ScotBlogs

Originally this was going to be a mystery fossil for a crowd-sourced identification while I’m here in Israel doing fieldwork, but through the wonders of the internet I finally found a match for the strange fossil above: it is the … Continue reading →

WOOSTER, OH — What a beautiful Saturday for science!!  Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) hit Scovel Hall again this year, and area middle school girls were able to select “Minerals in My Jewelry” as one of the fun science sessions held … Continue reading →

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–The tradition we’ve built over the years on our Israel expeditions is to travel to interesting places on Saturdays to take a break from work. Yes, it appears geologists never really stop geologizing, but then that’s not really … Continue reading →

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–Today Yoav and I worked on the outskirts of his hometown. This was a field trip that began in his garden and then we wandered into the hills behind his house, eventually circling this little city to return … Continue reading →

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–Early Wednesday morning Yoav had a special mission to perform before we began our fieldwork. He had been asked by a botanist to get a sample of a new species of plant endemic to Makhtesh Ramon. The botanist … Continue reading →

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–We’ve talked a lot about makhteshim in this blog, with so much of our geological work located in Hamakhtesh Hagadol and Makhtesh Ramon. A makhtesh is essentially a breached anticline, usually with a single drainage running from it. … Continue reading →

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–Today Yoav and I set out to solve a mapping dilemma concerning the boundaries of the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) En Yorqe’am Formation in the Negev and, eventually, the Judean Desert to the north. It involved a bumpy ride … Continue reading →

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–There’s a joke in the title, in case you didn’t notice! I was on my own for my second day of fieldwork in southern Israel. I revisited yesterday’s outcrops of the Upper Cretaceous (Coniacian) Zichor Formation, taking more … Continue reading →

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–This afternoon I walked through the spectacular Middle Triassic sections in Wadi Gevanim on the southern side of the Makhtesh Ramon structure. I will be on a fantastic trip this Thursday to a little-visited Triassic section farther south, … Continue reading →

Moving to Wooster was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I was raised in Southern California, on an island called Catalina. My parents and I had never been away from each other for more than a month. Being … Continue reading →