Rock Blog

I always think of England as your basic passive coastal margin. You get some good storms, but all that geological madness that we in BC experience…. why that is simply not done in England….

Silly me… Tsunamis have some good reach…

Tsunami Swamped England 400 Years Ago, Study Says

Even though its July, I know that teaching is just ’round the corner…

From About Geology.com comes a link to an excellent overview article in Physics Today by David Stevenson about tsunamis and earthquakes:

Tsunamis and Earthquakes: What Physics is Interesting?

This will also be posted on Online Learning Freakout Party Zone…

From Andrew Alden’s Geology about.com site comes a link to a personal account of the tsunami by Chris Chapman, scientific advisor at Schlumberger Cambridge Research.

The Asian Tsunami in Sri Lanka: A Personal Experience

When I read this, my geologist and educators lives come together…

It’s fascinating to read how a professional geologist viewed the series of events that comprise the tsunami — I was again struck by the fact the “tsunami” was not a singular event. The earth’s bell was rung. What happens as a bell tone rings out? The sound bounces all over the place and slowly fades way. That comes through in his description.

The animations at the bottom of the page are very good as well.. I’ll need to look at those for my next teaching experience…

I also think of “reflection” (the e-portfolio side of my brain) when I read his account. He describes the event, but also reflects on the experience – integrating his personal and professional lives in a compelling way.

It’s really interesting to see how the scientist “lens”/”viewpoint” comes through in this account. Our disciplines do affect how we see the world…

My husband (also a geologist) and I have more than once wondered how we would have reacted had we noticed the odd behaviour of the oceans, or felt the original quake…

He claims that I would have had the laptop with me on the beach and would have checked my RSS feeds for an earthquake. I’m not sure of I am being complimented or insulted with that one… Am I really THAT geeky? Sigh.. don’t answer that…

I only hope that we would have reacted as courageously as Dr. Graham and his wife did….

BTW… the technical/physics account is available on the EOS site, http://www.agu.org/eos_elec/000929e1.html.

Thanks for the excellent link, Andrew!

From The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco comes a first hand account of the Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire:

Jack London and the Great Earthquake and Fire.

THE STORY OF AN EYEWITNESS
By Jack London,
Collier’s special Correspondent

Collier’s, the National Weekly
May 5, 1906

Upon receipt of the first news of the earthquake, Colliers telegraphed to Mr. Jack London–who lives only forty miles from San Francisco–requesting him to go to the scene of the disaster and write the story of what he saw. Mr. London started at once, and he sent the following dramatic description of the tragic events he witnessed in the burning city

Way cool!

The site reviewed by the Christian Science Monitor in How to make your own natural disaster is of interest to me for my EOSC 311 course.

I like the National Geographic Site that they review; the resource is pretty good — but the more useful part is how the Christian Science Monitor reviews the site — good model!

The primary elements of the site are four parallel exhibits looking at Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Hurricanes and Tornadoes. Accessible through an animated matrix on the index page, as well as through a screen top navigation bar visible throughout the site, each exhibit supplements the basic facts with Forces’ most conspicuous visitor draw – the ability to create your own natural disasters. But in the interests of education, the individual sections only present these interactive phenomena after you’ve learned the basics behind the real things.