Favorite Presentations

One of my favorite presentations was the one on the three famous and fascinating caves. I had no idea any of them existed, or that such things could exist in the first place. The best one was the Cave of Crystals in Mexico.I had no idea that the selenite crystals could trap gasses and could dissolve in air so quickly. I also did not know that such a pretty cave like the Blue Hole was so close to where we live, since it's still in Texas.

The weather rarities presentation was also fascinating. I had never experienced any of the phenomena talked about in the slides, but now I really hope that one day I do. Out of all of those, the optic events were the most interesting, because it is amazing how random things can produce such beautiful effects. However, all of the things talked about were amazing, even the dangerous ones like the derechos.

The Stone Forest was interesting as well. It is amazing to see what simple erosion can do in the right circumstances, unlike all the damage it can also do. It was also interesting to see how people in the Chinese culture that lived around the stone forest created a myth and a festival around it. I wish the presentation had gone more into that however. I hope one day I will be able to visit it for myself.

Canyon Lake Gorge

Canyon Lake Gorge was absolutely amazing. The entire place was absolutely gorgeous and fascinating, especially all the fossils. The tour guides were also very informative and helpful. On a whole, the entire experience was very worth the almost slipping and falling from mud and holes involved with the entire experience.

The rocks and fossils in the gorge were amazing. I had never exactly understand how faults and the hanging and foot wall worked, but after seeing them myself, and walking on them made me start to really get it. The same thing happened with seeing the sedimentation of rock, as well as the difference between normal position and when rock layers and soil horizons are shifted by different geological events like fault shifts. The sheer amount of faults was also amazing. The fossils were incredible. I had never heard about the species of dinosaurs that left tracks, and the fact that there were so many tiny fossils of urchins, algae balls, and


crustaceans blew my mind, and that they were so exposed and easy to find. I could not believe that so many organisms were fossilized so well for millions of years.The formation of the gorge itself was also incredible. So much geological and paleontological information was uncovered just because of one storm, without which the faults and thousands of fossils down in the gorge would not be seen.

Quarter 2 Project

For my 2nd quarterly project, my group and I decided to talk about how hurricanes affect humans, especially focusing on Hurricane Katrina. Our main points are going to be about why Katrina was so bad, what the people there had put in place to prevent damage, and finally what the damage and reconstruction process was like in the city of New Orleans. When we split it up, my part of the presentation was the part on damage and reconstruction.

While the hurricane hit and affected a large area of land, New Orleans was the largest and worst place affected. When the levees broke, the low lying areas, where the majority of the city and the people were, got flooded, resulting in massive amounts of destruction. There was over 108 billion dollars in property and infrastructure damage. It was not just the physical damage that was devastating. Katrina left over 1 million refugees and over 1,800 people dead in it's wake.

Despite all the damage however, many organizations tried to help alleviate and fix the damage. Some of them were national organization such as the Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, while others were more local, like the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation. There were many other ones based out of churches that helped and unite the devastated communities. With all the reconstruction efforts, the city is once again a large tourist spot, and while some of the hurricane's effects still remain, the condition is much improved and almost to how it was before Katrina.

Favorite Presentations Quarter #1

One of my favorite presentations was the "Mega Minerals" one. In the presentation, they went over the properties of several minerals, such as nano-sized gold, tellurium, cadmium, aluminum, corundum, and graphene. They talked about the properties of all the minerals, what they are made out of, as well as how they can be used practically in industry. The last thing taught in the presentation was what industry needs in minerals for them to be usable, which were nano-size, high purity, customized surface properties, low weight, recyclability, and innocuous to human health.

Another good presentation was the "Desert Dinosaurs" one. This presentation talked about how many dinosaur fossils were found in deserts. The presentation also goes over different paleontologists that had discovered these dinosaurs, including Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh. The last thing they talked about was the two types of dinosaurs that can be found, Ornithischia and Saurischia dinosaurs.

My last favorite presentation was the one about Fossils and Marine Fossils. In the presentation, the presenters discussed what fossils are, different types of marine fossils, and how they are identified. They also talked about where groundbreaking fossils were found and now stored, and how fossils are connected to modern animals and how that makes them important.

Project Summary

My project for the 1st quarter was about the Paleozoic Era on the Geological Timescale. However, my partner split up the project so that I only researched the Cambrian, Carboniferous, and Permian periods. For each period I researched the organisms, geography, and climate, as well as if humans could survive during the period.

In the Cambrian period, the Earth had much higher temperatures than it does now, and was mostly covered with water, except for the super continent Gondwana. The first vertebrates and invertebrates appeared during this period as well. Humans could not have survived during this period as there was little land, and no organisms on land, as well as the high temperatures.

During the Carboniferous period, large coal deposits began to form because of swampy forests dying and being compressed. The first amphibians and reptiles appeared during this period, as well as the first trees with seeds. Humans could have possibly survived during this period, as the climate was closer to what it is during modern times.

Lastly, the Permian period came with a drier climate, as well as fluctuating seasons on the main continent of Pangaea. Reptiles became dominant during the period, as well as some mammal-like creatures appearing. However, the period ended with a mass extinction. Humans could have possibly survived, but would have dies during the mass extinction event.