Category Archives: Research

Color – Part Two – The Hanna Formation

So, now that I’ve explained color in yesterday’s post, let’s see what some geological data look like.

These are ugly graphs of raw data constructed in Excel. I wouldn’t publish these, but we can use them to visualize the data at a first pass.

Let’s start in the Hanna Basin. This summer, my field assistant and I measured the rock thickness and took color measurements with the RM200QC in a critical part of the Hanna Formation that most likely includes the Paleocene-Eocene boundary (55 million years ago). You can see the travelogues for those days in the field here and here.Continue reading “Color – Part Two – The Hanna Formation”

Friday Headlines: 7-18-13

Friday Headlines, July 18, 2013

THE LATEST IN THE GEOSCIENCES

 

Today’s round-up:

Strong evidence that Tyrannosaurus rex was a hunter, not a scavenger

New species of ceratopsian dinosaur found in Utah (and some poetry)

Problems with the Forest Service’s proposed rules for paleontological specimensContinue reading “Friday Headlines: 7-18-13”

The Mystery of the Delta Value – Why ‰ isn’t Parts Per Thousand

I’m about to gripe. But it’s a science gripe. It’s a technical gripe. It’s about stable isotopes. If you aren’t interested in stable isotopes, I suggest you tune out now.

There’s this thing in stable isotopes, especially the so-called ‘light’ isotopes like hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen. It’s called the ‘delta’ value. When we say what the stable isotopic measurement of something is, we say ‘the delta value is blah-blah-blah.’ The value is always in the units of permil (‰).

“δ13C of warm-season grasses is -14‰.”Continue reading “The Mystery of the Delta Value – Why ‰ isn’t Parts Per Thousand”

Mental Health Days

My appointment at the university where I work is a strange one. I’m not faculty. My title is not professor. But I do most of the same things that professors have to do: I teach, do research, write papers, submit grant proposals. Things I don’t have to do are: advise graduate students, go to faculty meetings, and worry about getting enough grant money and publications to get tenure.Continue reading “Mental Health Days”