“A mountain-building event that affected an area from present-day New York to Newfoundland during the Devonian Period (416 to 359.2 million years ago).” – Encyclopedia Britannica

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“The son of Hermes and a nymph, Pan was half goat, half man who lived in the forests of Arcadia [in Peloponnese) surrounded by satyrs and maenads.” – in2greece.com

“Arcadia is associated with bountiful natural splendor, harmony, and is often inhabited by shepherds … Commonly thought of as being in line with Utopian ideals, Arcadia differs from that tradition in that it is more often specifically regarded as unattainable.”- Arcadia from Wikipedia

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“The first known European to coin the term Acadia or Arcadia was Giovanni da Verrazzano (1485-1528). The name came to him from one of two possible sources. One would be his meetings with a native who used the word “quoddy” or “cadie” to describe what Verrazzano understood to be the territory surrounding them. The second possible origin of the word would be from Greek or Roman classics, where the word Arcadia is used to describe a pastoral paradise.” – Musée des Acadiens

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“In 1632, France once again gained control of New France (including Acadia) under the Treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye. This time, they started recruiting sending men and women with the intent of raising families and settling down in Acadia. ” – Acadian-Cajun Genealogy

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” … also known as the Great Upheaval [from 1755 to 1763], the Great Expulsion, The Deportation, the Acadian Expulsion, Le Grand Dérangement was the forced removal by the British of the Acadian people from present day Canadian Maritime provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island (an area also known as Acadie).” – from The Expulsion of the Acadians on Wikipedia

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“That the wretched Acadians, in a manner quartered upon us, are become a grievance, inasmuch as we are not at present in a situation, and iu [sic] circumstances, capable of seconding their own fruitless endeavors to support their numerous families, as a people plundered of their effects. For though our magistrates have taxed us, perhaps sufficient to feed such of them as cannot feed themselves, they cannot find houses, clothing, and other comforts, in their condition needful, without going from house to house begging, whereby they are become a nuisance to a country hardly able to afford necessary comfort to their own poor.” – an address from the electors and freeholders of Talbot county to their representatives in Virginia assembly, February 1757.

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“A person of French Canadian descent born or living along the bayous, marshes, and prairies of  southern Louisiana.  The word Cajun began in 19th century Acadie (now Nova Scotia, Canada) when the Acadians began to arrive.” – Cajun Country by Jason Meaux

A conversation I find myself in more often of late.

Me: “What is the purpose of this institution?”

Answer: “To collect data / publish an independent, daily newspaper / offer the best in healthcare.”

Me: “So, why were all the necessary data for analysis not collected / was a profitable Pulitzer-winning and much-needed city newspaper just gutted / were these particular lab tests not run?”

Answer: “It costs too much / didn’t make obscene profits.”

Me: “What is the purpose of this institution?”

Answer: “To stay under (an unrealistic) budget and make lots of money.”

Me: “Wait, you just said your mission was to … never mind.”

***

What is happening to the New Orleans Times-Picayune is beyond criminal. Three paper issues a week and a perplexing online presence for a city in which activities of cultural, criminal and political note occur on an hourly basis? It’s self-defeating and generates no real value in the long run. Ricky Matthews, the paper’s new publisher has reportedly stated that, “The platform is irrelevant.” As someone who, in the years following The Storm, repeatedly tried and repeatedly failed to make blogging and frequent internet use catch on in a wider swath of the New Orleans populace, I can safely call BULLSHIT. The platform is absolutely relevant in a city filled with people dependent on the physical newspaper for their news because they don’t own a computer or smartphone, much less have access to (reliable) internet service. One digital “initiative” does not fit all. Or as this guy at Esquire says:

Of all the cities in the country, New Orleans should be the one most aware that a huge number of Americans don’t have access to the Toobz … The main reason that newspapers are failing in this country is that they are being set up to fail by publishers who think like hedge fund cowboys, and by editors who think like corporate officers.

Also, nola.com sucks. The unholy bright yellow that gives me a tan, the lack of a comment moderation policy and the refusal (inability of automated publishing?) to prioritize the news. Forget an editor, get someone not color-confused, who lives in New Orleans and who can read.

I really, really hope The Lens and The Gambit can take off with the investigative component of New Orleans news, because it sure doesn’t look like the new T-P business model cares much for actual investigative journalism.

Can’t wait for The Levee reponse.

Enchanted Rock outside Fredericksburg, Texas | May 2012

Batholith. I love that word. It is a portmanteau of “depth” (bathos) and “rock” (lithos), literally meaning “deep rock,” but sounds like you’re trying to say “basilisk” after having burned your tongue on hot coffee.

On Sunday, Racy, VirgoTex (whom you all know by now as she who puts the Town in Back Of Town), and I hiked the Enchanted Rock granite batholith in the Llano Uplift area of central Texas. It took us approximately 2.5 hours to hike up and down a deceptively easy 425 feet; as Virgo said, “You think you’re getting close to the top, and then there’s more top after that.” We could have accomplished it faster, I suppose, but the point of a hike is hiking and not a race to the top and back.

As I get older, I am more of a consummate scientist (“Consummate Vs!”) and less a geologist, and increasingly piece together the immediate and more nuanced relationships between the earth and the things that live in and on it. When I was a geology undergraduate, my approach was “Cool rock! FIND ALL THE SAMPLES. KNOW ALL THE THINGS.” This attitude has now morphed into “Cool rock! What does it tell me about the larger geological and physiographic history of this place? Notice how it has eroded and broken down to its constituent minerals and how some minerals form one type of soil on which X species of plants grow, and house these specific animals and birds, while others weather or are transported elsewhere to form different deposits and soils.”

Mineral type, grain size, chemical content, distance from source, chemical breakdown, clay content, soil formation, that the cacti and peaches love a certain type of acidic soil and the peach pie served at the cute little cafe in Llano. It’s a contained system, this earth, and I don’t bring up this observation from a standpoint of hippy-kumbaya interconnectedness or simply being older, but one of practicality: Being open to different inputs and practicing the art of making the right connections among them makes you a better-equipped human, much less a scientist. Even as a scientist, detective work yields better results if you step back and focus your eyes beyond your area of specialty. This is why I still want to be a crime scene forensic geologist when I grow up [insert mental image of me whipping off my sunglasses all Caruso-styleeee].

Back to Enchanted Rock. If it’s one of twelve batholiths and surrounding metamorphics that constitute the Llano Uplift, why is it up here at the earth’s surface? In fact, why is it higher than surrounding rocks for miles and miles? Rob Reed’s Llano Uplift site has very detailed descriptions of the (debate surrounding the) mechanics and timing of these preCambrian granites and schists exposed in the middle of a much younger Texas geology. My Cliff’s Notes version goes like this:

1) Uplift by Metamorphism, Deformation and Intrusion: Mesoproterozoic (~1.5 billion years ago) sedimentary rocks metamorphosed into schists and intruded by granites, including Enchanted Rock and surrounding granite batholiths, during the Grenville orogeny around 1.1 billion years ago. This resulted in the formation of very thick continental crust in this area. So, the “Uplift” has always been relatively high with respect to its surroundings. (Can you say “positive gravity anomalies,” kids?)

2) Continued Uplift by Tectonics and Erosion: Deposition of sands and limestones occurred through much of the Paleozoic (540-300 million years ago). Erosion of the Uplift’s rocks probably continued in this time. The late-Paleozoic Ouachita orogeny seems to have contributed to another re-Uplift and exposure of the preCambrian rocks. The deposition-erosion cycle chugged along through the Miocene (15 million years ago) movement along the Balcones Fault Zone, which pushed the Uplift’s rocks higher than the rocks to the southeast of the fault zone.

3) Even More Uplift and Weathering/Erosion: All through this time, from around 1 billion years ago to now, the rocks have experienced varying degrees of uplift and weathering/erosion. Uplift or not, two phenomena you can count on beyond death and taxes are weathering and erosion. (Weathering is the in-place breakdown of a rock by physical and chemical means and erosion is the movement of weathered material from its source.)So, from when they were first exposed to the present time, the granites and metamorphic rocks of the Uplift have moved upward in response to the forces of buoyancy, tectonics and burial. And the moment you move rock relatively up, *BAM!* wind and water begin to eat into it. When we were on the top of Enchanted Rock on Sunday, it was very windy and heavy rains had come through the night before – we saw chemical weathering, gravel formation and sediment transport before our very eyes. Granites display an additional weathering feature in that they exfoliate (yes, think skin exfoliation) on the removal of overburden or pressure, which is why you see sheets/sheaths of granite that look like they’re ready to slide off the surface any minute now.

Wait a moment here. Take the geological action that we saw in 2.5 hours and begin to envision a billion years of it. Think of how much sediment this group of rocks has generated and how far it must have traveled and been buried by now to possibly be re-intruded by igneous rocks and be metamorphosed elsewhere some day. Tell me it doesn’t make you trip backwards in awe of space and time and this ball of rock that makes all of this possible. I cannot think of doing anything else in life besides geology. At a crime scene. With cool sunglasses to take off.

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If you would like to visit Enchanted Rock and the surrounding Texas Hill Country, here is a handy-dandy set of geology links to peruse before you head out.

1. The aforementioned Llano Uplift site (which, hilariously, describes everything we’ve covered above as “an island of rock excitement adrift in a sea of Cretaceous limestones whose only redeeming value is the oil in them.” Not true. Hill Country = pretty + aquifer.)
2. An indispensable Fredericksburg to Enchanted Rock Road log which you Must Have in the car. The log narrates the geology along Highway 965 between the town of Fredericksburg and Enchanted Rock Park and beyond to the town of Llano. If for nothing else, follow along so you know when to look for the caliche pit and the “gorgeous, panoramic view of Enchanted Rock and the surrounding countryside laid out from skyline to skyline.”
3. My Geology of the Llano Uplift and Texas Hill Country pre-read guide, which consists mainly of maps, photos and overviews to get you quickly oriented to central and southeastern Texas geology. Each page has links to the source(s) for even further reading. Nice thing about this Google doc is that it is a very specific and breathing document that can be crowd-edited if I open up permissions.
4. The Enchanted Rock State Natural Area topographic and trail map. Take water, wear boots, look out for rattlesnakes and *sadface* don’t beat on the rocks to take samples home.
5. My Enchanted Rock Flickr photo set containing the photos you see here and more. All of my photographs are available under a CreativeCommons BY-NC-SA 3.0 license, so feel free to use them for teaching and/or open research purposes.

For posterity and your convenience, I’ve storified the recent discussion a bunch of us geoscientists on Twitter had that started with conference “booth babes” and inevitably led to the advances of and roadblocks for female (geo)scientists. Use at will.

(Oh, has anyone figured out how to edit a Storify? Can you?)