Update (Nov 2013):  Please be aware this article was written as a first impressions of an ongoing expedition as an outsider onlooker. I updated this information (Rising Star Update) as more data came to light a few weeks later.  It now seems fairly clear that this location will become a significant one in the study of... Continue Reading →
Curiosity keeps chugging away across the floor of Gale Crater.  A few weeks ago we talked to a rock  (My Interview with a Martian: A Story of Origins) that it met as it is working its way to the base of Mt. Sharp.  I had mentioned that the trip has been a tad boring compared... Continue Reading →
Inverted valleys formed from lava "rivers" and ancient stream beds are one of many unusual geological phenomena found in Utah. Â The rocks speak in Utah and they speak very clearly because they readily reveal so many clues about their origins since they are so visible to us. Â Some of the most powerful testimonies of... Continue Reading →
How does a hill get a flat top? Â The picture below is a Google Maps satellite image of St. George Utah. To the left you can see an airport. This airport is on top of a long hill whose top is well over 100 feet above the city below. Â The airport was built here because... Continue Reading →
Everything has an origin.* Some stories of origins are relatively simple (eg. Niagara Falls)  while others are much more complex (eg. the Grand Canyon).  The study of origins is the study and reconstruction of past events. We have eyewitness accounts of some events from the past but mostly we use circumstantial evidence left behind as... Continue Reading →
There is a strange circular scar on the earth found amongst the meandering incised canyons of southeastern Utah. Â Called upheaval dome because it was originally thought to be the result of the slowing rising of a massive salt dome from below, this highly eroded structure has long been an oddity among the many spectacular sandstone... Continue Reading →
What museum can you go to where  you can see real dinosaur bones, you don't pay any fees, you can touch all the exhibits and there are no security cameras watching your every move (at least I don't think there are:-)?  The answer is The Mill Canyon Dinosaur Trail near Moab, Utah.  This outdoor "museum"... Continue Reading →
Southeastern Utah has an astounding amount of sedimentary rock on full display. Â Between our stays in Silverton Colorado and Moab Utah we made a trek through this area. Â One day hardly does this area justice but what we were able to see was amazing. Â The sedimentary layers are best seen in the gorge of the... Continue Reading →
Around Moab UT you can run down sand dunes and you can hike on rocks that were sand dunes in the past. Â You can take a face-plant on one, as my son did, and not get hurt but you better be very careful not to fall on the other. Â I recently spent a... Continue Reading →
Fossilized bones of dinosaurs, whales and mammoths get all of the attention but trace fossils provide important evidence for interpreting when and how organisms lived on Earth in the past. Trace fossils are not the fossilized remains of organisms themselves but rather are evidence of the past presence of organisms. Â The most recognizable trace fossils... Continue Reading →
I love interesting geological puzzles that many mysterious landforms and features present to us. Below are a few images of a landscape that show large rocks sitting on a flat, dry, lake bed. Notably there are what appear to be skid marks in the dry lake sediments leading to each rock. This should make anyone scratch... Continue Reading →
The worlds largest rock tumbler? This story caught my eye this morning.  GSA press release - The Strange Rubbing Boulders of the Atacama. It seems that every other day I read about some place on earth that has a strange story to tell and usually that story is difficult to understand without an earth that... Continue Reading →
Naturalis Historia 