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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
Sprocketville
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Jun 21, 2009 - 03:45am PT
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That is a wonderful cave, but how was it formed?
I think we ought to ask the lisping geologist about this one:
"Sonny Jim, it's like this. Schissssst, schlate, and shherpintine shale-like sands were in syncline solution with shhanidine sscarp stacks.
the shhhurficial deposhists of scoria ssheastacke get convoluted in a shubmarine fan which caused shhhhseismic shubduction.
many sheetwash stringers can be found in the shrink-well stream capture.
every ssshhillimantle ssstratovolcano gets shhilicated out into a shtope block.
furthermore, sheetwash stitching plutons combine with silica salts to form soils. sshhhhiltstone slumps cause schtalagmites to require sshpelogy tests in order to determine the sstalactites schlongation.
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homemade salsa
Trad climber
west tetons
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Jun 21, 2009 - 12:00pm PT
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Sounds like a great book- I just ordered one. Wish they'd had this as a course when I was in college...
Prescott College does do a course called "Rock and Geo" where they cruise around the west, climbing and learning the local geology. I'll turn them onto this- maybe they will buy a stack of them to use as their textbook.
Thanks!
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Klimmer
Mountain climber
San Diego
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Jun 21, 2009 - 02:08pm PT
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My kinda of post. Geology, terrestrial or extra-terrestrial. I love it. I would prefer to read a treaty on non-fiction solid science than any fictional story or book anyday. I will have to check out your book.
My latest area of interest is learning the science and getting very good at optical mineralogy. It is absolutely amazing what we can learn at the microscopic scale. It is an old tool but a very important and powerful one. I love the photography aspect also.
Here is something else. In all the geology/geomorphology courses I have had, there is nothing natural or by natural processes that explains this on the surface of Mars (or Earth for that matter) . . .
Ok, everyone (NASA included) what the heck is it? And if you think it is natural feature of Mars, then please explain the geomorphology involved in creating it. I know what it is, but then you probably don't want to hear it (but you knew I would say anyhow right?)
Mars Global Surveyor MOC Image m1501228
Plain in Acidalia, 37.22 Lat., 27.80 Long. Not sure if it is North Hemisphere or South, they don't say.
Official USGS/NASA Mars Global Surveyor image Website: http://ida.wr.usgs.gov/html/m15012/m1501228.html
Scale: 1 pixel= 4.47m. From my calculations: Giant 3D geodetic dome is approx. 38 pixels in diameter; approx. 169.86m = 554.00ft in diameter and about 84.83m = 278.31ft high; the crater diameter is approx. 96 pixels; 429.12m = 1407.51ft in diameter and a depth of approx. 143.04m = 469.29ft. Typically craters have a diameter to depth ratio of 3:1 to 5:1.
What it isn’t: The 3D geodetic dome did not make this crater. The physics and energy involved with crater formation and morphology do not work this way. There is nothing in geomorphology to explain this phenomenon as natural. It is artificial. It seems to be designed to blend in with a few craters just to the south of this crater that have a similar “look” but clearly have Mars sand blowing into the crater structures naturally. This artificial structure is absolutely and clearly different. Seems to be a nice attempt at hiding and blending with similar features surrounding in the region. Also a crater would be an excellent shelter from the Mars winds and weather.
So NASA what the heck is it? Some possibilities are:
God hit a divot and errant golf ball and it got stuck in the giant red sand trap of Mars?
An Alien outpost on the Red Planet?
NASA’s Secret Astronaut Corp Mars Base #1 (NASA SACMB1) ?
SO NASA WHAT IS IT? Things that make you go . . . Hhhhhhhhmmmmmmmm!!??????
Ok, people nothing to see here move along. Just some art commissioned by NASA/Boeing to celebrate Bush 1 talking about going to Mars. Those are the strangest Mars rocks I have ever seen though. What petrologic process is at work here to produce these stones on Mars? Yes, I know it is just art, but still. What is NASA and space industry partner trying to say?
I wonder if they have a Cosmic Secret First Ascent Book for Mars, for those NASA astronauts in the Secret Corp? Hey, if you were the first, wouldn't you still want credit even if it was a secret corp?
Hey, inquiring minds want to know. Does someone know? Just wondering . . .
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Redwreck
Social climber
Echo Parque, Los Angeles, CA
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Jun 22, 2009 - 09:59pm PT
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My copy arrived from Amazon today, really looking forward to diving into it.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Jun 22, 2009 - 10:04pm PT
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Klimmer, you got your nichols crossed, or what?
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Elcap76
Trad climber
Long Beach, CA
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Jun 22, 2009 - 10:33pm PT
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OK, albite.....
What kind of rock is in the thin section?
danabgeologist
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Klimmer
Mountain climber
San Diego
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Jun 22, 2009 - 11:05pm PT
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I get it, albite (he-he good one).
Yes, I got my Nichols crossed.
About the thin-section, you probably all know the minerals (Pyroxene, Plagioclase, Olivine, Amphibole (Hornblende)+ opaque minerals), but this is of extra-terrestrial origin. Impact Shock Metamorphism effects galore --- they are all here. Classic image. I will not discuss the parent body.
I could say, but then you know what I would have to do. Let's not go there. Staying alive is good.
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anointed one
Gym climber
my mamma
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Jun 23, 2009 - 11:07am PT
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"Being able to recognize the difference between Calavaras Complex and Shoo Fly complex and understand what those differences are thought to represent.... I find that very gratifying."
gag! limestone and blueschist melange blocks are the only cool choss to have come from the subduction.
$135 for Romani and Twidale? Zoiks! Does it have a good discussion on glaciated granitic terrain?
Klimmer, I don't see your pyroxene. Obvious 60-120 on the amph though. Alteration to sericite to form the whispies?
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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Jun 23, 2009 - 11:47am PT
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And of course, let's not forget
Pegmatite
And Marble
Or Volcanoclastics
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sgarlick
climber
North Conway, NH
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 23, 2009 - 12:10pm PT
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Great photos! I love the Black Canyon.
Anointed One: Yes, the Romani and Twidale book is one of those crazy expensive academic volumes. A good one to borrow from the library--not necessarily to own.
Stich: Great question about crumbly granite. Kitty-litter granite, sometimes known by geologists as grus, forms from a type of weathering called granular disintegration. In a nutshell, it's when the rock falls apart along along the boundaries between its individual crystals, usually because water has been able to penetrate these tiny "microcracks". This can happen when a surface is exposed to a wet soil for a long period of time, or if groundwater is able to penetrate part of the granite through crack systems.
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PhotogEC
climber
Pasadena, CA
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Jun 26, 2009 - 05:51pm PT
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Sarah - your book just arrived from Amazon yesterday. I've only had a chance to thumb through it, but it looks like a great read!
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Jun 26, 2009 - 05:52pm PT
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Still waiting on mine....
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Jun 29, 2009 - 05:01pm PT
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Was she riding BART into the city yesterday?
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cowpoke
climber
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Sarah,
Congratulations on the book!!! Just ordered a copy!
I remember your beautiful Patagonia slide show to the geo dept at UW (you were there getting your PhD?), while I was in the psych dept...we met via Bayard. You did a fabulous job speaking to the two audiences: your profs and the climbers. I've run into Bayard a couple times since we moved back east. Hopefully run into you one of these days too, although tough to recognize everyone in their rain hoods.
In the meantime, I'm now looking forward to summer reading!
Cheers,
Eric
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Sarah-
I just received your book and leafed through it. It looks like the geology book I've waited for my whole life. And that's saying something since my father was a geologist!
Again, congratulations on your creativity as well as your expertise.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Susan,
Great book. As technical as it has to be, very well written, clear as hell, fun references all the time to actual climbing areas, professional and scholastic while still being friendly. Thanks for all the work and your unique approach!
ph
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Just ordered this book off Amazon. Looking forward to a good read!
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gstock
climber
Yosemite Valley
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Allen Glazner and I are writing a book on the geology of Yosemite, part of the "Geology Underfoot" series. About six months ago I wrote a chapter on the geology of climbing in Yosemite that I was pretty proud of, but it looks like Sarah was way ahead of me on that one. Great job! I've just ordered the book and look forward to reading it.
Sarah, perhaps you'd be willing to review the chapter I wrote? In addition to jugs, flakes, and splitters, Yosemite does have a few unique features that you might not have tackled, e.g., the feldspar knobs of Tuolumne.
It's great to see climbers as geologists and vice versa. I don't really know which one I was first, but I sure am glad I have a life that blends the two.
Greg Stock
Yosemite Park Geologist
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Klimmer
Mountain climber
San Diego
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Remember, the original climber/tramp John Muir also was into Geology. How can you not ask and wonder about the very rock we love to climb on? I would say all climbers to some degree are amateur geologists, some at a higher level, some at a lower level of understanding, then of course some at the professional degree level.
And didn't John Muir who dropped out of college scoop the great learned geologist Clarence King, on the origins of the Sierra Valleys, Yosemite Valley in particular, from Glaciation and not faulting? Ouch, that had to hurt. Sometimes you have to become one with the rock to really know, and John certainly did.
By the way, to make my point from another thread even more convincing, did you know that John Muir had at one time memorized the entire Bible? Now I don't know how anyone does that, sometimes I forget my very name, but he says so in many of his writings. The bible had an incredible influence on his writing, and maybe that is why I enjoy reading Muir so much.
Wow, just think a man of faith and look at all he was able to accomplish: climber/mountaineer, first ascents galore, naturalist/scientist, prolific writer on nature and conservation, the father of the National Parks, founder of the Sierra Club which is still a World preeminent and very important Environmental Conservation group. And dang it all if he didn't contribute to science regarding the geomorphology and the glaciation of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. A man of faith did all of that.
Muir had the proper understanding of Dominion over Creation, we are supposed to care for, conserve, and protect the Earth we live on.
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sgarlick
climber
North Conway, NH
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 5, 2009 - 09:57am PT
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It's great to hear that folks are interested! Thanks for all the kind words.
Klimmer: I completely agree with you that most climbers are amateur geologists, at least to some degree. That was a huge part of my motivation for this project. It can be hard sometimes to get your average person on the street to care about rocks (even though I've somehow made this a personal mission in my life...), but climbers already care about rocks, quite deeply, actually. It's pretty cool.
Greg: Congratulations on your book! I've really enjoyed the Geology Underfoot series and I'd be delighted to check out your chapter. There are so many neat geologic features and stories on El Cap alone, not to mention the whole park. Send an email--sarahgarlick@gmail.com
I hope everyone's enjoying their weekends. It has been so wet here in New England that I've resorted to aid climbing on Cathedral just to get out. We bailed off the cliff yesterday when the thunderheads rolled in. Hmmm... maybe a new book will have to be the Climate Change of Rock Climbing... :)
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