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A Sere and Barren Place. And the Biggest National Park in America's Lower...
People don't feel isolation very often. Well, plenty of us do feel isolated, but it tends to be an isolation in which we are surrounded by people and the trappings of civilization, but are separated by...
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Harmonic Tremor? Volcanoes under Modesto? Nah, It's Kids and Science
Earthquakes? Volcanoes? Not this time, anyway...The seismometer on our campus was going crazy today. Usually such high levels of seismic activity are cause for great concern, due to the rapid movement...
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Like a Gigantic Babushka Doll, One Death Valley inside Another Death Valley
Death Valley is a deep structural trough called a graben, formed by faults that stretched and broke the continental crust, mostly within the last two or three million years. It is just one of dozens...
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Death Valley Makes Yahoo Travel's Worst National Park List. I Respectfully...
One of the worst national parks in the United StatesHumor is difficult. I'm a teacher and a geologist, so I know. Classrooms are a tough enough audience. I cannot imagine being a comedian, needing to...
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What Strange Fossils are Found in Your Region? We have Oncorhynchus...
Drawing by Jake Biewer of CSU StanislausI've got a delightful new project these days. As I've mentioned many times, our region has a wonderful new natural history museum in our Science Community...
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A Roadcut as a Microcosm of a Province - The Charlie Brown Outcrop
A lot of geologic knowledge is gleaned from roadcuts. In less arid regions, vegetation and soil cover is so thick that roadcuts provide essentially the only information about the underlying geology....
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A Brief Season of Hope, But Dashed Hopes for a Better Year. Some Thoughts on...
It's such a beautiful moment in time, being able to travel through the Sierra Nevada foothills, and seeing the glorious splash of color across the hillsides. The flower show was among the best I've...
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What are the Most Important Geologic Roadcuts in California? A Candidate in...
In a recent post, I explored the geology of the Charlie Brown outcrop. It included excellent examples of normal faults, welded tuff, and airfall tuff, features that served as a microcosm of the geology...
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The Community Hates Science SO MUCH (not). A Weekend at the Mineral Show
As we all know, science has no hold on the imagination of the young and old in our society, nobody cares about rocks, minerals, fossils, and all that stuff. I mean, one could offer a show with that...
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Another Cool California Roadcut: Dike and Sill on Highway 190 near Panamint...
Dike (vertical brown rock) and sill (horizontal brown rock) along Highway 190 near Panamint SpringsI've been working through my memories of beautifully instructive roadcuts in California. Some, like...
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The Incredible Dunes of Namibia: Geotripper becomes an Armchair Geologist for...
Here at Geotripper I usually write about my travels, geological and otherwise. I feel inordinately lucky to have a job that allows me to travel a lot, introducing my students to the incredible world...
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Work to Begin on the Ferguson Slide on Yosemite Highway 140
The problem with a lot of beautiful national parks in mountain landscapes is that they lie in mountain landscapes. The rugged terrain is subject to landslides, and my favorite nearby park, Yosemite, is...
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Is There a Deserted Corner of Death Valley? Ubehebe Country
Is there an empty quarter of Death Valley National Park? An area so isolated that tourists are almost never found there? The short answer is: of course. Much of the park is near-primeval wilderness,...
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One of the Most Astounding Viewpoints in America: At the Outer Ring of Hell...
A place not to missed. That's what I have to say about Dante's View in Death Valley National Park. And if you ever get there, don't just stand in the parking lot. Short walks in several directions...
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So, Besides Fish, What's the Last Thing One Would Ever Expect to See in Death...
It's one thing to find that a number of fish species survive within the boundaries of Death Valley National Park, which preserves the hottest and driest desert in North America. But sure, springs will...
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Driving Through the Most Dangerous Plate Boundary in the World: A New Blog...
Source: adapted from National Park Service and R. J. Lillie. 2005, Parks and PlatesBefore I get accused of "cable-newsing/click-baiting" with my choice of a headline, I'll amend it to say "Driving...
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Driving Through the Most Dangerous Plate Boundary in the World: Reconnaissance
We're headed on a blog adventure through the most dangerous kind of plate boundary in the world. To make things clear, the boundary we are exploring is not currently the most dangerous in the world,...
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Driving Across the Most Dangerous Plate Boundary in the World: These Rocks...
The view from Muir Beach Overlook, midway between San Francisco and Point Reyes National SeashorePoint Reyes National Seashore: Is it land's end, or ocean's end? From a human point of view, it is the...
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Driving Through the Most Dangerous Plate Boundary in the World: Looking for...
Tomales Bay just might be the most contradictory places in all of California. On the one hand, it is one of the most peaceful and serene places in the state, a largely undeveloped fifteen-mile long...
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It's One of the Most Spectacular Landscapes on Planet Earth: Come and see the...
For once I am not discussing a trip I have taken...I am talking about a trip that you can take. Grand Canyon from Powell Point on the South RimI spend a lot of time on my blog trying to convey the...
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