my progress towards being a geologist

I own a hand lens now, which of course makes me very nerdy and means that I can take it wherever I go so I can look at rocks, or analyze your granite countertops.

And yes, I might try to analyze your countertops to figure out what kind of rock it is. We have been learning about one method for classifying rocks where you identify all the minerals in the rock and figure out how much there is of each mineral, and then you normalize the percentages of three of the minerals and use those percents to plot the rock on a triangular diagram and figure out what the rock is.

We have also been talking about basalts--specifically, basalts formed at mid-ocean ridges, ocean islands, and on continents. They can actually be quite different.

My teacher decided that we should have a debate in class about whether Hawaii is being formed by a mantle plume (hot spot). That has been the generally accepted theory for a long time, and it's what you'll see in textbooks, but it turns out that it's actually a pretty controversial topic and that there are actually some problems with the theory. One website that I've been browsing is mantleplumes.org. I'm on the "anti-mantle plume" side of the debate in the class (although I guess in real life I would say I'm an agnostic about the topic--it seems like mantle plumes might be the answer but it also sounds like there are a lot of other very plausible theories that are being ignored). It's been interesting to learn more about it because I've always been interested in hot spots, but at the same time I've been frustrated because there is so much information out there and I feel like we're being asked to do a senior thesis in a week. Some of the topics we need to address are the physical characteristics of mantle plumes, alternate theories, and the major element and rare earth element chemistry of Hawaii's ocean island basalts.

I also enrolled in one "research credit" for this semester. A professor here is letting me start doing research with her. She's having a baby pretty soon, so I'm not doing too much at first, but she's helping me get started with learning some of the background information about what she studies. She is looking at the barrier reefs on the east coast and studying how they're changing and how that will affect the area. I think it will be very interesting, and I feel good about doing some work with her. Since we'll be here for a couple more years, I think I'll be able to get a lot of research experience in before graduating.

As fun as all this is, I must admit that it's also been pretty frustrating. It's getting harder to find time to study and complete my assignments as Kevin gets older and more active and agile and demanding. It's amazing how just the basic things he needs, like food, diaper changes, and attention, can take up so much time. It takes all morning just to eat breakfast and get ready for the day, and then it's time for lunch. I'm also tired because my body wants rest so it can focus on making a baby. The teachers for both of my classes are also teaching the classes for the first time, and that's frustrating because they haven't figured out how to teach the class effectively yet and things seem a little disorganized. I keep feeling like having a baby this summer will seem like a welcome break after all the stuff I have to do right now--although I'm prepared to be proven wrong.