9/30/2009

Stromatolites in the Naukluft Nappe Complex

Finally back in CT for a while. Lots to post but more to catch up on. Here are some cool stromatolites in dolomites of the Naukluft Nappe complex. There's a thin layer of sand over the top of the carbonate bed. I wonder what this represents. Was it a wave that washed sand between the bioherms? Did it kill them? I didn't see the beds above. Isn't it incredible how the sedimentary record is a stack of discrete moments - not a continuous record. Just snapshots.




I love being a geologist because I can hike up a cliff on a dry hot windy day in southern Africa, watch a meerkat shading himself with his tail, scare a herd of Hartman's Mountain Zebra up the slope ahead of me, then sit on this 550-million year old warm shallow sea and imagine a tropical, tectonically active world owned completely by algae and possibly some ediacaran fauna - no shells, no teeth, no fish, no birds. Must have been a quiet and peaceful world.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love your blog, Christie.
I'll use as part of my lessong with Youth at church tomorrow...reminding them that the earth is very, very old....Mom

Anonymous said...

Hey Christie!

So I'm working on a Structure Lab and I needed to know what an overturned fold symbol looked like. I googled it, and found you... Very cool that you are documenting you're experience there! I'm a senior Geology undergrad at the University of South Florida and, like you, am looking for something more. I want to travel, step outside my comfort zone, be more intune with my self, as an idividual. I'm currently looking into grad school at Michigan Tech - they have an international Peace Corps program.. In three years, I get an invaluble experience and a masters degree! If you have any thoughts, or words of wisdom I would sincerely welcome a response, as lately I've been feeling super overwhelmed about this daunting grad school hunt. My email address is ldbrewer@mail.usf.edu - email me even just to say hey... I really value feedback and guidance from people who have already walked in my shoes...

Thanks for posting this - gives some great perspective on opportunity..

Hope to talk to you,
Lindsey Brewer

Anonymous said...

The visual imagery of you laying on a blow-up raft, beer in hand, grin on face, in a shallow, algae-dominated sea surrounded by active tectonics makes me feel warm, tan, and relaxed. Can I come?

Kit said...

I used the word "Ediacarian" on my UCSC preliminary interview, and they all looked at me like I was from Mars. They were looking for me to say something about "hard parts", and I laughed that them, thinking about "duripartic preservation". Duripartic only gets 33 hits on Google, so I guess its really those UCSC professors who are laughing now. I blame Stig Bergstrom. I hope you are doing well, Christie.

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