Aprils Accrectionary Wedge 45 is here at Life as a Geologist ( http://lifeasageologist.wordpress.com/ ) or Twitter @denisetang. The theme is "Geological Pilgrimage – the sacred geological place that you must visit at least once in your lifetime"
I've
always wanted to go see an active large glacier. So to me the logical
place to go was Antarctica. I don't know why but Antarctica has always
fascinated me. Maybe because its so far away or maybe because its so
cold. But most likely its because its so pristine and there is so much
to explore there. I've always dreamed about going to a remote area that
no one has ever been to and to be the first to study the geology
there. But because of its extreme distance and harsh conditions I don't
feel like I have "IT" in me anymore to make that trip so now the place I
want to make my pilgrimage to is Waterton-Glacier International Peace
Park ( Here's Wikipedia's info ) or in the United States Glacier National Park (there's more about it in Wikipedia here ). It's still remote for me and it will be difficult for me to get there so it should fit the theme.
When I was in college at Ohio U the department chairman was really,
really, really into glaciers. I mean that is all he seemed to ever talk
about. Every field trip we took seemed to involve some aspect of
glaciation that we would look at. And boy did he know his stuff. He
was always showing us things that I never noticed before and how it
could have been related to either glaciation or the run off from
glaciation. Needless to say he was able to hook a couple of other
people into loving it as much as he did. These people would go on to do
there masters thesis on glaciation
One of these guys happened
to be a friend I had made in field camp. He was just as fascinating to
talk to when he'd started talking about his research on glaciation too.
He was able to go to Antarctica and study the glaciers there. Ever
since then I've been intrigued by glaciers and if I hadn't already had
an area of interest that I was already doing my thesis research on I
definitely would have considered switching over to that line of study.
The funny thing was when I did field camp with that guy we did get
exposed to some glaciation in the Ruby Mountains of Nevada, but I really
didn't appreciate it as much as I did studying the other rocks and
structural geology that was present there. The fact was there was just
too much to see and learn and too little time to do it all well and
glaciation really wasn't our instructors area of interest. Yet they did
expose us to some glaciation features because that was in the courses
curriculum and they had to teach it. (That's why I feel every geology
major should take a summer of field camp study - to get exposed to
things you may not be able to in any other place.) I do remember seeing
the U shaped valley and finally understanding how glaciers formed the U
verses the V of normal river erosion. I also liked resting by the
glacial formed lake. I know I would have gotten more into the
glaciation features if we would have had more time to study things
there. Nonetheless, I truly didn't grow to appreciate glaciation until
after I had field camp when I took a geomorphology class where our main
text book was called 'Glacial and Quaternary Geology' by Richard Foster
Flint (1971). If I just would have had that class first I'm sure I
would have gotten so much more out of that section of my field camp.
So now I would like to go and see an active glacier again. The most
logical place for me to do so would be Glacial National Park. About the
same time I was taking that geomorphology class my older brother
visited Glacial National Park and said I would go crazy over all of the
stuff I would see there - he did and he wasn't even a science major -
just business. I think the reason I rather go there than say to Alaska
to see one is because of its location. It's on the Continental Divide
and that has always interested me. To think all the water on one side
of the Lewis Mountain range goes to the Gulf Coast while the other goes
to the Pacific Ocean. Then there is also the man made divide of two
countries Canada and United States peacefully sharing this wilderness
area for all to enjoy.
I would love to see the rocks of the
'Belt Supergroup' that where thrust up with the Lewis thrust. Its hard
to imagine this Belt Supergroup could be so old (Precambrian) and yet
show so little metamorphism. There's even igneous sills and lavas there
if the other geological features weren't enough.
But the main
thing I would like to see is all the glacial features - the actual
glaciers and the sediments they are caring. The glacial erosion
features such as cirque lakes, glacial till, arete, col, horn,
U-valleys, hanging valleys and waterfalls, rock basin lakes, ice caves,
moraines, glacial outwash planes and glacial scouring & grooves.
I'm sure there are a lot more features but I can't think of them right
now but I know I will know them by the time I do get there.
If
all of this geology wasn't enough I think one of the things that has
always struck me about this place is this quote by the naturalist John
Muir "the best care-killing scenery on the continent". When I think of
all the places that man probably has seen and then for him to say that
about this location must make it breathtaking beautiful (and that's
according to my brother too). To me this just has to be a sacred place
to visit at least once in my lifetime. What also makes this a sacred
place verses a glacier in Antarctica or Alaska is the fact that it was
one of my deceased brothers favorite places that he's ever been. He
spent hours and hours talking about it more than once in his life. I
feel like I just can't help but to be close to him when I get there to
see it for myself. I can just imagine me hearing him laughing at me and
saying 'I told you so' as I would be staring at everything in wonder.
I Muse- I got to get this trip planned soon because
the glaciers are retreating so much. When reading the Wikipedia info -
they project that by the year 2020 the glaciers may be gone due to
global warming. If that isn't a reason for concern I don't know what
is. .
Here's some books I've looked at to help me make this choice:
'Geology of National Parks' 6th ed by Ann G. Harris, Ester Tuttle & Sherwood D. Tuttle (2004) pgs 357-383.
National Geographic 'Guide to the National Parks of the United States 6th ed. pgs 338-345.
'Tenting
To-night a Chronicle of Sport & Adventures in Glacier Park &
the Cascade Mountains' by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1918).
Wikipedia 'Glacial National Park U S'
Monday, April 30, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
Accretionary Wedge #44 Most important teacher
Metageoloist has put out the call-for-posts-accretionary-wedge-44-most-important-teacher/ .
I've decided to go with someone that is not a geology teacher. The reason being I went to universities that had relatively small geology departments when I was there. Because you could have a teacher more than once when getting your degree and the all the field trips we went on together it made us all a tight nit group. To pick one geology teacher as more important than the others is impossible for me because they all had such a great influence on me.
I've mused about it a lot. One minute its So&So and then next it's got to be Dr X but oh no This Guy did this for me and surely that's counts for something too. . Now I'm to the point I just can't pick one of them and say this person is the most important one. Lets just say they were all the Most Important Teacher at the time I had them.
However there is one teacher that does stand out in my mind. She was my sixth grade teacher - Miss Relic (and yes her name really was relic and oh the teasing we did about her being a relic & why she was still a miss.) Despite her name she truly was a great teacher because she genuinely loved teaching and it came across to us with everything she did.
Back when I was in 6th grade I went to a catholic school. The first thing we did every morning was go to the religion class that was taught by a nun or a priest. Then after that class we would go to our regular classroom. We had the same teacher for the rest of the day. There were no rotations and the teachers were expected to teach you everything: English, Reading, Math, Science, Geography, and History. Up until the end of 6th grade all my classes had been that way. At the end of sixth grade they started to rotate us so we would be ready for seventh grade where we would have 3 different teachers. You could usually tell that there were some subjects the teacher liked better than others. But not so with Miss Relic she seemed to enjoy them all. I was impressed with the way she could teach them all so well too. She really knew her material. When the rotation came I was surprised to see she was to be the English and Reading teacher. I thought her as being more science and geography oriented.
The one thing I remembered most about Miss Relic was she was always saying 'there are no dumb questions.' and she encouraged us to question everything. If we were not asking questions then she'd be throwing questions to us. It was a lot easier to come up with our own questions than to answer hers. She taught us how to search out the answers using the resources we had available. We quickly figured out the more questions we asked the faster the day went for us. She really opened my mind to new ideas.
The other thing she did for me was she got me into my first book club. It met after school and was called ' The Great Books club'. They read the classics and discussed a book once a week for about a month. Most of the time you had to buy the book and that kept some people not wanting to be in it. Also you had to be an 'A' student to be invited into this elite group. I wasn't an 'A' student but my older brother had been and had been in the club. She knew my brother had been in the club and knew we had the books in our house thus she encouraged me to read them to improve my reading skills. Up until then I had been a poor reader & student, (and if you can't tell I always struggled with writing and spelling). But once she got me interested in the books, I became an avid reader. I discovered you don't have to be good at English to be able to read and enjoy them. Because she took such a special interest in me I didn't want to disappoint her, I did as she wanted me too and read and discussed the books with her. When she realized I was not having any problems with reading them, she broke the rules and pushed to get me into that club. That book club started my love of reading that has lasted me my whole life time. It taught me how to truly read a book and get the most out of it.
It was the first time I felt like I really belonged to a group. I made friends with all the 'smart kids'. By hanging out with the smart kids they would help me with my school work whenever I had problems with it. My grades started to improve. It was such an ego booster to be known as one of those in that group. I didn't want to disappoint them and started to learn more and more on my own. It made me realize I could do this stuff if I just set my mind to learning it. Miss Relic pushed me like no other teacher ever did until I got into college. She always had faith in me that I could do it and I always tried to give her my best.
The next year we went into rotations and I really missed her a lot. I missed the way she pushed me. The new teachers didn't and I quickly fell back into my old bad habits of just getting by. I liked the just getting by mode because now I was spending all my time with my face in a book. I loved reading so much and escaping into all those wonderful different worlds.
After that every once in a while I would have a teacher for a single subject that would motivate me but I never had one like I did in her, until I got into college and could finally pick the courses I wanted to take. Then I finally found teachers that truly motivated me to learn what they had to teach, and that is why I can't pick one geology instructor over another.
I've decided to go with someone that is not a geology teacher. The reason being I went to universities that had relatively small geology departments when I was there. Because you could have a teacher more than once when getting your degree and the all the field trips we went on together it made us all a tight nit group. To pick one geology teacher as more important than the others is impossible for me because they all had such a great influence on me.
I've mused about it a lot. One minute its So&So and then next it's got to be Dr X but oh no This Guy did this for me and surely that's counts for something too. . Now I'm to the point I just can't pick one of them and say this person is the most important one. Lets just say they were all the Most Important Teacher at the time I had them.
However there is one teacher that does stand out in my mind. She was my sixth grade teacher - Miss Relic (and yes her name really was relic and oh the teasing we did about her being a relic & why she was still a miss.) Despite her name she truly was a great teacher because she genuinely loved teaching and it came across to us with everything she did.
Back when I was in 6th grade I went to a catholic school. The first thing we did every morning was go to the religion class that was taught by a nun or a priest. Then after that class we would go to our regular classroom. We had the same teacher for the rest of the day. There were no rotations and the teachers were expected to teach you everything: English, Reading, Math, Science, Geography, and History. Up until the end of 6th grade all my classes had been that way. At the end of sixth grade they started to rotate us so we would be ready for seventh grade where we would have 3 different teachers. You could usually tell that there were some subjects the teacher liked better than others. But not so with Miss Relic she seemed to enjoy them all. I was impressed with the way she could teach them all so well too. She really knew her material. When the rotation came I was surprised to see she was to be the English and Reading teacher. I thought her as being more science and geography oriented.
The one thing I remembered most about Miss Relic was she was always saying 'there are no dumb questions.' and she encouraged us to question everything. If we were not asking questions then she'd be throwing questions to us. It was a lot easier to come up with our own questions than to answer hers. She taught us how to search out the answers using the resources we had available. We quickly figured out the more questions we asked the faster the day went for us. She really opened my mind to new ideas.
The other thing she did for me was she got me into my first book club. It met after school and was called ' The Great Books club'. They read the classics and discussed a book once a week for about a month. Most of the time you had to buy the book and that kept some people not wanting to be in it. Also you had to be an 'A' student to be invited into this elite group. I wasn't an 'A' student but my older brother had been and had been in the club. She knew my brother had been in the club and knew we had the books in our house thus she encouraged me to read them to improve my reading skills. Up until then I had been a poor reader & student, (and if you can't tell I always struggled with writing and spelling). But once she got me interested in the books, I became an avid reader. I discovered you don't have to be good at English to be able to read and enjoy them. Because she took such a special interest in me I didn't want to disappoint her, I did as she wanted me too and read and discussed the books with her. When she realized I was not having any problems with reading them, she broke the rules and pushed to get me into that club. That book club started my love of reading that has lasted me my whole life time. It taught me how to truly read a book and get the most out of it.
It was the first time I felt like I really belonged to a group. I made friends with all the 'smart kids'. By hanging out with the smart kids they would help me with my school work whenever I had problems with it. My grades started to improve. It was such an ego booster to be known as one of those in that group. I didn't want to disappoint them and started to learn more and more on my own. It made me realize I could do this stuff if I just set my mind to learning it. Miss Relic pushed me like no other teacher ever did until I got into college. She always had faith in me that I could do it and I always tried to give her my best.
The next year we went into rotations and I really missed her a lot. I missed the way she pushed me. The new teachers didn't and I quickly fell back into my old bad habits of just getting by. I liked the just getting by mode because now I was spending all my time with my face in a book. I loved reading so much and escaping into all those wonderful different worlds.
After that every once in a while I would have a teacher for a single subject that would motivate me but I never had one like I did in her, until I got into college and could finally pick the courses I wanted to take. Then I finally found teachers that truly motivated me to learn what they had to teach, and that is why I can't pick one geology instructor over another.
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