What Geologists do

Here is a cool video from the AGI about why it is fun to be a geologist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxbIJH4fTYo

Harry Allen

WAVP meeting

Below is the information on the Vertebrate Paleo meeting that was discussed at our last meeting.
It would be a good chance to learn about the Chinle and its Dinosaurs (A visit to Triassic Park)


Western Association of Vertebrate Paleontologists (WAVP) Annual Meeting 2009

Dates: February 13-15, 2009.

Hosts: Petrified Forest National Park and Northland Pioneer College

Symposium Location: Petrified Forest National Park Painted Desert Visitor Center, Interstate 40, Exit 311, 24 miles east of Holbrook Arizona. There is a small restaurant/convenience store for breakfast, lunch, and snacks.

Holbrook, Arizona is a small city of 5000 located along Interstate 40 in northeastern Arizona. Holbrook is home to numerous motels and several small restaurants (mostly Mexican food, but also Chinese, Italian, and American), gas stations, a grocery store (Safeway), and curio shops. Holbrook is the closest lodging to the park.


Very Important Note: When driving to the field trip and/or symposium please use the park entrance off of Exit 311 on Interstate 40. DO NOT follow the signs through Holbrook, which will direct you to the southern entrance. If you use the southern entrance it is a 50 minute drive through the park to get to the north end and you will be late.

Registration: Please contact Bill Parker at William_Parker@nps.gov or 928-524-6228 extension 262, letting him know which functions below that you wish to attend and the number of persons in your party. Spaces available on the Zuni Basin trip are limited and will be assigned in order of registration. Please provide the names of all persons in your party as they wish it to appear on nametags.

Registration fee: There is no registration fee. All meals (except for refreshments [non-alcoholic] during the icebreaker and symposium) are the responsibility of participants. This includes lunches for the field trips. The Darwin birthday bash is BYOB although some refreshments will be provided.

Schedule:

Feb. 12: Charles Darwin 200th Birthday Bash – location TBA (Note: This is an “unofficial” event, i.e. not sponsored by the National Park Service or Northland Pioneer College)

Feb. 13: Day- Fieldtrip (weather permitting): Upper Triassic Geology and Paleontology of Petrified Forest National Park (led by Bill Parker, Jeff Martz, and Matt Brown). Meet at the Painted Desert Visitor Center at Petrified Forest National Park at 8:30 am. Evening – icebreaker – Northland Pioneer College Painted Desert Campus, Holbrook, AZ (specific directions will be provided later).

Feb. 14: Symposium: PDVC Petrified Forest National Park. All participants are welcome to join us for dinner in Holbrook after the symposium. Please let us know in advance if you wish to join us.

Feb. 15: Fieldtrip (weather permitting): Cretaceous localities in the Zuni Basin, New Mexico (led by Doug Wolfe). Meeting place TBA. This is the type locality for the dinosaurs Zuniceratops christopheri and Nothronychus mckinleyi. Spaces on this trip are limited and will be assigned ‘first-come – first-serve’ in order of registration. Please contact Bill Parker at William_Parker@nps.gov to register.


We will be providing limited access to our fossil preparation facility during the symposium. Our museum collections (Late Triassic vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants) are open for research by appointment only.

Private well owner?

One of our members -Edessa Carr - told us about an water quality workshop for private well owners. Good info. to have if you like drink clean water

Here is the info:

Yavapai County Cooperative Extension Offers
Free Workshop for Private Well Owners.

The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, Yavapai County will be offering a Private Well Owner’s Workshop on February 2nd, 2009 from 6-9pm in the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors Boardroom located on 1015 Fair Street in Prescott, Arizona. In Arizona there are no water quality regulations for domestic wells. Therefore it is in the interest of the private well owner to know how to best protect their own well.

University of Arizona experts will cover the basics of well construction, safeguarding your well against contamination, recommended water quality tests, interpretation of the test results and well water treatment options. Water testing kits will be available for purchase following the seminar.

If you are a well owner, you won’t want to miss this free workshop! Free materials will be available for the first 70 registrants. This program is funded by the University of Arizona Water Sustainability Program: a collaboration of scientists and educators that is coordinated by five University of Arizona water centers.


Edessa Carr
Program Coordinator
Water Resource Education
University of Arizona
Cooperative Extension, Yavapai County
840 Rodeo Drive, #C
Prescott, AZ 86305
Phone: 928.445.6590 ext. 227
Fax: 928.445.6593
email: edessa@cals.arizona.edu
Web: cals.arizona.edu/yavapai/

Age of the Grand Canyon Debate

Wayne Ranney has compiled a list of the papers about the Age debate on the origin of the Grand Canyon. This is a Science debate in action-- we will see who wins the "Big Ditch Debate"

Earthly Musings - Blog Site of Wayne Ranney

Note: Wayne's job does get him to some great places in the world. It is a pretty "Nice Gig".

Harry Allen

CSI Younger Dryas: did a comet kill the mammoths?

Here is a link to an interesting hypothesis about what may have been a really bad day for some Mammoths and the Clovis people. The Younger Dryas was a really cold interval about 13,000 years ago when we lost a number of the really large mammals , such as the Mammoth.


Arizona Geology: CSI Younger Dryas: did a comet kill the mammoths?

Harry Allen