Tag: erosion
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Williamsburg’s Grand Canyon: A Modern Marvel Created by Mismanaged Stormwater
Many William & Mary students and some long-time residents describe Williamsburg’s landscape as flat, swampy, and even boring. Indeed, parts of this landscape are flat, and the bottomlands may be swamps (a forested landscape with standing water). But, for those suggesting that the local terrain is all together boring, I suggest a visit to Williamsburg’s…
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A Frenzy of Fall Field Trips 4: Spy Rock
Once again, the 2019 Geological Field Methods class was on the move this past weekend. We were on a mission to collect a suite of samples for isotopic dating that will help us better understand the geologic history of the ancient rocks that underlie the Blue Ridge. The high point of our day (both literally…
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Power-washing the Paleozoic Petersburg Pluton
300 million years ago, vast quantities of magma intruded the Earth’s crust deep beneath what would one day become Richmond, Virginia. The magma that reached the surface fed a legion of volcanoes which no doubt erupted their fiery wrath over Ol’ Virginny, but much of that magma crystallized at depth, forming granite with its distinctive…