Silent samples, holey samples
Two very different samples tell stories that are full of holes. What’s going on with this weathered sandstone? What’s going on with this fossil scallop shell?
virginia
New digital media of Shenandoah National Park feeder dikes
In Shenandoah National Park, astride Virginia’s Blue Ridge, feeder dikes of Catoctin Formation (meta-)basalt cut across the Grenvillian-aged granitoid basement. Due to their mafic composition and columnar jointing, these feeder dikes generally weather more rapidly than their host rocks. I led a field trip in the park on Thursday for my son’s school, and my … Read more
Virginia Museum of Natural History specimens in GIGAmacro view
One of the small sub-projects of my 2015-2017 Chancellor’s Commonwealth Professorship is to create some GIGAmacro images of cool fossil specimens from the Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsville. Curator of paleontology Alex Hastings was good enough to loan us a few specimens to image, and hopefully there will soon be more where they … Read more
Geopoetry: a short recounting of Virginia’s long history
…And now for something completely different! This past weekend, my family gathered in Capon Springs, West Virginia, to celebrate my mother’s 70th birthday. She asked for an unusual birthday gift – an original poem from each member of the family. Writing poetry isn’t something most of us do, but my mom was an English teacher … Read more
Cleavage refraction in Konnarock Fm. rhythmites – a virtual sample
Here’s 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 cleavage refraction going from meta-clay-shale (now ‘slate’) through a graded bed of fine sand and silt. [gigapan id=”187755″] … Read more
Scenes from a cut bank
My family and I went canoeing this weekend, and one of the more photogenic things we saw on the river was this fine cut bank: The bank is being actively undercut by the river, as evidenced by the overhanging soil + grass carpet, the slump scarps at the bottom (showing fresh, wet soil), and the … Read more
Nine new GigaPans from Team M.A.G.I.C.
Alethopteris fern fossil: [gigapan id=”187190″] Link GIGAmacro by Robin Rohrback Rapid River Canyon, Idaho: [gigapan id=”187535″] Link GigaPan by Callan Bentley River cobble of brecciated Columbia River Basalt, Hammer Creek (Salmon River), Idaho: [gigapan id=”187524″] Link GIGAmacro by Callan Bentley Petersburg Granite exposed at Belle Isle, Richmond, Virginia: [gigapan id=”187523″] Link GigaPan by Jeffrey Rollins … Read more
Who ate the woodpecker?
Occasionally, our big windows get in the way of birds. The latest casualty was a hairy woodpecker, Leuconotopicus villosus. While it’s sad that our home being where it is caused the end of this bird’s life, its body was an opportunity to teach my son something about wildlife and ecology. We have a motion-sensitive wildlife … Read more
Cooling columns of the Catoctin Formation, Indian Run Overlook, Shenandoah National Park
An inaugural visit to an outcrop in Shenandoah National Park reveals the signature of lava flows ~600 million years old.
This week’s batch of 3D models
Anorthosite with lovely garnet reaction rims, a spherical hematite concretion, and some sweet breccia. Check them out and explore!