Branner Blog

a preview of the new blog poster, a take off on the old library “READ” posters.
borrow it, adapt it, or hang it on your wall. enjoy.

The USGS has created a page to pull together information and give access to all of the states’ geologic maps. The page lists each state and then gives basic information about the digital map, the source map, and comments. It is not always easy to find out what format the digital map is in, but most seem to be in ArcInfo export format or ArcGIS shapefile format. The larger goal is “to create a small-scale integrated bedrock-oriented geologic map database of the U.S. based on digital state geologic maps.”

I was just sent a link to Publish or Perish, a citation analysis program from harzing.com that “retrieves and analyzes academic citations. It uses Google Scholar to obtain the raw citations, then analyzes these and calculates a series of citation metrics.” You have the option of performing an author impact analysis, journal impact analysis or general citation search.

I’ve played around with it a little bit this morning and it looks interesting. I recommend the “about” section for information about citation metrics and the choice of google scholar over ISI Web of Science. The latter also offers a nice summary of the general utility and accuracy of google scholar.

An effort to create an early warning earthquake system for the Bay Area is highlighted in today’s San Jose Mercury News. The warning system would be activated when a series of monitoring systems detected the faster moving P-waves from a quake. The computer could estimate the expected magnitude of the quake and send out a warning. For example, in the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, those living in Redwood City would have received 10 seconds’ warning while those in San Francisco 20 seconds’ warning. The system is expensive and scientists across California are debating its value.

This is still quite new, but from an initial glance, the Encyclopedia of Earth looks pretty interesting. The EoE is intended to be the wikipedia for the earth and environmental sciences, but with restricted access and oversight. The premise is that although the Internet is great, it’s also vast and unreliable. The EoE on the other hand, promises to be something of an antidote (as we hope to be here at Brannerblog as well).

Some details from the site:
“The Encyclopedia is a free, fully searchable collection of articles written by scholars, professionals, educators, and experts who collaborate and review each other’s work.”

“digital information on the environment is characterized by an abundance of “great piles of content” and a dearth of “piles of great content.” In other words, there are many resources for environmental content, but there is no central repository of authoritative information that meets the needs of diverse user communities. Our goal is to make the Encyclopedia of Earth the largest reliable information resource on the environment in history.”

See the about page for even more.

It’s an interesting idea. I have some initial critiques (like: limited searching capability–why no advanced search?), but I’m going to temper them until I’ve had more time to play with it.

When you have a moment, check out NSIDC’s Online Glacier Photograph Database. The images themselves are incredible, but one feature of the site, is particularly telling: the Long-term Change Photograph Pairs. I’m sure you can imagine what you’ll find. Here’s glacier X on your left pictured in the foreground in 19XX; and here is glacier X on your right pictured in the far distant background in more recent years. The wonders of repeat photography.

Other examples:

A century and a half ago, a Vermont farmer travelled to the Mediterranean, first as minister to Turkey and later as minister to the newly-unified Italy. While there, he observed long-range effects of practices occurring in his home state: deforestation, soil run-off, flooding, lowering of the water table. And he made notes.

George Perkins Marsh, statesman, polymath (18 languages) and astute observer of the natural environment, worked on his magnum opus, Man and Nature, for several decades before publishing it in 1864.

The book is not an easy read. It’s long and full of lengthy explanatory/anecdotal footnotes. But it’s rewarding to realize how clearly this 19th-century author understood “ecosystem services.”

Branner Library’s 1885 edition is in the Locked Stacks; but Green Library has several circulating editions, including the 2003 “Weyerhaeuser Environmental Classic” edition highlighted above.

Yesterday we displayed a selection of Branner Library’s treasures for some visitors to the School of Earth Sciences. I spent a bit of time browsing our locked stacks area in search of the perfect gems, and that act has inspired this first edition of Famous Geologist Friday.

Today, I’d like you to meet Sir Roderick Impey Murchison (1792-1871). Like many of the people you’ll likely find in this feature, Murchison was a Scottish geologist, and one of his great accomplishments came when he devised a master organizational scheme for the Silurian System (see The Silurian System, 1839). He figured most of that one out without ever leaving the British Isles. However, the Devonian sent him further afield.

Endorsed by the Czar, Murchison set out to perform a geological survey of Russia in 1840-41. The interesting thing about all of this is that Murchison had his goal–to correlate Russian stratigraphy with other parts of the world–and the Czar had his goal–to identify and quantify Russia’s mineral resources. The Czar wanted to know how to speed up industrial development in Russia; Murchison wanted to know what was going on with the Silurian rocks in Russia and to settle the “Great Devonian Controversy.” In the end, the Czar’s directives largely determined his route, but Murchison was free to perform his own research. It’s the crux of geology–some rocks are economically desirable and some are just pretty.

As for Murchison, the editors of the excellent, excellent volume, Murchison’s Wanderings in Russia..., say it well: “The overall purpose was to acquire new knowledge and to make recommendations as to its applications. Perhaps it could be said, given both Murchison’s previous and future activities, that in this combination of theory and practice Murchison had found his true metier.”

To finding one’s true metier.
Enjoy the weekend.

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References:
Collie and Diemer, eds. (2004) Murchison’s Wanderings in Russia: His Geological Exploration of Russian in Europe and the Ural Mountains, 1840 and 1841.
Morton. (2004) King of Siluria: How Roderick Murchison changed the face of geology.
Murchison. (1839) The Silurian System.
Murchison. (1845) The Geology of Russia.
Murchison. (1854) Siluria.

Just getting started on this question and would appreciate any assistance. Looking for websites or other resources, particularly something with a “how-to” slant.

Thanks.

You can now access the Branner Library website by directing your browser to “brannerlib” or “brannerlibrary” if you’re on campus, brannerlib.stanford.edu or brannerlibrary.stanford.edu, if you’re off. They’ll take you to the same place, but we hope these new options are a bit easier to remember than the clunkier http://library.stanford.edu/depts/branner/.