Canyons

Since our assignment this week had to do with the formation of canyon, I decided to blog about the Grand Canyon. Just like the canyon in the assignment was carved by a river, so too is the Grand Canyon formed by the Colorado River. The most powerful force to have an impact on the Grand Canyon is erosion, primarily by water from the river. Other forces that contributed to the Canyon’s formation are the course of the river itself, vulcanism, continental drift, and slight variations in the earths orbit which in turn causes variations in seasons and climate. The Canyon is over a mile deep at some points, and over 2 billion years of the Earth’s geological history is exposed in the canyon.

This fact alone is pretty unbelievable. Over 2 billion years of evolution can be viewed in one spot. This spot is definitely in my list of places to see, even tho I’ve already seen it from an airplane. That view alone was remarkable. All the colors, rocks, and the sheer beauty of it are something only mother nature could produce.

Rock Salesmen

This week my doorbell rang. When I answered, there were two boys of about 7 or 8 carrying a little basket full of rocks. They said they were going door to door selling rocks for a dollar!

Had these been precious stones or gems I might have been more interested. But they just look liked a bunch of rocks found on the side of the road. But there was this one black rock. It looked shiny and crystally, almost like it may have actually been a precious stone.  It was very smooth and glossy, similar to the feel of glass. If I had to guess I would say this rock is an igneous rock. It also reminded me of last week’s smarter than a fifth grader post with the rock question.

I didn’t want the rock but just to be nice I gave the boys a dollar and told them they could even keep the rock. 🙂

Smarter than a 5th Grader?

I was flipping through the channels the other and stumbled upon the game show, “Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader?” One of the questions asked was what kind of a rock a certain specimen was. The choices were Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic. I wish I could remember what kind of rock they were talking about. I guessed Sedimentary, because they said it was layered but the answered turned out to be Igneous!

It told me that I needed to brush up on my rock identification skills because not being smarter than a 5th grader is pretty embarrassing.

Hot Springs SLO

I went to San Luis Obispo last weekend. I had the chance to go visit and swim in some hot springs out by Avila Beach. I was excited because I have never been before.

When we arrived the first thing I noticed was the smell. It smelled like Sulfur. It was a very unpleasant odor. This sulfuric smell is a great example of Geology. The water in the springs is thermally heated underground. The sulfur smell is caused by anaerobic bacteria living deep in the spring.

It was warm water but the smell made the experience less fun than I thought. It was still nice to see Geology in action.