Lassen Peak Eruption Video - I'm not joking!

Last night I had one of the greatest of pleasures I can experience and that is to learn something that would be categorized as "the rest of the story. “Craig Martin relayed to me the tale of his grandfather, Justin Hammer, who lived near Lassen Peak in California in 1914. Hammer made his own camera and shot the following film at Catfish Lake, now Reflection Lake in Lassen National Park, in 1917, very near the north park entrance. 
 
Lassen's eruptions occurred from 1914 to 1917, but the USGS initially did not believe the eruption occurred on the earliest date. However, Hammer who lived so close to the volcano, witnessed the first eruption  in 1914.  Hammer would stay at his cabin unless heat, lava, and ash from the eruption forced him briefly away. Quite the adventurer, Hammer was the oldest man ever to scale the mountain's North Slope at age 70. 

Craig Martin comments, "National Geographic was sold the rights to the film in exchange for saving as much of the film as they could in the 60s. They found the film so brittle that when it was handled, it splintered into pieces. The film you see is all they could save of all the eruptions. The rest was explosive, so it was destroyed." The film was, at one time, over 20 minutes long. Prior to the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980 this was the only film of a volcanic eruption within the continental United States. 
 
Craig has also promised me exclusive rights to his family archive of Lassen photographs; I simply cannot wait to see them. I am elated that Craig's and my paths have crossed and that along with making a new friend, we both can share a story that might otherwise not obtain the attention it so rightly deserves.
 
Lin
 
PS Audio was supplied by Craig, as the film was originally silent.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7z6q71uryI&feature=share

 

Remember the 2010 Baja CA Quake? Let's take a trip down Memory Lane...

EARTHQUAKE MOUNTAIN DUST

Photograph by Roberto and Adrian Maquez (via NBC Sand Diego)

Oct 11, 2012

The 2010 Baja California earthquake (also known as 2010 Easter earthquake, 2010 Sierra El Mayor earthquake, or 2010 El Mayor – Cucapah earthquake) was an earthquake of 7.2 magnitude on the moment magnitude scale. It started 26 kilometers (16 mi) south of Guadalupe Victoria, Baja California, Mexico, at a depth of 10 km (6.2 mi).

It occurred at 3:40:41 pm Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) on Easter Sunday, April 4, 2010, and it is said to have lasted about a minute and a half.

Brothers Roberto and Adrian Marquez were traveling in Mexico during that fateful Sunday and captured a surreal sight: The power of the quake lifting a layer of dust off a mountain range. The pictures show the area around La Rumorosa, the highest point in Tecate.

For more pictures of the quake’s damage by NBC San Diego, click here. You can also check out some incredible footage of the ‘earthquake mountain dust’ phenomenon in the video embedded below. You can also find the complete report by NBC San Diego here.

source

April_2010_Baja_California_earthquake_intensity_USGS.jpg ‎(612 × 620 pixels, file size: 175 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

 

Adventures in Fossils Part 1

It's been a while, hasn't it? Too long. Time to return to some new geo adventures that I've had. One adventure that I'm always game for is either rockhounding or fossil hunting. In fact, the best job I ever had was as an instructor at the Pink Palace's world renown Coon Creek Fossil Site. I had an inside on many of the native flora and fauna (give or take an epoch or two) and delighted in hunting for specimens at CC and also at a special Devonian site in middle Tennessee and the once world famous Cretaceous crab site in Selmer, Tennessee that is now covered by a very ugly arse Motel Six. Yeah. That's progress for you.

So this will be a two to three part post where I will display my most treasured fossils, and of course, I'll save the best for last. Let's begin.

 

These are a few specimens I collected while employed at Coon Creek. One of my duties was to explain to visitors how to clean and display their fossils. You always want to save the matrix that your fossil is embedded within, as that marl is 65 million year old beach sand. The unique feature about Coon Creek fossils is that the entire animal, including shells and bones, have been perfectly preserved within this waterproof aquaclude and you see it pretty much as it was when it lived. Of course, as Coon Creek was on the fringe of the Mississippi Embayment (Fig. 5), all of our fossils there are marine in nature. What you see above are as follows: Crassatella, Culcullaea, Turratella (long and tapered), Drillutra (snail), and ghost shrimp claws.

 

Above, are various Exogyra (primitive oysters), Pyncnodonte, Ghost shrimp claws and legs, Crassatella, Dentallum, Anteglossia, and a few snails.

The above is one of my most cherished possessions: a near complete crab from the Selmer crab site. The claws are to the left. The rest are halves or legs of those late Cretaceous crabs. This picture does not do these animals' justice.

That object in my hand is a rather large example of the Exogyra oyster from the late Cretaceous. And it's heavy. I have the complete oyster in my hand. They grew them rather large back then. :-)

 

Skipping over to my Middle Tennessee Devonian site, you can barely make out some of my Trilobites and fish bones. On the bottom left, you can actually make out Trilo-eyes; so far, the only one I managed to find to still have them. 

 

 

Various gastropods and molluscs are frozen in this Devonian limestone.

 Another trilobite-big one this time.

 More trilobytes, tube worms, and molluscs.

 Also Devonian, snails, molluscs, tube worms, and snail trails.

 On to California, where I collected these, I cannot tell, but these metamorphosed pieces were once a part of islands that lay alongside a future Orange County and were subducted along with the Farallon plate. These islands were ground up at the plates' edges and spit back to lie on the future shores of a beach. One of these rocks, the light green one, actually belongs with the two below. And their story follows...

And the caption says it all, except that the landslide was so powerful that the rocks from the top traveled halfway up the other side of a facing mountain. They're ugly, but they are some of the oldest rocks in California. 

 

 The rock on the left... it's volcanic and I found it in the San Gabriel's streambed. I'm still not sure what it is. Any ideas? Hint: it's not basalt. The red rock on the left is a chunk of chert taken from Rainbow Rock in the Santa Rosa Mtns. in the Colorado Desert. I'll post a picture of it's parent rock in a later post. It's huge.

 Garnet Hill is one of those odd places that lies between two faults just north of Palm Springs. The rocks on the series of low hills have some odd qualities, too. The above is one of my favorites due to its texture. It's soapstone and feels waxy to the touch and it's laced with garnets, hence the name of the hill.

Most of the above is basalt, with the exception of the Pyrite embedded in shale and the lapis lazuli in its pure form (2nd rock from the right). These items come from Hawaii, Columbia River plain, and Craters of the Moon Park. 

I have no idea where these two thunder eggs came from, but they were gifts and I certainly have enjoyed looking at them. I'm not sure, though, if I have more fossils than books or vice versa.

Part 2 and possibly a Part 3 next time. And we'll really get to the good stuff. Later!

Happy New Year! from roxxfoxx

The Importance of Networking, Outsourcing, and the Creation of an Information Community

One of my pet peeves is receiving the notice of a news item and a stock picture is used, and as my focus is geology, I see this happening more and more where volcano eruptions occur. And today, I was asked what I would do in order to change this situation. My thoughts are that surely, a large network of reporters, such as AP, UPI, Reuters, and the BBC would be able to manage a shot of a new eruption. But no. My personal belief is that the philosophy current in such agencies is to provide a minimum of news coverage before competitors can post the same, while sacrificing a more complete, thorough report that would also include a visual demonstration of the event.

So what are we bloggers to do when we try to pass along news stories to an eager readership? We step up, form our own information community via the marvelous technology offered to us today. Question # 2: How do we manage to accomplish this feat? The answer will be the focus of this article, and which will, hopefully, inspire folks to reach out, to communicate with each other, and to form this body of valuable resources.

Years ago, when I was working on my Biology degree, I was fortunate enough to have as my professor/adviser, one of those types that thought outside the box. I had never met anyone like him; his genius lay not in what he knew personally, but in what information he could tap into and use to create a means of accomplishing the fullest education for his students. Dr. Jim Grove later became like family to me and to this day, I think of him more like a brother than a teacher. However, what he taught me, through demonstration, continues to benefit my life and the lives that I touch.

Jim showed me that the phrase, "no man is an island," is truer than it ever has been; there is simply so much information prevalent in our modern society that one person cannot contain it all. And as previously stated, the big news corporations live by a particular standard that is imposed upon their readers, leaving them less than fulfilled and satisfied. Therefore, it is up to the individual to form a web of resources in order to provide that information. Let's start with an example that occurred today.

Note this news blurb from Fox (Faux) News:

Alaska Volcano Sends Ash Plume Up to 15,000 Feet

Published December 29, 2011

| Associated Press

ANCHORAGE –  A volcano in Alaska's Aleutian Islands​ sent up an ash cloud on Thursday that prompted scientists to increase the alert level for commercial aircraft traffic.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory said satellite images at 4:02 a.m. Alaska time showed Cleveland Volcano​ had spewed ash 15,000 feet into the air in a cloud that moved east-southeast. U.S. Geological Survey scientist-in-charge John Power called it a small explosion.

"It's not expected to cause a disruption to big international air carriers," he said.

However, it was significant enough to raise the alert level from yellow, representing elevated unrest, to orange, representing an increased potential of eruption, or an eruption under way with minor ash emissions or no emissions.

<SNIP>

source

Granted, the article is more detailed than many others I googled, but like 80% of those reports, there was no image accompanying it. 15% used a stock image. Good grief. How much energy would be used in finding a current picture of Cleveland volcano? Not much. Here's what I found:
1st image (source)







Second image (source)

How tough was that to accomplish? If it was any easier, I would be grasping images out of thin air. How did I know where to go to find these pictures? What are the steps or filters I use in order to gain my goal?

1. Of primary importance--check the volcano observatories for the most reliable/recent information/images. The 2nd image above was found at Alaska Volcano Observatory. The 1st was found via Google search, but NASA is responsible for this sat image. Remember that Google is your best friend; use the image search and you can easily tell which images are older and which are most recent. Also, use Google search within the parameters of the last day/week for information. Sometimes, being persistent and checking all you find brings results.

2. As everyone and his uncle has some sort of video recording device, YouTube is a great place to check for images. Use the same time frame as you used for Google and that should clear out the older posts. Also, look at Google Earth Blog's site; sometimes, within a very short time frame, a .kml file will be created and using Google Earth, one can get a better, larger view of the volcano.

3. Check local news/websites in the area surrounding the volcano; often the local newspaper is far more efficient and informative that the big guys in the industry. Again, Google is your friend; enter the search term, "newspapers for (name of city)." However, do look for evidence that the proper research has been done. For example, yesterday, one small news site erroneously stated that a certain volcano had erupted last year when in fact, it has been ten years (name, info, etc. withheld in order to avoid extreme embarrassment on non-stated party's part).

4. Watch the webcams. Although I am touching on the topic of technology and will go into details later, there are many places online where one can find a list of webcams. Erik Klemetti provides a list at his excellent Eruptions blog, and (I also suggest following him on Twitter) then, there are my own pages, where you can go to any place, anywhere in the world, any time of the day in order to see what's happening. Links are listed below. Once you know the "image location" of a cam (right clicking an image should give you that option), you can copy and paste it into a desktop client, like Yahoo's webcam widget that will allow you to add up to 200 locations per single cam. I duplicate and use 8 of them, as it's the easiest way for me not to miss an eruption. I simply program the cams to make copies of images every time the cams reload and save them to a folder so that I may look at them later. At the moment, I'm watching and snapping images of Tungurahua, Popocatepetl, and Galeras. These are the freshest images anyone can find on the net. Try it.

5. In real estate, the key to success may be "location, location, location," but in information outsourcing, it's people, people, people. Developing contacts is a must, and even though this may feel like a slower than snail mail process, hang with it; you'll make new friends, you'll learn a great deal, and you'll gain an information source that is priceless. But how, you ask? Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and even Flickr provide places for interaction to occur. I maintain 6 Twitter accounts, and all of them have to do with different interests, but without those accounts, my blog postings and my ability to learn would be severely hampered.

But the contacts I've made are priceless. Get to know photographers who shoot in the area of your interest (in this case, volcanoes), local volcano enthusiasts who you may have seen retweeted, regardless of country of origin (Google translator or Babelfish can make a huge difference in understanding, if you are not proficient in a foreign language), other bloggers who are like-minded, and Earth Science teachers. I especially like the latter, as I am a former teacher and still highly regard the profession.

And most of all, don't be just a taker; give back. SHARE your knowledge. Be a positive force in your world, as you never know who is reading your posts. Set the example.

If you have multiple Twitter accounts, or even if you use Facebook and Twitter, you'll need a host client where you can get up-to-the-second updates. Although there are other services, I prefer Yoono, which attaches to my Firefox browser and allows me to continue working without having to stop and hunt for for a link. I simply click over from one account to the next, read it out of the corner of my eye, and keep going. Having gone through grad school, I learned that shortcuts are the divine paths to having a life in addition to working your butt off.

6. Technology. Make use of  the "junk" you may have received at Christmas, and in the midst of the entire fiasco, you may find that instead of junk, it becomes an essential. Smartphones, netbooks, laptops, and PC's use programs and apps that can expedite your geological journey. Think how best these items can serve your purpose. Plan your work, then work your plan.

7. Let's not forget books. Always a favorite source of mine, I've begun to use my Nook for the latest releases by my favorite authors. Formats include epub, mobi, Kindle, and pdf, to name a few. And if you look, you'd be surprised at the number of free geology books that are out there, ready to download. Of course, my desk will always look like someone left half a library on it, as I have many old standards to which I refer constantly, but once a nerd-always a nerd.

I hope you've enjoyed what information I have provided and I do hope it serves you well. If you should have any further questions, please tweet me @1roxxfoxx and I'll be glad to help. And believe me, if I don't know the answer, I'll know someone who will.

Best,
Lin Kerns



List of Internet Resources:

(Volcano Ovservatories List) http://www.geo.mtu.edu/~jaherric/Observatories.html

(NASA) http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/

(Google Earth Blog)
http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2011/12/volcano_forms_a_new_island_in_the_r.html

(Erik Klemetti's Eruptions Blog)
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/12/and-the-2011-pliny-for-volcanic-event-of-the-year-goes-to/

(Vei8: Volcanoes of the World) http://vei8home.blogspot.com/

(Yoono) http://yoono.com/

(Service manuals for everything electronic) http://www.manualdepotweb.com/shop/

Though The Earth Be Moved-The Good Friday Quake of March 27,1964, Alaska

As I am wont to poke around the net, looking for the odd bit of image or data concerning my vast variety of interests, I happened upon this archive of old black and white films. Hmm... thought I. So, I stayed for a bit, using the search engine on site and after entering "earthquake," up pops these two films on the March 27, 1964, Good Friday quake and tsunami. I watched, totally smitten with what I saw. Here were two short flicks about something that figured so predominantly in my childhood. Talk about a wave of nostalgia. Whoa.

Suddenly, I was thrust backwards in time to that ominous Friday when my mother was "preaching" (better term: projecting) her end of the world nightmares on my Aunt Pauline and myself. I was, at first, a casual eavesdropper; my room was adjacent to the kitchen where my mother worked from her pulpit above the sink while she cooked and Aunt Pauline was sitting in one of the straight backed, straw bottom chairs from the dining room.

"There will be weeping and gnashing of the teeth, and the worm quencheth not!" she asserted. "The earth will shake and rumble, and the sky will turn to blood! Ye know not the time the Lord cometh, but he will come!"

She so had me at the earth shaking. I leaned against the wall beside the doorway, listening, hidden. It was not like I hadn't heard it all before, but something was different. The sky was an odd yellow color and it was filled with dark clouds of varying shades of color--charcoal, gunmetal, blue steel. Jacob's ladders dropped and rose. And the day was far too warm for March; a storm was brewing.

Closer to home, the storm had already arrived in the kitchen. Mother continued..."tidal waves that will wash the earth clean, and tornadoes and hurricanes and fire and brimstone will fall from the sky." My aunt was soaking it up and I was thinking behind the wall. I was all of ten and a half years old and very impressionable.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Later that night, after the aunt had gone home and my dad was there after working all day, we were settled around the tv, watching a movie. "The Robe," I think. When there was a news report that interrupted and the reporter began to inform us intracontinentals about the Alaska quake and tidal wave. I'm sitting there, going stone cold, afraid to breathe. Was it the end of the world?

Later that night, I couldn't sleep for fear that Jesus would come and first, drown me, then take my soul straight to hell and dump my miserable, sinning butt there forever. For. Ever. I was terrified. Every drop of dew that condensed and fell on the cellar roof from the main roof outside my bedroom window was an omen of doom. If I listened very closely, I could hear the sound of roaring water in the distance, Yellow eyes reflected from the cellar roof and at first I thought it was a demon from hell come to collect me, but then I heard a "meowr" and the pain in my chest subsided as I began to breathe again.

Is it any wonder, that all of this fascinated me; even as it attracted me, I was compelled to seek answers. Real ones to hearsay. My parents didn't have a clue, and there were not many sources out in the sticks. But that spring, my parents invested in a set of World Book Encyclopedias, and I was off and running to learn the secret nature of everything.

That's enough about me for the moment. Yes, it was indeed, an adventure in geology--of the wrong kind. And within the week, this footage was broadcast on our black and white tv. I was on my way.

Enjoy this little bit of history and join me in watching "Though the Earth be Moved."

Garden of the Gods, Shawnee National Forests, S. IL

A few years ago, during autumn, I went on a joint trip with my friends, John Koons and Cheryl, his wife, to see extended family members Jim and Selena Grove who live in Southern Illinois. Jim was kind enough to drive us all around to see the local sights and so we rode east into Hardin County to see the Garden of the Gods.

 At first sight, the beauty of the heavily forested area wraps you in an unending sea of deciduous trees, interspersed with pine and cedar. The wind moves sensuously through the leaves and creates a cacophony of blunted clicks that paints the breeze with more force than it really is. But while the wind uses trickery, the surroundings do not.

Up a slanted, weaving path only a short distance, the scene unfolds on to a path that is strewn with giant (yes, the place is named justifiably so) rounded boulders that appear very old. They lay tumbled, alone and mounded precariously, all over the area, and that arena opened upon a wide stretch of sky and tree: Shawnee National Forest. The trail ends with this vista on a cuesta; a cuesta (pronounced KWEH-sta) is a ridge that is asymmetrical in cross section. One of the slopes is gently curved, but the other, which is like a cliff face, is steep without becoming entirely vertical.

 

The rock you stand upon is a Pounds sandstone of the Lower Pennsylvanian Caseyville formation. I was advised that one can also see such an exposure at Bell Smith Springs, but I have not been there. However, both places share such characteristics that are typical of sedimentary deposits laid down in agitated water. The uniqueness of Garden of the Gods is that these rocks contain bizarree patterns of wavelike bands that cut through the crossbedding traces of the sandstone face. These bands are called Liesegang rings, which are concentric zones of concentrated iron oxide that existed after the sediments settled. What makes these rings so stark and noticeable is that they erode much slower than the surrounding sandstone, thereby making them appear bold and wildly designed.

And that's not a fey creature in the picture; just a kid who hopefully will be bitten by the geology bug.

 To the west, the autumn clothed trees are a true spectacle and color blazes as far as the horizon. To the north lies the Eagle Creek syncline. In fact, at Garden of the Gods, we stood upon the southern side of that syncline and so the Pounds sandstone dips easily to the north. Geologically speaking, this exposed rock is a wonder to behold, but poetically speaking, one almost can see the wee folk themselves in the shadows.

 I'm heading over there where those tiny figures are standing. 

Ah, but this vista is so very distracting!

(Northern view)

 Went to the edge and that drop is a "fur piece" down there.

Almost there...

 Okay, I'm just a tad distracted.

Sneaking a peek at the west

I'm almost there--little more to go.

This is it!

 Made it! Wow. Look at all that color.

And that hump is part of that southern side of the syncline.

What trip would be worthwhile without the company of good friends. Below are (L to R) Becky, Jim, Selena, Cheryl, and John. Love you guys! You "rock" my world!

Hope you enjoyed our visit to the rocky side of southern Illinois. Stay tuned for the next adventure, which will be coming soon. Promise.

PS A special thanks to Raymond Wiggers for his geological information on the area in his "Geology Underfoot in Illinois."