Monday, December 31, 2007

Headgear-a-plenty

One of the things as ubiquitous as mountains in the basin and range, are abandoned mines, here is a few pics of a mine on the way to the rig.

I was hoping for more sunlight on the far mountains (which I have to drive around to get to Winnemucca). The headgear of the mine stands out on the horizon as you drive by, a nice 4x4 trail leads up to it. I'm not too sure what was mined here, but from the spoils that are piled all around, I would judge some kind of sulfide ore, most likely cinnabar, I found several small pieces of the red ore around, mixed in with the hydrothermal alteration of the native rock, possibly a phyllite.

A view down the mineshaft, showing the rails for the carts, whoever mined here was not claustrophobic.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

my daily commute

7.5 miles of paved roads, and 18.5 miles of this, one of the more remote locations (by far not the worst though) to be working. On the other hand, the scenery is nice:)



Toto, we're not in Hawaii anymore.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Saturday, December 8, 2007

deciduous basalt?


Lava trees, at Lava Trees State park near Pahoa, an interesting formation of basalt lava, when it up and wraps itself around a ohia tree, then the bulk of the very fluid flow drains away, leaving the cooled remnant standing upright.

these are 'O'hia trees that are growing on a 1954 aa lava flow

sometimes, the contact and cooling is fast enough to preserve surface textures of the bark on the gnarled trees, in a chamber running up the middle of the lava tree (mold), but the light was failing me so I couldn't get a good picture of the inside tube/chamber to show this texture. The tree eventually burns/rots out of the mold cavity. Some of these geologic feature range from just holes in the ground to almost 20 feet tall.




my attempt at a stereo pair, good luck


EDIT: I've been trying to get back to the park and retake the stereo pair, unfortunately, its has rained pretty consistently and I haven't had the chance. My flight leaves in a few hours, and I may not have the chance to go back again until early next year (crosses fingers).

Thursday, December 6, 2007

with a resounding (albiet silent) thud

the rainbow crashes onto the motor shed roof

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

You would think....

This

is a noni fruit, a lush, common fruit, at least on this part of the big island, mabey it would be good, on the other hand, did you ever see that little rascal episode where they are all forced to take a spoon full of cod liver oil? You get the idea. Other critters like them.... and they are welcome to them as far as I am concerned (albiet a lot of people sell a snakeoil product made from them, juice, pulp powder, ect.)