So it has been quite a while since I posted anything on here, but I have a story to tell that I hope will get me jump started back into posting a little more often.
I spent a good part of last week traveling to and attending the Geological Society of America conference in Denver CO. The GSA annual meeting is a great place to network in the geology community, since it is the one place most of the who's who of geology end up every year. GSA is also a great place to see work other people are doing on every aspect of geology. Throughout the conference there are talks and poster presentations for much of the current research in the community, so it allows a geologist to see the most current work done in a particular area.
On the third day of the conference, the chair of Geosciences Dept. at BSU told me that there was someone with a poster relating to the Albion-Grouse Creek-Raft River core complex where I had originally planned to do my Master's thesis, and still plan to do some dating and geochemistry work; so I had to go check it out. So I tracked the poster down, and sure enough this person had just completed some dating of the basement rocks in this area (something I wanted to do) as part of a larger project that involved a different primary focus than dating of the basement rocks.
After looking her poster over, I thought I might ask her a few questions about her work. So I told her that I had been interested in dating the basement in this location, and that I was actually already in the process mineral separation, and that I believed the basement might be younger than what she had found, which was in agreement with the general consensus of the scientific community. Upon telling her this, she assured me that they were of archean age, and that her work proved it, and basically treated me like I was some kind of drooling idiot. So needless to say this got my hackles up, and I proceeded to tell her that I didn't appreciate being talked down too, and that I was even more committed to proceeding with my research after our little encounter. At which point she decided to walk away to talk with someone else.
With that, I decided it was time to take a close look at the work that she had done, to see just how sound it was. This person happened to be from Standford, and works on a piece of equipment called the SHRIMP (super high resolution ion microprobe), of which there are only two in the United States, because they are very expensive, and typically very accurate. SHRIMP folk tend to think their shit doesn't stink, and this case was no exception. Not to diminish SHRIMP, if used properly it should be the perfect tool for dating very complex zircons, which may have several age domains (sections of different ages), like the ones her researched focused on down in the the Grouse Creek range. Basically a SHRIMP can zap a very small location on a zircon grain with a laser, and date it very accurately, which is great for complex grains.
So when I told her I was going to date these rocks using TIMS (thermal ionization mass spectrometer) she told me I was crazy, that the grains were just too complex. And if I were trying to date grains like the ones that she was dealing with, she is probably right, they might very well be too complex for the TIMS process. The reason for this, is that with TIMS we actually have to dissolve and entire grain, or at least a whole piece of material (this could be a bit of a grain that we have snapped off). So if you have something that is very complex, it is nearly impossible to separate the different age domains from one another, making TIMS a poor too for such a problem. BUT, what she was not taking into account was that the location she collected these grains was from a place where they were much more likely to have been modified (and made more complex) than the location I collected my grains. I collected my grains directly from the basement rock, as opposed to her samples which was from what she assumed was melted basement rock, or highly deformed basement rocks.
These things mentioned above are big clues into the big problem with her work, which was that she didn't have a single date, from a single grain, that was 2.5 Ga (2.5 billion years), which is what she was claiming the age was. All of her grains dated differently, 1.7 Ga, 1.4 Ga, 1.1 Ga, and she used a specific analytical technique to say that these grains had undergone mixing of young and old domains, and had extrapolated and age of 2.5 Ga, which, with SHRIMP should not be a problem, because you should be able to find a zone large enough that you can sample, that should give you a date for that specific zone, and not a mixing of two.
This range of ages could be due to a couple of different problems. They could be related to loss of lead from the zircon, which would make the grains look younger than they were, or it would be that the dates are right, and that the cores of these zircons were 1.7, 1.4, and 1.1 Ga, which would mean that these were probably detrital grains (like grains of sand that came from another source) and which would mean that the rock she collected them from was not sampling the basement at all, that it was sampling sediments. Either way, her story seems more and more bogus the more I think about.
I really hesitate to call anyone out in a situation like this, especially since a lot of my questions were not answered to my satisfaction. But the very way I was treated, and the sort of smugness that went along with her reactions to me questions has really emboldened me to pursue this issue. My luck, I will do all of the work just in time to find out that her dates are more legitimate than I think they are, and that it was time wasted, but at this point in my career, I can't help but think it will be time well spent either way. So (raises a glass), here's to my first professional feud, may it be equally infuriating as it is enlightening.
We managed to make it up to Powell River to spend the night last night, and after a bit of searching around for a place to stay we settled on a "cabin" down near the water. If I were to describe it would be more of an efficiency apartment, but it beat the crap out of setting up camp in the rain.
So we got up and were moving around 8 AM today, and we headed up to get some coffee at the Edgehill Truckstop, which we had been told was a good place to get a bite to eat. Unfortunately, since I was the only one who had not had coffee this morning, I was the only one who was hungry. So rather than eat a meal out of sync with everyone else I decided to just have some toast. While we were enjoying drinking coffee and chatting with some locals, the coffee pot managed to overflow and cover the counter, shelves, and floor underneath it with coffee. So Lawrene jumped into action, grabbing a mop and going at it like the old pro she is. So we got things cleaned up in short order.
From Powell River we headed up towards Lund, which is the start of Highway 101, which I subsequently learned is the longest continuous highway in the world, running from Souther BC all the way to somewhere in Peru. Lund seems to a quite a tourist town, and it is also the jumping off point for people looking to explore the discovery islands. The car seems to be a huge parking lot, since it is the only place to park for the people who take long hiking, biking, and kayaking trips out to the islands. There are also some really cool buildings one of the houses here had the siding cut in such a way that it looked like it was all wavy and uneven, and it also had cool windows, with the frames and veins of the windows shooting off at weird angles. One of the other interesting buildings was a small shed near the boat ramp which had siding that made thee sides of the building look 3-dimensional.
We stopped at a bakery in Lund called Nancy's which had some really amazing pastries. Despite the variety available everyone ended up choosing the blackberry sticky buns, which were superb. Lawrene also had a really good yogurt, fruit, and granola bowl.
From Lund we headed back down to Powell River and caught the Ferry over to Vancouver Island where we landed in the town of Comox. From Comox we headed on north to Campbell River, where they have a ferry over to Quadra Island. Everyone was starving and jonesing for some fish and chips, so we asked around and everyone told us that "Dick's" down by the Ferry Landing was the spot. So we headed on down to Dicks, and had the best Fish and Chips I have ever had. I ordered the the fried Cod and everyone else ordered the fried Salmon. I definitely preferred the Cod, I don't believe that Salmon is a fish that should be fried.
Well, this is my second day in the good ole land of the canuck. I spent all day yesterday driving, and with the car loaded with over a thousand pounds of gear and people, was squatting pretty hard, which made the handling very interesting. But we were able to do about 500 miles in the mountains in the 10 hours that we were on the road.
Today involved driving through Vancouver, and catching a couple of ferry boats to try to make it up to Powell River, BC. We ended up being about 10 minutes late in line to catch the first ferry, so we had to wait an extra 2 hours at the first ferry which sucked, but, I have become aware that it is the lifestyle around here. But we finally made it only the ferry about 4:30 PM, which was going to make it a close call to make it to the next ferry on time.
The ferry was pretty cool. It was my first time on a big ship, so it was odd to feel vibrating steel under my feet. But the views were great. The whole area was socked in just like I expected this area long the coast (the Georgia Strait) to be. The ferry ride was about 40 minutes, and then it is a mad rush back below decks to get in your car and get rolling out of the ferry so you don't hold up traffic.
Right now I am at "The Last Resort" in Earls Cove, BC waiting on the next Ferry. Luckily for this one, we are fifth in line, so there shouldn't be any issue catching the next one. I just had one of the best hamburgers I have had in quite some time, which is rare for a place like this.
Once we get a across we are going to try to get as close toe Powell River as we can tonight, and get a camp site or a motel (my preference since there is a light rain). This a beautiful area, and my fears of my dad and I having a huge blow up over my driving seems to have been assuaged by both of our attempts to keep one another happy.
Took my first trip down to Boise a few days ago. The drive down there is 477 miles from Bigfork, so for me that would normally be about 7-8 hours. Well, as I have learned, they don't make straight roads in Idaho, it is look me about 9 1/2 hours to get down there. Which for that distance is unconscionable to me. So that means there won't be any whirlwind interstate trips between Boise and Montana. It is gonna be a bitch of a drive with a moving truck, since it is never ending windy ass roads the whole way, and a couple of mountain passes a in 100 degree temps. I am hoping all goes well, but I am guessing it will be even slower going.
The town of Boise was a somewhat pleasant surprise thought. I expected Boise to be this sprawling suburban metropolis baking out on the north side of the Snake River plain. But to my pleasant surprise, the down town area where the campus is located, and I was looking for apartments was well laid out, with some class old town neighborhoods, and a nice downtown area with bars and restaurants.
My apartment search went like most of them do. The place I thought looked great over the net was terrible, and I didn't find the apartment I ended up renting until the morning I left, and it turned out better than any of the others I had viewed. The apartment is actually a 2-story town house off of the main drag, nestled back against a 3-4 million dollar estate in the old part of town.
The place met most of my criteria, in that it was 2 bedroom, 1.5 baths, with a garage, and a carport, relatively close to campus (about 1/2 a mile away). It is a little more than I wanted to spend (700 a month). I really like the neighborhood the place is in, and it has a great proximity to downtown and BSU.
I got my first taste of the geochronology work I am going to be doing down at BSU, and it is very, VERY time intensive. When I get to a point that I am doing dating, I will be spending many many hours in the lab. Just the time it took to get the datable material out of one rock was a solid 20 hours worth of work. It takes about another 2 weeks to do the rest of the preparation for dating. So I think it will be a busy couple of years down at BSU, but I think I will have fun while I am there.
One of my big reasons for coming up to Bigfork for the summer was an interest in getting out and doing some hiking. I have hiked all over this country side before, but I still really enjoy being in these mountains. So when I went by and saw Bill when I got up here, I could tell he was itching to get out and do some hiking.
Our goals for our first hike were pretty lofty. Our plan was to hike up to Six-Mile Peak, which is about 4 miles in with 3200 feet of elevation gain, typically a trudge all by itself, and then come part way back down and cut over to a peak called Hall Peak, which was about the miles from Six-Mile. To get up to Hall Peak we would have to bushwhack about a half mile up to the top, and then a couple of miles down a ridge off the back side to a car we placed the morning before. The total hike is about 13-14 miles with about 5000-6000 feet of elevation gain, and 2-3 miles of bushwhacking.
After coming back down from the top of Six-Mile, Bill and I decided that would just be too much for one day, and decided to head back down to the car, with a plan to come back and do Hall Peak as a separate hike.
Our next adventure was to head up to Mount Aeneas, which is in one of my favorite hiking areas of the Flathead Valley; Jewel Basin. Jewel Basin is a great place to hike because the parking area is at about 6000' which allows you to get away from a lot of the elevation gain you have to endure on a lot of other hikes. Mount Aeneas is the second highest peak in Jewel Basin, at 7530' it has a commanding view of Jewel Basin and the rest of the central Swan Range.
We got to the trailhead relatively early, about 8:45 AM and there were only two other cars in the parking lot. We didn't run into anyone on the way up but a mountain goat coming straight down the trail towards us. He didn't seem to be scared of us at all, and came within a few feet before darting off the trail around us. We saw several other sheep on the way to the top.
A couple of women caught up with us just as we made it to the summit, so we decided to leave the summit of them and went of the back side to sit down and having lunch, as well as place a new Terracache. After lunch and placing the cache, we noticed that a group of three goats had assembled just above us. So we stopped and took some pictures. The goats proceeded to work their way around us, obviously interested in us. They played around on the snow and nibbled on grass while we snapped away taking pictures.
We spent about half an hour taking pictures of the goats and finally decided we had had enough and head on back down the mountain. We decided to take a different route back down a arete (narrow "knife" ridge) and in doing so we spotted another good location to place another cache. But we didn't have another container with us, so that would require another trip back a little later.
So far I have had a couple of great hikes, and I feel like I am in decent shape, and look forward to hitting many more over the course of the rest of the summer. It looks like the ultimate though might be 50 mile traverse across the Bob Marshall Wilderness, with a trip along the Chinese Wall. I am really looking forward to that trip, and hopefully time will allow for it.
Well, today was my birthday, so I decided to celebrate by driving down to Missoula and working 10 hours on my thesis in order to turn it in on time. I did finally get a product I felt comfortable turning in, but I know it could be a lot better. But at this point I am so burnt out on it, that I was just ready to get something turned in.
The final product was 47 pages long. By far the longest paper I have ever written, but I am afraid it is not going to be the last long ass paper I will write.
On the plus side I received an e-mail from my professor at Boise State, who I have been trying to get a hold of for almost 6 weeks now and it looks like my plans and his are meshing together pretty well at this point, so looks like everything is going to work out just fine in the fall. Finally getting a little word from Mark has definitely turned a stressful day around.
Anyway, I am tired, so I am going to go home and hit the sack. I have an 11 mile hike planned for tomorrow, so I need the rest.
I finally got completely moved out of my apartment today. I sure wouldn't have been able to do it without Lawrene's help, she was a life saver. In all truthfulness, I think my apartment was cleaner when I left than when I got there, and it was pretty damn clean when I got there. Despite creating a new huge round stain in the kitchen floor (left my summer tires stacked up there all winter in these bright yellow bags from the tire place), I was able to get every penny of my security deposit back (or so they tell me). So that is pretty cool.
I am sure the guy that came to check the place over thought I was a nut ball; because as soon as he got there I started of frantically empty all of the meat out of my chest freezer onto the counter and into coolers so that I could get the chest freezer out of the apartment, and then refill it with it in the back of the truck. But, he looked the place over, seemed to be satisfied, and even helped me carry the last of my stuff out of the truck. I could tell he would have been happy to sit and shoot the shit for an hour, but I had to get down the road before all of my deer and elk thawed out.
Made it up to Bigfork without any issues. Got the camper set up at a little place dad has a deal worked. It is this neat little cabin that is right down on the Swan River. I am going to stay in the cabin so that the cabin stays clean in case someone wants to rent it, but I have free run of the place, and the best part is there is a shower! So I am starting to get settled in.
I am down at Marina Cay right now, mooching off of their wifi. I hope I can find a place around Bigfork that offers free wifi so that I can go in, sit down, and surf the net like a normal person, rather than be that creepy guy in his car messing with a laptop.
Well to day is my last day to get all of my stuff packed up and out of here. Jon came over yesterday and helped me moved all of the big stuff with was GREAT! I couldn't have gotten done with out him, so thanks again Jon! I am going to head up to Bigfork the afternoon/evening (depending on how much I get done today) and spend the night up in Bigfork, then Lawrene and I are going to drive back down here tomorrow morning, and Lawrene is going to help me get the place cleaned up, and then drive my car back up to Bigfork. The carpet cleaners come in tomorrow evening at 5PM, so I will spend the night here tomorrow night, and then have them come through and inspect things first thing Tuesday morning to make sure that there is nothing that needs re-cleaning or anything. Then I drive the truck up to Bigfork, with the dirt bike, and the rest of my stuff in the back.
Lucky for me, it is supposed to rain all day. Which means I'll get to do lots of dry loads in the car, or a few wet loads in the back of the truck. But, considering everything is in Rubbermaid tubs, I will might just the truck a shot, and take the last few moisture sensitive items in the car. Of course right now I am staring at all of this stuff that just doesn't really have a home, that you spend hours debating whether you should just throw it away, or move it again. So that is always fun. I will be glad to have to move done and over with.
So, I am in the process of moving out of my apartment. This will be my first experience with dealing with inspection, and getting deposits back, so I will be interested to see how it goes. For years I have been told that the landlord is constantly going to try to nail you for anything that they can, and that they never want to return the security deposit. So I have been anticipating that I am going to jump through a bunch of hoops, and harass the crap out of them to get my money.
But, I have not been getting that vibe at all as I have been dealing with my landlord. She seems to be a very nice lady. I get the impression from her, that she feels that I am the ideal tenant. Now I don't keep my apartment sparkling clean, but I do pay my rent on time, and I don't break too many rules, like having animals or smoking in the apartment. I get the impression that the landlord pretty much expects you to trash the apartment, to be constantly a month behind on rent, and then let your cat piss on the walls right before you move out; and if you don't do any of those things, they seem to love you for it.
I still don't have my security deposit back, so I can't confirm that this is going to be a smooth transaction, but then again, I haven't had one inkling that my landlord has any interest in screwing me. She seems to be more than happy to give me a good reference, and thanked me for a being a great tenant when I talked to her on the phone earlier today. So, maybe I can be in the minority, and have smooth sailing as I head out of this apartment.
I couldn't sleep so I have been cruising around the net, I stumbled upon this site. I must have laughed for half an hour as I read through the site. It is great.
