A cactus you can pet with your bare hand? Turns out it can tell you something about whether that island contains any land iguanas. A case study in the easing of natural selective pressure.
As noted last week, I spent the week spanning New Year’s Eve in the enchanted isles of the Galapagos. The previous week (over Christmas) my family and I were in coastal Ecuador. I saw a total of three species of iguanas in the two locations, and they offer a neat little story of evolution. Let’s … Read more
Slightly annotated photo of a Permian therapsid skull on display in the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta. Another photo of this same skull is here. This reptile needs an orthodontist.
It wasn’t all rocks and games on the Neoacadian Inner Piedmont trip. I also saw a lizard:
Saw this fellow on Monday, coiled up next to an outcrop of Antietam Formation in Naked Creek, northwest of Elkton: It had flattened its head to make it very spade-shaped. The right eye was cloudy – perhaps snake glaucoma? Or maybe it was just getting ready to shed its skin?
Here’s a cute little feller that we spotted in the Green River Basin of Wyoming last week, whilst checking out the Green River Formation oil shales at the White Mountain escarpment, as well as adjacent Boar’s Tusk volcanic neck and distant Killpecker Dunes. Though sometimes called “horny toads” (I myself am fond of this name), … Read more
“Did somebody say bugs?” …Yes, Mr. Lizard, it’s time for a photo gallery of the macro bugs I saw this past weekend. We got some caterpillars for you, some millipedes, and also a very cool moth. Feast your eyes! Unidentified caterpillar 1: Underwing caterpillar (?): Unidentified caterpillar 2: Millipedes: (See also here, if you … Read more
My fiancée Lily teaches science at a local middle school, and she has a pet leopard gecko there. I went in this morning to give her students a talk on climate change, and used the opportunity to hang out a bit with the gecko, which is named Kimo (“chemo”). Lily affectionately calls him “Kemo-sabe”… I … Read more
Atop the glorious pile of travertine that is Pamukkale (photos 1, 2, & 3), there is an ancient ruined city called Hierapolis. It was founded by the Romans in the second century BC, and was constructed (not surprisingly) from the most common locally available stone: travertine. A tomb with a view: This last one is … Read more
“GoSF” = Geology of San Francisco As I am sure you are aware, I’m taking this week to write up the three field trips I took last week to examine the geology of San Francisco and neighboring areas. My plan is to cover: Introduction and overview Seafloor basalt Deep sea chert Kirby Cove, Marin Headlands … Read more
Yesterday, Lily and I embraced my first day of no-more-classes by taking a hike. We drove out to Massanutten Mountain and hiked up to Signal Knob, a ten-mile (roundtrip) jaunt with about 1500 feet of elevation gain. Along the way, we saw a lot of Massanutten Formation quartz sandstone (Silurian), a few trace fossils, a … Read more
While on our structural geology field trip this week, my GMU students and I encountered an eastern worm snake, Carphophis amoenus amoenus. The little charmer at first reminded me of a boa, like the ‘rubber boa’ I once found in California (a real animal, not made of rubber), and then I convinced myself it was … Read more