Bearded Geology

The USGS has a great website for searching stratigraphic names and I've found some names that are a little different. I've listed some of the most interesting ones below. Note that many of these are from the western states, and there's a reason for that. Names of lithostratigraphic units (groups, formations, members, and beds) must named after a geographic locality, such as a county, town, river, or mountain, per the nomenclatorial rules set forth in the North American Stratigraphic Code . Many of the geographic localities in the eastern US are more puritanical, if you will, from early European settlers, while the western states settled in the mid- to late-nineteenth century were named more loosely. Also, note that not all of these names are currently in use, some of these names may have been abandoned in favor of another name(s) and others may have been proposed, but not formally accepted for one reason or another (e.g. it must have sufficient reason for naming the unit,...

Today, I ran across this Slate article discussing a couple of very unusual phrases used in what would otherwise be a mundane US Department of Energy press release on liquified natural gas (LNG) exports. The first is in this sentence:  “Increasing export capacity from the Freeport LNG project is critical to spreading freedom gas throughout the world by giving America’s allies a diverse and affordable source of clean energy. ...” said U.S. Under Secretary of Energy Mark W. Menezes, who highlighted the approval at the Clean Energy Ministerial in Vancouver, Canada.  A senior US government official referred to a US natural gas product as "freedom gas". Take a look at this other quote by another senior official: "... With the U.S. in another year of record-setting natural gas production, I am pleased that the Department of Energy is doing what it can to promote an efficient regulatory system that allows for molecules of U.S. freedom to be exported to the world,” s...

Although the Arkansas River is currently flooding at historic proportions, Mike Grogan from Tulsa's KOTV News on 6 points out that the ongoing flooding is different from the flooding in 1986. Key points are (1) the weather systems contributing to the rains are different and (2) increased urbanization in the Tulsa metro over the last 30 years have increased the runoff potential causing more water to drain into the Arkansas River watershed instead of absorbing into vegetation and soil. Which is why proper city planning along rivers is critical, and to Tulsa's credit, the city has maintained parks along the riverside to allow area for flooding. However, the city did discuss plans for development along and near the river  over the last decade. But, with this flood, I hope that the city of Tulsa and its suburbs takes steps to ensure that the flood control systems are up to par and any improvements are dealt with before further large-scale river development continues. Image cre...

I very recently found what I believe to be two starfish fossils from the Wann Formation (Late Pennsylvanian age) in Oklahoma. At the locality I found these, the Wann is a bioturbated sandstone and shale formation, preserving several flute casts and burrows, and some plant debris. Interestingly, these starfish are preserved in sandstone and the paleocurrent is also preserved (lower left to upper right, following the striations in the upper specimen, and is also indicated by the orientation and slight splay of the starfish arms in the upper specimen). Below the Wann are the Iola and Chanute Formations, both of which are fossiliferous carbonate formations containing several mollusks and bryozoa. The third starfish in the above photo is a modern starfish included for reference. I can't help but think that these starfish must have been buried very rapidly, very near the shoreline, and were subject to wave action. As each wave receded, sediment was dragged from the shoreline into de...

Welcome to Bearded Geology, an irregularly updated blog on geologic curiosities and happenstances that I encounter. My beard and I are both Ph.D. students and teach some geology labs. Included on the "Courses" page are extracurricular material for some of these labs. In the "My Bookshelf" page, I have a list of books that I have acquired (including a few I have yet to read) and am always looking for other interesting books related to geology.