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Stromatolite at the Strasburg Museum
The other fossil I saw at the eclectic and haphazardly-curated Strasburg Museum was this stromatolite. Top view: Side view: Probably this comes from the Cambrian-aged Conococheague Formation, although...
View ArticleBloomsburg Formation in GigaPan
Three images, working our way in from outcrop setting to hand sample: link link link These fine red sandstones are the Silurian-aged Bloomsburg Formation, as it crops out in Fort Valley, Virginia. What...
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Mechum River Formation, near Batesville, VA
Previously on this blog, I’ve mentioned the diamictites of the Konnarock Formation, the Rockfish Conglomerate, and the Fauquier Formation. There is another probable glaciogenic unit in the Virginia...
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Zoophycos trace fossils in Mahantango Formation, Fort Valley
Spotted these lovely ichnofossils this morning in the southern Fort Valley, on Saint David’s Church Road. These are all wet because I washed and scrubbed the outcrop in preparation for GigaPanning it....
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Friday fold: flexed turbidites
Spring is almost here! As you get ready for the equinox, enjoy this gentle fold on a Friday: These are turbidites (graywacke and shale) of the late Ordovician Martinsburg Formation, seen in Edinburg...
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Martinsburg Formation outcrops in Edinburg Gap
Last Friday’s fold was one I spotted when out geologizing last Thursday in Edinburg Gap, a wind gap in the western Massanutten Range, one of the main paths of egress for those coming into or leaving...
View ArticleExploring Mahantango Zoophycos traces in GigaPan
Recently, I posted about an excellent road cut in Fort Valley showing well-developed 10 cm+ Zoophycos trace fossils. Presented here are three new GigaPan images (two outcrop; one macro) of Zoophycos...
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Spring time
This past weekend, I had a chance to visit Bath, Highland, and Alleghany Counties, Virginia, three amazingly beautiful places I had never before seen. I was tagging along on my colleague Rick...
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Eocene dike and sill in Ordovician limestone
Yesterday I introduced you to coincident warm/hot springs (indicative of higher-than-normal geothermal gradients) in western Virginia and eastern West Virginia, and Eocene aged igneous intrusions in...
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Fault breccia in Beekmantown limestone
Here’s another sight at the Eocene dikes site in Bluegrass Valley, Virginia, mentioned yesterday: That’s a gorgeous fault breccia, emplaced parallel to bedding, and parallel to the felsic dike (which...
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Positively-weathering volcanic dike near Granby, Colorado
My friend Barbara am Ende sent along this lovely image of a dike in Colorado: Here’s the site. You can see the dike in Google Earth. Dikes are fractures, filled with molten rock, which then cools and...
View ArticleThe Sykesville Formation, in 6 new GigaPans
As part of my work on the GEODE project, I’m always looking for good imagery to teach key concepts in geoscience. One important concept that I’ve been thinking about lately is the principle of relative...
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Friday fold: a kink fold at Baldwin Gap
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you… The Friday fold: This beauty came to my attention on Monday, when I was lucky enough to go on a field trip with my friends Leigh and Mary. They are founding members of...
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New LiDAR of the Fort Valley & surrounding area
My colleague Dan Doctor (USGS) just shared some new LiDAR imagery of my neighborhood. Check it out: link There are some amazing things to be seen in this image. For instance, check out the change in...
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2015 Yard List
It’s that time of the year – a time to state my “yard list” tally for the previous year. I have been posting this list every year since I moved to the Fort Valley: 2012 (32 species) 2013 (52 species)...
View Article3 scenes from the Timberville VA quad field review
On Friday, I participated in a field review for a new geologic map of the Timberville quadrangle in western Virginia’s Valley & Ridge province. The field trip leaders were the two lead mappers,...
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Timberville
Today I’ll share a few photo highlights from last Friday’s trip: a field review of the new geological map of the Timberville, VA quadrangle, by Matt Heller and Randy Orndorff. I’ve previously shared...
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Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver
Here’s a great book about one family’s efforts to eat as locally as possible for a year, sort of. Whether or not they’re evangelical enough in their southwest Virginia locavory (I would have made the...
View ArticleAnother trio of 3D models
Here are three more of my Photoscan-generated, Sketchfab-hosted 3D models of rock samples: Mud cracks in Tonoloway Formation tidal flat carbonates, Corridor H, West Virginia: Diorite from the eastern...
View ArticleFour new GIGAmacro images
Here are a few new images I’ve been working on with my home-based Magnify2 imaging system from GIGAmacro. Archean basement complex gneiss from the Gallatin Range of Montana: Link (If this looks...
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