Marin Headlands

Drool.

Living in the Presidio certainly has its perks.
Staring across the bay at the Marin Headlands tops that list for me.

If you've never been, the colorful cherts (Radiolarian is my new favorite!), pillow lava, and fault shear zones are worth the visit.
(Some great documentation of these is available here.

I'm still transitioning into my surrounds and a better understanding of the local geology since moving from Los Angeles and charts like the one below really fascinate me.



Chevron folding in fabulous radiolarian chert!


All this and a great view of Angel Island-- i.e. my next hiking/camping destination I need to visit!

Obligatory Music Break

Best Albums of 2010

1. Sea of Cowards - The Dead Weather
Brothers - The Black Keys
The XX - The XX
. Volume Two - She & Him
All Day - Girl Talk
The Suburbs - Arcade Fire
Transcontinental Hustle - Gogol Bordello
Transit Transit - Autolux
. Plastic Beach - Gorillaz
Conditions - The Temper Trap

(runners up! Spoon, The Heavy, Vampire Weekend, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, The National, Deerhunter, Waaves, ... and Them Crooked Vultures-- if Dec. 2009 counted )

Hiatus OVER!

Innocent blog, how I have neglected you.

Not only have my senior project, senior year, and college education ended completely, but I've moved to an even more geologically stimulating city: San Francisco!

I am hostessing (for now).
I am writing (often!) in my huge new backyard (Presidio National Park!) and endlessly searching new places to explore.

I feel as I have returned to Paris where everyone doesn't smoke, speak French, and make tiny mouth-breathing noises so much ...as the French tend to do. The Bay Area folk just tend to say hella a lot less than expected, love food more than children, and have tumultuous love affairs with the Giants during the MLB playoffs.

Back to GEOLOGY.
Tomorrow I'm off to one of my unmentioned dream destinations: Pyramid Lake, Nevada.
Not only do we get to stop in the fun gold-miner town Truckee, but I get to figure out what Tufa looks like up close.

Tufa: rocks that grow due to evaporation of lime-rich waters, forming a calcite crystal residue.

Even the USGS diagrams are beautiful. I would totally frame and hang this on my unfurnished new studio's walls:


Excited to vacate the city for a few rainy fall days and search for life in an ancient lake, with ancient fish to boot.

Landmudlifedebris Flow

Amidst the snow-covered power-outages and desert road tornadoes along the 10 interstate, Los Angeles communities are suffering from post-wildfire damages and are [smartly] being evacuated all over again.

"In the upper reaches of suburban La Canada Flintridge, where mountainsides rise sharply from the backyards of homes, authorities put pink ribbons on the mailboxes of residents who stayed behind so they would know where to search in the event of a catastrophe.

One person who stayed was Delos Tucker, a retired geologist who has lived in the community since the homes were built in 1962.

'I'm just gambling it's not going to happen,' he said. ''Let's hope I'm right.''"

(LA Times article/photos)

As the FIFTH storm blows in, and my cabin fever here in Whittier (especially without a physical class to attend) is driving me slowly out of my mind. My three trips outside were to collect mail, food, and rescue a discarded, waterlogged Kendall organ along the street-- during which I found phenomenal floods and undiscovered crevices left along adjacent properties from the Narrows quake.

Next week begins the route toward The End. The Senior Project draft is drafted. The research is cited. The community is under siege for my interviews and answers for future disaster preparations. My petition to save my inspirational advisor's career at Whittier will be further circulated (50 signatures already!). I hope to end this chapter in Whittier, California with a bit more resolve and optimism before I head up north to chase the big green clouds up in San Francisco.