A Teaching Lab that puts the Alternative in P.A.G.E.

So Matt over at Research at a Snail's Pace recently put up this lab that I feel puts the Alternative in the "Presenting Alternatives in Geoscience Education (P.A.G.E.)". He is measuring the thickness of tombstones and determining the amount of weathering based on the difference in the thickness at the top and bottom of the tombstone and using the date on the tombstone as the starting point of weathering.

Fantastic lab and make sure you head on over to check it out. Now if it didn't creep me out so much maybe I could do this as well.

Accretionary Wedge #29 - Call For Posts

The next Accretionary Wedge (#29) Call for Posts is up at the newly formed Ann's Musing on Geology and Other Things. The topic for the month of November is:

"What Geological features about the area you call 'home' do you love? and what do you not like?"

Deadline is November 30th. Head on over.

GeoJeopardy! Fridays

Time for GeoJeopardy! Fridays, because the weekend is only a day away.

- The Earth -

An ocean wave's speed largely depends on the speed of this phenomenon in the air above

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The Mer de Glace is the 2nd longest of these in the Alps

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The Greek & Latin words for this fuel were "anthrax" & "carbo"

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You find one of these at the point where an aquifer intersects the slope of a hillside

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Geologists named the material of the Earth's crust "sial'" because of these 2 main elements

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All the answers as well as any other previous GeoJeopardy! questions can be found over at my website by clicking the link.

The Accretionary Wedge - #28: Deskcrop Trick-or-Treat

So, being rather busy lately I noticed the Accretionary Wedge this month a little late and went "OH OH, I have the perfect sample for that". So here is the premise of this months Accretionary Wedge over at Research at a Snail's Pace:

"October's theme is going to be "Desk-crops." This can be any rock or other geological* specimen that you have lying around your office/desk/lab that has a story to tell. The spookier the better. Photos and/or illustrations are very important (although not absolutely required)."

The main post is already up (linked above) but I hope to be added late.

So here is my sample for this Trick-or-Treat surprise. Most geologists would be able to identify this off the bat but let me go into it's story before I give away the surprise ending.

It all started when I moved down to Texas to go to Texas Tech for my Masters degree. My friend from undergrad, Steve, also was going to Texas Tech at the same time. We got moved into offices next door to each other in a very very old building (one of the oldest on campus I believe). My current office mate had another office in the seismo lab and Steve hated his office mate so I got Steve moved into my office with me. Well we were in there 2 years together before I moved on after my Masters. Steve decided to stay at TTU to do his PhD so I had to move all my stuff out and give him a little more free space. Well it turns out there was a bunch of stuff already in the office when we moved in, we just never paid it much attention. So we decided to split it up among ourselves (since it was basically free) and add some extra rocks and maps to our collection. Well in the back of this one cabinet I pull out this tray with the pictured above mineral on it just sitting in the open. And Steve and I both go "S*#T!!", we have been sitting in the office for 2 YEARS with an open specimen of chysotile basically open to our breathing air.

And now for those of you who don't know what chrysotile is, it usually goes by its more common name of Asbestos.

Well now we have this open thing of asbestos in front of us and we do what any good geologist would do. We both wanted it so we split it in half, stuck it in a tupperware container and added it to our respective collections.

So that is how I happened to have and keep this cancer inducing agent in my drawer at my desk.

Trick-or-Treat? You decide.

Darwin Awards - Geology Strikes Back 5

We took a little break but now back to the Darwin Awards.

Man Digs Himself Own Grave in Search for Treasure

Geology strikes back against this person as he continually digs for "treasure" even though the ground became wetter and wetter as he dug through the water table.

Article courtesy of Chase Sundquist

All other Darwin Awards - Geology Strikes back can be found at my website.