed, but there are still many more to go!

General meme list

2008-12-15T11:48:00.000-08:00

Here is my general meme list. The idea is to bold the ones you've done (I'm also going to add commentary in parentheses).

1. Started my own blog (This one)
2. Slept under the stars (I slept on a cot when camping)
3. Played in a band (Not really any musical talent)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain (I have climbed many and many more to go)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped (I want to!)
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea (Does Lake Tahoe count?)
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning (Luckily never!)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight (Many of sleepover when younger)
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill (Always to do fun things)
24. Built a snow fort (Doesn't snow were I live )
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon (I want to)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice (All of the Italy and France items are on my list of items to do)
29. Seen a total eclipse (talk about it when I teach)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run (I played high school softball)
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors ( I would have alot of countries to visit, which is ok with me)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (you can be happy without money)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt (summer 2006)
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight (many beaches in California)
46. Been transported in an ambulance (I was really sick a few years back and actually had several different rides)
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing (I am not patient enough for fishing)
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (Hawaii)
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud (I love to be muddy)
54. Gone to a drive-in theater (there was a local theater)
55. Been in a movie (Does a homemade one count?)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class (I have always want to)
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (I have voluntarily and not voluntarily)
65. Gone sky diving (I would like to)
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check (I think only twice)
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle (But I have been in many other speeding objects)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book (How about I was an editor and wrote several sections)
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car (My 2006 Subaru Forester)
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible (Only parts of it)
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox (When I was in 1st grade)
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (Does George Zimmer count?)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one (my cat)
94. Had a baby (My son Justin is almost four)
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone (Many, I keep breaking them)
99. Been stung by a bee (It stung me after I stepped on it)
100. Ridden an elephant

Looks like I still have many things to do!

The semester is over, but........

2008-12-12T20:15:00.001-08:00

Well, I finished my advanced volcanology class last night, woohoo! Now, I have to patiently wait for my grades on my term paper and overall class. I also met with my advisor this morning since I wouldn't see her until after the new year. At this point in my graduate learning, I have completed some research, but mostly focused on taking classes and teaching. That is no longer the case, my six week vacation has now been determined for me. I must complete numerous research related items before school starts again on Jan 26. I know most of my days during this time will be spent tracing plagioclase like in the above picture and computer work involving the CSDCorrections program by Michael Higgins. This textural analysis program is downloadable for free at http://wwwdsa.uqac.ca/~mhiggins/home.html.

But first things first, I have a very large Christmas tree to decorate and then it is on to outlining!

Out of the fog

2008-12-06T17:27:00.001-08:00

In my last entry, I was wanting to get out of the Central Valley fog and look for a sunny location. So I took a road trip to Yosemite on Thursday with my husband. The first picture is some mima mounds located near Snelling. Snelling is along the Merced River and I would say the dredge piles outnumber the people in town.

The next picture is along a road I have always wanted to take, but never did. The road climbs Mt. Bullion near Mariposa CA, is unmarked with many potholes and has some nice greenstone outcrops. In my mind, the best kind of road to take. It was also on this road that the sun was no longer hidden by fog.

This is the Merced River Canyon and Highway 140. Where I live, it is about the same amount of time to take Highway 120 or Highway 140 to Yosemite, but the difference is the scenery along each. Highway 140 follows the Merced River to Yosemite Valley.

This is the slate that lines the canyon, I believe it is part of the shoo fly complex (~500 mya)

Fog, more fog, and where is the sun?

2008-12-03T10:19:00.000-08:00

Living in the Central Valley of California is a wonderful thing, since the Sierras and Pacific Ocean are only a couple hours away by car. Wintertime is a different story with the tule fog. The fog stays for days at a time and becomes really depressing (i.e. the picture of my street). This week the fog has been around since the weekend. Atleast with rainstorm, you know that the sun will come out again, unfortunately with the fog that is unknown. I wish I could go take a drive up in the mountains to get away and bask in sunshine again, but I have some work to complete first. Possibly in the next few days, I will be able to get out and lose this depressive mood and get to use my hiking boots.

Remembering Field Camp.......

2008-11-24T11:08:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that I completed field camp over 4 year ago. The reason I bring up my field camp experience is my son turns 4 years old next month and I still shock myself that I completed field camp pregnant. I enjoyed my 6 week field camp with the University of Nevada, Reno, as it was my first time on the Colorado Plateau. The first two mapping projects were completed in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument along the Cockscomb monocline (the first and second photos). The Cockscomb fold consists of the Carmel-Page Formations, Entrada Sandstone, Tropic Shale, Dakota Sandstone, and Straight Cliffs. The trace of the fold can be driven on Cottonwood Road. We mapped for 9 days and stayed at Kodachrome Basin State Park. One day was designated for travel to Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks, Cedar Breaks National Monument and Brian Head. The below photo is the view of Zion Valley from the 1/2 mile Canyon Overlook Trail. I was over 2 months pregnant at the time and remember feeling sick, but that did not stop me from hiking.

Cedar Breaks National Monument consists mostly of the Clarion Formation, deposited as lake and river sediments around 50 my ago. Located on the side of the Markagunt Plateau, we arrived close to sunset, so the bright white and red rocks and associated hoodoos just absorbed the sun. The last photo is Grosvenor Arch located along Cottonwood Road. It was the first arch I had ever seen.

Hatfield et al., 2003, Geology of the Cedar Breaks National Monument, Utah; in Geology of Utah's Parks and Monuments, 2003 Utah Geological Association Publication 28, 562 p.

Sacramento State Rock Auction

2008-11-21T11:14:00.000-08:00

I finished my big paper on magma mixing and crystal size distributions for my advanced volcanology class yesterday, yeah! So tonight I am going to reward myself by attending the rock auction the Geology Club has been hosting the last five years. Geology club members contact local geologists, rock shop owners, and anyone else who will donate rocks, fossils and minerals. The event has a live auction and silent tables. The auction is an excellent way to raise money to help students pay for field trips and computer lab supplies. Which brings me to, I finished reading a great fossil book, Cruisin' The Fossil Highway, by Kirk Johnson and Ray Troll. They state a condition called IPNS or Isolated Paleonerd Syndrome. I do not have a full blown case of IPNS, but I would like to think I have a minor case. I tend to focus on fossils at rock shops much longer than minerals and I am really hard to drag away from a fossil hunting site. Even the above picture is one of two fossil ferns slabs I bought at the rock auction two years ago.

Wild Animals in the Field

2008-11-11T20:51:00.001-08:00

Ok, so they are not your typical wild animals, but I realized that I do not have many pictures of any kind of animals. My first photo is from the parking lot at Logan Pass in Glacier National Park. I love the Going to the Sun Highway! My second photo is from my first field mapping project at Red Red Canyon State Park, CA. My third photo is from my structural field mapping class to the Poleta Folds in the White Mountains. My fourth photo is from a limestone cave in the mother lode of the Sierra Nevada. My last photo is from Lake Tahoe while listening to a lecture during field camp with UNR.

Using Clean Natural Resources

2008-11-07T17:10:00.000-08:00

For my advanced volcanology class, we were encouraged by my professor to attend a Volcanological Society of Sacramento (VSSAC) meeting. Of course, he is one of the head members of the organization and the meeting meets on the second floor of the geology building on campus. The presentation was given by a geologist named Tom Box. He gave a wonderful talk, The Nature, Development, and Preservation of a Unique Resource on "The Geysers". If "The Geysers" are unknown to you, it is the world's largest producing geothermal plant and is located near prime wine country in the California Coast Ranges. He was a on-site geologist for several decades. The geothermal area was found in the late 1840's and used as a destination resort for many years. Commerical steam power started slowly in the 1960's, didn't become a big producer until the 1970's, and reached its peak in the 1980's. Currently, the plant has a extensive ground water injection program, which might explain the continuous microquakes in the area (see diagram above, cluster of small earthquakes outlines "The Geysers" region).

Other geothermal plants in California include locations at the Salton Sea and Coso Volcanics.

I really enjoyed the talk and greatly improved my knowledge of geothermal power as a clean natural resource. This presentation brought to my mind, we as a society need to focus on alternative resources, instead of beating around the "bush" for more decades by using coal and foreign oil.

More High Rock Caldera

2008-11-04T23:55:00.000-08:00

Here is the Google Earth image of the High Rock Caldera. I put the detailed directions (the way we took) of the little white path on the image in the comment section of a previous blog entry, High Rock Caldera.....almost.

Change can begin now

2008-11-04T23:13:00.000-08:00

This afternoon when I casted my vote, it was for the winning candidate and I can say I am happy about that! My polling place only had a short line when I went to vote, but I voted around 10:30AM. I was taking a break from my massive stack of journal articles I have been reading. I have a first draft of a paper in my advanced volcanology class due in a little over a week. Luckily my topic is about some work I have completed so far for my masters thesis. That is were the luck stops, because I have some sections of the paper completed, but other sections need to be vastly improved, so that's were the big stack of papers rears its ugly head! All of the papers I have read in the last three days are on magma mixing and enclaves. I still probably have several more days of reading with a equally large stack of crystal size distribution papers to get through. So I am defiantly going to be busy the next week or so, woohoo!

Here is a sampling of some of the papers I have read. My list could be much longer, but I don't want to bore you.

Bacon, C.R., 1986, Magmatic Inclusions in Silicic and Intermediate Volcanic Rocks: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 91, p. 6091-6112.

Browne, B.L., J.C. Eichelberger, L.A. Patino, T.A. Vogel, J. Dehn., K. Uto, and H. Hoshizumi, 2006, Generation of Porphyritic and Equigranular Mafic Enclaves during Magma Recharge Events at Unzen Volcano, Japan: Journal of Petrology, v. 47, p. 301-38.

Eichelberger, J.C., 1980, Vesiculation of mafic magma during replenishment of silicic magma reservoirs: Nature, v. 288, p. 446-450.

Koyaguchi, T., 1985, Magma mixing in a conduit: Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, v 25, p. 365-369.

Martin, V.M, D.M. Pyle, and M.B. Holness, 2006, The role of crystal frameworks in the preservation of Enclaves during magma mixing: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 248, p. 787-799.

Sparks, R.S.J., H. Sigurdsson, and L. Wilson, 1977, Magma mixing-a mechanism for triggering acid explosive eruptions: Nature, v. 267, p. 315-318.

High Rock Caldera.....almost

2008-11-03T03:52:00.000-08:00

Finally, northwestern Nevada and in the distance is the rim of the approximately 16 million year old High Rock caldera, but that is as far as I would get. The problem traveling in school owned vehicles is that they are always 2wd drive vans. The snow was from the first big storm of the season several weeks back and it was decided that we would not take to take the van into snow country, seeing if we got stuck, we would be stuck for awhile. Plus there was going to be an increase in elevation and the group decided, we had never camped in snow, why start now!

But not being able to get to the caldera was not entirely bad. While stopped to figure out if the road was passable or not, lying on the ground in incredible amounts were dull red rounded rocks, when broken exposed the most beautiful obsidian I have ever seen.

Which then made everyone forget about how cold it was outside and like kids in a candy store, search for the obsidian "eggs". See how excited grad students can get about rocks!

I found my share of good "eggs" and decided to photograph the snow and scenery, in which I quickly got hounded for. I also couldn't resist my urge for sneak snowball attacks and to build a snowman, no matter how big it was, only a ft tall.

So it was on to Plan B........

Interesting tree.....?

2008-10-27T11:46:00.000-07:00

Joining in on the mini-meme about trees. I thought about what beautiful trees I could think of off the top of my head. I love the ancient bristlecone pines, the tall coastal redwoods, the valley oaks and the massive sequoias, but this one tree along Highway 50, is the first tree that came to mind. It is not beautiful but interesting and is dubbed "The shoe tree". I first came upon this tree in 2004 during my field camp days at UNR. What would cause people driving, to pick this one random tree in the middle of Nevada to stop and throw a pair of old shoes within its branches? My first thought is that non geologists get bored traveling along the highway, which in no way is boring to a geologist. There is not many trees along this stretch of road in Nevada, so why damage the only shade for miles. My reasoning on why people can do something like this turn into puzzling and angry thoughts, it shows the great American way, if one person does it then another must and then another until you have a tree full of old shoes. This is disrespecting nature and in my views not needed, I don't care if is it in the middle of nowhere or next door to my house.

Also a natural history stop

2008-10-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

Prisoners Rock is also known as Petroglyph Point and is protected as a small portion of Lava Beds National Monument. The below picture is the western cliff of the tuff cone that reveals numerous wave cut benches that formed when Tule Lake (Modoc Lake) was at a higher level. The Tule Lake basin was filled with water until 1905, after which the lake was drained for agricultural use. Also in the picture is the fence that protects the petroglyphs from being defaced.

There are over 5,000 different petroglyphs that date around 4,500 to 2,500 years ago. So why the petroglyphs at this locations and who completed the rock art? It is believed that the Modoc people used canoes to cross Tule Lake to the island and then complete the petroglyphs unlike other Great Basin rock art. Below are some of my favorite petroglyphs.

Tread lightly if ever visiting Prisoners Rock or

"Someday Kamookumpts will surely wake up and look out over the world he made. He may be angry at how things have changed and bring the water back to cover Tule Lake again, changing the world to be like it was when he first made it."

Tuff Cones!

2008-10-26T11:55:00.000-07:00

The photos in today's blog are my traverse on top of Prisoners Rock.

This photo shows some of the palagonitic rock (orange rust color). Palagonite is a hydration and oxidation of volcanic rocks.

This is the view across the entire tuff cone. The vent area is buried somewhere out in the middle.

This is a piece of juvenile lava that was erupted out. When dealing with phreatic eruptions, it sometimes is problematic to determine if the lava erupted is juvenile or non juvenile. A clue is that juvenile lava is very fragile and has a cauliflower texture.

This is a view to the north showing The Peninsula, a bigger tuff cone in the distance.

Here is the entire view of The Peninsula. It is roughly the same age as Prisoners Rock, but once the tuff cone was above lake level, a small lava lake formed and is represented by the small ledge in the left middle of the photo.

It was cold!

2008-10-17T18:21:00.000-07:00

Like I said in the previous post, I knew it was going to be cold on my trip and indeed it was! The advanced volcanology class had to arrive at the Devils Homestead flow lookout in Lava Beds National Monument by Saturday noon, which meant me leaving Modesto at 4AM to get to Sacramento by 5:30AM and after we got the van packed, we left Sac State at 6AM. Traveling by Interstate 5 to Weed, because I was map girl and instructed we could not go over the Medicine Lake Highland. Mt. Shasta was beautiful with a fresh covering of snow and surrounded by clouds. MacDougal and Dorris on Highway 97 are unchanged. There wasn't many birds in the Klamath Basin Preserve, but of course it was hunting season, so I would want to be there either! Arriving in Lava Beds around 11AM and not able to find the undergrad volcanology class (we actually did look), we went to the visitor center, but having been an organizer for a conference last fall at Lava Beds I was wanting to wonder around. The biggest change I noticed was that Cave Loop road was closed from sunset to 8AM, but I was so tired, I didn't get to do any lava tubing.

The undergrads found us and they were sent home and our field trip started. We spent the rest of the day at Prisoners Rock (also called Petroglyph Point for thousand of petroglyphs that are present). Prisoners Rock is a tuff cone that formed approximately 270,000 years ago. Types of hydrovolcanic deposits include armored lapilli (second photo), beds dipping 25-40 degrees from the vent area, lithic clasts, juvenile lava, and massive deposits (fourth photo). The third photo is an interesting feature that was unknown to any of us and not described in any papers we had with us.

It was very windy and a little cold, but I could of been warmer because I was only wearing a pair of workout pants. It got in the lower 20's for the night. The weather made me sleep in a tent for the first time in several years and I was glad I bought it. I had three blankets, lots of heat warmers and a nalgene bottle with hot water at the bottom of my sleeping bag. It was the best I had ever slept in cold weather. So I will leave you with a photo of a freshly covered Mt. Shasta from on top of Prisoners Rock.

I will be on the road again this weekend....

2008-10-10T17:01:00.000-07:00

but I am going to freeze my behind off! My advanced volcanology class is taking a trip to Lava Beds National Monument-Tule Lake basin area and High Rock Caldera in northwest Nevada. The caldera is suggested to be the oldest volcanic area in the Yellowstone hotspot track, so that basically means it is out in the middle of nowhere and has not been studied very much. I just was checking temperatures, it is going to be a nice warm toasty 50 degrees in the daytime and 20 degrees at night. At least we will have a lot of firewood! The focus of the trip is hydrovolcanism, so I when I get back I hope to post a bunch of interesting photos, that is if we aren't frozen to the Nevadan high desert!

"In Search of the Old Ones"

2008-10-08T15:29:00.000-07:00

In Search of the Old Ones is a book by David Roberts that I am currently reading. I am really enjoying the book, he shares his experiences of traveling the southwest looking for Anasazi sites and understanding their culture. Some influential people in locating Anasazi sites were the Wetherill brothers. They found sites like Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, but they are many other important archaeological sites of the Anasazi that are just important, for instance the Grand Gulch area of Cedar Mesa.

Which brings me to my photos. In a previous entry, I said that Cedar Mesa was one of my favorite places I traveled to this summer in my southwest journeys. After spending the night on the mesa at Muley Point, one of the planned stops the next day was Mule Canyon. Located on the northeast side of the mesa, this was my first chance to see ruins not in a touristy nature like Spruce Tree House at Mesa Verde. The above photos are some of the Anasazi ruins located in the North Fork of Mule Canyon.

I am looking forward to the time I can travel back to the area and do more exploring and learning about the Anasazi.

Hydrovolcanism within the Mono Basin

2008-10-07T00:20:00.001-07:00

On my eastern Sierra trip, I saved the best hydrovolcanism for last. Mono Lake is a remnant of Pleistocene age Lake Russell. If you are a bird watcher, the lake is an important pit stop for birds on the flyway and three times saltier than the ocean. Over 13,000 years ago the lake was more than 800 ft deeper than present when Black Point (second photo) erupted. Black Point received its name for obvious reasons since it produced basaltic lava. I wish I had time to venture out to the area, but I did not. So I will just have to make another trip to see the fissures and palagonitic soil.

The current lake level is regulated because starting in 1941, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) began diverting water from streams that filled the lake, this dropped the lake level dramatically, enough so to damage the gull population at the lake. So to make a long story short, LADWP, must now allow some water to be released back into the lake. For the full story, I recommend the book, Storm over Mono Lake, by John Hart. Instead my focus on Mono Lake for this blog entry is Paoha and Negit Islands. Negit Island (photo 3) is a 1,600 year old andesitic volcano that has had activity as recently as 270 years ago. Paoha Island (photo 4) is problematic, made up of lake mud sediments, it may be a bulge from unerupted magma or could have been caused by local faults in the area. Anyways, it dates around 300 years old.

My first photo is Panum Crater, the youngest volcano in the Mono Craters chain that erupted around 600 years ago. It is a type of volcano known as a tuff ring. Usually tuff rings are monogenetic but the geologic history of Panum Crater is more complex. The eruption started with a tuff ring, then a dome was built, but collapsed sending a debris avalanche into Mono Lake, then a second dome formed. In my photo, I show the place where the dome collapsed through the tuff ring into the lake. If ever in this area, there is a short trail that can be taken to the top of Panum Crater. The reward is great views of Mono Lake, the Mono Craters and the June Lake/Mammoth Lakes Area and a hike through obsidian.

Also recommended when in Lee Vining is the Mono Lake Committee store and the National Forest Visitor Center, which has great exhibits on Mono Lake and a balcony to view the lake. If hungry when passing through and wanting an old style burger or ice cream cone, eat at the Mono Cone. If gourmet food is in order, then stop at the Whoa Nelli Deli, try the fish tacos, they are tasty.

Class Project: Hydrovolcanism on the East side of the Sierra

2008-10-01T22:32:00.000-07:00

After enjoying geologic sites around Mammoth Mountain, the main purpose of my trip was to add photos of hydrovolcanism. Below is a Google Earth map showing the relationship between the Inyo Craters and Mammoth Mountain. Mammoth Mountain is in the southwest corner covered with ski trails and the Inyo Craters are the two little lakes located near the top middle part of the map. So why did I want pictures of the Inyo Craters for my class presentation? The Inyo Craters are a type of hydrovolcanism known as phreatic eruptions that produce structures called maars.

The below picture is the biggest of the three maars that comprise the Inyo Craters. The size of the crater is 600 ft wide and 200 ft deep and there is a permanent lake at the bottom of the crater. The second maar is just a little to the northeast and not quite as wide and 100 ft deep. The third maar is located on top of Deer Mountain. A maar forms when magma comes in contact with groundwater and produces violent steam explosions. Magma never reaches the surface, but the result of the steam explosion leaves a sizable crater. The eruptive phase tends to last anywhere from days up to a month. The Inyo Craters are some of the youngest volcanic features in California erupted around 550 years ago. A shallow dike is the most likely cause for the eruptions.

The next photo reflects the type of deposits that are deposited by a phreatic eruption. These deposits are coarsely layered and exhibit poor sorting of ash to gravel size. In phreatic eruptions it is hard to determine juvenile magma, because the steam eruption will also cause non juvenile clasts to be ejected.

This photo shows the northeast trending relationship of all three craters, but the third crater is hidden in the trees on top of Deer Mountain. The craters are believed to have erupted in sequence from north to south.

Below is the deposits of the second biggest crater. Distinct characteristics exist between the two maars other than size. The second maar contains a smaller lake and mature trees located within the crater.The craters are that way! This is the trail marker at the end of the 1.2 mile dirt road. To get to the Inyo Craters: take the Mammoth Lakes Scenic Loop and travel several miles and look for the Inyo Craters sign, turn left if coming from Mammoth Mountain and follow the signs to the craters. There are many dirt trails that you could potentially get lost, always choose to the right.

Class Project: East side of the Sierra

2008-09-30T16:01:00.000-07:00

This semester I am taking an Advanced Volcanology class focusing on hydrovolcanism. A few weeks back I was preparing a talk for phreatomagmatic fragmentation and I was going to use photos I had taken on previous excursions to the eastern Sierra. Unfortunately, I did not have any photos of what I needed, so with my free weekend camping in Mammoth Lakes sounded great to me.

I stayed in the Twin Lakes campground and spent some time visiting different geologic sites in the area. The first picture was taken from my cot and is called the Dragon's Back, a ridge extending from Mammoth Mountain. The second photo is Twin Falls. If you have never been to the Mammoth Lakes area, the Lake Mary area is an awesome place to camp. There are 6 lakes with several different campground available and Twin Falls is located between Lake Mamie and Twin Lakes. With the activity of Mammoth Mountain in the 1980's, the highest elevation lake in the area, Horseshoe Lake, has been closed due to high levels of carbon dioxide at ground level. The area reminds me of a moon landscape because all plant life has been killed. The third photo is Twin Lake.

Traveling away from the Lake Mary area to the other side of the Mammoth Mountain is Minaret Summit, a place where you can see the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River drainage, Ritter Range, and take a shuttle down to Devils Postpile National Monument during the summer time. The fourth photo is of the Ritter Range, the mountain peaks in the picture from left to right are Mt. Ritter, Mt. Davis, Rodgers Peak, and Mt. Lyell. The last photo is Mammoth Mountain, which is a major mountain biking and skiing resort destination for the Southern California area. The ski lift is visible at the top of the mountain.

More of the Mammoth Lakes area in the next blog.........

Lassen Peak: May 1915 lavas

2008-09-25T16:39:00.001-07:00

Once on top, we hiked across to get an aerial view of Chaos Crags considering I was suppose to be completing field work. The 1915 eruptions produced 4 different types of lavas 1) hybrid black dacite 2) andesitic enclaves 3) a banded pumice with dark andesite and light dacite and 4) unbanded light dacite (Clynne, 1999). Sorry, I didn't get extreme close ups of the lavas, I just realized this looking through my photos, darn I will have to hike the trail again. : o ) Instead, I took the artsy approach to photographing the lava.

The stay on top was very peaceful once we hiked away from the small crowd on top. Taking in the moment of hiking across lava on an active volcano, I thought of a story I had heard involving the early eruptions of Lassen Peak. The story is about three local guys who went to investigate Lassen Peak after one of it's small eruptions. Reaching the peak, they wanted to look down the vent, only to have the volcano produce another small steam eruption that sent tephra raining down on the guys. One man got hit in the head with a block and was knocked out, while his friends ran like hell. When the activity ceased, the two friends went back to check on the one friend, who they thought would be dead. Instead, they found was he was ok with just a bump on the head. I love this story because when I go on trips to very active geologic areas I secretly hope for a volcanic eruption, large earthquake or other natural disaster. But on the other hand, what good friends he had leaving him lying there in a dangerous moment. I have been lucky enough to witness small rockfalls and feel small earthquakes on various trips but nothing on the factor I am looking for.

The first three photos are the 1915 lavas at varying locations. I pretty much hiked though the entire lava field on top, because I thought it was the shorter way to get back to the main trail! The fourth photo is the aerial view of Chaos Crags. I left Melinda to rest and set out on an adventurous hike out to the furthest point possible without falling 1000 ft to my death. I think the small ridge could of been possible but I didn't want to chance it, I am still young and have a lot of life still to live. The last photo is from Lake Helen looking northeast to the grand peak.

Clynne, M.A., 1999, A Complex Magma Mixing Origin for Rocks Erupted in 1915, Lassen Peak, California; Journal of Petrology, v. 40, 105-132.

Made it to the top!

2008-09-24T17:53:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it to the top! As I said in the last post, I completed the 2.5 miles in 1.5 hours. I love testing my body hiking. I am not in perfect shape, but I can hold my own. So all of today's pictures were taken along the trail at various locations. The trail starts out in pine trees, then the trees get smaller, and then there is no plant life at all. The first picture is the north facing barren slope of Lassen Peak. The barren slope is evidence from the 1915 eruptions that caused the Devastated Area (see previous post). Lenticular clouds are also very interesting and make great contrast for the picture.

The second picture was taken to the southwest and has a view of Brokeoff Mountain. Brokeoff Mountain is actually a remnant of Brokeoff volcano ( I have also heard it called Mt. Tehama) that started forming over 600,000 years ago. The volcano was estimated to be 12 km in radius, over 3350 m high, and have a reconstructed volume of 80 km3. The andesitic volcano has been eroded over time by volcanic processes and glaciers (Clynne, 1990).

The third picture exhibits prismatic jointing in the rock and is just interesting to me. The last picture is Me and Melinda on top. We are just two friends enjoying the experience!

Next blog, pictures of the May 19, 1915 lavas.

Clynne., M.A., 1990, Straitgraphic, Lithologic, and Major Element Geochemical Constraints on Magmatic Evolution at Lassen Volcanic Center, California; Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 95, 19651-19669.

Declaration of a National Park: Almost to the top!

2008-09-22T10:27:00.001-07:00

So for my last day of my field work, I decided that I would not try to hike to Domes A, B and C, seeing I was tired from the previous two days and instead climb Lassen Peak to get an aerial view of the Chaos Crags. It is no means an easier hike, it is actually harder, and I know I can get aerial images from Google Earth, but the excitement is not as great as climbing one of the world's largest volcanic domes in 1 and half hours!

The view above is Lassen Peak from the Devastated Area (northeast of the volcano), named for the mud flow, avalanche, and pyroclastic flow that was released during explosive events on May 19 and 22, 1915. Luckily, no one was killed during these events, but several houses were destroyed along Hat Creek. From prolonged volcanic activity starting in 1914 and lasting to 1917 and the striking natural beauty of the area, Lassen Volcanic National Park was created in 1916.

The above picture is the black dacite lava flow that was erupted on May 19, 1915. This picture was a telephoto shot from the Devastated Area. The flow is more prominent on the southwest side of the volcano.

This feature located on the side of Lassen Peak is just interesting to me. It is called the Vuclan's Eye (this is for the Star Trek fans). I don't know the whole story on how it formed, it looks like some kind of prismatic jointing to me. Any guesses?

So we begin an epic journey up the 2.5 mile trail and over 2,000 ft of evelation gain. This was the second chance I had to hike the trail, but the first chance with amble time to do so. If you ever end up in Lassen Volcanic National Park, Lassen Peak is one of those must do hikes!

Second day of field work

2008-09-17T16:01:00.000-07:00

On the second day of field work, we were going to get a real early start, of course that is if you get out of your sleeping bag. So we got a late start, but that was ok because it took only an hour reach Dome C (below picture).

We spent a good chunk of the day exploring Dome C, looking at enclaves and breaking rocks. Upon investigation, it was hard to tell what rocks were part Dome C and the Chaos Jumbles. It was also hard to find a fresh piece of the host dacite for Dome C, most of the rocks were highly altered. I did find all three types of enclaves, but the fine grained enclaves were not as abundant as the coarse grained and acicular enclaves. Then we headed east for Dome E (below picture).

Dome E was a fairly steep hike, but it was back in the tree line and did not have as many dangerous loose jagged blocks to hike over. There was still abundant enclaves, but many were smaller than a foot. Also this rock appeared harder, or maybe I was just tired from swinging my sledge hammer all afternoon. So we worked until late afternoon and started to head back, by then we over 4 challenging miles from the car. We had a decision to make, go back the way we came and have to climb up and over several large ridges to get back to the Chaos Lake Trail or make a straight line over the Chaos Jumbles and walk along road to get back to the car. So we opted for the last choice and that was still tiring.

This last photo was a beautiful sunset over Manzanita Lake, there was a bunch of people fishing, it was quiet and peaceful and it was a great way to end the day.

Heads up for the last day of field work, it involved the biggest elevation gain of the weekend!

More of the first day of field work

2008-09-12T13:13:00.001-07:00

The loose blocks are part of the Chaos Jumbles with Dome C (straight back) and Dome D (peeking out over the trees). Hiking this area is difficult, as it is a bunch of loose blocks for miles and good balance is needed, because you will see why later.

In a previous post, I said the Chaos Jumbles were the result of Dome C collapsing around 300 years ago. When the dome collapsed it traveled down the north slope for several miles, ran up against Table Mountain on the other side of the valley, turned west and came to rest after several more miles. Manzanita Lake formed because the jumbles acted as a dam.

So back to the enclaves that are the key to my project. I really liked this enclave. It has both the medium and fine grained enclaves with host plagioclase. The size of enclaves for the Chaos Jumbles ranged from mm's to one I saw that was 2 ft, but it was the largest one I saw. Most where around a ft or smaller.

Field work

2008-09-09T18:25:00.000-07:00

It has actually been awhile since I last posted a blog and I finally got to my field area. The above picture is after eating lunch in Anderson, CA at a Panda Express. I was laughing at the view, not many fast food joints have such a great view, so I figured the picture was a great way to start out the trip! If you want to know where Lassen Peak is look above my head. I was hoping that Lassen was not going to be busy and it wasn't. The weather was beautiful and the sky a wonderful blue color. So we set up camp and embarked on my reconnaissance trip of my field area.

So when we got there Wednesday afternoon, we didn't really have a plan, so we decided since I had not hiked the Chaos Jumbles in detail, that is what we would do first. A refresher, in case you forgot from previous posts, the Chaos Crags are six dacitic domes, named A-F, with Dome A, the oldest in age. The Chaos Jumbles were the result when Dome C collapsed somewhere around 300 years ago (Heiken and Eichelberger, 1980). For my field work, I am trying to figure out the magma mixing event or events. To do so, I need to look at the enclaves (blobs in the rock not of host origin) and distinguish if there are different types. So far there seems to be three different types present in each of the six domes, but I believe that there might be more variations. I think I will be able to determine this with more field work and Crystal Size Distributions (CSD).

The above picture is a fine-grained porphyritic enclave in the host dacite, as classified by Heiken and Eichelberger, 1980. The enclave is about 1 ft long, the larger crystals are resorbed plagioclase from the host dacite.

This is a medium grained porphyritic enclave also in the dacite host and once again the larger crystals are resorbed plagioclase. This enclave was smaller at around 8 in.

Heiken, G., and J.C. Eichelberger, 1980, Eruptions at Chaos Crags, Lassen Volcanic National Park, California; Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 7, 443-481.

There is still more from the first day, but you have to wait until the next post.

Wilderness, wilderness....

2008-08-25T19:58:00.000-07:00

What is wilderness? I chose the title for this blog entry because I am still reading Desert Solitare by Edward Abbey.

I'm trying to find a job in geology in the state of California now. Hopefully I will have luck soon and other will too!

A quick excursion in the Coast Range

2008-08-16T23:38:00.000-07:00

What geologic process formed the rocks in the picture?

Well, if you answered turbidites, you would be right. So why do I mention turbidites?

On Friday, my friend and I decided that we wanted to go on a road trip. We decided on a trip to the northern Coast Range through the Capay Valley, where some turbidites can be found. Then we went west to Clear Lake and Ukiah, where we ate lunch at a cute Mexican restaurant in downtown. The food was great and reasonably priced. It was afternoon by the time my son finished his lunch; he was having too much fun smushing french fries. Maybe he was just working on how an accretionary wedge forms during subduction. We realized we were a far way from Sacramento, so we headed south to Highway 128. It was a very beautiful drive through Calistoga, St Helena, etc. Of course, we talked about geology, as we passed fairly close to "The Geysers", where lots of small earthquakes occur and geothermal activity is present. We also passed Lake Berryessa, which both of us had stopped at for field camp. We never hit any traffic until we got to Davis, all those bay area people trying to escape the city. To end our marathon drive, we went shopping at the IKEA in West Sacramento. In 11 hours I drove something like 400 miles and did exactly what I wanted to. I had a great time with my son and friend.

A typical outcrop picture for the Coast Ranges. The Great Valley Group is just not stable!

Arch Collapse

2008-08-12T09:22:00.000-07:00

I noticed on my yahoo homepage that an arch had collapsed at Arches National Park sometime during the night of August 4. My curiosity wondered which arch it was, considering I was there over a month ago and had a wonderful time.

Well, it was Wall Arch located on the Devils Garden Trail. When I hiked this trail, I stopped at Landscape Arch since we had limited time, so I did not ever get the chance to see this arch. I can be saddened by this, but as geologist I know some other beautiful arch is forming in the park right now.

I very much appreciate the time I was at Arches and I am experiencing it all over again reading Desert Solitaire. It was a place I had always wanted to go and I was awe stuck by the beauty of the arches. Only to be Edward Abbey back then and have the entire park to yourself and free to roam anywhere. I can not wait for the moment that I can take my son to a place like Arches and the rest of the Southwest, which I hope is much sooner in his life than later.

If you want more info on the arch collapse, here is the link to the NPS website for Arches. http://www.nps.gov/arch/parknews/news080808.htm

Quick update on thesis work

2008-08-10T23:49:00.001-07:00

Here is a sample of what I have been working on for my research. I have 6 domes to complete the Crystal Size Distribution (CSD) on and I am only on the third dome. I have 18 different pictures to finish for dome C and I have been working on those for 3 months now and really have finished most within the last week. Like I said in previous posts, lots going on this summer except for working on my thesis. Lucky for me, my thesis advisor is giving me a break because she also has been busy this summer and knows how crazy my life is right now. I was planning to focus heavily on field work this summer and spend weeks up in Lassen Volcanic NP, but so far I have not been once. I hope to change that soon, I might go up in a week or two with a friend for a few days.

I love mud!

2008-08-04T12:06:00.000-07:00

I know this is not what you were thinking when I said I love mud. Growing up, I was the type of girl, who liked dirt bikes, go carts, Monster Trucks, Winston Cup, etc. Hence, I am a geologist now. My dad used to have a '72 half ton long bed Ford that I secretly wanted to fix up with paint and rims, but that was when I was 16 or so, now I couldn't even imagine how much gas it would take to fill the two tanks it had. I will take a small car any day!

I remember watching mudbogs when I was 8 years old on TV, but I had never been to one, until Sunday night, the last day of the local fair. I was excited! If you know me, I actually like things dirty, like I never wash my car. I just think it is a waste of water. Here comes the geological part, when I was in Death Valley in February 2007, it had rained a 1/2 inch the night before and the next morning we were going to visit Mosaic Canyon. I had never seen muddy water running though the canyon, most of the people in the group didn't want to get wet, but me in my shorts and gore-tex boots, just stomped through the water. It was a blast, so see why I like mud!

DInosaurs attack the Stanislaus County Fair

2008-08-01T13:41:00.000-07:00

The most surprising thing at the fair was the dinosaur exhibit in the children's area. Of course, I thought it was a little cheezy but hey I am geologist who has gone dinosaur bone hunting in the Morrison Formation. The organizers had a big tent filled with full size dinosaur models that included names and locations where the dinosaurs were found. The kids in the tent where going crazy over the dinosaurs, I hope there were some future paleontologists in the group. I am glad that I got the chance to witness children having fun and getting educated at the same time about geology. Of course, I have to admit about my own child. He was crying the whole time in the tent, because he wanted to ride the Dumbo ride outside. All I did was shake my head, let my dad push him and kept walking........

My Favorite Pictures of Summer #6

2008-07-28T13:21:00.001-07:00

I love jellyfish! I am fascinated by them, they way they move, the elegant beauty of them, I can just watch them for hours. So why the jellyfish picture, on Friday I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was beautiful over in Monterey, CA, a perfect 68 degrees, the smell of the ocean, the taste of the Clam Chowder, it was the right escape from the Central Valley heat.

This is something to laugh at. While staring at the jellyfish on Friday, my geological side of me kicked in and thought how many jellyfish have been preserved in the rock record? Are there jellyfish relatives preserved in the Burgess Shale? I need to research the topic. I think I just laughed out loud to myself, are we as geologists obsessed about geology. I sure hope not!

Another one of my favorite things at the aquarium is the Giant Kelp Forest tank. I had never been there when a diver was down in the tank. It was neat but I didn't get a good photo of the diver because there was too many people in the vicinity.

My Favorite Pictures of Summer #5

2008-07-22T12:56:00.000-07:00

Angles Landing is one of the most crazy hiking trails I have ever been on. I had been to Zion National Park before, but had hiked the Virgins Narrows instead, which is also a great hike.

So why is this trail crazy? Actually a huge percentage of the trail is not bad, the trail is located on a huge fin of Navajo Sandstone located in the middle of Zion Canyon, so the different viewpoints of the canyon are incredible. Highlights along the trail are Refrigerator Canyon (a much needed cool and refreshing shady spot, photo 2) and Walters Wiggles (crazy switchbacks, photo 3). The real test of this trail comes when you decide to hike to the very, very top and is known as "the chains".

This part of the trail left me breathless! I am a normally sure footed and a confident hiker, but this trail made me have second thoughts. I was hiking with a group of people who told me if I turned around now that I would regret getting close but not finishing the trail. Lets just say, I held on to the chains very tight, but I made it to the very top and was rewarded with wonderful views of Zion Canyon.

Luckily coming down, I could slowly and comfortably take my time and even took my picture in the steepest part of the trail, a shear 1,500 ft drop on both sides! I am glad I did the trail and look forward if ever in Zion National Park again, to complete the trail again. This is another one of those mout do trails for geologists.

My Favorite Pictures of Summer #4

2008-07-19T23:30:00.001-07:00

One of my most fond memories of the trip was an incredible sunset from on top of Cedar Mesa.

I had heard this place was wonderful and I didn't know if I could believe it before hand. When we arrived some people were out camping on the point where the group wanted to camp, I remember getting very frustrated.

Then the magic of the mesa began to capture me.............

The feeling of not being surrounded by thousands of tourists was gone, the simple but elegant beauty of the area was right in front of me and the frustration was worn away and turned to joy. I realized that I could see Monument Valley in the far distance, the Goosenecks of the San Juan River below me, and after the most incredible sunset, the billion stars in the sky from my cot on the slickrock. Cedar Mesa is now one of my favorite spots.

My Favorite Pictures of the Summer #3

2008-07-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

The Spruce Tree House at Mesa Verde National Park.

Is anyone getting the theme that all of my pictures are taking place in the southwest? So far that is true, I went on a two week excursion in June studying about geology and anthropology of the Colorado Plateau/Southwest. Previous to this summer I had only had been to places like Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, and the Grand Canyon.

I was very excited to go this summer, because we went to places like Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, Goblin Valley State Park, Capitol Reef NP, Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, Colorado NM, plus the usual suspects like Zion NP, Bryce Canyon NP, and the Grand Canyon, but to the north rim instead. The north rim is my choice from now on, less people, more trees, and campgrounds on the rim. The anthropology part of the trip was also incredible, we learned about the Hopi and Navajo tribes and visited a alot of different ruins to learn about their culture. I even got to buy a Kachina doll on the Hopi Reservation. We also visited Mesa Verde NP, Navajo NM, Hovenweep NM, and drove by Monument Valley, but one of my most favorite things we did was the full moon hike at Canyon de Chelly NM.

That was only some of the places we visited, but my recommendation is if you get the chance to go on a big trip like this, go for it, there are so many life changing experiences.

Back to the picture, this is the Spruce Tree House, we got a special tour by the main archaeologist of the park. He gave us a tour that included the in's and the out's of the Spruce Tree House. What I can say is that I didn't spend the 1 hour to 1 and half hours listening to him talk, I was taking pictures from every different angle possible. I easily took over 100 pictures in that time span. I had always wanted to go to Mesa Verde, especially since I read the third book in Anna Pigeon series, called "Ill Wind" by Nevada Barr. I would love to go back and explore the other cliff dwellings.

My Favorite Pictures of the Summer #2

2008-07-16T14:09:00.001-07:00

This photo is a dream come true and one of the things I wanted to do the most while on the trip, Delicate Arch at sunset. After climbing the 1.5 miles up the slickrock trail, walking around the corner and for the first time standing in the presence of the most famous arch in the world with a added bonus of seeing it at sunset. A large group congregates to take pictures of the arch and it is not quite what I expected. Not to worry, there are places if solitude is wanted, but I am not going to tell you the spots, you are just going to have to explore to find out for yourself. So I recommend this hike at sunset if ever in Arches National Park. It is not one to miss and is one of those must see moments on every geologist's list.

My Favorite Pictures of the Summer

2008-07-14T22:24:00.001-07:00

This picture is in honor of Edward Abbey and the wonderful sunsets he describes.......

I took this picture in June from the Devils Garden Campground in Arches National Park. It was my first time there and what a great way to be introduced.

Getting to know me- My thesis project

2008-07-13T00:50:00.000-07:00

In Fall 2007, I was lucky enough to get an aerial view of my field area by hiking to the top of Lassen Peak. Keep in mind, I was on a geology field trip, where I only had two hours of free time to climb over 2,000ft and get back down. I was only 15 min. late and I can say I ran down Lassen Peak, down in about 35 min.

So my project is the Chaos Crags, located north of Lassen Peak. The crags consist of 6 rhyolitic domes that contain basaltic-andestic enclaves (which are blobs of a different type rock within the host rock). I will soon be spending many hours (that is, if the smoke from all of the fires clears) point counting these enclaves, looking for different types, size, etc. In the meantime, I am also taking digital pictures within thin-sections of these volcanic rocks and using a method called CSD distribution on plagioclase. I am old school, actually outlining plagioclase crystals within each picture using a lightbox and tracing paper, lets just say my hand and wrist hurts and I should buy stock in Sharpie pens. But I am not complaining because I can do this at home, whenever I feel like it, and it gets me more familiar with the rocks, only if my son was older, he could help me trace and color. I have tried using the computer, but I have to admit that I am not advanced enough to use a program like photoshop CS3 to outline just plagioclase crystals.