How did I forget?

The family and I are moving to Lafayette, Louisiana so I can attend graduate school.  I've been going through some of my things, trying to decide what to keep and what to throw away.  I finally decided to tackle the dreaded storage closet that I haven't been threw in a while.  I honestly thought that there would be a ton of stuff in there that I could get rid of... not so.  I've decided on a handful of rocks that I can live without, but the total weight of them makes it seem hardly worth leaving them behind (don't worry, I'm leaving them behind).

Anyway, while I was going through the rocks in my storage closet I came upon these gems.  I didn't even remember that I had them.  I collected them in an undisclosed location while out with some anonymous close friends of mine.  Here are the rocks:

These are different views of two slabs that I collected.  Now I'm remembering some specimens I left in the rock prep lab... I was supposed to be dropping some weight for the trip!!!

Soft Sediment Deformation and Landslides

These are some more pictures from my trip to Boulder:

The parabolic feature to the right of the blue beam in this picture is an example of soft sediment deformation.  To be more specific it is a load structure or a load cast.  A load cast forms when a relatively dense material overlies and deforms softer, underlying sediments.  Think of setting a bowling ball on a mattress or walking on wet sand at the beach.  Speaking of wet sand, the thing that is particularly awesome about the soft sediment deformation in this picture is that it is attributed to a sauropod (long-necked dinosaur).  There are several of these load casts all in a row.

Another sauropod footprint.

Yet another sauropod footprint.

 When bedding is disturbed by biologic processes (plants or animals) it is called bioturbation.  Have you ever been to the beach and seen little critters burrowing through the sand?  Well, they used to do the exact same thing millions of years ago.  This is a picture of a burrowed mudstone.  This is a particularly awesome example of bioturbation.

More bioturbation.

This is a rippled sandstone.  If you were to view these ripples in cross-section, they would appear symmetrical.  Symmetrical ripples indicate that there is a flow of water in both directions.  Can you think of where these ripples might have formed?

Okay, this is a style of soft sediment deformation that I'm not even going to explain.  Don't tell me if you don't think that this is unbelievably awesome.  I don't want to know.

Awesome!

Today one of the geology professors invited me to go with her Environmental Geology class to see an active landslide in Wyoming... I couldn't possibly say no. While I was there I chatted with a civil engineer responsible for fixing the road that the landslide had taken out.  For some reason he wasn't nearly as happy about the landslide as I was.  I can't for the life of me imagine why.  Here are some pictures:

Here you can see where the slide has come across the road and into the river.  I think they've been cleaning it up for over a week now.  They've been working on it from both sides.

The slide entered the river and has caused the river to alter its course slightly.  The rapids are new as well as the cut bank.

This is a panorama of the slide from the head scarp (top) to the toe (bottom).  The slide has stopped moving, but it is still dewatering.  You can see that there is a lot of discharge from the springs in this picture.  Water adds weight and lubrication and since it isn't very compressible, it pushes rocks apart, which decreases friction; all important factors in the formation of landslides.  It's been a wet year.

This is a better view of the springs and the head scarp.

Who is that old guy?  Seriously, people mistake me for a professor a lot these days.  Perhaps I should lose the mustache.

This is a view of the slide from the top.

Another picture from the top.

Sometimes we geologists call scratches in rocks striations - sometimes we call them slickenlines.  I'm not sure how to classify the scratches in this clay, but they formed as the slide was moving.  Awesome!

This is another recent slide about a mile or two from the one that took out the road.  This slide is not only awesome for it's sear awesomeness, but it is also awesome because it didn't inconvenience anyone by taking out a road or some other structure.

This is the outlet at the Palisade Dam in Idaho.  It appears that the floodgates are wide open.  I think that they are trying to keep the reservoir low in anticipation of the snow melt.  Yeah.. it will be June in about a week and there is still a lot of snow in the mountains.  On a lighter note, look at the pelicans!

Because I Haven't Posted in a While

As some of you know, I, along with some of my classmates, participated in the Imperial Barrel Award (IBA) competition in Boulder, CO a couple of months back. We didn't officially place, but we were mentioned honorably at the awards ceremony. After the awards ceremony, while everyone else went to a bar to get drunk, we decided to take in some of the local geology. Here are some pictures from the trip:

This is one of the Flatiron outcrops of the Fountain Formation (290-296 million years old).  This sandstone represents river and alluvial fan deposits of sediments that were shed from the Ancestral Rocky Mountains.  This particular outcrop is located at the Red Rocks Amphitheater outside of Boulder.

Here is another view of the same outcrop.

This is a cut-and-fill structure in the Fountain formation.  You can see how the bedding planes are discontinuous across the diagonal line at the center of the picture.  The interpretation is that a stream channel cut through previously deposited material and more material was deposited in its place.  This particular outcrop is interpreted as an alluvial fan deposit.

This is the same cut-and-fill structure with my hand for scale.

My hand is on the Great Unconformity: 300 million year old sedimentary rocks on the left and 1.7 billion year old metamorphic rocks on the right for a grand total of roughly 1.5 billion years of missing geologic history... Awesome!

I have more photos from this trip, but I'll post them later.

Some Field Work Pictures

Here are some pictures from my latest stint out in the field.  I really enjoyed myself and I got to put my new camera to good use.  I hope that you enjoy the photos.

Straddling the Continental Divide.

Forest and Patrick looking for fossils.

Geologists in their native environment.

A wannabe tagging along with some serious scientists.

This butterfly landed on my glove when I had stopped to collect a bryozoan.

We ditched our bags for a bit to go eat some lunch on top of one of the peaks.  I returned to find this spider having lunch on my pack.

Forest and Patrick lost in contemplation... or talking about Lord of the Rings.  I can't remember which.

A beautiful slab covered in crinoids.

A close up of a the slab.

I think that this is a pendular crinoid (but don't quote me on that) which have arms that are oriented down instead of up like most crinoids.

I think that I must have blacked out after taking this picture, because I don't remember making it back to camp.  I do remember the distinct flavor of chili con carne in my mouth the next morning though and I had an inexplicable urge to do back hand springs.  I can't really figure it out. 

Fun With Environmentalists

I don't normally post comments on news stories, but when I read this story this morning, I just couldn't resist. Here is my comment:

"So, the solution to the consumption of fossil fuels is that we all trade in our cars for bicycles? Wow, that's the most brilliant thing I've ever heard! While we're at it, let's discontinue the use of airplanes and boats. But wait! How can we justify using rubber for our bicycle tires? It's made out of oil too. And shoes, we'd better get rid of them, or start making the soles and various other parts of the shoe out of something else. And we should probably get rid our our computers, because the plastics used to construct a great deal of their components are derived from oil.

The list just keeps piling up! I propose that instead of trading cars for bicycles, we either A: devolve as a species back to a point where we are no longer able to create and use technology or B: discontinue our existence as a living species, because it is clear to me (as I'm sure it is to you) that after 4.6 billion years of fighting and struggling to stay alive, the last few hundred years of human advancement is just too much for our fragile, sickly little planet to take. In fact, I'm surprised that earth didn't stop turning and become a cold, dead rock the second our first hominid ancestor took its initial wavering, bipedal step.

Please people, please! Discontinue the use of any sort of technology, but especially stop using oil! It may be the only way to prevent the eradication of all forms of life from this delicate orb that we call earth."

This is coming from a guy who rides his bike almost every day. I honestly agree that more people ought to ride their bikes when feasible, but that doesn't negate the necessity of the automobile in the modern world and, until we can find an economical alternative (which I'm routing for as much as the next guy) I'm afraid that means that we are going to be dependent on fossil fuels for a while longer.

Whence Come Laws?

I watched this video a little while back:



and it made me pause and think.

In case you missed it, the caller says that he believes that an atheistic society would be a chaotic society, to which the gentleman on the left presents what he believes is evidence to the contrary. I haven't run through the statistics myself, but it could be that some atheists convert to some sort of a belief in a higher power after their conviction, or it could be that less atheists are caught and prosecuted for crimes that they have committed compared to theists than we would expect to find given their percentage in the general population. I don't know, but it would be interesting to find out.

I'm not really concerned about how likely atheists are to commit crime compared to the crime rate of theists though. What I am interested in is human social structure, the laws that govern us, and the role that religion and the idea of a higher power plays in the interactions between humans.

I have been trying to find a historical culture or civilization in which atheism was the dominant philosophy, and so far I have been stumped. It seems to me that all cultures (historically speaking) share at least one thing in common: the idea that there is a right and a wrong, and that the actions of men are answerable to some form of supernatural higher power (you might argue that by definition, an atheist could believe in a higher power, as long as that higher power wasn't a god or gods, but I don't think that you'll find this to be the case with most atheists and accordingly, I will not count any society that shares a belief in some form of higher power as an atheistic society). The point being, as far as I can ascertain, right, wrong, and the laws that govern society do not seem to have developed independent of religion.

The question is now raised; which came first, a sense of right and wrong, or religion? Is the sense of right and wrong innate, or is it a trait that is imbued in us by our parents and others in society? Nature, or nurture?

Unfortunately (or is it fortunately?), we may never know the answer to these questions. The way I see it, the only way to really know whether man's sense of good and evil is innate or learned would be to allow some people to grow from infancy to adulthood without contact from people who are members of society. This is the only way I can think of that would allow us to study the true nature of human interaction. I'm pretty sure that this experiment will never take place though. And anyway, I know of at least one religion that would argue that an innate sense of right and wrong was given to us by God, so I'm not sure that, even if we could answer the question, a definitive answer would advance either the theists' or the atheists' cause.

But anyway; where was I going with this? Oh yeah: If it turns out that atheists are indeed less likely to break the laws than theists, what does that prove? I'm not convinced that we would even have a rule of law if it weren't for religion. And even the atheist must admit that many of the laws under which the world's societies now operate are indelibly connected to religion.

So here is my point: our atheist friend above might believe that the fact that there are a smaller percentage of atheists in prison then there are in the general population proves that a world without religion would be less chaotic than a world with religion, but I believe that a sense of right and wrong breeds laws, which bring order, and that that sense of right and wrong was given to us by God. If the gentleman's statistics are correct, then all he has proven is that atheists are more inclined to live under existing laws. But without religion, I would argue that there might not be any laws, and the caller might be correct.

What are your thoughts?

- Martell

Oh, and P.S. Did you hear about the earthquake in Southern California and the one in Indonesia? Makes you think, doesn't it? Hmmmmmm....

From Earthquakes to Faith (Redo)

You may have noticed that there is a post missing from my blog. Have you ever written something and then decided that it might be a bit too personal for general consumption? Well, that's how I felt about that last post. Unfortunately, I found that deleting a post from my blog isn't enough when the blog is connected to Buzz. The post was still up there, so it was all out in the open for everyone to read. So, I figured, what the heck; it's not like I'm ashamed of anything in the post. I wrote it with the intent of sharing it after all. So here it is again. Sorry for the confusion.

- Martell

From Earthquakes to Faith

I'm not sure yet where I am going with this post, so I hope that you'll bear with me.

As many of you know, I am an aspiring geologist, which means that I am interested in the earth and how it works. Recently, there have been four earthquakes in the news: one in Haiti, one in Chile, one in Japan, and one in Taiwan (and all of their associated aftershocks, but this post isn't exploring the physics of fault rupture).

There are prophecies in the scriptures regarding earthquakes as precursors to the second coming of Christ. Matt 24:7 speaks of earthquakes in "divers places." A lot of people seem to think that this means that there will be an increase in earthquake activity. This may be so, but that's not what the scripture says. It says that there will be earthquakes in "divers" (which means various) places. As far as I know, there have been earthquakes in divers places for millennia. Mormon 8:30 seems to throw a little more light on the subject. It says that there will be heard of earthquakes in divers places, which suggests to me that we will know about more earthquakes, but doesn't necessarily mean that they will occur more frequently. There is a prophecy about a huge earthquake in Rev 16 that will be unlike any we have seen.

But I'm kind of going off on a tangent here. All of this thought about earthquakes lead me to study a little more about the signs of Christ's second coming. One of the signs made me stop and ponder. In D&C 45:26 (among other places), we read that, "men's hearts shall fail them." I'm sure that this phrase has more than one meaning, as phrases in the scriptures often do, but I think (and Elder Holland seems to agree with me) that among them is the idea that men will lose their faith.

So now you know how I got from earthquakes to faith. But it doesn't stop there. For me, it is impossible to contemplate faith, or the loss thereof, without considering my own.

I suppose that it would be useful at this point to recount the history of my faith.

I was brought up in a home where regular church attendance, scripture study and daily prayers were the norm, so it is needless to say that faith in God was impressed upon me from a very young age. I don't know if it is because of this fact or in spite of it, but I recall as a youth having the feeling that I was being watched; not that creepy feeling that you get sometimes, but that there was some being or beings "up there" who were interested in my life.

When I grew a bit older and decidedly more rebellious, I became unsure of the existence of some divine being and I sought avenues other than the prescribed church attendance, prayer, and scripture study that my parents had tried so diligently to lead me down. In short, I had no faith in a supreme being, and accordingly, I had no use for piety.

During this period of my life, as I would sit pondering, the question of "what if" would often enter my mind. What if there is a God? What if my parent's and Sunday school teachers were right all along? These questions eventually brought me to an idea which I have since learned was first put forth by a man named Blaise Pascal and is known as Pascal's Wager. My version of the wager went something like this:

1. There are two options: either there is a God or there is not.

2. If there is a God, then there is an afterlife, and the manner in which I live will determine how I will spend that afterlife, which is eternal.

3. If there is no God, then there is no afterlife, and the way in which I chose to live will have no personal consequences beyond any that I might encounter within my life, which is finite.

4. If I believe in God and live my life accordingly, and it turns out that God does not exist, then I have lost the opportunity to live my life in manner that is not conducive to Christian values, but it won't mater to me, because if there is no afterlife, I won't be around to regret it.

5. If I believe in God and act accordingly and it turns out that He does in fact exist, then I will spend eternity in a state of happiness.

6. If I don't believe in God and I chose to live my life in a manner other than that of one who upholds Christian values and it turns out that there is no God, then I have lived a life that is incompatible with a belief in God with no eternal consequences.

7. If I don't believe in God and I live accordingly, and it turns out that there is a God, then I will spend eternity in less than ideal conditions.

So, it is plain to see that the risk vs. reward ratio in this situation is in favor of betting on God. If I bet on God and I'm wrong, I lose a lifestyle that would have ended anyway. If I bet that there is no God and I'm wrong, I lose an eternity of happiness.

Of course there are rebuttals to Pascal's Wager, and I've even come up with a few of my own; not to mention that Pascal was likely referring to the Christian religion and probably specifically to the Catholic faith (I might insert Mormonism in my own wager), which excludes many possibilities that others see as viable options. But that's not the point. The point is that this line of reasoning, along with some other influences in my life, set the stage for me to give God a second chance.

This brings me back to faith. Pascal's Wager is all fine and good to start the ball rolling, but salvation, as I understand it, requires a little more than acting as if there is a God. There must be a belief. There must be faith.

Faith is something that has come to me by degrees. My faith lies somewhere in the continuum between sure knowledge and disbelief (see Alma 32:17-34); it dances around among many points in between. I guess, if I am being honest, I have never really had that sure knowledge. I have an acute belief in God, in an afterlife, in the authority of the priesthood that I hold, in the cleansing and enabling power of the atonement; but I'm not unwaveringly certain.

My faith is tried and tested and I often end up with more questions than I do answers; but I do receive assurances, answers to my prayers, comforting feelings, burnings within my bosom. And so I continue on. Some days I live in a way that is more pleasing to my Savior than others, but I never abandon the gospel. I strive to become better. I pray for the necessary strength. I don't always succeed in my attempts. In fact, I often fail.

I guess what I'm saying is that faith, let alone a perfect knowledge, is not something innate within me. It's something that I struggle to retain. And when I say struggle, I mean that it requires effort on my part. If I were to discontinue church attendance, daily prayer and daily scripture study, I have a good idea that my heart would fail me. I would probably no longer see clear to believe in God.

I don't want you to be worried about the status of my faith. I know what it's like to live as if there is no God, and I must say that my life is a lot more fulfilling now than it was then. I am happier (it's kind of funny to think about when you consider Pascal's Wager). I rather prefer my present situation. But maybe you should worry about me. Maybe I should be concerned about you too. After all, the Lord said that men's hearts would fail them, and since I realize that the grip on my testimony is as easy to release as discontinuing a few simple practices, then maybe I'm not the only one. Maybe I'm a bit dense for taking so long to come to this realization. Perhaps this was the motivation behind Christ telling Peter to "strengthen thy brethren."

I want you all to know that I do believe in God. I have felt His love. I believe that Christ died for me. I have felt the cleansing and enabling power of His atonement. I believe that Thomas S. Monson is the mouthpiece of God. I have felt a warmth in my chest and a conviction in my heart that he is the Lord's Prophet. I believe that Christ will come again and I know that many people will loose their faith preceding His arrival. I pray that you will not be counted among them.

Faith can be a fragile thing. What are you doing now or what have you done in the past to strengthen yours? I'm sure that we could all benefit from each other's experiences.

- Martell