Mineral Identification

Barite: Barite is usually colorless, white, and very dense. the element barium is often extracted from barite. Barium is commonly used in the plastics and paper industries. It is used as a thick additive for oil drilling, and as a filler for cloth. It is classically known as a very heavy metal and is very reactive. In deep oceans, pelagic barite forms most of the sediment.

Cobalt: Cobalt is a chemical element which is found in the earth's crust only in a chemically combined form. Blue-pigmented cobalt has been used for thousands of years for jewelry and bling because of its rich blue color. It was discovered in 1739 by a Swedish chemist. It is commonly used to make alloys and magnetic materials. surprisingly, it is also essential that we have a certain amount of cobalt in our diet, which we can gather from vitamin B12.

Limestone

Limestone falls into the sedimentary rock category, made up of mainly calcite and aragonite. Limestone is made up of remnants of marine life, such as coral fragments. The environment that creates limestone is shallow, cool water and it is created from shell and fecal debris, among other marine organisms. Limestone makes up about 10% of all sedimentary formations. Limestone is also formed by evaporation in caves. Stalactites hang from caves and are created from water and matter seeping through caves and creating these slowly-created limestone formations. Several forms of limestone include chalk, tufa, and coquina.

Limestone cliffs in Normandy, France

Limestone statue made in ancient Cyprus

Community Gardens

Community gardens are opportunities for teaching and growing sustainable nutrition. Community gardens are unique in that they are both cooperative and sharing; it takes a community to sustain the garden, and it feeds the community it is fostered by. Starting a community garden presents its own challenges, because the type of soil available, the irrigation system, and the plan for sustaining the garden can all be difficult. It takes a social responsibility to create and maintain a community garden. Macon’s community garden is small, but the fact that there is one at all is exciting. To know that it could expand if more people were to be involved (possibly a committee of Mercer students) is certainly something to look forward to. The idea of a community garden is simple, but the hardest part is getting willing people to work and profit from the garden.

            According to Mercer’s The Cluster, Mercer has an initiative to begin their own community garden but “In order to make those possibilities into realities, students would need to make more of an effort to connect with the city of Macon and help volunteer with the community”. I think Mercer has the potential to have a much bigger impact on Macon other than just gentrifying Macon. Instead of pushing out the poverty so that our institution looks better, we need to find ways to improve the Macon community that isn’t simply neglect. A community garden could be a small addition to that ideal.

Rock Box

These selected rocks were found around the caf, Cruz Plaza, in several "nature" patches around the library, and to the right of Stetson; the names below are what I would identify these rocks as (educated guesses, at best)!

Top Left: Tonalite
Top Middle: Cement with Granite
Top Right: Troctolite
Center: Andesite
Bottom Left: Syenite
2nd from left: Gneiss
3rd from right: Rhyolite
Bottom Right: Granite

Slope of Land

I tracked the elevation of Mt. Hood in Oregon. I used increments of .5 miles since Mt. Hood is not a very highly-elevated mountain. To make a path I used the icon that looks like a couple of lines connected by dots. I would draw the line from my starting point to the distance from that point that was equal to .5 miles. I would then put a place marker (yellow) at the .5 distance. I kept tracing paths from my previous place markers that were .5 miles long, then delete the extraneous paths once the place markers were put down.

Deep Sea Hydrothermal Vents

          Deep Sea Hydrothermal Vents were discovered in 1977 in the Galapagos Rift. What amazed scientists was the unique eco system that was thriving in oceans despite those areas being the deepest, coldest, and darkest areas of these waters. They wondered what enabled the harsh environment to sustain vibrant life forms and healthy living circumstances for organisms; they discovered that the answer was deep see hydrothermal vents, where the seawater is heated by underneath the earth’s crust, the mineral water rises and solidifies because of the freezing water. These vents are like geysers—through chemosynthesis, these vents give energy and minerals to life forms that would otherwise not survive in the deep oceans.

          Life forms that thrive around these vents include: ghostly fish, tube worms, shrimp that have eyes on their backs, clams, and crabs.

 Hyperlink: http://www.seasky.org/deep-sea/hydrothermal-vents.html

Lab #2: Maps and Topography

1. Chloropleth Map:

A chloropleth map uses shading to show the quantity of the variable that is present in the area of interest. It can be used for political polls, population density, and crime rates. The map below depicts the population density in the United States. 

2. Isarithmic Map:

Isarithmic maps are not defined by boundaries but are fluid in their transitions. Common isarithmic maps can visualize temperature levels and elevation heights. The map below shows the strength of party identification across the United States. 

3. Dot Density Map

Dot density maps use dots to show the clusters or hubs of whatever variable or characteristic is being studied or measured. These are commonly used for population density and school distribution/quantity. The image below depicts the population of US states by dots, each representing 10,000 people.

4. Proportional Symbol Map

This type of map represents the size of a variable by a proportionally sized symbol. These can be used for human consumption of goods and various population proportions. This map uses an oil symbol to show the relative amount of natural gas consumed by each state. 

The following map shows red elevation lines across Georgia beginning with the an elevation level of 200 feet and increasing to an elevation of 1200 feet. The yellow lines represent the path of a water drop if it were to be dropped from a certain elevation.