Leon Links Underwater Caves

Limestone is usually found in many of Earth's underwater caves. This happens as a result of the space that occurs in between the bedrock and the water table. This space occurs because the Limestone found in between these two layers gets dissolved by the acid water that seeps through. This acid water comes from water that has been exposed to earth's air. The Leon Links Cave located in Tallahassee, Florida is an example of these types of caves. These caves are a system of hydrological caves that contain many wildlife. One unique example is the Woodville Karst Plain crayfish. These little animals are only found in this part of Florida. Despite the beautiful wildlife these system of caves in constantly in danger of pollution and currently many geologist work to find a solution.

Elevation/ Distance Information of the Renaissance City

Verona, Italy Slope Line

          Graph of Slope Line Measurements   

Sheets

Distance	Elevation
5	2609
10	1153
15	669
20	201
25	81
30	65
35	53
40	47
45	40
50	39

Here is a slope line of Verona, Italy and its measurements. As you can see, as the distance increases the elevation drops. Almost as if one were coming off a mountain.

Community Gardens

     Last week Wednesday our Geology class took a short but intriguing trip to a community garden behind Wesley Methodist Church. While we were there we got got the opportunity to explore the different plants that were being grown and to understand the techniques behind growing strategies. It was even more amazing to see the plant s there flourishing after we told that Macon had once been (and still may be) a dangerous place to grow plants because of the high Iron content. However, these community gardens are not only restricted to the state boundary lines of Georgia. In Gig Harbor, Washington, Mavis Butterfield is growing a community garden of her own. In fact she is planning to grow about two tons of fruits and vegetables this year. Below are two of the type of plants she is working on...

     This Flower bed above is Swiss Chard flower bed. Swiss Chard is a green leafy vegetable that is part of the vegetables called the "greens". This vegetable group also includes vegetables such as Broccoli and Kale. In this picture Mavis Butterfield has managed to start her own nice flower bed. As you can see it is raised about six inches off the ground. This is good because one it keeps weeds from getting to your plants. It prevents the soil of your plants from eroding away, and its keeps certain major pests at bay.

Secondly, this picture above shows french radishes. As you can see thy have already budded and are starting to show forth. Radishes are vegetables that are mildly sweet and crunchy and grow best in the spring. This sweet things can get up to three or four inches long.

All in all, community gardens as well as backyard gardens are good not only for the environment but for ourselves, and for the community. You can lose if you have a community garden in your caboose!

Hidden Secrets

        Usually when someone says there is a whole world out there! They figuratively mean that there many things to discover in the world. However when it comes to hydrothermal vents. It is basically a whole world out there. Or I should say under there, because under our oceans lie an ecosystem teeming with many different organisms. This is the handy work of Hydro Thermal vents, Under ground hot spring located along the Mid- Atlantic Ridge, the longest chain of volcanoes in the world, which runs from the Gakkel Ridge south of the North Pole to Bouvet Triple Junction. These thermal vents are constantly Spewing out magma and large amounts of rich minerals like Sulfur, Copper, and Iron. Among these minerals many others have been discovered to be the providers for items such as LED lights and Fiber Cables.
More importantly, This has been the cause for the life of these organisms down below. Now you may stop and say to your self, 
            "I don't remember the last time living organisms lived off of sulfur and without sunlight."
However, this is precisely what these organisms, some almost eight feet tall do. The process is called Chemosynthesis. This is where these various living organisms convert Sulfur and Hydrogen into energy and in turn for food. This has been the foundation of which these organisms have thrived and now there three times more of these living organisms than there are on earth. Now for all those who have been worried about a zombie apocalypse, this right here is what you need to be worrying about!


To learn more about how Hydrothermal Vents function, visit this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFHtVRKoaUM .

The Mineral: Amethyst

AMETHYST

Amethyst. Exquisite in its appearance, and brilliant in its display. This type of Quartz hails from the planet earth! However, specifically it can be found in various locations of our world in the thin crust of volcanic rock. I find this rock most interesting because of the different layers that are represented on there. It is as if the mineral was literally conceived in the black metamorphic rock and like a plant, started out white and bright and grew into a colorful hue of purple, glistening in all brilliance. This mineral shows its layers clearly. This then begs the question what variable preserves this rock's different colorful layers. Maybe this is a question we all can answer.

To find out more information about this mineral visit here, and perhaps in the process discover new minerals that my peek your interests.

Types of Maps & Topography

CHOROPLETH

            Here we have a Choropleth map. In this map we find different shadings and colorings. These shadings, as you can see, are delegated and confined with in state boundaries. And represent certain average values or quantities of a certain aspect of the state. For instance, in this Choropleth map of the U.S, the percentage of people below the poverty line is given. And as the legend shows, the darker the shading, the greater the percentage of people in poverty.

ISARITHMIC

Next, this is an Isarithmic map. This map is used to illustrate smooth and ongoing occurrences such as temperature, or even rainfall. Notice that the shadings on this map are not confined to each and every state but rather regions. This is because the objective of this map is not to compare the data of each state. Therefore in this Isarithmic map of the U.S, the average annual temperature is measured for the summer and the winter.

DOT DENSITY

            The map above represents a dot density map, which is used to show the intensity of the presence of a certain feature. Here we have the depiction of tobacco agriculture in the United States in 2002. The increase of dots represents higher tobacco growth and interestingly this growth still seems to be represented by the states in the east: Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia. I guess history does repeat himself. So much for progress.

           

PROPORTION SYMBOL

            The last type of map that will be discussed in this blog is the proportion symbol map. This map conveys a certain set of data within a certain location. The map above clearly depicts this, because the data being measured here is forestry production. Secondly, the dot, which represents the map symbol, is used to signify the amount of forestry production in European countries according to its size. In the map's legend there are four different sizes.

Topographical Contour Line of Georgia And Water Spout

Finally this is the topographical contour line of Georgia (red) and its water spout(yellow).

 As you can see the contour lines begin to take this sort of right angular shape as the elevation increases. Consequently the water spouts get wider with the increase of elevation. This I believe, stems from the fact that most of Georgia's Highest mountains are in the northeastern part of the state. Sort of tucked in the corner as represented in this  website. This would also make sense especially when we look at the previous blog and realize Stone Mountains contour lines are in circular patterns. This is definitely interesting to look at Georgia's contour lines in a wider scope.

Feast Your Eyes!

Feast your eyes on Stone Mountain! This quite popular tourist attraction is used frequently throughout the year to host concerts, amusement rides and much more. However, behind the business and consumer agendas, the tourist masquerades, and the beautifully carved faces of people no one really knows about lies the sheer granite that gives this precipice its name. And after creating 5 different contour lines for this mountain, this is what I ended up with. What I thought was very interest was when I realized this elevation is not he traditional incline that is usually illustrated in regards to mountains. Instead I found out that the same elevation measurement would be located in at many different heights and locations. I think that this signals that there are valley or indentations if you will as the mountain's elevation rises. Which could signal erosion. Not too ordinary for an ordinary sounding name.