Check this out: It’s a sample of the Reynolds Limestone, a member of the Mississippian-aged Mauch Chunk Formation, chock full of gastropod fossils. The image here is a 3D model made with Agisoft PhotoScan, a 3D model rendering program. The only input was a series of ~32 photos taken of the sample at various angles … Read more
Here are some new “virtual samples” for you to check out: Dessication cracks in Tonoloway Formation (Silurian): [gigapan id=”183042″] Link Image by Callan Bentley Random conglomerate (unknown age and formation): [gigapan id=”183322″] Link Image by Robin Rohrback Skolithos trace fossils (tops) in Hampshire Formation (Devonian): [gigapan id=”183132″] Link Image by Callan Bentley Crinoid calyx fossil … Read more
The week before the AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco experienced heavy rain and strong coastal wave action. These two phenomena liberated a big boulder of serpentinite on Marshall’s Beach. As it moved downhill, it opened up a scarp with views into the colluvial soil horizons.
South of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, there are beachside exposures of serpentinite mélange: tectonically sheared-out former oceanic crust accreted to western North America as part of an accretionary wedge.
At the end of the AGU Fall meeting, Callan visits the Corona Heights “mirror” fault, renowned for its gorgeous slickensides. Explore the site in photos in GigaPans.
It’s been a week and a half since Mountain Beltway has seen any publishing action, given the overlapping timesucks of the AGU Fall Meeting and the end of the semester. But now I’m back in the Appalachian mountain belt, and my grades are all in, and I have time to think about indulgences like blogging … Read more
When snail shells are deposited in a bunch of sediment, they serve as tiny architectural elements, with a “roof” that protects their interiors. Any sediment mixed into the shell’s interior will settle out (more or less horizontally), and then there will be empty space (filled with water, probably) above that. As burial proceeds and diagenesis … Read more
You could use a macro GigaPan of some pretty sand, I think. [gigapan id=”181069″] Link That’s sand from near Acadia National Park, in Maine. Exploring it, you can find both small chunks of Acadian granite, and green rods that are sea urchin spines. It’s fun – check it out.
My Historical Geology class was in for a new experience for the semester’s capstone field trip. Before we headed out into the field (to the exceptional roadcuts along Corridor H in Grant and Hardy Counties, West Virginia), we had them examine all the outcrops virtually, in the comfort of the classroom, using digital imagery. I … Read more
One of the cool things about my plan for the GEODE grant from NSF is to put GigaPan imaging systems in the hands of people who will take them to cool places. I purchased five loaner GigaPan rigs, and they have gone out in the field with various people, but I think that the images … Read more