Where on (Google)Earth? #88
Lab Lemming attempted to broaden the appeal of Where-on(G)E (not to be confused with the beta What-on(G)E series over at Highly Allochthonous) by posting an image of an area dominated by ice … perhaps hoping to get some climate scientists involved.
Unfortunately for them, I finally found an idle moment to look for a Where-on(G)E. Lately I haven’t found the time to do some proper searching…combined with the fact that I couldn’t find any of them! This time, I think I got a tad lucky … Lab Lemming’s comments that this area was of some importance made me think it had to be something that wasn’t too obscure. I saw the cracks in the ice and immediately thought of the Larsen Ice Shelf. I went there and … boo yah.
So, Where on (Google)Earth #88 is back here on Clastic Detritus and very close to the anniversary of the series (see Where-on(G)E #1 from January 18, 2007 here).
In honor of that, I’m going to do something new and show a feature that hasn’t really been shown too much in past installments — a major city. Maybe some of you will immediately recognize this place. I’m hoping this aspect will attract some new players. So, for this one you have to name the city and then just a very general statement about the geology. Click on the image for a bigger version.
We usually require some coordinates with an answer, but you can simply name the city and country for this one (put your answer in the comments).
Good luck and the Schott Rule is in effect (previous winners must wait at least one hour for each win that they have before posting a solution). The winner gets to host the next Where on (Google)Earth on their blog.
Posted: January 9th, 2008, 8:30pm Pacific Standard Time (convert to your time zone here)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dissertation revisions
Most of you know that I successfully defended my PhD research in December.
What I’m going through now is pretty typical (at least for my institution): I’m revising and refining parts of the document according to comments and suggestions from committee members.
My dissertation comprises three chapters, each of which is a stand-alone paper designed to be submitted to a journal. When I have more time, and when it’s all officially over, I’ll outline each in much more detail. But, for now, I’m going to discuss them more generally.
Chapter 1 was originally submitted last July. The first reviews came back a few days before my defense, which was actually good timing. So, now I’m looking at those peer reviews combined with reviews from my committee members. Essentially, I can revise the manuscript for the journal and, at the same time, clean up what will be the dissertation version.
Chapter 2 doesn’t need too much refinement for the dissertation, but still needs work before it’s ready to submit to a journal. It’s too long and too dissertation-chapter-esque.
Chapter 3, which is the work I presented at AGU last month, was submitted over the holiday break! I’m very excited about this paper…we’ll see how excited I am when reviews come back trashing it. For the dissertation, however, this one is done. Done. The version that I submitted a couple weeks ago will be the one in the dissertation.
My research job with The Man starts in less than a month, so it looks like Chapter 2 might not be ready for journal submission before I start there. This is not ideal…but it happens. Getting two-thirds of my PhD work submitted before leaving is pretty good. I tried.
To be honest, I’m having a difficult time getting my head fully into these revisions. I need a break…I deserve a break. But, I need to keep at it.
Almost there…stay on target.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Friday Field Foto #37: Ancient submarine channel
Wow … I haven’t posted a Friday Field Foto since November! Sorry about that … December was kinda busy.
This week’s photo is from my PhD field area in southern Chile. I’m currently working on revisions to a paper that was submitted last summer and is also a major chapter in my soon-to-be-officially-completed dissertation. So, these rocks are back in the forefront of my mind.
The title of this post is “ancient submarine channel” … to be more specific (and anal-retentive), what you are looking at is what I am interpreting as the deposits that filled channelform accommodation. That is, it is very difficult to point to a preserved sedimentary body like this and simply label it a “channel” because the deposits that fill a channel are sometimes quite different from the processes that created the channel.
But, I digress, I don’t want to split hairs too much here…that’s not the point, I can do that in papers or at conferences.
What I do want to do is point out the noticeable features of these rocks. First, notice the sandstone-rich body in the center of the photo. The thickness of the sand on the cliff face in the foreground is about 20 meters. Second, notice how this sand body thickens away from you in this view. The sand body on the cliff face in the middle ground is about 30 m thick. It may be difficult to see on this photo, but note how the beds in the lower part of the middle-ground cliff face pinch out against the base of the body. Here’s a zoomed-in version.
So, picture a “scoop”-shaped depression on the sea floor that is subsequently filled in by turbidity current deposits that lap onto the side of depression. This is what we mean by “channelform” … it has the shape of a channel, but in many cases we can’t determine from a limited outcrop if the feature is indeed an ancient channel fill. In this case, there are numerous other smaller-scale features that lead us to interpret the composite body as a channel fill. We climbed all over these cliff faces, measured sections, measured paleocurrents, and so on.
What’s even more telling is context. The characteristics of similar-looking sand bodies stratigraphically below and above this one were analyzed similarly. You’re gonna have to wait until the paper is in press (hopefully in another couple months) to see all the details.
Happy Friday!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GoogleEarth visualization of oil consumption
A friend clued me in to this cool GoogleEarth visualization that shows oil consumption by country. The screenshots below show total consumption (height is proportional to barrels of oil per day).
You can get the file at the GoogleEarth Blog here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We like round numbers
The price of a barrel of oil hit $100 today (at the time of this post, it’s just under). Even though it’s only $1 more than $99, it’s a nice round number, which makes it newsworthy. Since I’m posting about it…I guess I’m included in the bandwagon-jumping activities.
I posted about this milestone several weeks ago here.
The more significant milestone, however, is breaking the inflation-adjusted record of $101.70. But, again, this is just a record…easy to report about in the news. Ideally, the reporting of such a thing will foster discussion about our usage of a resource that continues to rise in demand even though we may have (if we haven’t already) surpassed peak global production.
Here is a key statement from this report:
Retail gasoline prices have not risen as fast as oil prices over the last few months, largely due to weak demand.
There are, of course, some top-down solutions for evading a full-blown energy crisis that need to be discussed, but we should not forget about bottom-up solutions, such as good ol’ conservation (gasp! … how dare I suggest such a thing!). You want to help keep prices of fuel down? Buy less of it. Does this solve everything? Of course not…that’s ridiculous. But, my point is that it’s not all about top-down solutions.
Top-down solutions are easier to cite as the “answer” because they seem so good on paper…plus, when they don’t work as envisioned, it’s easy to point to one entity as the reason it didn’t work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NHL Winter Classic
My first post of 2008 has absolutely nothing to do with Earth science.
Although I didn’t get to watch it (we don’t have cable), I listened to the NHL Winter Classic earlier today via NHLradio.com. Playing hockey on New Year’s Day is a tradition in many parts of the northern United States and Canada.
This year, the NHL did something great that I hope they do again — an outdoor game. The game was in my hometown of Buffalo, New York, which is rabid for hockey (and only 15 minutes from the Canadian border). The Buffalo Sabres played the Pittsburgh Penguins in the outdoor stadium that is usually used for football. Apparently, there was talk about whether or not they could fill the stadium. They sold out easily — 70,000 fans showed up and got a real treat … it was plenty cold and it even snowed during the game. This is how hockey should be. I wish I had been there.
A bunch of idiotic media types poo-pooed the idea, whether or not it was a good move for the NHL, if the event would increase popularity for the sport in the States, blah blah. Who the hell cares? It’s a hockey game. The rest of the country can watch football, that’s fine with me.
Check out some photographs I found from this great event (click on the image to go to source).
Workers mist the ice surface in preparation for the game.
Sabres practice on the outdoor rink on Monday.
Unfortunately, Sidney Crosby for the Penguins (above) scored in the shootout to beat my Sabres.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’m back…
…and I don’t have anything interesting to post about…yet.
I spent the last week or so in Minneapolis, Minnesota for the holiday. It was cold and we had a white Christmas (that crappy photo at left is through the window and from my cell phone).
I have to admit, it was kind of nice to have the pretty snow falling on Christmas Day but, I also have to admit, a week was enough! I grew up with “real” winter but haven’t lived through it for several years. I am used to a much milder winter now and that’s just fine with me.
I don’t know about you all, but I always feel like I need a little vacation after the vacation. A couple days really doing nothing at home. I need to catch up on any doings in the blogosphere and such…my GoogleReader is full of lots o’ goodies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Reason for the Season
I saw this on Active Margin the other day and loved it instantly. The original can be found on this blog.
Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all that stuff to everybody!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
7 things you didn’t know about me
Memetime! Chris tagged me with this one. I did these really fast…first things that popped into my head:
(1) I play drums (at least, I used to before trying to finish a PhD).
(2) I ski, both alpine and telemark style (at least, I used to before trying to finish a PhD).
(3) I was born in the state of Ohio, but barely remember living there.
(4) My middle name is my dad’s first name.
(5) Even though it’s completely impractical and a waste of money/resources, I would love to have a fast sports car someday.
(6) I’m fairly useless and uncomfortable when it comes to tools and fixing things around the house (i.e., I am very unhandy).
(7) I had ceviche last night.
–
I tag Ain’t From Around Here, ChrisS, and Kate.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Clastic Detritus 