sediment

Tombolo at St. Ninian’s Isle, Shetland

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I came to Shetland for the rocks – but I’ve been surprised and delighted by the huge range of interesting coastal geomorphology to be seen here too. I’ve never seen so many sea stacks, wave-cut cliffs, and bayhead bars in my life. One that is so “classic,” so “textbook” that I couldn’t resist it, is … Read more

Storm deposits in Tonoloway Fm. limestone – a virtual sample

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Our series of  virtual samples continues! This week, I’m presenting examples of a visualization combination that leverages the advantages of the GIGAmacro system with the 3D ‘virtual sample’ perspective of the Sketchfab-hosted model: the same sample presented in both formats. Today, we feature a lovely slab of limestone, chock full of fossil material, and showing … Read more

Differential weathering in dolostone – a virtual sample

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Our series of  virtual samples continues! This week, I’m presenting examples of a visualization combination that leverages the advantages of the GIGAmacro system with the 3D ‘virtual sample’ perspective of the Sketchfab-hosted model: the same sample presented in both formats. Today, we feature a differentially weathered dolostone. Link GIGAmacro by Callan Bentley Photoscan model by … Read more

Variably-cemented conglomerate – a virtual sample

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Here’s another example of a visualization combination that leverages the advantages of the GIGAmacro system with the 3D ‘virtual sample’ perspective of the Sketchfab-hosted model: the same sample presented in both formats. In this case, it’s a lovely example of a conglomerate that I found in our lab at NOVA, showing variations in the level … Read more

Flood deposits of Glacial Lake Missoula outburst floods

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Two weeks ago, I went on an awesome, informal field trip to eastern Washington State to visit the Channeled Scablands for the first time. My collegue Bill Richards of North Idaho College picked me up in Spokane and drove me halfway across Washington and back to Moscow, Idaho, over the course of a day. This … Read more

New GIGAmacro images of rock samples

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Another week, another batch of new images produced on my home-based Magnify2 imaging system from GIGAmacro. Leptaena brachiopod in (Mississippian?) limestone from Montana: Link Here’s the flip side of the same sample, with a lot of fenestrate bryozoans to see: Link Fault breccia from the Corona Heights Fault of San Francisco: Link Amygdular metabasalt from … Read more

3D and GIGAmacro views of Cerro Toro conglomerate

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Six years ago, I went to Patagonia*, and collected this sample there. It’s a deep-water conglomerate from the Cerro Toro Formation. I’ve imaged it here in two media: the Sketchfab-hosted (Photoscan-generated) 3D model, and GigaPan-hosted (GIGAmacro-generated) views of both the front and the back. In combination, these three digital items can probably give you a … Read more

Timberville

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Join Callan for a virtual field trip, as he shares dozens of photos from a recent ‘field review’ of a new geological map in Virginia’s Valley & Ridge province. Highlights: graptolites, trace fossils, geopetal structures, folds and faults.

Sand shadow

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A couple of weeks ago, before a series of snowfalsl altered my daily work routine in a destabilizing way, I took a walk through the braided floodplain / gravel fan of Passage Creek, where it exits the Massanutten Mountain system near the state fish hatchery. There, no longer restrained by the steep walls of quartzite, … Read more

Four new GIGAmacro images of sedimentary rocks

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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

Considering the Spechty Kopf diamictite

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I have known for a long time about a diamictite in the latest Devonian part of the Appalachian stratigraphic sequence, since it is exposed in the lowermost part of the section (western end of the outcrop) at Sideling Hill, Maryland. When I led field trips there, I talked students through the multiple possible origins for … Read more

Trace fossils in the Juniata and Tuscarora Formations

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Route 33 in Pendleton County, West Virginia cuts across the lower Paleozoic stratigraphic section. I went there this past spring on a sedimentology and stratigraphy field trip with the GMU sed/strat class. The trip was orchestrated by professor Rick Diecchio. Here are some scenes from two of the stops – the upper Ordovician Juniata formation … Read more

Paleoslump features and fluvial incision in the Conemaugh Group, West Virginia

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The answer to this week’s geological interpretation contest is revealed, sort of. Annotations, GigaPans, and outcrop detail photos reveal the story of equatorial fluvial incision and ancient slumping during the Carboniferous ice ages.

Student guest post: the Belt Supergroup in Glacier National Park

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As longtime readers know, late summer is when my Rockies students submit their final projects – web-based explanations of key geologic sites they examined during the trip. Today, I offer you a guest blog post by student John Leaming. You’ll notice that I’m not *completely* absent from the post, however – I make a couple … Read more

The Sykesville Formation, in 6 new GigaPans

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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 dating on the basis of inclusions. Just as you can’t bake a loaf of raisin bread without already having raisins … Read more