A Survey for Last Year's Geology BRCC Students

If you took Geology BRCC last year, please click on the link to this survey and fill it out.  It will help me out a great deal of you will answer the questions with some detail (thoughtfully and more than just a sentence :)).

Have a great Christmas!

A New Blog From Mr. Kohrs

Throughout the school year, I receive/entertain a great many questions from many of you on matters of the intersection between science and faith.  I try to be careful in discussing these with you, as I do have certain ethical boundaries to which I must adhere as your teacher.  I can, however, freely talk about myself and my personal beliefs if asked and if I deem it is appropriate.  I thank you for those opportunities and will always be careful to tread lightly in these areas.

It is in this vein that I choose to share with you a new project that I am embarking upon that will explore the boundary, or confluence, between science and faith.  It will be a little more personal on my part at times, but educational as well.  My goal is to explore ways in which science and faith can be brought together.  In our culture, particularly amongst Christians here in the USA (as it really isn't an issue outside of the USA), there is a great deal of conflict in this area.  As a result, science and faith are usually thought of as mutually exclusive, where one cannot coexist with the other. 

I reject this proposition whole-heartedly.  As a scientist and a Christian, I see no need for conflict.  Anyway, check out General Revelations if you are interested in reading any further...

Green River Formation Fossils

Lagerstatten, varves, marlstones...whuh???

Yes!  These are strange words, but fitting for a rock formation that contains such unusual fossil specimens.  You can find the definitions of these words by reading this article on the Green river Formation here.  You may also want to check it out just to see the amazing pictures of fossil lagerstatte, or exceptionally well-preserved fossils.  These truly are exceptional!


The Green River Formation is known for its coals and oil shales, not just its fossils, but 50 million years ago, when the Rockies were young, it was deposited as muds and silts eroded down the sides of these newly minted mountains and deposited in intermountain basin lakes.  It was warm and humid though, even in this environment, which allowed for copious amounts of vegetation to thrive as well as a very diverse portfolio of animals and insects.

Geology BRCC Work This Week

Hello BRCC'ers!  I have posted this week's notes on Running Water, Chapter 16 in your text, in the links section on this page.  On Wednesday, we will explore the work and behavior of rivers and streams as they sculpt the landscape!

On Friday, we will be in the computer lab exploring fluvial dynamics and flooding by using Virtual River, an online interactive exploration that I think you will find challenging and interesting.  There are two certificates to print at the end of each activity, one for River Discharge, the other for River Flooding.

Enjoy!  Have fun at the FFA conference!

Remote Sensing of Groundwater -- Wow!!

The NASA-led team used the 40-megahertz airborne sounding radar prototype to probe the desert subsurface above the Umm-El-Aish aquifer in northern Kuwait, creating this high-resolution cross section of the aquifer. The radargram shows variations in the depth of the water table from 161 to 171 feet (49 to 52 meters). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. (Geology.com) 

Wow! NASA, ESA, and Italian space agency scientists have developed a low frequency radar technology that can penetrate a planet's crust in order to map aquifers of liquid water. Currently, this technology is being used to map the Martian subsurface to a depth approaching 2km. So far, only water ice has been detected. However, the same technology has been used to map fossil, or ancient, aquifers in the Kuwaiti desert. The societal implications of this technology are far-reaching, as groundwater prospecting promises to become much more lucrative as global population increases, especially in those arid areas bordered, or contained, within deserts.

Whether or not this technology gains widespread use here on earth, the results from the Kuwaiti aquifer survey will help scientists enhance their interpretation of Martian subsurface data. Great stuff!

A Planet Made of Diamond? And Orbiting a Pulsar!!!

Credit: Reuters



Wow! Be sure to read this captivating story about a planet in our galactic backyard that appears to be made of densely packed carbon. Certainly, some of this planet consists of diamond.

What's more, this planet is orbiting a pulsar. Go PSC (see below). So, scientists have been able to learn some interesting things from it.

Welcome Back!!!!!!

I hope that you have had a great summer full of fun and I hope that you may have learned something new as well!

This is a year of regeneration for astronomy, geology, and geology BRCC. Read here for some upcoming highlights for the 2010-2011 school year:

Geology -- We will be integrating some use of ArcView GIS when possible into classroom instruction. This is really great because GIS is used in industry and science a great deal and is also a promising, high-paying career path for those with an interest in computers, science, and geography. Otherwise, we will continue exploring the basics of traditional physical geology in both the classroom and through a variety of short and long field trips.

Geology BRCC -- You will be heavily introduced to GIS this year in the context of physical geology. Read above for more information on that, but we will be conducting a study to see if we can identify good sites to drill a large production groundwater well in the Broadway area. Last year, we focused on hydrofracking in Bergton, VA and that study is still available for viewing online.

Astronomy -- See the logo below? Broadway High School is now a member school in the Pulsar Search Collaboratory, a collaboration between the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and West Virginia University -- and now BHS! Several BHS students traveled to Green Bank, WV this summer to learn how to analyze and search for new, unknown pulsars using drift scan Green Bank Telescope data. All of you will receive the training and take the first test to do this also. However, you can then choose whether or not to take the second test and become a member of the PSC as well. It's not only a great resume builder for college apps, but has also scored at least one high school student a full ride to a university, so it can certainly be an awesome opportunity!

Textbook Information for Geology BRCC 2011-2012

Welcome! Geology DE for 2011-2012 is going to be great!

Buy your textbooks early. I'll provide a short list of good places to purchase, but feel free to research them yourselves. You will need the following texts:

Busch, Richard M. (2010). Laboratory Manual in Physical Geology (8th
Edition). AGI/NAGT American Geological Institute. Prentice Hall:
New Jersey. ISBN #: 0136007716

Tarbuck, Edward J. and Frederick K. Lutgens (2005). Earth: An Introduction
to Physical Geology. (9th ed.), Pearson Prentice-Hall: New Jersey.
Geode CD-Rom included. ISBN #: 0131566849

Buy Tarbuck used (with CD), but purchase the Busch lab manual new (or you might be missing something important)...

Good places to look:

www.amazon.com
www.textbooks.com
www.half.com
www.bigwords.com (great place for comparison shopping!)

Have a great summer! I'll post something ocassionally. You have NO summer assignment. Just have your books ready by the first day of school so that we can get a solid start!

The Bergton Project is Complete! Check it out! (You'll need Google Earth, though!)

The Geology BRCC students at Broadway have worked hard, but their effort has paid off. Check out their work by downloading the .kmz file here (It should open automatically in Google Earth, if you already have it installed. If you don't, you can download and install it for free, here.

Enjoy!

Today's Activity

In class today, Geology BRCC folks, we will be using an online activity through the Earth Exploration Toolbox. Our purpose is to analyze plate motion using GPS data that has been collected via GPS monuments in northwestern Washington State. The directions are straightforward and easy to follow.

You may not be able to download the data directly for the SEAT site. If not, then use the already prepared data file provided by the activity.

You can access the lab here.

I will need to take some screen shots of your work during the period. I will either save them on my flash drive or on public files. In either case, I'll be walking around looking for good stuff...so be on task! :):)

Bergton Cross-section

More data

Useful sites for finding some discussion of water parameters

EPA Water and Maximum Contaminant levels (MCLs)

Another great site...

Bergton Data

Below are graphs assembled by the Geology BRCC class at Broadway that show the empirical data from our study of the groundwater chemistry in Bergton, VA. The sites have been numbered to protect the anonymity of well owner. These private wells average about 50 ft in depth and are drilled in siliciclastic rocks west of Brocks Gap, VA. The data was collected and analyzed in part, in the field, using an electronic conductivity, pH, Salinity meter and an alkalinity field titration kit. The anions and cations were analyzed in the James Madison University geology department's groundwater geochemistry lab using a Varian AA240 Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (Cations) and a Dionex DX-120 Ion Chromatograph (Anions). More data, taken from the carbonate rocks east of Brock's Gap, is forthcoming, as is a fuller interpretation of the entire data set.

Geologic Mapping Data

Is here!

A New Planet??

A pair of astronomers is claiming that they have accumulated more evidence of the presence of a planet about four times the size of Jupiter lurking in the outer reaches of the solar system. If they turn out to be right, and we won't know for a few years at least, this would be a HUGE discovery! For now though, it's best to play skeptic.

Astronomy folks -- please get those permissions slips in as soon as you can! We're going to have a great time in Green Bank and you won't want to miss it!

Geology BRCC -- Next Saturday is a day of field work. Be ready!

Geology -- We wrap up minerals today and start igneous rocks. There is some technical stuff coming up, so prepare yourselves!

Till class...

Whew! It's been awhile! But, unlike your teacher, the sun and earth never sleep...

NASA, using its twin STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) has produced the first 3D image of the sun in real time. You might ask, how is this possible? Well, you can read about it in detail at the mission website. In short, there are two satellites orbiting the sun in perfection opposition, in other words, the three objects line up to form a straight line, allowing NASA to produce such a cool image!

Did you know that there are 33 countries with land areas below sea level? The link to this article will take you to a cool Google Maps view of where they are. Sure, you probably knew about Death Valley and the Dead Sea, but what about the other places with negative elevations?

Astronomy folks -- Quiz next time -- a truly stellar one :). Our next unit will deal with how light is related to the electrons in atoms -- and how we can use the resultant absorption and emission spectra to identify what elements exist in distant stars, planetary atmospheres, and even in interstellar space. Atomic stuff! Be sure to get that permission slip and money in for the Green Bank field trip! You definitely won't regret it.

Geology people -- We are embarking into our exploration of minerals and how to identify them. From there, we will move into igneous rocks and then volcanoes. We have two field trips coming up in early March...one to the Bower-Campbell Zinc Mine in Timberville (bet you didn't know that even existed!) and to Chimney Rock the next week.

BRCC dudes and dudettes -- Our samples are in to the lab. While we still have a couple more that we may collect and some stream guaging to do, we're going to have lot's of data to play with. Personally, I can't wait! In the meantime, we're dealing with all things crystalline...minerals, igneous rocks, etc., and moving kind of quickly through a pile of material. Try to read and stay on top of it. This is college, after all!

Thanks for all of your hard work folks!

An historic discovery!

NASA's Kepler spacecraft, just recently put into orbit, has begun to deliver. It is designed to search for potentially habitable planets beyond our own solar system. Recently, it has discovered its first, Kepler 10B.

It does this by searching for a slight dimming of a star as a planet passes (transits) in front of it, much like Mercury and Venus do with our own sun. These changes in light output are extremely slight, but Kepler is very sensitive.

The planet is 40% larger than earth, denser, only orbits in hours, and is much closer to its star, so life as we know it is unlikely. But, this is only the beginning of a very encouraging mission!

Get ready for exams folks! BRCC, your essay topics should be ready by tomorrow. Geology and Astronomy, your exam will be given via narrated powerpoint with a scantron answer strip. Good luck!

New data from the Moon!

Guess what! Sensors placed on the moon in 1971 (Apollo 14) have revealed, using modern seismic techniques, that the moon has a liquid outer core. This has some interesting implications for models that explore the formation of the moon.