Darwin's Dilemma

Darwins Dilemma looks at the geologically-sudden appearance of dozens of major complex animal types in the fossil record without any trace of the gradual transitional steps Charles Darwin had predicted. Frequently described as “the Cambrian Explosion,” the development of these new animal types required a massive increase in genetic information. “The big question that the Cambrian Explosion poses is where does all that new information come from?”





Jackson springs

On our trip to jackson springs we learned much about how Jackson Springs Park came about and most importantly we learned alot about geology.  We learned about certain types of metamorphic rocks. Metamorphic rocks are formed by being deep beneath the Earth's surface, subjected to high temperatures and the great pressure of the rock layers above it. They can form from processes such as continental collisions, friction and distortion. They are also formed when rock is heated up by the intrusion of hot molten rock called magma from the Earth's interior. The study of metamorphic rocks provides information about the temperatures and pressures that occur at great depths within the Earth's crust. Some examples of metamorphic rock are:

Gneiss

Slate

Quartzite

Another one of the three types of rocks is sedimentary rock.  Sedimentary rock is a type of rock that is formed by depositing of material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause mineral and organic particles to settle.  Particles that form a sedimentary rock by accumulating are called sediment. Before being deposited, sediment was formed by weathering and erosion, and then transported to the place of deposition by water, wind, mass movement or glaciers. Some types of sedimentary rock are:

Sandstone

Siltstone

Shale

Indian mounds

For our lab we visited the Ocmulgee Indian Mounds.  Ocmulgee National Monument preserves traces of over ten millennia of Southeastern Native American culture, including major earthworks built more than 1,000 years ago by Mississippian culture peoples: the Great Temple and other ceremonial mounds, a burial mound, and defensive trenches.One of the things we were able to learn about was the Great Temple Mound at Ocmulgee which was built atop the Macon Plateau and rises 56 feet high from the surface of the plateau.  Because the mound was constructed on the edge of the plateau, the mound rises 90 feet from the river bank below. 

Communtiy gardens/twelve soil orders

A community garden is a single piece of land gardened collectively by a group of people.  Community gardens provide fresh produce and plants as well as neighborhood improvement, sense of community and connection to the environment.  Community gardens may help alleviate one effect of climate change, which is expected to cause a global decline in agricultural output, making fresh produce increasingly unaffordable.  Advocates say locally grown food decreases a community's reliance on fossil fuels for transport of food from large agricultural areas and reduces a society's overall use of fossil fuels to drive in agricultural machinery.The gardens also combat two forms of alienation that plague modern urban life, by bringing urban gardeners closer in touch with the source of their food, and by breaking down isolation by creating a social community.

Something we also discussed were the twelve soil orders and the items that contribute to soil content.
Soils are named and classified on the basis of physical and chemical properties in their horizons (layers). “Soil Taxonomy” uses color, texture, structure, and other properties of the surface two meters deep to key the soil into a classification system to help people use soil information. This system also provides a common language for scientists.  Soils and their horizons differ from one another, depending on how and when they formed. This website http://soils.usda.gov/technical/soil_orders/ gives you more information on the twelve soil orders.

Trees, plants and shrubs native to Georgia

Magnolia tree (Magnolia grandiflora)

American Holly (Ilex opaca)

River Birch (Betula nigra)

Red Maple (Acer rubrum)

White Oak (Quercus alba)

Bottlebrush buckeye(Aesculus parviflora)

Fetter bush (Lyonia lucida)

          Georgia Basil (Clinopodium georgianum)

Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia)

Swamp Cyrilla (Cyrilla racemiflora)

Yaupon (Ilex vomitoria)

 Highland doghobble (Leucothoe fontanesiana)

 Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia)

 Sand Myrtle (Leiophyllum buxifolium)

Coastal doghobble (Leucothoe axillaris)

River Lab

This is a graph of data collected during the river lab at the Ocmulgee River.  We measured the elevation levels across the river.

This is an image of the area where we shoveled dirt from the bottom of the river and sifted the dirt to collect clams.  Dirt was shoveled and the amount of clams collected were counted at 13 different areas on the river.  There was a different amount of clams found at each area, the data is as follows: Area 1-5 clams, area 2-2 clams, area 3-5 clams, area 4-9 clams, area 5-2 clams, area 6-2 clams, area 7-0 clams, area 8-0 clams, area 9-9 clams, area 10-0 clams, area 11-7 clams, area 12-3 clams, area 13-2 clams.

My happy place

This is the lake I live on and it is where me and my Dad would look for arrowheads when I was younger.  We would walk around the lake and the sink hole near the lake and see how many arrowheads and other interesting things we could find.

Maps

Isarithmic maps, also known as contour maps, depict smooth continuous phenomena such as precipitation.  Isarithmic maps are essentially topographic or contour maps, wherein a third variable is represented in two dimensions by color, or by contour lines, indicating gradations.

Isarithmic map of temperatures on January 31, 1981 throughout the state of North Carolina

A choropleth map is a thematic map in which areas are shaded or patterned to show the measurement of the statistical variable being displayed on the map, such as population density or per-capita income.  The choropleth map provides an easy way to visualize how a measurement varies across a geographic area or it shows the level of variability within a region.

A dot density map is as a map type that uses a dot symbol to show the presence of a feature or phenomenon. Dot maps rely on a visual scatter to show spatial pattern.

The map shows the distribution and density of China's population. One tiny dot indicates 50,000 people.

The Platypus

The platypus is a semi-aquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. While both male and female platypuses are born with ankle spurs, only the male has spurs which produce a cocktail of venom, composed largely of defensin-like proteins(DLPs), three of which are unique to the platypus. The platypus is semi-aquatic, inhabiting small streams and rivers over an extensive range from the cold highlands of Tasmania and the Australian Alps to the tropical rainforests of coastal Queensland as far north as the base of the Cape York Peninsula.