Volcanic Oddities on the New Islands of Hawaii

Emergent Steam creates Holes in the cooling Lava, as the groundwater below the new flow is overheated.

Hawaii Volcanic Oddities
The large island of Hawaii is one where a visitor can trace the history of lava flows and their effects on the Land Surface. There has been a historical and present documentation of flowing Lava, as it moved downhill from both Mauna Loa (long mountain) and Kilauea (spewing or spraying, in local lingo) Caldera. Houses have been photoed as they burned from advancing flows, and vegetation has been observed to be encapsulated. The flows are very deliberate, moving at speeds where people can escape them (but not so, for dwellings). Citizens have thrown up barriers, via bulldozers, usually to no avail. But when successfully diverting flows away from houses, they were later sued by neighbors for moving flows onto other properties. Now it is agreed that Pele- the goddess of fire- will get her way, and people must absorb her actions. Covered or burned houses and highways must simply be by-passed for new construction.
Pahoehoe Flows The ropey lava is the easiest for man to adjust to, since the surface is smooth and has low compressive and shear strength. It may be walked on and broken with a pick or hand tool. Vegetation finds the fractures which form upon cooling and begin to grow tall in them within ten years.

Ropey Lava or Pahoehoe

Slow-flowing Lava, such as Pahoehoe, is easy to tread and for fast-growing vegetation to weather (into the numerous shear cracks).

Flora-dated Basalt (instead of Petrified Wood)

Notice the “Tree Rings” made of successive lava insertions in holes left by burning layers of wood. Evidently Lava encapsulated trees before burning, which slowly burned the next layer before filling and burning another layer for subsequent filling.



Small subsidiary Craters

Minor Craters and Domes are due to subsurface flows from the Main Reservoir under Hawaii. This Reservoir may be many miles in diameter, originating from the primary vertical conduit under Mauna Loa- which is much smaller in diameter.

Lava travels long distances through Tubes, emerging unannounced
Notice the side-by-side Crater and Dome, named Mauna Ulu, which are distant from the main Kilauea Caldera. The Reservoir feeding these emissions is wide laterally, but spreads laterally from the main Throat which is only on the order of a mile in diameter (as evidenced by analysis of mineral composition).

2008- a Good Year to Off-load some pounds and Onload some Scenes of the Earth

Bill Applegate sent these photos from his 07 trip to Alaska (from the ship)




I gave him this reply to the on-board Geologist's rejoinder that his photo was not a pillow lava, but a granite-something-or-other
"All unknown granite-like rocks can be called intrusives- this avoids embarrassment, and lets the exclaimer off the hook, in case someone knows more (in the audience). But of course, extrusives like pillow lavas are not intrusives".


Call to Hikers

Come take a walk with me today-
We’ll climb a high hill,
Sampling her creation along the way.

We’ll live in our mind’s eye awhile,
Seeing things she did so long ago.
The curt breeze will mask our bootsteps,
While we remember how it was in our childhood-
The collectible stones, the new valleys.
How fresh it all was!

We’ll see the young lavas,
How warm they were yesterday,
When our senses had no imprint of history.
How we laughed at the rocks sliding,
Rushing to cross our paths,
Long before there was such a thing as anxiety.

We’ll cross trickling streams,
If we’re lucky enough for spring rains-
Our hands will slap the cold waters,
Taking the place of bare slender feet.

We’ll love life- once again.

Harold L. Overton

Pressure and Stress in the Earth's Crust

Mammoth Creek, east of the Sierras, exhibits a N-S Anomaly, with Steam and active Faulting

Pressure and Stress in the Earth
All of you are familiar with the term pressure, since your faucet delivers water to you because of the pump pressure. Whenever the pump fails, or whenever too many neighbors use the water at the same time, you hear a gurgling noise from your faucet, and you phone the water company complaining of “Low Pressure”.
The use of the term stress may not be so recognizable, since it is used to connote bodily discomfort, how you feel in your auto on the freeway, or poor relations between family members. The usage of pressure and stress terms in the Earth’s Crust is defined below.

When you are lucky enough to drill a water well which has artesian flow, you have encountered a rare occurrence of fluid in rock- which is being squeezed by an Abnormal Force, causing water to flow out on the ground on its own impetus (no pumping necessary).
Both pressure and stress are defined by the force, F, exerted over an area a (either static or dynamic):
P, S = F/a, usually in pounds per square inch, psi, but also in dynes/square centimeter, or Newtons/square meter- in universal physical units. Notice that force or weight, not mass, is the entity measured.
The convention for Petrophysics or Rock Science is to categorize pressure as being a fluid measurement and stress as being a solid force exerted over an area of rock. These should be distinguished in three categories:
a. The fluid pressure is only exerted in the porous part of the rock (usually no more than 30% of the total volume), and it is exerted omni-directionally- that is, in all directions, since fluid works outwardly from a source without regard to direction. For Static conditions at equilibrium, this pressure is determined by the height of a column of fluid, e.g. .433 psi./foot x height for pure water (unheated and containing no minerals- one atmosphere is 14.7 psi or 33.95 feet of pure water, hence when water is put under a complete vacuum it will rise about 34 feet: 14.7psi/.433psi per foot = 33.95);
b. The solid stress is directional, and it is exerted on the rock frame, but may transmit itself to the fluid phase also, when the fluid cannot escape or relieve the pressure. Consequently, fluids in the earth may exhibit a pressure greater than that from a static column of fluid, and this may be:
S = density, ρ (Greek Rho or r), x gravitational constant g x height, or S.G. (specific gravity of rock, which is that density relative to water, as a ratio) x pounds/volume of water x height, or

S = S.G.(rock) x .433 psi./foot(water) x height of column of rock.
In the literature, you may see stress symbolized by σ (Greek sigma or s).

This last relation shows the stress exerted along the rock frame, which is transmitted to the fluid for the abnormal case. This again is a static stress, and is not the maximum stress which may be exerted on rock (the static overburden on rock is about 1 psi/foot thickness in sedimentary rock). Rock may temporarily exhibit stresses which are unstable, which are very large- sufficient to cause failure (earthquakes, sliding, or other movement). S.G. of rock is determined by its density, ρ = 2.65 for quartz x S.G of.433 for water = 1.15; clays are lighter:

S.G.(rock) = ρ(rock)/ρ(water) = density of rock(physics cgs or cm, gram, second units-
grams/cubic centimeter)/1.0, approximately.
An abnormally large rock stress usually results locally in faulting or slumping and creep, but if unrelieved completely may be observed directionally along fractures (jointing as indicated by geological terminology). It is usually very difficult or impossible to determine the original magnitude or rate of relief of stress, but the orientation easily may be seen in fractures or fault movement. A clue to regional stress on rock is noted by parallel fracture lines in flat rock, and these may occur consistently over hundreds of kilometers.
c. The stable column of rock may contain two stress indications:
i. the pressure on the fluid phase P = S.G. of water x .433psi/ft x height;
whereas the rock stress:
ii. S = S.G. of rock x .433 x height of rock, psi. S.G. of rock is at least 2.5 (gypsum is an exception, with 2.3) and normally S is approximately 1.0 psi/ft. At 10,000 feet, normal water head is 4330 psi, whereas it may be confined in rock with normal overburden at 10,000 psi. But
iii. S > greater than S(static rock) may accompany water at normal hydraulic head, whenever there is an active solid stress such as in volcanic areas (with water unconfined). The > symbol connotes greater than, with < meaning less than.
Hot Springs near Tofino, Vancouver Island, Canada exit on a peninsula near the Pacific Ocean

This all sounds strange, but consider your auto windshield- which may have free-flowing water rolling down its flat surface, while the solid glass is under extreme stress from its curved configuration.
Now consider these other rare occurrences:
1. A lens of sediment, surrounded by impermeable shale or clay, contains water with no possibility of quick escape. Whenever this lens is squeezed by the overburden or other force- either lateral or vertical- the water will carry the total stress of the confinement, which may be about 1 psi/foot (double the normal hydraulic head expected). This yields a blowout in an open or water-filled drill hole, whenever the lens is drilled (since the water now has an exit- right into the borehole). Oil Drillers are aware of this case, and it is overcome by putting high density materials in the drilling mud.
2. An isolated lens of rock may have sufficiently high temperature, such that Methane or CO2 gas is being generated faster than it can exit the lens. This is a fairly normal case in the deep earth, (greater than 5 kilometers depth), since there is high temperature everywhere. This is abnormally-high pressure, named Geopressure. Even in intrusive rock, such as granite, there is sufficient bacterial and organic activity to generate gas release. An interesting case occurring at this writing is located in East Java (near Surabaya), where a driller for oil encountered high pressured hot shale which has been flowing over several square miles for many months without stopping. The mud has flooded many houses.
3. The strangest case, which I have investigated- publishing a professional paper about it- is that of under-pressure. This occurs whenever there is CO2 baked out of deep limestone- by a hot intrusion- which remains in the gaseous phase, and when the gas percolating upward encounters fresh water not saturated in the carbon-dioxide. In this case, the gas quickly dissolves in the fresh shallow water and the volume of gas plus water shrinks- reducing the pressure when the permeability is abnormally low. For the Rocky Mountain area, this is not too rare, and the borehole fluid may be sucked into the permeable zones containing under-pressured fluid (P< .433psi/ft x depth). Pressure at 10,000 feet depth is less than 4330 psi, for this case.
4. Even in normally-pressured areas, where the water table is deep (as near the Grand Canyon), the pressure at the bottom of a drilled hole will be much less than .433 psi/foot x depth, since most of the borehole is filled with air or light weight fluid. In this case,
P= .433 psi/foot x height of water in the well bore, from water table to bottom hole. This is normal pressure with abnormal depth of water, since the water has drained out into the canyon. This will occur on mountains also where the water has percolated toward springs near the base of the terrain. In the western USA, it is common in the desert for the water table to occur many feet below the ground surface, where water pressure is normal wherever it is found. Only in abnormally hot or stressed rock will there be abnormal water pressure. The stress may derive from tectonics, from movement along faulting, and from generation of gas from organics abnormally heated.
Summing all of this, the pressure of the fluid in the Crust is unknown until it is measured. It can be estimated from gradients measured in nearby wells, or taken to be the normal pressure dependent upon the depth where it is found, but it is never known precisely until it is measured. The main reason for this uncertainty is that the Earth stress generating the pressure other than normal is unknown and cannot be determined in advance. This further illustrates the dilemma for Geologists, that since they never know with certainty what lies below their feet, they cannot know what the stresses will be there either.
How one can overcome this dilemma is to make regional maps and isolate the areas which are anomalous in some property which can be determined in advance- for example, gravity, temperature, acoustics, or spontaneous potentials (resulting in terrestrial, sometimes named Telluric, currents) in the earth. Anomalous geological, geothermal, or geochemical areas can be expected to exhibit anomalous stresses and pressures.

Location of Anomalous areas, by use of Geochemical Maps

I have mapped properties obtained from well logs and springs over regions as large as a county. The physical parameters which may be found from well log libraries and water chemistry may be plotted on a map- regardless of the uncertainty of depth of origin. These include;
1. Spring and wellbore temperatures;
2. Spring and well logged water salinity concentrations, TDS or total dissolved solids:
3. Formation Resistivities and Spontaneous Potentials (SP);
4. Radioactivity Magnitudes and individual elements’ gamma ray magnitudes;
5. Temperature Gradients, or temperature change from ground surface to bottom hole depths, Gt = Tbh –Tsurf/Depth, in hundreds of feet (This number will generally be 1.0 degrees/hundred feet, F change/hft or larger). This is better than using T alone, since temperature regularly increases with depth in the earth, and gradients can be compared from well to well. However, springs temperatures have no depth and must be used directly. The temperature of springs does vary with elevation in the mountains, and with latitude, so that one must compare T with others in a given latitude and elevation. A graph may be made at any latitude, showing the variation with elevation, and an extrapolation for the elevation of interest is simple. The normal temperature is near the annual mean temperature of the shallow subsurface (100 feet deep);
6. Concentration of any ion of interest must be normalized for evaporation or concentration caused by handling- the most trusted anion is Cl¯ , which does not interact with other ions or solids significantly (Cl ion has a half life of millions of years), and it is used in the following way:

K(normalized) = K+/Cl¯, using similar units for both ions; and,

7. Soundings of resistivity variation with depth, to locate Water Tables (lowest resistivity) or Rock with unusually high resistivity.
When a map is made on any one of the above parameters, any anomalous magnitude will stand out- showing that it is significantly different than the trend. This allows it to be inspected on its own merits, so that it may be confirmed as being anomalous. An example is that for SP, which varies with water salinity, water movement (Electro-kinetic Potential), and chemical oxidation-reduction (Redox) reactions. A map made on this parameter, countywide, will show sudden changes, which indicate either moving water, unusual chemical activity (such as reactions involving Uranium, Sulfur, or noxious gases), or strong brines (which are associated with oil, evaporites, or salt domes). Other means must be used to determine which of several possibilities are involved, but the anomaly is definitely located using this process.


Mammoth lake, CA has many indications of active movement of the Crust, including Steam, Water, Vulcanism, and Fissures

ShalElog- an Electric Log for Wellbores

ShalElog- a Geochemical Log, made from cuttings retrieved from well drilling
Information is vital, when drilling a well for water, for hydrocarbons, or for steam. Not only should the one investing in an expensive borehole (twenty dollars or more per foot) have an estimate of the risks of failure or success, but he should have an accurate appraisal of the earth penetrated (in terms of encountered rock and fluids). He may find the fluid is obscure, even when it is present.
Water wells are usually drilled by individuals interested in finding water as shallow and as inexpensive as possible, on their properties. After all, water should be cheap, since it seems to be available wherever there is life. However, in the desert water is more elusive- for the quantity man needs, the amount found may prove to be skimpy.
The water table in desert areas (below which water saturates the rock) may be thousands of feet deep. People living near the Grand Canyon find that the gash in the earth has allowed water to percolate (drain down) into the canyon at 5000 feet depth or more. This fact makes domestic water in The Strip very dear. These expensive wells require as much information as possible from drilling, since the total cost is large, and the information found from drilling may incur only a small part of the total cost.
Landowners are reluctant to ask commercial well loggers to log shallow wells (measure rock properties continually from near the top to the bottom of the hole), since it may double the cost of the well to do so. However, they can get a log from the cuttings brought to the surface by the driller. This represents free information, providing it is analyzed or measured later.
Shale cuttings, made into a ShalElog
(patented shale Electric Log)
provide one method of analyzing the rock penetrated while drilling the hole. This may be valuable whenever the hole appears to be dry (there is no readily available fluid in it), and the owner has to decide on abandoning the hole.
The driller should wash and bag cuttings each 10 feet from the well, for use in evaluating the well whenever fluid is not found (this can be done if requested in advance, at no extra cost). These cuttings will keep indefinitely, and if they have been washed and dried they will not be contaminated when stored. The fine material, such as clay, silt, and fine sand stores both organic and inorganic chemicals and these may be measured later should the rock penetrated not be understood. Low Conductivity water (low salt content, with high Resistivity) can be found in zones with thick sands, suitable for drinking, using this log.
These chemicals may be flushed from the cuttings by means of making a mud or slurry from them. This is done by dis-aggregating the dried and heated (in a kitchen skillet) slivers of rock with a mortar and pestle (or stirring dish and mashing tool- not grinding), so that they appear to be clay-like. These then can be mixed with equal weights of distilled water to make a mud or slurry, which can be measured for several properties:

a. Electrical resistivity, R, or recipocally the conductivity of the mud, in ohm-meters or mho/centimeters (Mho is the inverse of Ohm- but not the WHO!);
b. The rate of fluid flow from the slurry, by means of a filter press, in minutes per cubic centimeter. This may vary from one to ten minutes per cubic centimeter, min/cc;
c. The color of the filtered fluid, called effluent, which can easily be graded into clear, slightly yellow, yellow, amber, and gold or brown visual colors;
d. Resistivity of the effluent or filtrate, ohm-meters;
e. Contents of the filtrate, Cion (ionic concentration) , such as Na+, K+, Ca++, or other dissolved chemicals, using an ion-sensitive membrane (measured in electrical millivolts); and
f. Trace elements, such as Boron or other constituent of interest. All of these operations may be made in ten minutes, to keep up with the driller collecting the drilled samples, and a record (Graph presentation) later can be made to present these data- which is called a Log. Other parameters or calculated terms may be found from the above data, which can be used to evaluate the rock and fluids encountered. These include a factor F= Rmud/Rfluid, where R is resistivity, which is sensitive to the solids found in the cuttings (e.g. limey solids compared to silt). Some of these terms are shown in the following ShalElog, which was made in Turkey by me.

The Presentation of ShalElog is similar to Electric logs made for drilled wells
The left-hand curve, which presents the Na+ content (read left-ward), is a measure of the saltiness of the fluid. In oil wells, this saltiness increases with depth, and is particularly interesting around oil deposits, since the salt water and black oil seem to have an affinity for each other. It is somewhat similar to the SP log, which is conventionally made for oil wells, but the contents pertain to shales or fine sediments, and this is not necessarily the same as with sandstones which contain both salt water and oil (sometimes).
Potassium, K+, is an interesting ion, and it is not common in subsurface waters in large amounts. It is normally some one-twentieth to one-tenth of the concentration of Na+. I have found that it is present more so whenever an active fault or fracture allows fluid to rise vertically from a hotter zone in the earth. This occurs because of its small ionic size, its relatively small hydration with water (recall that physicians prescribe it in lieu of sodium for heart patients, who take on water with ordinary salt), and its increased solubility with higher temperatures. Generally, geologists do not agree that it indicates anything abnormal, so you may want to get other opinions. But I have mapped this ion on county-wide maps, and found that it occurs in linear map presentations in springs, in subsurface wells, and whenever there is abnormal temperature. It travels much more easily when the fluid is warmed, compared to Na+, and consequently may be mapped or measured in boreholes for anomalous geological circumstances. It is known to derive from weathered potash feldspars, shales with illite in them, and from granites. It may be more common whenever evaporites such as playa lakes occur, since it is more soluble than most other salts and occurs whenever the lakes completely dry (as in the desert).


Notice that K+ is highest on the Thrace log, near an amber filtrate, and that it generally increases with depth (temperature).

ShalElog in Geothermal Logs indicates abnormal K+ and anomalous Geology
Notice that K+ (following Photo) is plotted occasionally on the geothermal log shown below, and it indicates abnormal temperature or open fracturing or faulting. Again, it generally increases with depth in this hot hole in an area which produces steam and has fumaroles at the ground surface. In this case there is also an anomaly near the surface (60- 70 meters), and there is steam emission from the nearby area. Again, K+ is a small ion, which has small hydration, compared to Na+, consequently it moves easily through small fractures found at faulting or which are over-pressured.

Geothermal Well Logs shows wide Variations of Dissolved Ions
Sodium Ion variation in the Earth
Sodium ion is the most common ion in groundwater and in seawater, the reason being that it is a result of the dissolution of feldspars and hornblende- the most common soluble minerals in igneous rocks. It is also a result of HCl acid from volcanoes reacting with alkali rocks to produce a salt plus water:

HCl + Na Rocks > H20 + NaCl + anions or other minerals

For limestone areas, Ca++ and Mg++ will predominate in near-surface waters, but again the Na+ ion will increase in importance with depth and temperature, until it is dominant.
This is shown in the Thrace log, but not in the geothermal case, since K+ has supplanted Na+. Sodium and Potassium ions seem to compete, similarly as they do in the human body. Living cells generally contain K+ =10x the Na+ inside, compared with the free fluid outside having 1/10x the Na+. This is mentioned because shales act as membranes in the earth, which cause an ionic concentration contrast across their boundary- similarly to the cell wall. I conjecture that Life is involved with this chemical change, at least in taking advantage of it- notice that the highest K+ in the geothermal well occurs near the bubbling cuttings emissions.
A Model is shown below, which indicates depths where the various waters occur in Large Basins; this indicates that there are four types of Water- somewhat stratified in the Crust, according to temperature and compaction of the Rocks (Permeability or ease of water movement):
1. Meteoric Water, which is potable or drink-able;
2. Ionized Water, which may be too salty to drink;
3. Chemically-Reduced Water, containing stinking compounds; and,
4. Acid Water, which has a pH less than 7.0, depending upon abnormal temperature.

Model for a Large Basin, for vertical distribution of Water Types

Happy Holidays!

The “Rights” of the Holiday Season
Aside from the necessity of conforming to the institutions arranged throughout Time by charismatic (and Epiphanatic) Leaders, what does the Earth Scientist have to offer, to determine the Truth of Man’s relation to his world- at the termination of another Solar Year? Nowadays, science has determined that Man is just a part of the World- not the master of it. He does seem to have the ability to disrupt the orderly progression of the Earth’s Evolution, but does he have the Wisdom and Knowledge to allow the tremendous expansion of Population and the Use of the Earth’s Crust to “jive’? Man does have the numbers and the ability to reason and organize the population to exploit the Crust of the Earth for his selfish benefit, but does he have the foresight to exercise restraint in his Exploitation?
When as a graduate student at Texas A&M, I remember the professor asking the class to concentrate on how to conserve oil and gas resources. The accentuation was on ways to produce the resources without waste- not bypassing large amounts of oil in the haste to make use of it. This would involve ways to use secondary recovery to bring more oil to the surface economically, but more importantly not to “waste” it by leaving pockets of oil in the earth. At that tender age of 29, I inquired whether it was not more wasteful to burn the oil (as auto engine gasoline) - rather than to use it for petrochemicals. That it would be less wasteful to leave the energy and chemicals in the earth, than to burn them- where they are gone forever, leaving ash and waste products instead. In those days, Saudi Arabia was flaring off all of the gas produced with the oil, since it was too much trouble to fiddle with the less profitable gas cap. And there was actually too much production of oil possible- so that the Railroad Commission of Texas restricted production to 10 days or so monthly. Of course, the world population has doubled since the 50’s, and everyone is entitled to his own auto- if he can muster the wealth to invest in and maintain it.
Although there has been a sea change in the attitudes towards our interaction with the Earth and its Resources- what with the population becoming excessive- nevertheless, all still want their personal autos and the garaging and land space to accommodate all of this. People in the cities are arrayed against those in open spaces of the world, in idealizing a view of the earth (its cosmetic and natural appearance) rather than the economical use of it.
How then can people working in the various Earth Sciences accommodate their source of income via employers (which is to exploit the Earth and its resources), with the desire of the thinkers to allow the Earth to proceed on its natural course- where most processes occur with gradual and small changes, instead of at large rates as determined by the desire for immediate returns on investment? Haven’t there always been Jeremiahs who prophesy doom as the results of man’s material activities?
How about myself, who has spent most of his professional career in developing techniques which are faster, less expensive, and novel to find and develop natural resources such as fluids in the earth? Working almost alone, I found techniques which would locate subsurface water in the desert, and sense gas from chemical changes according to pressure and chemical change in cuttings measurements from wellbores. Wasn’t the end result of all this just to encourage more people to turn to the desert or to waste areas where there were not sufficient resources previously?

A Log may be made in a shallow well, from Surface Cuttings thrown out on the Ground
“Man is known by his Rubbish Pile” is one assessment fondly made by Archeologists, where middens yield knowledge of what Man did in the past. Is this to be the legacy of our generation- packrats leaving artifacts saved by virtue of coating their possessions with urine, for the delight of the archeologists? What we exhibited were analyze-able piles of trash, including that in the atmosphere and in our waters?
Evidently, Life has always adjusted its environment to accommodate its desired goals- to propagate itself and to decrease the Entropy of the Universe. The great engineer- the Beaver- has long ago upstaged Man in re-arranging his streams to make lakes which reduce erosion, save resources, and allow for his progeny and other life forms to take advantage of his activities.
Now we find hints that early Life has done the same- rearranged its environment, for the benefit of its successors. As deep as we drill, we find that there is Life, in the form of bacteria which eat on the crust. Since the Proterozoic, this has reduced the crust to that of a habitat, gradually changing the mainly basalts of the early days to that of granite (after re-melting) which is re-cycled again and again through subduction to increase in mass with time (Life takes out what it desires and leaves increasing silicates as the heavy minerals and ions are concentrated in fine sediments). It appears that the crust has become thicker with time since the 3 billion ybp eon.
Regardless of Man’s desire to increase his material possessions, there is a great need to understand the Earth - which is Man’s only domain so far. Man’s leaders can choose to accommodate both of these pursuits, by encouraging an interaction with the Earth just sufficiently to meet the material needs (minimizing his “wants”, while accentuating interest in earth processes). Evidently some primitive cultures did similarly, developing astronomy or other observations of natural events which stimulated the population to develop understanding- rather than just for the accumulation of excessive material wealth.

Christmas as a Time of Reflection

“It’s Unnatural”, the Observer stated- “this scurrying about to transfer the results of my Labor to Purchase material goods for Satisfaction of my Emotions”
All have felt it- the feeling of Charity and Communion, which is suddenly thrust upon the crowd during the end of the year season. People are racing to and fro to accumulate presents for their companions (not necessarily their “loved ones”). And it is not really an expression of trade of gifts for expectations of return. I believe that they genuinely have compassion and a desire to instill good will. The normally selfish person contributes “something for the Pot”. This charitable effort is laudable, but don’t expect it to continue post-Christmas, since selfishness and rationality will again prevail, once the period of goodwill has expired.

Capture the Time Now, while our Emotions allow
Us to embrace our better selves temporarily;
Yield to the Group, while rejecting the coop
Of our rational and advantaged side, summarily.

Question for the day- rationality to allay-
Is whether this decile is Characteristic?
Are we to believe, that there’s no reprieve
For the other nine-tenths- opportunistic?

Even the Muse’s Rhyme, for most of the Time
Cannot easily be brought to the Fore;
Hence we’re stuck with the Fact that the majority Act
Hinges on the dominant Desire at our Core.

Merchants are Adroit, and quick to Exploit
This Coming-out- of-ourselves almost annually.
So manage yourself, using some of your Stealth
For your Spirit to channel positives most Manually.

Harold L. Overton

Rock Canyon, AZ (Arizona Strip)

The Canyon Entrance is simpler at Rock Canyon- Flexure-Created Intersecting Fractures?


One Way of finding how the Hurricane fault Hf, originates is to look at canyons which cut it, so that it may be viewed in three dimensions.
We have found that the Laverkin Quarry introduces a double anomaly- there is the Hf in several splays (parallel presentations), simultaneously showing interference with Hf by grabens, slickensides, and beds dipping down in two different directions- to the west and to the north. This is an additional geological anomaly, since mostly the stratigraphy dips up to the west for local manifestations of Hf. This feature is near Pleistocene vulcanism, which might help explain the additional anomaly, but more likely both vulcanism and Hf are caused by the same phenomenon. The basalt ascends the near-vertical fractures opened by whatever pushes up the highlands to the east. It is instructive to look at canyons which represent the normal Hf- without the added complexity of the second anomaly (it is difficult to climb Hf for most of its scarp, but at Laverkin one may drive up the scarp face because of the gradually sloping multi-faulted terrain & switchbacks which allow road-building to the Colorado Plateau, CP above). We have several simple canyons cutting Hf nearby, and Rock Canyon is one just south of the AZ border. We will assume that it is more easily understood. This canyon may be approached most easily from Hurricane town, taking the airport road south, crossing the border of AZ, and proceeding south another two miles (avoiding roads to the right which connect with roads from St. George), and turning west then south again where the obvious arroyo crossing is reached. This same unmarked road eventually connects with Black Rock Canyon road- a deteriorating road towards Mount Trumbull along the Hurricane Cliffs.

Rock Canyon
(700 W from Hurricane, UT, south to AZ, just past border, four miles past the diagonal road in UT- west to connect with BLM 59), S1, 2, 11, and 12 T41N R10W, AZ:
Rock canyon is a tributary of Fort Pierce Creek, and becomes Short Creek on the rim to the east above.
This canyon has Paleozoic Kaibab limestone, Pk, at the top and Toroweep, Pt, lower in elevation at the Hurricane cliffs. The dip of Pk is up to the west, at the present cliffs, but the red beds far to the west dip down to the west. Hike from the intersection of gravel road and arroyo, cross-country toward the canyon mouth- about one mile east.

The Kaibab and Toroweap Formations, occurring in the Grand Canyon, or upper Permian (Paleozoic) loom ahead of the canyon opening


The contact of Paleozoic vs. Mesozoic near Hf is covered with rubble over a 1/2 km zone E-W, so that the original fault plane cannot be seen. In this interval, some petrified wood can be spotted, so that one is certain that Mesozoic debris is at the ground surface, west of present cliffs.
Some small normal faults, falling down to the west, can be measured in the north wall of the canyon at the mouth in Pt or the underlying Queantoweap, Pq, with no more than 2 meters displacement.

Several small Normal Faults are easily measured at the Entrance of Rock Canyon

The fault planes are essentially vertical in all cases, parallel to N-S fracture surfaces in the creek bottom. Incidentally, N-S fractures in the creek bed cut older NW-SE oriented fractures and those at other angles, displaying horizontal displacement (shearing) of the older fractures. This demonstrates that the N-S shearing is younger, as would be expected for the N-S oriented Hurricane fault (and that some shear component is present, for the dominant normal faulting).
The conglomerates in the canyon walls appear to be young Pleistocene, Plc. The cementation is weak, and the boulders are mostly limestone. This Plc occurs in cross canyons west of the main cliffs, indicating very young N-S faults and associated washes.
Hike with Ben Everitt and Don Scholten, 12/5/07, eastward from the main gravel-Black Rock Canyon Road to the Rock Canyon Mouth:
Again, the fault trace is obscured by an outwash plain and alluvial fans, but splays on the east side of the main Hf can be measured as small displacement normal faults in the Pt or underlying Queantoweap, Pq (equivalent to Permian redbeds, or Supai).
Photo of Normal fault- buildup to Hf to the east


The North to South fractures and small faulting occur in a narrow band at the entrance to the canyon, but the main fault cannot be seen

Abrupt Terminations of westward-oriented outwash deposits may be seen in several outcrops to the north and south of the canyon, hinting that the youngest Hf is well west of the canyon mouth (but is obscured, except in one small outcrop of Pq at an abrupt outwash cutoff to the north). The 4 outwash terminations north and south of Rock Canyon do not align, and this can be expected if there is a discontinuity in the trend of Hf at the present scarp- canyon mouth. There seems to be a slight hinge across the Hf canyon, and this may have been the impetus for allowing Short Creek to exit at this weakness. An outstanding question concerning this feature is the presence of a few streams crossing Hf against the present topography (including this one- cutting through a hill), allowing creeks to exit across the Hf scarp when it dips up to the west. This present rise constitutes a barrier to stream flow, unless the water proceeded subsurface until it emerged as springs- which gradually increased in flow until a canyon was developed above them.
The hinge in the subsurface, allowing a flexure for fracture development, is rare near Ηf, and it has been investigated at the following locations: Laverkin quarry, Virgin River mouth, and Ash Creek. It is suspected that the exit of streams is dependent upon this geological anomaly- that hinges create subsurface fracture systems and this allows underground water to exit CP, when otherwise it would be blocked by a topographical barrier. With time, this subsurface flow creates channels (caves) and eventually creates canyons through the barrier. Laverkin quarry is the most prominent of these anomalies, while Rock Canyon is next- allowing the Short Creek to exit (but in a younger period of development).What needs to be confirmed is whether the NW-SE fracture systems were most necessary for this stream orientation (since the N-S fractures and their orthogonals do not show up in stream patterns (except for Rock Canyon). The Virgin River seems to follow NW-SE orientations and their orthogonals, allowing the river trace to zig-zag across the CP. Recall that I am testing the projection that the N-S fractures are younger than the NW-SE ones, and that they would have dominated drainage in the times since 2 mybp (Pleistocene).
The next projection is that these geological anomalies or weaknesses are accompanied by vulcanism- which allowed Mantle basalt to exit through the new fractures systems N-S and its orthogonal E-W weaknesses. This has happened near the Laverkin Quarry and the Ash Creek- Toquerville locations. This happens also at the Honeymoon Canyon, but it is not apparent at Rock Creek- which is a larger canyon carrying more water than Honeymoon. There is a vent SW 4 miles distant from the Rock Canyon mouth, but this seems too far for the magma to have been influenced by the suspected hinge. That Rock Canyon was created by a hinge is reinforced by the fact that Short Creek runs E-W, which would be on an orthogonal (perpendicular) to Hf fracturing.
We will proceed in this investigation, trying to determine whether:
1. Hf is initiated by a new stress system, which orients N-S, superseding the older NW-SE fracture system noticed over western outcrops from the CP into the B&R;
2. The new N-S system would be a normal faulting- dominated one, as contrasted with the older NW-SE shear stresses (from Pre-Pleistocene times);
3. Accompanying this new extensional system of normal faults would be vulcanism coming all the way from the Mantle. This would happen if the system is being initiated by equatorial bulge shrinkage, as the Earth slows (reducing the centrifugal force creating the initial bulge); and
4. A complication to all this conjecture about global shrinking is that of the type of stresses created by the reduction of centrifugal force as the Earth slows. The first result should be that of compression vertically, as the Crust shrinks vertically. Blocks of crust should move downward, as centrifugal force is replaced by gravitational attraction, and the relative movement would be determined by isostatic adjustment. Should blocks of crust be out of equilibrium with regional stresses (due to heating, subduction, erosion-rebound, or other slow stress-changing processes) this instability could be corrected simultaneously with the crustal shrinking. This would be similar to slinging a vial of mercury side-by-side with one of lower weight plastic hot rock altogether in a circular movement at the end of a string. As the circular swinging motion is reduced, the mercury would tend to drop back toward the center of swinging more than the lesser density rock. This would result in vertical shear between the two different materials, showing up as a normal fault. In a pure sense, there should be no lateral shear, but local density changes due to variations of stratigraphy could create shear. These effects should be minor and local- not regional.
This hike illustrates Hf for its simpler presentation, and no conclusions will be reached as to its incipience. Flexure of the crust, vulcanism correlation, updip-to-west stratigraphy, and broaching of Hf scarp by streams will be further cataloged.

Find out What's happening to the Ground Surface below your feet in Washington County, UT

A Pleistocene Volcano, named Crater Hill, is one that has "Popped Up" within the last one-third million years

The Ground is moving near Hurricane, Utah!

The surface of the Earth is moving noticeably in Washington County, and if one hikes regularly on the trails, it is detectable.
Upon arriving in the towns of Hurricane and St. George, the remaining basalt flows from ancient volcanoes are the first visible clues that geological processes have happened fairly recently. Several of these flows are in populated areas, and form the barriers to traffic across the towns. These basalt-capped mesas have had molten rock flow similarly to streams over the surface of the ground in old creek beds, in times less than one million years ago (sometimes, at times only 100,000 years past). These mesas are now covered with rock that is very resistant to erosion (black basalt), and the paths of the stream beds which they occupied in ancient time can now be followed to determine the direction of flowing creeks in that long-ago period. Looking on a map for these mesas, it is apparent that creeks moved mainly southward from the 21 million year Pine Valley Mountains PVM- which is the direction of the trend of the old basalt-covered mesas. Nowadays, the streams have carried away the soft surrounding sandstones, so that new streams move in other directions- sometimes similarly to the Virgin, which moves southwest or west in Hurricane. So, erosion is a prime factor in determining the movement of the Earth’s Crust in Washington County. But there are other independent movements, which may be subtle, but are important in understanding what’s happening in this rapidly-changing region, Geologically. These are listed below, so that one can focus on them while hiking the region:
1. The Colorado Plateau, CP, is uplifting east of Hurricane, relative to the Basin and Range, B&R, to the west, and this may be sub-divided into several components:
a. The Plateau is uplifting far from the Hurricane fault, and this can be seen with the following link: http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-cors/corsage.prl?site=fred This shows a small upward movement, on the order of a centimeter, for the period of a few years of measurement. This may be due to the loss of mass removed by the Virgin and Colorado rivers, as sediment is carried away annually, and to the resulting reduction of weight pushing downward. This is called Rebound.
b. The CP is heated by several processes taking place now, and these result in thermal expansion upward (similar to an iron bar which expands when heated in a fire). This can be noticed when drilling wells, which are measured for abnormal bottom-hole temperatures. The usual suspects rounded up for explanation for this present heating include radioactive decay, heat given off by increase of density with forced deep burial of rock (similar to the heating of air in your tires, whenever you increase the pressure), and friction of one rock surface sliding over another.
c. Finally, there are places in CP which move much faster than others nearby, and these are under investigation. An example is the rising mountainous area east of Cedar City. It appears that the north-trending Hurricane fault is acting like the blades of scissors which move increasingly upward to the point of the scissors as one looks north of Laverkin.

2. The ground surface near previously hot volcanism reacts as the underground rock cools- reverse to that of thermal expansion- and the land above the volume with greatest cooling sinks. This is noticeable along the Hurricane fault, Hf, so that when the maximum cooling occurs at the fault exposure, there is tilting as the land above the cooling magma chamber sinks the most at the open fault surface, Hf. The western edge of the sinking mass remains relatively high in the form of a sharp edge of rock, known as a Hogback (since this mass incurred less heating in the first place). In this case there is not only vertical shrinking but also tilting locally- as much as one mile distant from the volcanic cone or plug (example: the Laverkin Hogback near the confluence park north of Virgin River).

Laverkin Hogback is Photographed between the two Hurricane Craters which helped create it
3. The Earth is shrinking as it slows, particularly at regions where an equatorial bulge developed in early days when the spin of the Earth was greater (days were shorter). This happens for the earth’s crust where the bulge is more noticeable- in the latitudes less than 45 degrees, This should be a continuing shrinkage and is thought to develop north to south, N-S, fractures in the crust. Accompanying these are perpendicular cracks, or those at 90 degrees, E-W, to the principal N-S ones (example: the N-S Hurricane fault).
4. Whenever masses of the earth’s crust collide with each other, particularly at small angles to each other, shear develops as the separate rock masses slide past. This causes shear laterally, of the rock masses, and this is noticed to occur mainly along northwest to southeast, NW-SE, orientations (and orthogonals- perpendicular- to these). Consequently, faulting occurs at 8 divisions of the circle of directions, or of the 360 degree compass rose- N-S, NE-SW, E-W, and NW-SE- 45 degrees apart. The diagonal directions should exhibit shear, while the others should exhibit normal faulting or simple downdrop. Normal faulting is by far the most common, while shear in the diagonal directions is the most difficult to observe- since it moves laterally along the earth’s surface with little noticeable displacement of geological formations vertically (example: the line of Wet Sandy and Santa Clara Creeks eroded into Pine Valley Mountains, PVM).
5. Finally, the earth reacts at irregular intervals, as adjustments to all of the above movements occur. This produces earthquakes, and these accompanying slipping at depth- above which is a place on the ground called the epicenter- in addition to violent movements at the earth’s surface. These locations tend to be found on lines of stress direction, frequently NW-SE orientations- called linears or lineaments, or open cracks in the ground surface. Springs and gases may issue along these linears, and chemical changes may be noticed at the surface of the ground (example: Pah Tempe hot spring and H²S gas near Sullivan’s Knoll).

Follow the sequences outlined above, so that you can see the result of movements occurring in the earth where you hike. This Washington County, Utah area has almost all types of Earth processes and movements known to Earth Scientists. Watching for these movements can help you in determining what to expect in the future for your Real Estate, your landscape, and your hiking trail.