During my undergraduate at Brigham Young University, I had the opportunity to work with Dr. Jani Radebaugh in conjunction with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA/Cal Tech) and Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (U of Arizona). We were researching the linear dunes on Saturn’s largest moon Titan seen by the Cassini spacecraft. Titan is unique because it is the only planetary […]
Ladakh is a region in north-westernmost India. It is truly a magical place. The dominant culture is Buddhist and some would say is the last stronghold of true Tibetan culture. Isolated from the oppressive Chinese government, the Ladakhi people have been able to find peace and solitude in the high Zanskar mountains. Ladakh is also a Mecca […]
Zircons are — more often than not — the reason why I travel. Zircon is a zirconium (number 40 on the periodic table) bearing silicate mineral (ZrSiO4). Zircon is an extremely important mineral for geologists because although Zr is the dominant cation, zircon also contains several other large cations such as uranium, hafnium, and rare […]
My trip to coastal Maine started in the Deer Isle granite complex. This Devonian granite complex exhibits a complex and highly diverse set of igneous textures that are the result of new magma injection and mixing. The base of the plutonic complex is dominated by cumulates of large alkali feldspars and abundant mafic enclaves. Many of […]
Kellen Gunderson on Death Valley. Kellen (website) is a PhD Candidate at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA, United States. He is a tectonic geomorphologist currently working on spatial and temporal scales of fault slip rate variability in the Northern Apennines, Italy. Death Valley (part 1) To most people Death valley seems desolate. […]
