Coinciding with International Women’s Day and Women’s History month, I did a zoom meeting last week with students and faculty in the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Seminar at the University of Northern Colorado. My zoom presentation was – “Linking One Woman’s Geoscience Career to Gender Equity Progress”. Here’s the abstract of the Powerpoint slideshow that…
Drone Flying, Southwest Montana Style
Last fall I decided that using UAS would really add to my geologic field work. That was the easy part. I did make the step to buy a drone and ended up with both a DJI Air Mavic 2 and a DJI Phantom 4 Pro version 2. Although it’s great fun just to fly a…
LATE EOCENE CHRONOSTRATIGRAPHY, DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT, AND PALEOSOL-TRACE FOSSIL ASSOCIATIONS, PIPESTONE SPRINGS, SOUTHWEST MONTANA
I just received notice from the Geological Society of America (GSA) that our abstract is now accepted for the GSA 2020 annual meeting. I was very much looking forward to going to Montreal for the meeting, but like much else, it will now be virtual. Our presentation is scheduled for the session titled “D23. Recent…
Florence Bascom – Rock Star
Thinking about Florence Bascom immediately brings to mind an image of a pioneering woman geologist making pathways into earth science way before women could even vote in the USA. She was the second woman to earn a PhD in geology in the USA in 1893 and the first female geologist hired by the U.S Geological…
EOCENE AND OLIGOCENE MAMMALS FROM THE GRAVELLY RANGE OF SOUTHWEST MONTANA
Our first paper on work that several of us are doing in the Gravelly Range, southwestern Montana, was just published in a special issue of Paludicola, Scientific Contributions of the Rochester Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology. This issue contains papers in honor of James Gilbert Honey, a paleontologist and stratigrapher who focused on the Cenozoic, particularly…
Devil’s Slide and A Jumping Fox
Whenever I drive to Yellowstone National Park’s northern gate, I pass by the Devil’s Slide. It seems that the slide is my gate keeper to the park, and it is always fun to see it in all our different seasons. And once again, during a chance conversation in the park, I was asked about the…
Fall Fieldwork in the Greater Yellowstone Area
Doing geology field work in the greater Yellowstone area during the fall is always an adventure. This is the time that animals and birds are on the move, so it’s a good opportunity to have interesting chance encounters. In my quest to understand the Eocene thermal springs of the Gravelly Range in southwestern Montana, I’ve…
Working On High Elevation Tertiary Strata, Southwestern Montana
Working on Tertiary strata in the Gravelly Range, southwestern Montana, is sometime daunting to do. The Lion Mountain Tertiary section shown in the photo to the right is one of those places that makes for a grueling day or several days of field work. The Tertiary section unconformably overlies various Paleozoic units, such as Mississippian…
Archaeology Podcast Network Features Paleontologist Amy Atwater from Museum of the Rockies
Amy Atwater is the Paleontology Collections Manager/Registrar at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana – and more importantly, is an amazing scientist. Her discussion of archaeology/paleontology, deep time, stratigraphy, etc., with the “cowboys of science” in episode #5 of their Life In Ruins podcast series (embedded below) is a must listen! More information…
Tolting Around Pseudocraters at Lake Myvatn, Iceland
The Lake Myvatn area, located in northeast Iceland, has an amazing, and truly beautiful, volcanic landscape. This area lies within Iceland’s North Volcanic Zone, which is a part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge – the spreading rift between the Eurasian and North American plates that slices through Iceland. Lake Myvatn is the fourth largest lake in…
An Icelandic Sedimentary Sequence – the Tjornes Pliocene Beds
While I am in awe of Iceland’s mid-Atlantic ridge system volcanics and its glacial geology, I still like to see sediments and fossils. So – as I was doing my pre-trip research into Icelandic geology, I found that there are about 500 meters of Pliocene strata exposed on the west coast of the Tjornes Peninsula…
Iceland Geology – Snorkeling the Silfra Fissure, Thingvellir National Park
I did a snorkel tour of the Silfra fissure with Dive.is while I was in Iceland a couple weeks ago. That is a very impressive way to view part of the mid-Atlantic ridge system! Here’s what Dive.is says about Silfra that makes it so unique: “Silfra is a fissure between the North American and Eurasian…
Yellowstone To Southwest Montana Autumn Field Photo Snaps
Montana’s autumn is my favorite time of the year to do field work. Daytime temperatures are usually cool enough to encourage one to keep moving and the lighting is simply gorgeous. It is also one of the best times to visit areas in and around Yellowstone National Park (YNP) because most of the tourists have…
As Wildlands Fires Ravage Western U.S. – Is This The New Normal?
Over 100 wildlands fires are burning in the U.S., with most of them being in the western U.S. The California fires are exceedingly destructive, with Cal Fire officials calling this the new normal for the now extended and catastrophic fire seasons that we are experiencing. In the midst of all this, there’s a particularly good…
Greater Yellowstone Area Eocene to Recent Hydrothermal Springs
Geologic field work is always fun, but especially so when it turns up something unexpected. Working on Eocene to Recent geology and vertebrate paleontology in the Gravelly Range, southwestern Montana promised to be enthralling because the volcanics, sedimentary units, and vertebrate fossils are at elevations of about 9,000 feet. But to come across extensive, unmapped…