Geology in Pop Culture: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs When I started preparing my talk for the 2023 annual Geological Society of America conference (Finding Hidden Geological Lessons in the Media Around Us), I knew that I wanted to talk about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It is a movie that had been on my radar to write about for many years and I figured it would be a fairly easy one to throw into the talk. However, when I started to do my regular research into it, fascinating things started to pop up and I figured as part of my talk, I would give the audience a walk through of ..read more

 Geology in Pop Culture Released in 1990, The Rescuers Down Under continues the escapades started in 1977's The Rescuers. However, in this adventure our favorite mice, Bernard and Bianca, travel down to the Australian outback (not the steakhouse). Here, they find that the villain of the story, the poacher Percival C. McLeach has kidnapped a boy, Cody, while hiding out in some abandoned opal mines.   So what exactly is opal anyway? Different types of Australian opal varieties. Image courtesy of BlackOpal Direct.  Opal (SiO2.H2O) is a mineral that forms from th ..read more

My next post about the Geology of the National Parks Through Pictures is from my undergraduate years when we traveled the national parks during spring break.   You can find more Geology of the National Parks Through Pictures as well as my Geological State Symbols Across America series at my website Dinojim.com. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- New River Gorge National Park & Preserve Another park that is within the Appalachian Mountains, the New River Gorge has a similar geological history as other nearby parks like&n ..read more

My next post about the Geology of the National Parks Through Pictures is from my undergraduate years when we traveled the national parks during spring break.   You can find more Geology of the National Parks Through Pictures as well as my Geological State Symbols Across America series at my website Dinojim.com. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gauley River National Recreation Area The first couple of national parks that my future wife and I visited were in West Virginia, hence the reason I don't have many geologically the ..read more

My next post about the Geology of the National Parks Through Pictures is from my undergraduate years when we traveled the national parks during spring break.   You can find more Geology of the National Parks Through Pictures as well as my Geological State Symbols Across America series at my website Dinojim.com. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shenandoah National Park Much like the Great Smoky Mountains to the south, Shenandoah is formed by a small part of the Appalachian Mountains.  The Appalachian Mountains are ..read more

 My next post about the Geology of the National Parks Through Pictures is from when I lived in Texas and we drove around exploring the national parks of the state.   You can find more Geology of the National Parks Through Pictures as well as my Geological State Symbols Across America series at my website Dinojim.com. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- San Antonio Missions National Historical Park San Antonio Missions is comprised of four missions that stretch out to the south of San Antonio along the San Antonio R ..read more

My next post about the Geology of the National Parks Through Pictures is from my move back from Texas to live in Buffalo for a few years.   You can find more Geology of the National Parks Through Pictures as well as my Geological State Symbols Across America series at my website Dinojim.com. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument The Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument is nestled up right next to the Lake Meredith National Recreation Area, so it is an easy two for one Nationa ..read more

Using Walden by Henry David Thoreau Science is not a new invention. People have been performing science for many thousands of years. Often they build on the research of those before them and sometimes they start from scratch. The purpose of this project is to use a scientific study from the 19th century to produce a current contour map of lake depth. The study being described is in Walden by Henry David Thoreau, written before 1854. The book is typically considered “philosophical” literature but in this case he performs the basis of science. He identified a problem, determined how to sol ..read more

My next post about the Geology of the National Parks Through Pictures is from when we lived in Buffalo, NY and were touring possible residency programs for the wife.   You can find more Geology of the National Parks Through Pictures as well as my Geological State Symbols Across America series at my website Dinojim.com. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Independence National Historical Park Driving to the locations of possible residency programs for the wife we ended up touring Philadelphia and the sites of Independenc ..read more

My next post about the Geology of the National Parks Through Pictures is from even further back to my undergraduate days when we traveled the east coast hitting up National Parks.   You can find more Geology of the National Parks Through Pictures as well as my Geological State Symbols Across America series at my website Dinojim.com. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Great Smoky Mountains National Park Way back in 2003, we visited the Great Smoky Mountains and camped out in the park, as we traversed the eastern states.  ..read more