The 2010 Gulf Oil Spill and Its Outcomes

Dr. Rood- this saved as a draft and I just checked to make sure I had all my blogs so it's just now publishing! my apologies.

The lecture was conducted by Dr. Richard Lee.

Dr. Lee explains that, on average, there is a major oil spill every 10 years. Additionally, there are many very minor ones throughout the course of the year. The area of concern is how we must fix the destruction to the ecosystem.

Dispersants are widely used in order to mediate the effects of oil spills. They are aerially added to the water and it is very easy to add too much dispersant, causing almost equal damage to the wildlife and namely, the zooplankton in the contaminated water.

Further, more damage is typically done in the "clean up" process than what the oil spill does because nature, in running its course, cleans and disperses oil to a similar degree. The natural breaking down of oil can sometimes lead to better results than the processes used in the oil spill clean up process. In the process, animals either die, change, or become predators to the dead animals.

In the case of the Amico Cadiz 20 years ago, waves of oil crashed into the shoreline. In the Exxon Valdez incident, more damage was done when the clean up crews added warm water to the naturally very cold ecosystem, thus changing not only the temperature balance but chemical balance to an already compromised environment. Oil is, however of the main concern because light is blocked from the water and interferes with the natural circulation of oxygen through photogenesis (we learned this in chapter 10!)

Where do the dispersants come into play, then? Dispersants end up not changing the composition of oil but rather puts it into small droplets that are incorporated into the water molecules rather than sitting atop the water. However, for the dispersants to have any effect on the oil spill, they must be added no more than 48 hours after the spill or else they will be null. The widely-used dispersant is called "Corexit 9500" and 1.6 million gallons of it was used, maybe more, in the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill. The amount of Corexit 9500 used remains controversial because of its impact on the natural cleaning processes.

Zooplankton eat the dispersant which is worrisome because the oil particles after the breakdown from the dispersant are approximately the same size as the zooplankton resulting in the contamination of their food, fecal matter, and the break down process of the fecal matter. The oil particles, additionally, often become part of the zooplankton's food.

The shorelines that are most affected are those with silt and clay marshes like those off the coast of Georgia.

I really learned a lot from this lecture because I have little biology experience but still seek a career in the EPA. Dr. Richard Lee was an engaging speaker who furthered my interest in oil spills, pollution, and environmental justice!

Map of location and size of the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill

Ocmulgee National Monument

Because of my love for our National Parks, I decided to take the loose structure of this particular blog assignment to give a brief history of the Ocmulgee National Monument and why I want to become involved with the Department of the Interior in my future career path.

Before the genesis of our country, William Bartram explored and studied the botony of the Ocmulgee Old Fields along the Lower Creek Trading Path. Though the Creek Indians of the area wished to remain removed from the events of the revolutionary war, they were led to side with England. Following the Revolution, the invention of the cotton gin widened trade along the Lower Creek Trading Path. The first treaty of Washington forces many of the Muscogee-Creek people to become involved in conflict because of their desirable land. Some authorities wish to use their land as part of a road going through the Creek reservation and moves from Washington D.C. through to New Orleans. Further, the treaty allows a military fort to be built on the reservation. A fort is built within a short distance from the mounds which prompts Shawnee Chief Tecumseh to rally Native Americans from the area to remove themselves from the "white man's ways" and they were referred to as the "Red Sticks". Rather than helping the Creek people, it divides them and allows a weakness that aids Andrew Jackson's agenda. The non-"Red Sticks" ceded much of the land to the American Government while the "Red Sticks" fought to preserve it. The remaining Creeks pass a law in their council that results in the death penalty to any one who relinquishes land to the "white man's" government. After much hostility and under-handed deals between many of the Creek and government officials coupled with the development of rail roads and the Industial Revolution, Franklin Roosevelt sees a need to preserve our natural history. This power becomes a spring-board in preserving the history of the Creek People and quite importantly, the technological growth and destruction of the natural habitats. Without this push to become more mindful of our natural history, it is scary to think if the people, plants and animals would be preserved to the degree they are today.

The recent "Visit the National Parks" campaign ad from the Department of the Interior is doing a fantastic job of calling on a vintage theme to draw in patrons. However, they struggle to make the ad campaign that widely visible. If I wasn't particularly fascinated in the history of our National Parks, I don't believe I would have become involved in learning about the National Parks and the Department of the Interior. Hopefully, in my law school endeavers I will become more involved and ideally work towards a career in the Department of the Interior as an attorney.

Here's my favorite poster from the "Visit the National Parks" Campaign! (I even have it hanging in my room!):

Reflection on Baconsfield: Mass Wasting

A wise man once said, "gravity: it's the law". This remains true in the case of mass wasting, a geological phenomenon where lighter soils are first to succomb to gravity, depositing themselves in rivers, streams, canyons, and other land and water forms where there is an evident difference in height.

Mass wasting comes in a variety of forms, dependent upon the material and the speed at which the gravitational pull takes its toll. Here are several examples of mass wasting:

Creeps- usually occur when there is a dramatic change in hot and cold temperatures, resulting in a downward motion for the vegetation

Falls- usually occur in rockfalls and occur when water causes a piece of rock to break off of a greater rock



Slumps- when a soil mass slides down a curved slope

Flows- when debris, mud, snow, or other soil matter is more viscous and moves downward in a fluid manner

here's an example of debris flow:

Landslide- after usually a period of rain, land, rock, and soil give way to move down a slope. Similarly, there can be many forms of landslide such as slump, debris slide, rock slide, rock fall, debris fall and avalanche.

and here's Stevie Nicks singing about it:



even though she's my best friend, she could benefit from a geology course.





Community Garden

The founders of Habitat for Humanity (Millard and Linda Fuller and family) frequented the Koinonia Farms in Plains, Georgia. Aptly named, Koinonia is Greek for community and thus, is a large-scale community garden which practices sustainable farming practices. Their mission is "to live together in intentional community sharing a life of prayer, work, study, service and fellowship. We seek to embody peacemaking, sustainability, and radical sharing. While honoring people of all backgrounds and faiths, we strive to demonstrate the way of Jesus as an alternative to materialism, militarism and racism" as a Christian community. Here's a list of the products they produce for sale to the public, where the funds benefit the needs of the community:

• Bakery goods
• fair-trade coffee
• Pecans
• fair-trade chocolate products

The garden remains sustainable because of the work put in by every member of the community and their dedication to changing the locations of different products after harvesting them. For example, one year peaches, figs, and apple trees my be located in one section of the orchard and pecans may be in another while another will be empty so that the next year, those places would trade in order to aerate the soil and to avoid over-working parts of the orchard.

A link to the fascinating farm and community!

Mystery of the Megaflood

It is truly a mystery how the Scablands were entirely weathered but with the work of a team of geologists, it is easier to trace the source of what ripped through the Pacific Midwest.

• It is believed that the Glacial Lake Missoula was the source of the water and it is the weak integrity of the dam that caused the water to change the landforms into what we see today
• Several geologic features show a change because of a major flood such as valleys, mountains, prairies, rivers, gullies, canyons, "dry falls", caves, a dry waterfall, and a gorge
• It should also be noted that because of the massive scale of the flood, rocks known as "erratics" can be found across the Scablands.

For an interactive website on personally exploring the Scablands visit here

And here's an instructional video on the whole event!

And in case it happens again soon, here's an instructional swimming video:

Obsidian

Obsidian can be both extrusive and intrusive igneous rock because it can be formed from the sides of flowing lava and along the sides of sills and dikes, and when lava cools due to touching water or making contact with cooler air. All of these methods are extrusive except when lava cools along the sides of sills and dikes.

According to geology.com, "Significant deposits of obsidian are found in Argentina, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Russia, United States, and many other locations."

The most common characteristic of obsidian is its dark, glassy exterior but there is a rare occurrence of many other colors including green, red, blue, orange and yellow. Further, its composition resembles granite fairly often.

Obsidian is often used in jewelry but has been a vital material for many tools from early ages to the present day.

Order your obsidian jewelry today and be the most fashionable geologist on the planet!

Here's some neat minerals!

Feldspar

Kaolinite



Obsidium, as denoted inside the picture!



Quartz

Calcite

Amethyst

                                      Don't get addicted to rocks, though like this lady!