Paleotopography Speculation in the Tahoe Region

by John McCormick ’14 and Joe Grimley ’13 This week our geological journey brought us to McKissick Canyon, where the paleovalleys filled with “auriferous gravels” (these yielded phenomenal quantities of “placer gold” in the 1850’s) are only outdone by the volcanic deposits that blanket the landscape for hundreds of kilometers. The pyroclastic volcanic rocks, filled …

Regional Studies in Geology Capstone Experience

NOTE: Posted on behalf of Vicky Crystal and Alexandra Freeman, students in GY445. As senior geology majors, we have the option of taking the coveted Capstone Course for studies on the regional geology of one location within North America. This year, 11 seniors and two geology professors, Henry Fricke and Christine Siddoway, traveled to California …

Ecological Restoration Week 1

Well, the first week of Ecological Restoration just ended! We have two professors, Marion Hourdequin, a philosophy professor from Colorado College, and David Havlick, her husband, a geography professor from University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.  We’ve already read a lot of material, from ecological articles trying to pin down a technical definition of “ecological …

The final stretch…

We’ve moved on from atmospheric physics to atmospheric chemistry, and have spent our time looking at different constituents of our atmosphere and how they get there.  One interesting (and complicated) reaction we have focused on is ozone formation and depletion in various layers of the atmosphere.  In the stratosphere, the second layer of the atmosphere, …

Balloon Madness

Reviews are in. Pictures are loaded. Results: weather is looking beautiful to put it lightly (if indicative of a changing climate). Weather balloons are a critical to our understanding of the structure and behavior of the atmosphere. Without the twice daily weather balloon launches which take place simultaneously at over 800 sites around the world, we would not …

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