I just returned from travels in Peru, which took me from Lima to Cusco, to the Sacred Valley, and eventually to Machu Picchu. It was a spectacular trip! Adventure Life, a company from Missoula, Montana, did the trip travel logistics for our group of University of Montana Alumni. They did an amazing job, starting with…
Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise, and Superstorms
Dr. James Hansen (Director of Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions Program Earth Institute, Columbia University) and 18 co-authors just published an article – Ice melt, sea level rise and superstorms: evidence from paleoclimate data, climate modeling, and modern observations that 2 °C global warming could be dangerous – in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry & Physics. Their article is…
Forest Legacy Lands – Preserving Forests in Northwestern Montana
Montana Outdoors just published an article on two Forest Legacy projects that I’m very proud to have worked on – the Haskill Basin and Trumbull Creek projects, which are both located near Whitefish, MT. Both are projects where varied interests have come together for a common goal. As well stated by the article’s author, Allen…
Siccar Point – The Roots of Modern Geology
Siccar Point, located on the southeast coast of Scotland, is well revered in the geological community. Outcrops at this locale display ‘Hutton’s Unconformity’. This is an angular unconformity where tilted rock units of about 370 million years in age called the Old Red Sandstone (with a basal layer of conglomerate) lie atop nearly vertical strata of greywacke that…
Puerto Rico – Beaches, Rain Forests, Bio-Bays, and Rocks
Spending time in Puerto Rico is a fantastic experience. The beaches are wonderful, the rain forest of El Yunque National Forest is unique in the U.S. Forest Service’s holdings, the bio-bays are enchanting, and of course there are intriguing rocks that underlie all these natural wonders. Geologic Setting Puerto Rico is the eastern-most island of…
A High-Elevation Eocene Fossil Vertebrate Site in the Elkhorn Mountains, Southwestern Montana
The Dog Town Mine Tertiary fossil vertebrate locality is nestled on private property within the southern extent of the Elkhorn Mountains, southwestern Montana. The locality is about 20 miles southwest of Townsend, Montana, where Mesozoic and Paleozoic carbonate, quartzite, and red-colored mudstone, siltstone, and sandstone rocks underlie Eocene (Chadronian) strata. These unconformable Eocene strata contain…
Earl Douglass and the Tertiary Geology of Southwest Montana’s Madison Bluffs
Most vertebrate paleontologists probably think of the spectacular dinosaur finds near Jensen, Utah, when the name Earl Douglass is mentioned. Douglass’s discovery of a partial Apatosaurus near Jensen in 1909 did spark the beginning of his long career with finding more dinosaur material in what we now know as Dinosaur National Monument. But Douglass began his quest for…
Iceberg Lake Glacier, Glacier National Park – Hiking Through A Changing Landscape
Iceberg Lake is situated in the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park. The hike is about a 10 mile round trip and gains about 1275 feet in elevation. The trail winds through prime grizzly bear habitat, so be sure to hike with a group, make lots of noise, and carry bear spray. It would…
A Different Look At The Burgess Shale – The Stanley Glacier Burgess Shale Hike, Kootenay National Park, British Columbia, Canada
The Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale and its contained fossils are legendary to earth scientists. These fossils are by far the best record of Cambrian animal fossils. The importance of the Burgess Shale fossils is also linked to their excellent preservation. The fossils include many soft bodied animals in addition to those with hard parts –…
The Gravelly Range, Southwestern Montana: High Elevation Tertiary Rocks
The Gravelly Range is located in southwest Montana, about 10 miles southwest of Ennis, Montana. Much of the range is covered by the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. The Axolotl Lakes Wilderness Study Area, managed by the Bureau of Land Management, is in the northern part of the Gravelly Range. Our field group was interested in looking…
Black River Recreational Trail – Watertown To Black River, New York: A Brief Excursion Into The Middle Ordovician Black River Group
If you’re in the Watertown – Black River area of western upstate New York and feel like a quick hike – and make that one with some easily accessible geology, then look for the Black River Trail. The New York State Park’s Black River Recreation Trail is located adjacent to the picturesque Black River which…
Geological Travels In Cuba
If you’ve ever thought about Cuban geology, now may be the time to get serious about actually going to Cuba and looking at it. As a U.S. citizen, it’s been extremely difficult to legally go to Cuba. I went there in March of 2013 as part of an Association for Women Geoscientists’s geological field trip…
IPCC Hones Its Language on Climate Change
Yesterday the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its latest Synthesis Report (SYR5) – a summary of the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) on the state of knowledge on climate change. The big news with the SYR5’s release is the change in language used within the report – words like “unequivocable” and “clear” now…
Canadian Rockies AWG Field Trip – A Summary
The AWG 2014 Canadian Rockies Field Trip took place from August 28 to September 7, 2014, with a Calgary-area geology pre-trip for early arrivals on August 27. The main part of the field trip commenced with a mid-morning departure on the 28th from Calgary, and we all headed west along Canada Highway 1 to Lake…
Notes From the Field – The Rest of the 2014 AWG Geology Field Trip
The 2014 AWG Canadian Rockies Geology Field Trip did actually end last Sunday (9/7) and we did indeed make it back to Calgary largely unscathed. As many of you probably know, when lodging amenities state that WiFi is included, it most likely means that one can check email – not post blogs with photos of…