March for Science: Earth Day, April 22

     The upcoming March for Science will be held in Washington, D. C., and in satellite cities across the country and around the world on Earth Day, April 22.

     Planning for the March for Science has been gaining momentum. I am playing a small part in organizing Denver's march.

           There are hat knitting  patterns

and t-shirts,

and even NPR Science Friday valentines.

         We are already thinking up signs.

        My favorite sign is worth one more look:

        Maybe it's time for that trip to France, oui?

     Will you be participating in a March for Science ?

Steph

      P.S. I tucked that tardigrade valentine in there because, well, how could I RESIST?!

The Polar Bear Experiment (see comment section below).

1. Making clay mountains with topo lines: 

2. Adding water and "icebergs:" 

3. Time passes, the icebergs melt and the polar bears' home is submerged:

Are Your Ducks All in A Row?: Women's Marches in Denver and Around the World

       Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey was one of my favorite childhood books. It is the Official Children's Book of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The beautiful illustrations were executed in charcoal then lithographed on zinc plates.

      Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack were treasured, feathered friends. (I thought Ouack was cool because she or he had two syllables (as I read it) as well as three vowels in a row!) Here they are, in bronze, created by Nancy Schön in the Boston Public Garden with Mrs. Mallard in Boston, USA, sporting pink pussy hats.

     My friends and I are working on getting all our ducks in a row tonight for tomorrow's Denver Women's March. Organizing, making signs, hats, and banners, and preparing for the day has helped us keep focus on important issues like climate change (which has suddenly disappeared from the Presidential sites). Yeah, sure, that's one way to get rid of it. . . (but the temperature data say otherwise, showing 2016 as the hottest year since records have been regularly kept):

 

 
       Here's hoping for a peaceful march in Denver tomorrow with lots of nasty, wonderful women and men energy. We may even see the big blue bear in a pink pussy hat at the Denver Convention Center.

       I will be marching with my grandmother, Irene's, strength and spirit. She was a suffragette who walked in the Boston and NYC marches for the right for women to vote. I am marching for many reasons but this sign sums up a major one:
        

       Hoping things will come full circle and stabilize for those more northerly polar bears and for the mallards and ducklings in many ways in the weeks and months to come. Seeing those bears all in a row on giant ice fields in polar climes would make many Mama Bears content.



Here's to a productive, calm day wherever you are,
Steph

       Some images (one for each duckling and one each for Mrs. and Mr. Mallard) from the powerful Denver March of over 200,000 women, men, babes in arms, and canines. Enjoy!

        

^^^"Trumpeters against Trump"

And, as promised from before the march:

Badlands National Park goes rogue with climate facts from the official Twitter account:

This!  --->

Fast and Slow Rates of Tectonic Change: New Zealand and Arizona

     I received an alert from The New York Times today with this "breaking news" about climate change. Temperatures rising slightly less than 2 ° F are certainly cause for concern but, for most scientists it is hardly breaking news. The data are important, though, especially the possible projected rise in mean temperatures by up to 10 °F by the end of this century:

        CLIMATE CHANGE REPORT

    As a focus today, I'd like to compare the relatively quickly-changing tectonic geomorphology of New Zealand to the much slower-changing tectonic geomorphology of Arizona.
Tectonic geomorphology involves the interplay of surface features with underlying tectonics.

     In this geologic map of New Zealand, rates of up to 5 mm uplift per year are noted in red:

      Areas of rapid uplift are marked by active faults, seismic activity, waterfalls, and newly developing stream systems:

     New Zealand sits at the junction of the Australian and New Zealand tectonic plates and displays the features of a rapid convergent plate tectonic zone.

      In contrast, Arizona sits within the North American plate, rather than at the convergence of two plates. The fluvial (river) geomorphology is well developed and integrated. The landscape has had long periods of time to adjust to ancient fault scarps creating well-developed alluvial fans:

     One of the most interesting parts of tectonic geomorphology to me is that features like alluvial fans may also mark places of more rapid uplift, where the alluvium is adjusting to more active uplift as in here in Iran:

     But, back to climate change (you knew I'd get back there, right?), the increased overall temperatures, torrential downpours, and periods of drought are all intimately connected to this skin of our earth. The climate we are changing will inevitably affect the tectonic geomorohology as landscapes adjust to the wide swings in temperature and rainfall.

      Looking forward to your thoughts on this interplay of climate and tectonic geomorphology, all you alluvial fans!

Tectonically,

Word Woman (aka Scientific Steph)

P.S.

Mid May in the Colorado Mountains: