Friday, December 26, 2008

Geology Lesson #1

Today John and I will be enjoying an apres-Christmas dinner with Pasadena Daily Photo's new staff member. You heard me right. I'm pleased to announce PDP now has a resident Geologist (Pasadena resident, that is). Her name is Becca and she's Sprocket's guardian.

During our dog walks I get the occasional geology lesson. Who knew there was so much geology going on in Pasadena? My god, it's happening all the time, right under our feet!

About this photo, Becca says:
"This is a nice example of graded bedding. When water flows through the stream channel it transports material of various sizes. Fast-moving water transports relatively large sediment such as boulders, cobbles, and/or pebbles. Slow-moving water only has the energy to move small sediment such as sand, silt, and/or mud. Imagine taking a jar filled with water and sediment of various sizes, shaking the jar and placing it on a table. The larger sediments will settle to the bottom first, and as the water current in the jar continues to decrease, progressively smaller sediments will settle on top.

"As a side note, if these sediments were buried and left undisturbed, they could go through a process called lithification and turn into a sedimentary rock. And then, my friend, this beautiful graded bed would be preserved in the rock record!!"

Many of Becca's colleagues have gone off make money drilling the planet for oil. Becca's dream is to transmit her love of the planet to her students. "If one of them picks up a piece of litter and puts it in a trash can, I've done my job," she says.

18 comments:

John Sandel said...

It's not true that all geology students are stoners; they just hail from different social strata.
buh-DOOMP-boom!
I'll be here the whole epoch, ladies and gents. Y'wanna stay for the late show … it's bluestone!

Tash said...

We are very lucky indeed to have her join your team. Look forward to lots more lessons.
Petrea, I wish you and your loved ones a wonderful, joyous holiday season. Thanks for making my days merrier & brighter with your posts.

Pascal Jim said...

I am familiar with the lithification process from the many hours seated at the keyboard.

Ms. P. many thanks for all your efforts with the D. P...Happy New Year to all you folks who drop into this enriching site.

Pascaljim

Anonymous said...

Lucky PDP. Merry Christmaka

Anonymous said...

I happen to love geology. Anza Borrego has a really good self-guided tour. It takes you through all the, uh, strata, and so forth. Well, it's been awhile.

HearkenCreative said...

Are you all organizing walking tours? A few years after graduation, my wife and I both realized how much we missed while in college, and made a pact to keep learning for the rest of our lives. Geology is wonderful fun: it's like sleuthing for clues laid down long ago.

Petrea Burchard said...

Hello, die-hards. Hey, I love the rock jokes from Bernie and Pascal Jim. AH, I love Anza Borrego. That place is beeyootiful.

I don't know if we're going to be doing tours. Hadn't thought of that. Ya think there's any money in it? Nevermind. Do you have a dog?

Cafe Observer said...

Count me outta organsizing any walking tours. Don't even think about it bcuz I'm a dog! Ask your newest staff member, P.

Organized Eating? Well, ok, I'm in it. I'm a dog afterall.

Ahem, Petrea, did you say something about money in this? Just curious.

USelaine said...

I love this stuff too! It's terr-lithic!

Anonymous said...

We should do our best to save Animals and Birds as they also have the right to live in this world just equal to humag being. Animals and Birds Life can be saved easily with our little steps.

Virginia said...

B ecca did a much better job of teaching that lesson than I ever did to my 3rd graders. You go Becca!!!

Pascal Jim said...

Yes, KKG, we must save the birds, esp. those homosexual pigeons, whose flight is being curtailed, so to speak....

Petrea Burchard said...

PJ, whut?

Pascal Jim said...

An article from some years ago...

HearkenCreative said...

Wow, Petrea, you must be getting popular...you now are big enough for the spammers to start spamming your comments section! Congratulations. :)

Petrea Burchard said...

Yeah, isn't it grand? I've just spent the last twenty minutes getting rid of them. I don't want to put in word verification but maybe I'll do it temporarily. We'll see.

Loren, why aren't all business people as nice as you I wonder?

HearkenCreative said...

Oh, so they got you across-the-board? I had to delete a bunch from a few blogs I manage a few weeks ago.

I don't think any of us would mind doing a verification/captcha, if it would help you eliminate the spam and lessen the load on you for managing the blog. Definitely it would give you more time to do what you love: write awesome posts and take great pictures.

Cheers.

Petrea Burchard said...

You're the best, L/H.

I'm going to wait and see. If they only come every once-in-a-while, it's worth it to me to save folks the trouble. If I start getting spam every day, that's a different story!