AGU 2013

(So apparently I forgot to hit "publish" back in December... oops)

Off we go to AGU!

#ManicureMonday

So, while I'm not really into twitter OR Seventeen Magazine (or nail polish... let's be honest), I do love all the nerdy photos with #ManicureMonday tags.

So, I thought I'd join the tradition, and show off some fun shots of my dirty nails next to cool fossils (and other geology things)

A Late Triassic (Norian) Sphinctozoan sponge (a hypercalcifyer that lived in a reef)

An awesome Late Triassic (Norian) tabular coral with (probable) annual growth bands

The end-Triassic Extinction horizon from the Newark Basin!

CAMP Basalts, 201.520 million years old!

Iron-rich regolith pisoids from Australia! 

Crenulated stromatolites from the Duck Creek Dolomite (~1.8 billion years old), Western Australia

New Blog for the Tyrrell Museum

Hi There...

Love dinosaurs? Love Canadian paleontology? Check out the Royan Tyrrell Museum's New blog! I expect good things! They also have a fantastic website about the research at the museum.

Something Familiar....

So I was in the Denver Hyatt bathroom and thought that the tiles looked familiar! I wager they are Italian Ammonitico Rosso and Gaillo Reale!

GSA Beer from Left Hand

Yummy!

Tomorrow (Monday) morning come learn all about the Triassic-Jurassic events/extinction! Room 603 (8-12)

GSA first night!

Because we are paleonerds!

Field Assistants

The best field assistant earns his keep by being awesome. Cherts can be a pain!

Leaving Italy...

I love seeing things from the air! Maybe this stems from Al Gorman's Air photo mapping classes or maybe it's just one of those things that geologists love... seeing everything from a bird's eye view!

Anyhow here are some shots from the airplane, they are only "phone quality" because sadly the good camera was in my backpack (which was in the overhead bin not under the seat).

Lagoons, marshes, and point bars in the Adriatic Sea

Venice! (Map here)

Look at all the little boats (pro tip, look for the wakes)!

Can you pick out the Grand Canale? You can almost see the gondolas!

This is the bridge that connects the island of Venice to the mainland

The mainland city of Venice

To top it off, while in Venice, I got a TOC email (table of contents from a scientific journal) about a new paper ABOUT subsidence in Venice: www.nature.com/

And last... the Alps under the clouds!

Vajont Dam

Today I went looking for the Toarcian Ocean Anoxic Event (TOAE) in a deep water section: Longarone. 

Chert!

Longarone is a (geologically) famous town because 50 years ago a massive wall of water came over the dam and wiped out 80% of the town (1800 fatalities). It is a sad case of a geological failure (and a structural win in same ways).

Top of the dam!

The Dam (from above)

After some smaller landslides, earlier in the month, on Oct. 9 1963, there was a massive slump and half the mountain (Monte Toc?) slid into the reservoir behind the dam, displacing most of the water. 

Slump Scar

The Slump!

Sadly, the only direction for the water to go was over the 262m dam (which held, by the way), and crash into the town of Longarone and the other villages in the valley. 

50 years later the reservoir is no more, now the lake is higher up the valley, damed by the massive slip that filled in the valley. The Vajont dam is inactive but serves as a strong reminder of the damage that can be done by inadequate geology! 

I now feel like I need to try harder (fortunately paleontology rarely has as high a price for failure as Geo engineering)! For more information, check out this blog: www.landslideblog.org

Northern Italy is Beautiful

Just some gratuitous driving photos... More science updates soon, this is a drive by blogging while driving!