What a Geologist Does [Original Post Date 3/29/10]

[Notes from 2010.]

Aside from my part-time Geology job and my part-time teaching... 

What I am doing right now includes (when time permits, largely on weekends): 

1) Retyping/rewriting my Master's Thesis (from 1989) and scanning the photos and related 35 mm slides. (It was probably one of the last theses typed on an electric typewriter). Because of the binding, scanning all of the text would be a hassle. 

The reason I am doing this is to be able to send some info to a vulcanologist with the Hawaii Volcano Observatory. A while back, he contacted me with information relating Hawaiian volcanic shatter rings with the Quaternary "explosion-collapse" craters that I studied in the Aden Basalts, in southern New Mexico. 

In other words, he thinks that the five craters I described are probably "shatter rings". My thesis advisor and I had scoured the literature available in the middle and late 1980s and found no references pertaining to these craters, characterized by an encircling rampart of boulders and a collapsed central floor. 

If I can secure his permission to reference his work, I may work up an abstract for a GSA meeting next year, if it doesn't conflict with a more substantial publication he has in the works. 

2) Continuing the work on my science-photo CD.  For the last 8 years I have been compiling a database of photos to use in my Geology and Environmental Science lectures. At this time, I am trying to fill in some missing categories. There are currently 900+ photos applicable to Geology, Biology, Weather (clouds), and Environmental Science. 

I am greatly looking forward to going back to NJ and NYC this summer to get some photos of the glacial features of Central Park and maybe some of the terminal moraines on Long Island. Maybe I will get some good photos of the Palisades of the Hudson and some of the coastal features of New Jersey, including Sandy Hook. 

I would also like to collect some samples of the garnet beach placers on Long Island, i.e., heavy mineral sands dominated by garnet fragments. 

3) Continuing work on a compilation of Cretaceous & Tertiary well logs from Burke County, GA. This began 10+ years ago while a co-worker and I were working on a state geologic survey project in the vicinity of the Savannah River. My friend is a well-known Gulf Coastal Plain stratigrapher and his detailed well-log descriptions were too voluminous to put in the original reports and our goal was to produce a separate report, which would hopefully resolve some of the stratigraphic nomenclature and correlation issues between this part of Georgia and adjacent South Carolina. 

[If memory serves me correctly, my friend logged about 13,000 feet of core for the Tritium Project.] With my friend's retirement to Albuquerque a few years ago, it has hindered work on this paper (he was actually here a couple of weeks ago, looking at other Coastal Plain cores and rewriting well logs - once a stratigrapher, always a stratigrapher). 

If we ever get this paper finished, even if it doesn't get published, if we can print a few copies onto CDs and send them to some local colleges that might be interested, at least someone would have access to the descriptions to the cores for future projects. 

4) Learning the "Ins and Outs" of Google Earth in tying GE images to visited sites and sample locations. As for the sample locations, my junior college is building a sand sample collection, i.e., various beach, river, and dune sand samples and I would like to be able to tie location maps (and descriptions of source area geology) to the individual sand samples. 

5) Revisiting the trace fossils I found in the Permian Cloud Chief Formation in Southern Ellis County, OK. Originally found in July, 2007 and ID'ed as "Arthropod locomotion marks" by the Oklahoma Geological Survey, I recently did an internet search and determined that these are very likely Arthropleurid trackways. Only one side of each set was preserved, perhaps because the centipede-like creature was wider than the individual rock slabs. Though I hope to revisit the area again to do some more collecting and documentation, I doubt that it will be this summer.

Previous Postings of Tom Wessels Videos

From Last Year:

February 13, 2021  Reading the Forest Landscape: Master Class

March 3, 2021  Reading the Forested Landscape: Part 1

March 4, 2021  Reading the Forested Landscape: Part 2

March 5, 2021  Reading the Forested Landscape: Part 3

March 6, 2021  Simply Complex Systems

Simply stated, I wish I currently lived in a place geographically close enough to take some of these outdoor classes.  This is some of the "new" concepts and terminologies I had to learn from the textbook, when I started teaching Environmental Science Lecture classes at a local Junior College, 20 years ago.

Uninvited: The Spread of Invasive Species

Not Geology, but within my Environmental Science sphere of interest.

Willie Nelson - "Nothing I Can Do About It Now" [Live from Austin, TX]

 In my ongoing series: "Down Memory Lane, Lurching I Go, Again ... Parts 1 - 7", I have expressed repeated lamentations about not finishing my part of this Eagle Mts. project, (though I did go on to do a Master's Thesis in another volcanic setting associated with the Aden Basalts in southern New Mexico, a few years later.)

In light of these disappointments, I had posted an apt Willie Nelson philosophical view of this part of my past, but the video of "Nothing I Can Do About It Now" was withdrawn.  The disappointments will always remain, but they will never overshadow the learning adventures, memories, photographs, and experiences I enjoyed 41 years ago.

Revisiting the mountains and camping again at East Mill is a "Bucket List" item that can likely never be fulfilled - for a variety of reasons.  One reason, at age 65+ one simply shouldn't redo some of the things done at age 24.  Grinding around those mountain roads in 4-wheel drive at 10 mph, getting stuck in loose rocks, and having to dig and wedge rocks under the tires - to escape - for example, is the stuff of memories. 

So, it is best to focus on the learning opportunities of things that happened "then" and recounted "now".  Things that include Geology, Geography, Ecology, Environmental Science, Photography, History (I didn't even mention the roles Eagle Spring played (Underwood, 1980) at the northern end of the mountains, as a stagecoach stop and a place in which the "Buffalo Soldiers" took shelter as they were being chased by Victorio's renegades), ...

In that regard, I hope something positive is gained amidst my blatherings.

Reference:

Underwood, J.R., 1980  Eagle Spring Station on the San Antonio - San Diego Mail Line, in Dickerson, P.W., Hoffer, J.M., and Callender, J.F. (eds.) Trans Pecos Region (West Texas), New Mexico Geological Society 31st Annual Fall Field Conference Guidebook, pp. 311 - 314

My Background - Part 6

 2014 - Present

Inspirations, Recent-Past, and Present

In various posts on Itinerant Geologist and geosciblog, I believe I have made references to the life changes I went through in 2015 and how those changes led to my 2015 and 2016 travels.  Those life changes included some before 2015 and some after 2015.  Some I will touch on and some I may not (as the spirit moves me).

Basically, it was a time following the winding-down of my "career" as a junior college adjunct instructor of Geology, Environmental Science, and related courses in the greater Atlanta area and the decline of my first wife's health during that time.  

With the arrival of 2014, I became keenly aware of the nostalgic angst that accompanies the 60th birthday and decadal anniversaries, e.g., 20th, 30th, 40th, ... , including the 40th anniversary of my 1974 Western road trip with my then college-roommate, Dave. 

After rereading William Least Heat-Moon's excellent "Blue Highways" in 2014 (praised by some as the best American nonfiction travel book), I decided that a 40th-anniversary road trip just wasn't in the cards.  After that realization, I became inspired to write down "something" about that 8,800-mile, 4-week journey in 1974, in case my kids ever wondered about events leading up to my moving from Georgia to El Paso in early-1977 for Geology grad school and eventually "meeting their Mom" in April 1983 (and getting married in 1984).

After roughing out a Table of Contents and a couple of chapters, other life changes intervened and the project was placed on the "back burner".  Despite having both knees replaced simultaneously in 2013, my first wife's health continued to decline due to worsening cervical spinal stenosis and other health problems.  It was about that time that my perceived junior college teaching "career" was winding down.

I did teach a single course of Integrated Earth and Life Science, at a different college during the Spring Semester 2014.  It was a hybrid lecture/lab course intended to teach or refresh public school teachers a mixture of Geology and Biology.  I enjoyed being at a different campus, that had nature trails behind the campus and gold in the creek.  It was a good setting for occasional on-campus field trips.  But the Geologists in the Science Department never seemed to be willing to make a new adjunct "feel at home".  I just didn't fit in.

In the Fall of 2014, I did get a pretty good hourly job as a Land Survey Assistant with a local Engineering firm.  [I enjoy outdoor jobs.]  Though it wasn't a terribly good "fit" for a Geologist, my Supervisor liked me, as; 1) I showed up early for work, unlike the 20-somethings; 2) I only took 20 minutes for lunch, and 3) I didn't have to stop every 20 minutes for a smoke break.  

This job continued until March 2015, until I hurt my back at home splitting firewood and I had to resign.  After a Chiropractor friend in our church helped me recover, I came to the realization that this job was better suited for someone 25 - 30 years old, instead of 61 (by that time).

Perhaps it was a "higher power's" way of telling me that I needed to spend more time at home with my first wife, Marla.  The residual pain from the double knee replacement, the pain and tingling from the cervical spinal stenosis, and osteoarthritis in her hips and shoulders, plus issues with the powerful pain-killers caused her to lose interest in living.  

To be continued:

Ecology and Environmental Science Posts

Here is the "search link" to past posts in which "Ecology" was mentioned.

And here is the "search link" to past posts in which "Environmental Science" was mentioned.

Though related, these two disciplines are not the same.  Ecology is a "branch" of Biology relating to organisms and their interactions with their surrounding Ecosystems, including how those organisms themselves influence their resident Ecosystems.

"Environmental Science" is more of a "hybrid" discipline, incorporating elements of Biology, Geology, Physics, Chemistry, History, Human Culture, Politics, Economics, i.e., looking more at the "big picture" of the natural and the human-influenced aspects of the Earth.  

Down Memory Lane, Lurching I Go, Again - Part 4

 [While doing "series posts" (consisting of Part 1, Part 2, ... ), I have been guilty of posting a Part 1 and then getting distracted and not completing planned subsequent related posts.  As for the prior parts of this thread, please scroll down.]

As previously mentioned, despite the regrets of not having finished this project and failing to inform myself of what my cohorts learned, over the years I have used some of my scanned slides (and memories) as Educational Resources, as seen with the labeled images (Figure 1) and suggested discussions below.

In an attempt to resurrect my portion of the project and to spend some "really quiet time" with only the sound of the wind and my thoughts, I visited the Eagle Mountains either in the Fall of 1979 (or was it 1980?), by myself.

As usual, I checked in at the ranch house to verify it was still OK (it was).  While chatting with the caretaker, he mentioned that the remnants of a hurricane had "wandered up the Rio Grande Valley" from the Gulf Coast and that it "sat" over the Eagle Mts. for a weekend, during which time they got 22 inches of rain (courtesy of "Orographic Lifting" - my conclusion).  [Usable in Weather and Climate discussions.]

(I suppose by examining Gulf of Mexico weather records could help estimate the date, but it doesn't matter.)  He advised me of this as "some of the roads didn't exist - in a usable manner - anymore" and he didn't have the proper equipment to fix them.  [I guess the owner in Houston was trying to decide if fixing them was worth it.]

 Figure 1A.

The text box (in the above image) obscures the roadway we used in 1978 in the NE quadrant.  This was a normal arroyo (dry canyon) crossing, down-gradient from a canyon draining part of the "highlands".  Though this wasn't part of my 1978 field area, I had wanted to explore the more-accessible parts of the NE and SE quadrants and so some more photography.

The image below shows the "roadus interruptus" within an "inner montane valley".  It illustrates the poorly-sorted nature of valley alluvium, deposited by "normal" seasonal flooding versus the 4 feet (+/-) of rapid down-cutting from a single catastrophic flash flood.  At the base of the vertical cut, you can see a small "apron" (talus cone) starting to form, as part of nature's re-establishment of a "natural angle-of-repose" for this range of clast sizes.  

[These considerations are usable in discussions of "Cycles of Erosion and Deposition"; "Changes in Flood Velocity and Capacity" due to "Gradient Variations" and degree of "Valley Confinement"; as well as "Soil-Moisture Retention" due to this being on the east side of the mountains.  Suitable for Physical Geology, Hydrology, Weather and Climate, Environmental Science, and Ecology.] 

 Figure 1B.

At the time I was taking this above photo, I wasn't thinking of educational resources or scholarly discussions, I was thinking "Well damn, I will not be doing much exploration in this area of the NE quadrant".  With that, after exploring what I could, I returned to the comfort of the "home base" at East Mill.  (This autumn photo below was probably taken at that time.)

Figure 2.  (Looking approximately Northeast.)

[Please forgive the dust spots on the sky portion of the photo.]

East Mill is a special place for me, even after not having visited it in 40+ years.  Other than a distant train passing miles away, across Eagle Flat, and random airplanes (some to be discussed below), all you could hear was the wind.  So calming as to be spooky at night, when alone.

A weather-related memory stands out amongst the East Mill events of the summer of 1978.

Within the Desert Southwest, usually in early-July, the summer heating of the continental U.S. landmass triggers a "quasi-Monsoon Effect", drawing in moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of California.  We welcomed the appearance of clouds over the mountains (Orographic Effect), as they brought us some shade.  But often that shade was followed by thunderstorms that forced us back to East Mill.

One afternoon, with active clouds in the area, we had "knocked off" and eaten dinner early, as we expected storms.  

[In the view shown in Figure 2, directly behind us, in the Red Light Bolson was the Rio Grande, cutting across at a NW-to-SE angle.  In Mexico, the term "Rio Grande" is not used until downstream of the confluence of the "Rio Conchos" with the "Rio Bravo" ("Rio Grande" of American usage).] 

With an hour and a half of daylight left, a small but intense thunderstorm, that probably began in Mexico, crossed over the ridge west of East Mill, and for about 10 minutes we were treated to heavy rain and lightning strikes within a quarter-mile.  We both piled into my truck and backed up-slope for maybe a 200 yards, to get a little further away from the windmill.

After the storm was "finished" with us, we returned the truck to its normal position.  We stepped out and enjoyed the cool, freshly-washed air.  As the storm trundled across Eagle Flat, then the Carrizo Mts., and across I-10 towards the Beach Mts. (NW of Van Horn), something happened.  It seemed to stop moving.  After a few minutes, it became apparent to me that the storm had reversed direction (by 180 degrees) and was coming back for another noisy visit.

I said "It's coming back.", to which Dan replied, "That's impossible!".  We argued briefly, then I decided to shut up and let the storm do the talking.  A few minutes later, Dan had to admit, "The storm is coming back ... "  

Sure enough, the damn storm drifted about 10 - 15 miles northeast, before the winds changed and pushed it back for Round 2.  We again backed the truck up the hill and watched as the storm repeated its performance, after which it traveled back over the ridge and returned to Mexico.  And with that, our Meteorology lesson in "the Movement of Convection Thunderstorms" was over.

I regret having lost touch with Dan.  If memory serves me correctly, he may have been from upstate New York.  He had a rather laidback attitude about things for a northerner.  I only heard him cuss twice, both times during our being set upon in the Eagle Mts. - at different times - by plagues of gnats and then wasps.  No fellow grad students had ever mentioned being besieged by either.  

When the gnats were at their peak, it seemed that they were desperate for moisture to the point of getting it from your eyes, nose, and mouth, driving Dan to cussing and stating that he was "ready to quit Geology and go sell insurance".  Oh, the heresy!  During the plague, we discovered that the gnats were victimizing other mammals as well.  One day, Dan managed to quietly walk to within 6 feet of a rabbit, because it was rubbing its front paws over its nose and eyes in search of relief.  It finally noticed him and hopped off.  It wasn't until we got a good rain that the gnats subsided.

Sometime later, we gradually started seeing a growing number of reddish-orange wasps flying about.  As they flew closely around us, their behavior seemed more about curiosity than aggression, perhaps they were asking "Well, did you bring us something to eat?".  As luck would have it, we had forgotten to bring any wasp treats.  Dan's second episode of cussing followed one of the curious wasps crawling into his backpack and when he reached in for something, the wasp demonstrated that it COULD sting if it needed to. 

[Sorry, still compiling the list of References.]

My Background - Part 5

 The College Teaching Years 2001 -2014

After leaving the Georgia Geologic Survey, at the suggestion of a coworker, I applied to teach at a local junior college with multiple campuses.  I was accepted for a part-time adjunct position as an Instructor of Geology and Environmental Science courses, starting in January 2001.  

I enjoyed it and the various campuses I taught at had places suitable for on-campus field trips.  I applied for a full-time position opening after one semester.  I didn't get it, but I didn't expect that to that soon.  No problem.  As long as I was getting three classes per semester and my first wife was still healthy and teaching at a public school, we did OK.  

I applied again after 3 and 4 years but didn't even get an interview as I had in 2001.  No "home-field advantage" in being familiar with the different campuses, as far as using the outdoors as a teaching setting.  I was disheartened, but kept on teaching, thinking I was "paying my dues" towards a full-time position.  I thought that was how it went.

As time went by, I ran across an old (printed) email from another former coworker, warning me that this particular college used adjuncts with no intention of hiring them.  I foolishly kept thinking that another opportunity was "just around the corner".  After 8 years, I applied again for another opening with the same results, ... no interview.  

The status quo of three classes per semester (usually) continued until the Spring of 2013, when I managed to secure a total of five classes on two different campuses, about 20 miles apart on different days.  Perhaps I somehow knew this was my "last hurrah", as my first wife's health had been going downhill due to two bad knees and cervical spinal stenosis.  And I was needing to spend more time tending to her needs.  

It was my first semester in teaching Environmental Science Lab (which had more embedded Biology) and I had two Labs, one at each campus.  I was supposed to get some guidance from an older Biology prof, but it didn't come through and I struggled with both Labs.  And while shuttling between the two campuses, I was in an accident that totaled our only car (my first wife was unable to drive by then).

When the Geologist who had been the Science Department Chair at my primary campus left, he was replaced with the Biology prof with whom I had difficulties in the Spring.  I was told that "not enough students signed up" for the two Summer classes I had been offered.  

When I was offered three 2013 Fall classes, I declined the 2 daytime classes to spend helping my wife after her double knee surgeries but accepted the night class.  Again, I was told that "not enough students signed up" and my access to the college email system was promptly cut off.  I was "squeezed out".  With the help of the Lab supervisor, I was able to retrieve my rocks, maps, and books I had been stashing in the Geology Lab while donating a fair number of maps and some fossils.

The worst part of this was my misguided loyalty when I had been warned.  I should have had a "5-year plan", in which if I wasn't full-time within that time, I would have left and gone to the public school system (as I had grown to enjoy teaching Earth Science by then) - at age 52 - instead of 59 in 2013 when I was squeezed out.  And so it goes.

My Background - Part 3

 Part 1 and Part 2 were posted on prior days.  [I present these memories for the sake of science education and as a way to encourage other folks to chronicle influential events and time periods in their past.]

University of Texas-El Paso - Geology, Geography, Geophysics, Geochemistry (1977 - 1990)

As I was finishing up my B.S. degree at Georgia Southern, our professors had told us to "leave the southeast and see some different geology".  I applied to 4 or 5 middle-sized Geology grad schools (with reasonable tuitions), in other parts of the country, e.g., Carbondale, IL; Rolla, MO; Bozeman, MT; Pocatello, ID; El Paso, TX ...

Perhaps because of my 1973 and 1974 western travels, I was biased towards the Midwest or West.  Likely because my GPA was wounded by the Math, Physics, and Chemistry courses I HAD to take (and by my sometimes wayward ways), the University of Texas-El Paso was the only one to accept me.  (After hearing later winter weather reports, especially about Bozeman and Pocatello, I was glad that El Paso was my new residence.)  

The exact date of my arrival in El Paso has been forgotten, but it was a few days before registration.  Other than my Dad giving me the name of one of his Army buddies, I knew not a single person in the city.

Other than snow covering I-20 somewhere west of Fort Worth and some worrisome moments on U.S. 78 in extreme west Georgia, the journey was fairly routine.  I rolled into town on a late afternoon and stayed at a motel on North Mesa Street.  The next morning, I checked in with the Geology Department, just to let them know I was around.

How I managed to find that tiny, basement apartment at 1201 1/2 Randolph Street, on that first afternoon is an enduring mystery.  It was only $85/month and I was pleased with my success.

Spring Semester of 1977 turned out well, with a 3.6 average, including "A's" in Geomorphology and Stratigraphy.  I had made friends with some of my classmates and my joining the Beer Can Collectors had added some more friends.  The biggest surprise was in the dust storms that seemed to accompany each passing weather front.

My first Summer in El Paso was occupied by a 10-week Geology Field Camp, which entailed an intense introduction to the local geology (for the visiting students), reviews of geologic-mapping methods, and an intense introduction (for me) to the dry heat of the Chihuahuan Desert.   After the end of the fieldwork, there was a 10-day field trip through parts of the Four Corners states (NM, AZ, UT, and CO).

After the course was over, I gave a ride back to Atlanta to a field camp classmate from the University of South Carolina (that I failed to keep in touch with).  We took turns driving the 1,500 miles straight-through and I dropped him off at the Atlanta Greyhound station 38 hours later.  My only request (demand?) of him was that we take the southern route (I-10 to I-59 to I-20), so I could pick up some Shiner Beer and Dixie Beer.  That route was about 100 miles longer, but when you don't sleep anyway, what is two more hours?  It also gave me a good first-look at the Edwards Plateau Cretaceous limestones.

Due to continued distractions, I did OK in grad school, though a few of my grades should have been better.  I had been a "late bloomer", sometimes lacking in self-confidence.  When I fell in love for the first time in mid-1977 (and it crashed and burned in early 1979, I took it way too hard and dropped out of grad school).  That included abandoning my original Thesis project in the Eagle Mts., Hudspeth County, TX.  

[Walking away from grad school was a mistake, but as I fully intended to return, I didn't entertain any thoughts of returning to Georgia.  In the interim, I did odd jobs, bought and sold beer collectibles, and bought and sold mineral specimens when I traveled.]

It wasn't until I met my first wife Marla in early 1983, that I truly had a focus to my life and when I re-entered grad school, my grades were much better.  (During my second time around, my earlier courses started to "expire" due to a 5-year limit, so I had to retake them while getting married, adopting our first child, and working part-time.)

Resurrecting My Thesis

My original Thesis project had been in the Eagle Mts., as recounted here, here, and here.  My crashed and burned love life interrupted that one.  

My new Thesis, starting about 1985, was of some mystery craters in the Quaternary Aden Basalts, WNW of El Paso, within the Potrillo Volcanic Field in southern Doña Ana County, NM.  The craters had been shown to several visiting Geologists, including the respected Dr. Aaron Waters, who stated (in the early 1980s), that he didn't know what they were.  Nowadays, we know them - from Hawaiian research -  as Lava Tube Shatter Rings (Tim Orr, USGS).

Within the fissure-erupted Aden Volcanic Field, in the NW part of the flows is Aden Crater, a late-stage small shield volcano (the crater of which is about 2,000 feet across).  [Some photos are labeled for educational purposes.]

The five "craters" associated with Aden Crater are characterized by a roughly-circular to lobate encircling boulder rampart, with a collapsed inner floor. 

 Figure 1.  Index map of NW Aden Basalts.  (Perhaps due to a buried fault, the "Aden Rift" makes an almost-90 degree angle to the East.)  Craters #3, #4, and #5 were on this second segment.

 Figure 2.  Aden Crater (view from North).

 Figure 3.  View of "Aden Rift", upon which Craters #1 and #2 rest.  (View is from the slopes of Aden Crater.)

 Figure 4.  Aerial photo of craters (Lava Tube Shatter Rings) #1 and #2, approximately 1 km (S 65 E) from Aden Crater.  (Photo by Tom Rollag & Assoc.)  Due to the size, Crater #1 was selected for more detailed descriptions.

 Figure 5.  Descriptive schematic of Crater #1.

As we had discovered nothing in the mid-1980's literature search, we had no idea of what to call them.  My interpretation was that the boulder ramparts were heaped up by explosive activity, followed by lava lake filling of the craters.  After eruptions ceased, the lava lakes collapsed, yielding the present morphology.

 Figure 6.

Figure 7.  In limited locations, the margins are marked by arched basalt flows.

There are plenty of interesting volcanic features to see in the area.  This tiny Spatter Vent is just outside Crater #1.

 Figure 8.  

Figure 9.  Outer margin of Crater #1 boulder ramparts.

Figure 10.  A Lava Cone is a miniature Shield Volcano.  Usually, after the eruptions cease, they collapse in on themselves.  This one didn't.

After Graduation

After completing my M.S., I had a yearning to get closer to home.  While examining strategies, I took one or two Education courses, in case I decided to pursue teaching (Marla was a teacher).  I checked around Austin, TX, but it seemed that there was a temporary lull in the "oil-based" Geology job market and the "Environmental" job market hadn't really taken off yet, as I had heard it had in the Atlanta area.  

UTEP did not yet have any Hydrology courses in the Geology Department in 1990, the Hydrology course I took was through the Engineering Department (or was it Chemistry?).  Hydrology (the study of Water and its characteristics and habits) is one of the most important components of Environmental Science and Ecology (related fields, but not exactly the same).

So the choice was made in early 1991, to move my family closer to the Southeast...  

For Anyone Dropping In - Part 2

 I have been blogging for a while (since 2005?), in an earlier blog incarnation about science and politics, lately about science only on this site.  Though activity has sagged during the last few years, partially due to Facebook posts, including science posts and photos, things trundle on here. 

A current state of mind (angst?) urges me towards writing on this blog about the science of past travels and hoped-for future geo-travels (including perhaps some "Geo-Bucket List" travels), with my second wife (she enjoys nature photography, as I do).  With her, I no longer have to endure the frustrating question from travel companions "Why do you need to take 10 photos of that wildflower (or that rock outcrop)?"   (Not making value judgments upon others, but a fellow photographer understands these things.)

In some cases, this blog may take on characteristics of a "geo-travel blog", perhaps in an effort to encourage pre-preparation prior to a family journey.  With the current wealth of internet resources, some advance planning (reading) can offer added educational benefits, even with after-the-fact narratives about a vacation. 

Woven within descriptions of past travels may include additional thoughts and notes regarding "what I might do differently".  If I travel some of the same particular treks, if life and Providence allow,  I want to do it better.  And to write well about those travels.  (20/20 hindsight being what it is.)  As my interests have evolved beyond "just Geology" - as discussed below - other things will be covered.

I don't pretend to be any sort of international geo-traveler, my travels have only included a brief round-trip from central New Hampshire to Ottawa, Ontario 40 years ago and several field trips from El Paso southward into Mexico, between 1977 and 1990 (or so.)  

My most recent spate of travels (in mid-2015, mid-2016, and early 2017) have been in the wake of 1) Job transitions and the difficulties of finding meaningful full-time science-related work in my mid-60s; 2) My first wife's passing two years ago; 3) The moving of my daughter's family from the Atlanta area to Phoenix, two years ago; 4) The return of my daughter's family to the Atlanta area, earlier this year.  (Details as to Items 2, 3, and 4 have been related in earlier posts, for the sake of relevance.)

During my years (2001 - 2017) of employment as an adjunct instructor at several Atlanta-area and North Georgia junior colleges, teaching Environmental Science classes and leading field trips and nature hikes triggered within me a desire to improve my plant, wildflower, and animal ID skills.  The ability to ID at least some of what I see makes field trips and nature hikes more interesting and fulfilling.  Thus when I stop along a roadway for photos, I am as likely photographing plants and wildflowers, in addition to geological features.

Finally, this not an exercise - solely - in self-promotion or for  "graybeard" reminisces, but as an extension of teaching and promoting science education.  If I can at least provoke increased nature curiosity in readers, that will be a goal met, if that curiosity is followed-up with new learning experiences.

A Secondary Cause of North American Deserts Revisited

[Revisiting of an earlier post from December 1, 2019, because aside from the primary cause of the four North American Temperate Deserts being The Rain Shadow Effect, it is useful to remember the secondary cause as being the Mid-Latitude High-Pressure Zone.]  (There were a total of five pertinent video posts on December 1, 2019.) 

From the time that I took a Weather and Climate course while in grad school, during the Fall of 1987 until I started teaching Environmental Science in junior college in 2001, I didn't give much thought to Hadley Cells.

After I met my first wife, Marla, in early 1983, I gained much more focus and purpose than ever before.  I made an "A" in the Weather and Climate course and in the Physical Geography Lecture and Lab courses, as well, for a "4.0 semester". 

Though we did cover the concept of Hadley Cells, I don't recall if it was described as being responsible for vertical air-circulation patterns that produce most of the world's mid-latitude deserts, a process that can locally be enhanced by the Rain Shadow Effect.  (As briefly covered, yesterday.) 

For the sake of review, in 1735, George Hadley proposed a single, large vertical atmospheric circulation cell (in each latitudinal hemisphere) as a major factor behind global wind patterns.  Uplift provided by Equatorial Heating was the driving force behind each circulation cell, with the atmospheric winds cooling and falling as they reached the Poles.

Over time, further study revealed that Earth's circulation likely prevented the existence of a single large circulation cell, making the 3-cell model more plausible.  With the acceptance of that model, the term "Hadley Cell" was re-applied to the two cells adjacent to the Equator and driven by persistent Equatorial Heat in the "Equatorial Low-Pressure Zone".

In both cases, the upper Troposphere Winds "fall" at approximately 30 degrees North and South, creating a persistent zone of High Pressure, now referred to as the "Mid-Latitude High-Pressure Zone" or the "Subtropical Ridge" (of High Pressure).  As with the Rain Shadow winds, the falling air warms and dries, suppressing cloud formation and growth.  Between 30 and 60 degrees Latitude (North and South), this cell is now referred to as the "Farrell" or "Ferrel" cell.

At approximately 60 degrees North and South of the Equatorials are weak zones of Low-Pressure and rising air, called the High-Latitude Low-Pressure Zone."  Between there and the North (or the South Pole) is referred to as the Polar Cell, in each hemisphere.

The Chihuahuan Desert: Our North American Outback

 

[This video was previously posted on November 30, 2019.  The Chihuahuan Desert was my home for 14 years and remains influential to my thoughts of Geology and Ecology.]

As I was searching through videos related to the Chihuahuan Desert, I encountered a familiar name.  Kevin von Finger was a casual friend of mine during my El Paso years, we crossed paths often.  (I wish I had spent more time rambling in the desert with him.  He passed away too young.)  

As our personal encounters were usually during social events, I wasn't properly aware of his career as a local Ecologist and Biologist.  (To my great regrets.)  At that particular time, my primary life focus was Geology, but for the most part, my self-education in Ecology and Environmental Science had not begun in earnest.

Where I Been Lately ...

 No, I haven't fallen victim to the COVID-19 virus, but it has thrown things "askew" (aka in a "tizzy").  Nor - thankfully - have any members of our household fallen victim (though we are "at-risk" due to age and health issues).  I am not aware of any friends directly having it, either.

I lost two good friends to cancer this Spring, Cheryl before the pandemic (brain cancer) and Garey (pancreatic cancer) after the pandemic began to wholly influence everything in our lives.  

I thankfully got to visit with Cheryl and help with yard chores during her waning days.  We met when my son was in Boy Scouts and she was teaching various outdoor training courses for scout leaders.  She was an avid hiker on Georgia portions of the Appalachian Trail until Rheumatoid Arthritis slowed her down some years ago.  Sadly, it was her cigarette habit that probably led to her cancer.

I was unaware of Garey's diagnosis in mid-March (we lived about 50 miles apart in different areas of metro-Atlanta).  I regret not getting to at least talk to him.  I wasn't aware of his April passing until some mutual friends posted his obituary (from in our college alumni magazine) to Facebook in August. 

A few years back, we made several fossil-hunting trips from Atlanta to Chattanooga and one trip to Graves Mountain, Georgia.  The Chattanooga trips were filled with reminiscences of our undergrad Geology classes and field trips. And we usually brought back a few craft beers from Chattanooga that were not available in Atlanta. It was always a pleasant time.

I haven't had a haircut since perhaps early March.  Also during that time, I haven't hugged my daughter, my grandsons, my sister, or my niece, though I have visited with them and chatted from a "social distance".  And because of our "at-risk" status, I haven't had a sit-down meal in a restaurant since mid-March or so, though we have done takeout a few times from a local Mexican restaurant.

At the beginning of 2020, unaware of events awaiting us this year, I had intended to post daily on both of my blogs, the other of which is dedicated to travel-related geology, within the "lower 48" states.  I wanted to do more with the travel-related blog, "Itinerant Geologist" than just post videos, but composing and writing takes time.  I plan to gradually "blend in" posts from Itinerant Geologist into this one.

The pandemic (and semi-quarantine) has sort of enhanced my status of being "semi-retired" by precluding any substitute teaching, for at least the rest of the calendar year and my quarterly part-time job has been scaled back to a little less than half of what it was.  It is hard to accept the idea of "being put out to pasture" when I still want to be active in Geology and Environmental Science when circumstances and health allow.  

But in light of the passings of those two friends and the pandemic employment disruptions much worse than mine, I am thankful for what I have and what I can still do outside such as; Nature Photography, some light rockhounding, yardwork, and periodic stream and watershed cleanups. 

I would like to get back to doing some work on my various writing projects and hopefully recapture some sense of purpose.  That was a partial reason for blogging, to keep my mind "busy" and to usher a return to "telling my story", to at least leave behind some sort of spiral-bound narrative about "crossroads" events in my life, e.g., my 1974 Road Trip and my 1977 move from Atlanta to El Paso.

It seems that cultural changes have adversely-influenced the intergenerational conveyance of information within families, i.e., I wish I knew more about the routines and events of the lives of my parents and grandparents.  While some aspects of modern culture pull families apart, the advent of "Micro-publishing" and leave behind hard copies of narratives for "later times".  If descendants choose not to read them, at least we attempted to "maintain that thread".

And so it goes.

Important Scientific Terms and Concepts

[I ran across some lecture notes from when I used to teach Environmental Science classes, between 2001 and 2013.]

"Open Systems" vs. "Closed Systems"

[The textbook definition of a "System" will be added later.]

Open Systems exchange energy, matter, or information between its internal elements and the surrounding environment.  (In terms of living organisms, stimuli detected by various senses provide "information" that influence the organism.)

Nature (as in Climate and Weather) is an Open System, as is every included ecosystem (biome) and every living organism.  And within each system are numerous smaller systems. 

Closed Systems are isolated from their environment, as in a laboratory or computer models.

Inputs - Energy, matter, or information that goes into a system.  "Climate Drivers" are examples of known inputs that influence weather (short term) and climate (a rolling 30-year average).  There may be other inputs that we have not yet recognized.  Inputs can by cyclical or random.

Throughputs - What happens to energy, matter, or information while it is within a system.

Outputs - The results of the passage of energy, matter, or information in a system.  An output for one system may be input for another system.

Feedback Loops are "Nature's Way" of self-regulation of a system.

Positive Feedback Loops happen when a change in a system triggers another change that speeds up the system.

Negative Feedback Loops happen when a change in a system triggers another change that slows down the system.

Synergy - When two or more inputs exaggerate the eventual output of a system.

Antagonism - When two or more inputs cancel (or lessen the effects of) each other.

Time Delay - All systems (and sub-systems) operate at different rates and those rates may be affected by temperature or other inputs.  That is why it may be years or decades between "cause" and "effect".