Ellen speaks Geology

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

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!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

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:

Friday, February 17, 2012

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!