College of Charleston Geology Department

Ancient Whale Makes a Splash at Addlestone Library

More whale coverage in The College Today!

today.cofc.edu An ancestor of modern whales, a Dorudon skeleton is making a splash at the College of Charleston's Addlestone Library.

Report: SC’s Lowcountry, Charleston faces high risk of earthquake damage

Did you know the Lowcountry is a high risk zone for earthquake damage? Geology Professors Steve Jaume and Norm Levine talk about this history and current risk mapping with Live5 News.

live5news.com A new report shows the Lowcountry is one of the only areas along the East Coast at high risk for damage from earthquakes.

CofC Geology Professor’s Career is the Gold Standard

Kudos, Norm!

today.cofc.edu As the director of the Lowcountry Hazards Center at the College of Charleston, Norman Levine plays a crucial role in the area's flood control efforts while also giving students valuable real-world experience.

Install complete!! “Manaia” the Dorudon (ancestral whale) has finally found a new home in Addlestone Library, thanks to countless hours of work put in by adjunct lecturer Dr. Robert Boessenecker, Mace Brown Museum of Natural History at the College of Charleston Collections Manager Sarah Boessenecker, Assistant Professor and Museum Curator Dr. Scott Persons, and several docents and student volunteers. Specials thanks to our friends at TTS Studios for the actual mounting. Be sure to check out this beautiful specimen when you get the chance!
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#CollegeOfCharleston #CofC #geology #GeologyRocks #science #ScienceIsCool #GeologyIsTheSchist #whale #whales #dorudon #cast #paleo #paleontology #museum #MuseumExhibit

Today’s the day!!

"Manaia" the whale has been picked up by TTS Studios - and many Charlestonians got a unique view this morning during downtown AM traffic: a whale in a pickup truck! The skilled hands at TTS studios are going to clean a bit of rust off the fittings and give Manaia a dry run of the hanging process at their workshop before they deliver her for final mounting in the Addlestone library tomorrow morning. More pictures later today!

College of Charleston College of Charleston - School of Science and Mathematics Building College of Charleston Geology Department College of Charleston Department of Biology

#whale #whales #whaleontology #dorudon #dorudonatrox #basilosaurus #basilosaurid #museum #museumexhibit #cofc #charleston #collegeofcharleston #paleo #paleontology

Several Geology faculty and students are at the centennial American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in San Francisco! Geology alumnus Garrett Boudinot of U Colorado, and Lowcountry Hazards Lab/SC Sea Grant staffer Landon Knapp scrutinized Dr. Vijay Vulava's research. I think they approve!
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#AGU19 #CollegeofCharleston #CofC #geololgy #GeologyRocks #science #ScienceIsCool #GeologyIsTheSchist

GEOLOGY NEWS! 12.06.19

Check out our newest newsletter!

GEOLOGY NEWS! 12.06.19 - https://mailchi.mp/9225f85abc1d/geology-news-1247089

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College of Charleston

Take care during Finals! Cougar countdown is here to help.

Cougar Countdown is once again offering students academic, physical and emotional support during final exams.

SSM Operations Manager Lisa Calvert and Geology Office Manager Kendrick Marion did a bit of wobbling before the inevitable gobbling! Great job completing the Turkey Day Run 5k! And Happy Thanksgiving to you all! 🏃🏾‍♂️🦃
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#CollegeOfCharleston #CofC #geology #GeologyRocks #science #ScienceIsCool #GeologyIsTheSchist #thanksgiving #5k #TurkeyDayRun #HappyHolidays #HappyThanksgiving

The Geology Department wishes you all a safe and relaxing Thanksgiving holiday! Doing anything fun or exciting with your time off? Traveling?✈️ Bingeing the latest season of that show you've been putting off?📺 Studying?📓🤓 Let us know in the comments below! 🦃
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#CollegeOfCharleston #CofC #geology #GeologyRocks #science #ScienceIsCool #GeologyIsTheSchist #thanksgiving #break #FinalsAreNear #HappyHolidays

Kudos to Mace Brown Museum of Natural History at the College of Charleston Curator Dr. Scott Persons for having his paper on the Styracosaurus published! Congrats, Dr. Persons and Hannah! ☺️

Check out the write up in The College Today: https://today.cofc.edu/2019/11/25/styracosaurus-scott-persons-horned-dinosaurs/

Read the original paper here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195667119301946.

A new paper by our Curator Dr. Scott Persons just came out! Dr. Persons found the skull while doing fieldwork in southern Alberta in 2015. The skull is of Styracosaus - a centrosaurine (horned dinosaur) and rather than large horns over the eyes and nose, it instead had a number of horns coming off of the frill, and a large nasal horn.

The specimen is nicknamed "Hannah", after Dr. Person's dog. What makes Hannah (the dinosaur) so special? The specimen's horns are not symmetrical - the horns on the left side of the skull are much larger than those on the right, and shows evidence of injury that later healed!
This means some caution is needed when interpreting differences in horns, which are often used as the principle evidence when naming new species. Some species may simply be synonyms of others. In this case, the new skull Hannah suggests that Rubeosaurus ovatus is actually conspecific with Styracosaurus albertensis, and has been 'sunk' into it by this new study - though statistical analyses or cladistic analyses have yet to bear this out.

College of Charleston College of Charleston Geology Department

Read all about Hannah in the paper here 👇👇👇
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195667119301946

Junior Geology major Tyler Roberts giving all the mad scientist vibes as he cuts into some Middle Cambrian reef rocks for a closer look. No confirmation yet, but he and Strat/Sed Professor Dr. Colgan may have discovered at least one new fossil species! Stay tuned for more...🗿
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#CofC #CollegeOfCharleston #geology #GeologyIsTheSchist #GeologyRocks #StratSed #Stratigraphy #Sedimentation #fossil #fossils #rocks #science #ScienceIsCool #RockCutter #Cambrian #MiddleCambrian #ExperientialLearning #HandsOnLearning #NewDiscoveries

Let’s go way back. 150 millions years back to be approximate! 😉 The School of Sciences and Mathematics Building atrium is now home to an Apatosaurus forelimb, thanks to the master construction skills of Mace Brown Museum of Natural History at the College of Charleston Curator and Assistant Professor Dr. Scott Persons, Interim SSM Dean Dr. Sebastian van Delden, Geology Dept. Chair Dr. Tim Callahan, and a handful of students.

***Repost from Mace Brown Museum of Natural History - This cast from a specimen of Apatosaurus is nicknamed “Big Bertha” and is from the Paleon Museum in Glenrock, Wyoming. It includes the “hand” with formidable thumb claw, radius/ulna, humerus, and scapulocoracoid. Come by SSMB today and check it out! 🦕
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#WayBackWednesday #cofc #CollegeOfCharleston #charleston #geology #dinosaur #dinosaurs #fossil #fossils #evolution #apatosaurus #extinct #extinction #jurassic #museum #exhibit #GeologyIsTheSchist

There are opportunities this week to learn, share and eat as #cofc and The Center for Civic Engagement raises awareness about hunger and homelessness. Register for events at cougarconnect.cofc.edu

It may be a dreary Friday, but we’re shining a spotlight on our awesome Office Assistant, Nicole Pehl! Nicole, originally from Charlotte, NC, is a second-year EVSS student here at the College. When she’s not busy with schoolwork, she likes to visit the beach as often as the weather permits. Fun fact: she’s a twin! Make sure you say hi to Nicole if you stop by the office! ✨
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#geology #CofC #CollegeofCharleston #SpotlightFriday #GeologyIsTheSchist

Experiential learning and small class sizes are key aspects of our courses. Today in Dr. Beutel's Structural Geology class, students were working on interpreting the geologic history of the Poker Peak area of Idaho.

College of Charleston Beer Competition Coming to a Head

Geology alum and owner of Holy City Brewing Chris Brown helped students this semester in the fermentation science course brew entrees to be the College's official 250th Anniversary beer! If you're 21, you can vote on your favorite this week at Baker & Brewer.

today.cofc.edu Three student-teams in the College of Charleston's Chemistry of Alcohol class are vying to be selected as the College's 250th anniversary brew.

Field work for Water Resources class in the rain - certainly not enough to stop the students and Dr. Ali at Stono Preserve yesterday!

Brown bag seminar is a full house today to learn all about Scotty, the world's biggest T. rex with Dr. Persons, hosted by the Geology Club.

The last few months have been busy for CofC geology professor Dr. Teddy Them; he was on a research cruise off the coast of South America for 50 days! He was down south with a crew of scientists studying the area and taking core samples - and he got some amazing shots of the science in action, and all of the wildlife.

Other faculty joined the workshop for more training on the new Creaform 3D scanner for Mace Brown Museum of Natural History at the College of Charleston today! Dr. Norm Levine was excited to learn more about this hardware and software, and his mind is already buzzing with ideas for its use around the department.
College of Charleston

Gracie Eldridge (GEOL ‘20) presented her research with Professor Barbara Beckingham at the Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry meeting in Toronto, CA #SETACToronto this week - making a mark on tire wear microplastic risk research!

CofC and Naval Information Warfare Center Enter Partnership

A BIG congratulations to faculty member Dr.Cass Runyon for leading the effort establishing a formal partnership with NIWC-Atlantic! Mark Jansen, MES alumnus, is a scientist at NIWC and he was the key person on their end to see this through. Read more about it here ⬇️⬇️⬇️

today.cofc.edu The Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic and the College of Charleston School of Sciences and Mathematics have announced a new educational partnership agreement.

Happy Halloween from the Geology & Environmental Geosciences Department! Faculty were caught in the halls feeling festive!

Special delivery!
Today Dr. Scott Persons received a series of dinosaur trackways - ranging from ornithopods, sauropods, to theropods! These will serve as both display pieces for the museum, and materials for his Paleobiology class.

Congratulations to Dr. Scott Persons, who won the 2019 Independent Publishers Gold Award for his book “Dinosaurs of the Alberta Badlands”! The book is available in the CofC bookstore and online if you want to pick up a copy. @cofcssm #dinosaurbook #readingrainbow

Sediment Cores from White Pond, South Carolina, contain a Platinum Anomaly, Pyrogenic Carbon Peak, and Coprophilous Spore Decline at 12.8 ka

Impact and burning and platinum, oh my! Check out the latest work involving Professors Scott Harris and Teddy Them supporting the YD Impact Hypothesis and impact-related environmental and ecological changes published in Nature Scientific Reports
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-51552-8

nature.com A widespread platinum (Pt) anomaly was recently documented in Greenland ice and 11 North American sedimentary sequences at the onset of the Younger Dryas (YD) event (~12,800 cal yr BP), consistent with the YD Impact Hypothesis. We report high-resolution analyses of a 1-meter section of a lake co...

Would it be cheating if a Geology student had on one of these Old Navy shirts while taking their intro quizzes?

The New York Times

Geochemists reading boron isotopes in fossil shells from cave rocks from the Netherlands found something shocking!

“It’s flash acidification, and it transformed ecosystems for millions of years. We were shocked that we actually found this.”

How fast will seas rise? A dying Greenland glacier holds clues

Check out this article about Greenland's glaciers. One collaborating group is from Univ. of Kansas led by Dr. Leigh Stearns, and graduate student Michael Shahin (GEOL'18) is assisting with the project. Nice work, Mike! https://vis.sciencemag.org/greenlands-dying-ice/ …

vis.sciencemag.org Scientists watch a warming ocean melt and fracture the ice

Professor Runyon celebrated the #Apollo8 recovery anniversary today 🚀

We are having a great time at the USS Yorktown celebrating the #Apollo8 recovery anniversary!

Come by now (here until 4 PM) to touch the Moon & Mars, do space activities with us and meet the amazing veterans a part of the mission!

“Spotted” in the hall today were Doc Sautter and Professor Runyon flaunting their polka dots! #whoworeitbetter #geologistswithstyle

Mace Brown Museum of Natural History at the College of Charleston

Tracking Professor Scott Persson’s latest paper! 😉

New paper coauthored by CCNHM curator Dr. Scott Persons out today! In it, a new Cretaceous sauropod track assemblage in Zhejiang, China is described. Read the paper here! 🦕🦕🦕
College of Charleston College of Charleston Geology Department College of Charleston School of Sciences & Mathematics

Dutch Dialogues: Helping to Address Flooding in Charleston

Geology faculty’s contributions to The Dutch Dialogues in Charleston is highlighted in The College Today: https://today.cofc.edu/2019/09/26/dutch-dialogues-charleston-south-carolina-flooding/

today.cofc.edu To address Charleston's chronic flooding issues, the city turned to the Dutch, and to several geology professors from the College of Charleston with vital expertise.

GEOLOGY NEWS! 09.23.19

GEOLOGY NEWS! 09.23.19 - http://eepurl.com/gEmqkD

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GEOLOGY NEWS! 09.23.19

NEW NEWSLETTER ALERT!!

https://mailchi.mp/ac97e171c630/geology-news-092319

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The Geology Club presents a special Brown Bag Talks lecture with CofC Geology '15 alum and current CU Boulder PhD candidate, Garrett Boudinot! His talk will focus on his studies in climate science and Earth history. Wednesday, Sept. 25th - 12 PM - SSMB 211. See you there! Oh, and free pizza. :)

There's still time to sign up for today's fossil field trip! Folly Beach, 4 PM, 3rd Street W boardwalk to beach. See Kendrick in SSMB 224 for more information!

Professor Scott Persons received a special delivery yesterday!

Lowcountry Hazards Center Project Aims to Dry Up Area Flooding

Interested to get involved to increase knowledge and resiliency to flooding in Charleston? - faculty in the Geology Department would love to work with you! See info in the article:

today.cofc.edu Students across the College of Charleston campus have the chance to help stem the tide of flooding in the City of Charleston thanks to a partnership between the College’s Lowcountry Hazards Center and the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium.

College of Charleston

A very important study about the unintended consequences of pharmaceutical use from researchers in biology and chemistry. Geology students have also looked out how these chemicals interact with soils!

CofC researchers are studying how naproxen, a common ingredient in over-the-counter painrelievers, discharged into waterways may be impacting toads and other amphibians.

Linking the progressive expansion of reducing conditions to a stepwise mass extinction event in the late Silurian oceans | Geology | GeoScienceWorld

Professor Them has coauthored a new publication on mass extinction! ☠️ https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-abstract/573358/linking-the-progressive-expansion-of-reducing?redirectedFrom=fulltext

pubs.geoscienceworld.org Chelsie N. Bowman, Seth A. Young, Dimitri Kaljo, Mats E. Eriksson, Theodore R. Them, Olle Hints, Tõnu Martma, Jeremy D. Owens; Linking the progressive expansion of reducing conditions to a stepwise mass extinction event in the late Silurian oceans. Geology doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G46571.1

College of Charleston

Wishing everyone safe travels and clean-up after the storm. Classes resume Monday. Bye Dorian!

https://today.cofc.edu/2019/09/06/college-resumes-classes-and-operations-monday-sept-9/

Mace Brown Museum of Natural History at the College of Charleston

Need information about potential hurricane effects in Charleston? Dr. Norm Levine of the Lowcountry Hazards Center here at College of Charleston put together this information portal. Included are links to the National Hurricane Center and NOAA weather pages, as well as maps showing traffic and evacuation routes. Be prepared - and stay safe and dry!

To access the portal, click here:
https://scgis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=026dd94c4bb944deab6fa8d080b8df9a&fbclid=IwAR2FRqpdOl7ViR_-aCN40CnEtax5WXUh2fjvjWsr5iqoknFxX7J1mM0nb1U

Not sure if you're in an evacuation zone under mandatory evacuation order? Check the map at SCEMD.org to check and see what zone you're in: https://www.scemd.org/prepare/know-your-zone/

Mandatory evacuation zones:
Colleton Zones A, B
Beaufort Zone A
Jasper Zone A
Charleston Zones A, B, C
Dorchester Zone D
Berkeley Zones B, G
Horry Zone A
Georgetown Zone A

#hurricane #hurricanes #hurricanedorian #dorian2019 #hurricanedorian2019 #storm #flood #hazard #staydry #turnarounddontdrown College of Charleston Geology Department College of Charleston School of Sciences & Mathematics