Thursday, April 10, 2008

Annotated "Where on Google Earth?" #5

I've got a nice tough A.W.o.G.E. for you today. Hint: it's somewhere in the Virginia Piedmont. The presence of an airplane over the photographed site may help confirm the location, once you think you've found it.

a.w.o.g.e #5

In the comments section below, be the first to name the location and why the treeless area suffers so much sulfuric acid, and you will win a "GEOLOGY ROCKS" bumper sticker.

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posted by Callan Bentley at 7:41 AM 5 Comments

Friday, March 14, 2008

Annotated "Where on Google Earth?" #4

A fresh location for the new round of A.W.o.G.E. This time we're visiting a syncline that was exposed in a roadcut about 20 years ago. I've blocked out the data source, since that could help narrow the search, and I'd also like to point out that I should have put an "s" on "geologist" in the lowermost annotation. Oops.

In the comments section below, be the first to name the mountain the roadcut goes through, and you will win a "GEOLOGY ROCKS" bumper sticker.

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posted by Callan Bentley at 8:12 AM 8 Comments

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Annotated "Where On Google Earth?" #3

I haven't put up an annotated Google Earth image in a while, so here's one. As with the previous A.W.o.G.E.'s, this is some place where I've been, annotated with a few details about the local geography and my experiences there. Note the scale bar in the lower left.

In the comments section, be the first to name the town or the prominent spit (both have the same name) and you'll win a "GEOLOGY ROCKS" bumper sticker.

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posted by Callan Bentley at 7:55 AM 4 Comments

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Annotated "Where on Google Earth?" #2

Last week, I posted my first of these images. Today I follow up with another spot in the same state as last week's A.W.o.G.E. Annotations are described in detail below. The first one to correctly identify the location wins a "GEOLOGY ROCKS" bumper sticker. The contest is open not just to my students but to the whole world (though I'm hoping someone in the U.S. wins it so I don't have to pay some outrageous postage to send the winner their bumper sticker!) Last time the winner was helped along by comparing the Google Earth image to photos on my website, but I don't have any photos of this area up on the website, so it ought to be more challenging!


Here are your clues: Two dominant joint sets (A & B) have fractured the granite monzonite in this area, and then spheroidal weathering has taken over to produce the landscape of rounded domes. Location (C) is a parking lot for visitors to this area. Location (D) is an ephemeral pond, originally dammed (where the sinuous stream channel exits to the west) by a rancher named Barker. Now this enclosed area is dry for much of the year, but becomes an oasis after sufficient rainfall. The area around (E) is a favorite rock climbing location. And location (F) is approximately where I was walking one day when the sun was really beating down. I decided to seek some shelter to rest, and spied a little cave up on the side of one of the granite domes. I climbed up & crawled in, & found a half-dozen pictographs painted on the walls -- some ancient Native American had pulled exactly the same routine I just had, many years ago. Cool experience. Name the area as specifically as possible. Good luck!

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posted by Callan Bentley at 7:19 AM 2 Comments

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Annotated "Where On Google Earth?"

The favorite pastime of the geoblogosphere appears to be "Where On Google Earth?" (example 1, example 2, example 3) ...Who am I to buck such a trend? But I've also gotta give it my own spin: so I hereby introduce Annotated "Where On Google Earth?" The difference is that in my version, the game gives you a chance to learn something new about me (via the annotations) while exploring some cool places.

Here are your clues: (A) West of this line is a major Mesozoic batholith. Location (B) is a peninsula where I camped for a week and a half. (C) is a dam which produced the lake that the image is centered on. (D) shows a prominent shadow below a cliff formed by a Paleogene ("Tertiary") basalt flow.

Since today is my first day of classes for the semester, I'm going to make this a contest. The first of my students to deduce the location of this image by naming the lake and the mountain range that hosts it, will win a GEOLOGY ROCKS sticker. Geoblogospheroids, you can guess too, but my students are allowed to check your answers and then adopt them as their own to win the prize. It's kind of like one of those celebrity game shows, or the weekly bigwig- plays- for- a-random- person- getting- Carl- Kasell- on- their- home- answering- machine dealio on "Wait, Wait: Don't Tell Me!" The contest is open... see some of you in class in a few hours!

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posted by Callan Bentley at 7:34 AM 3 Comments