James and I went up to Bucks Pocket State Park to sample white oak for flood scars for the Tennessee River paleoflood project we are part of. It was just what you would expect in July in Alabama-hot and sweaty! But we made a great collection that is going to result in some really
Discussed this project in an earlier post. Matt Gage from the UA Office of Archaeological Research and I carried out some tree-ring dating on three historical log buildings in northeastern Alabama to determine if any of the structures could have been associated with historic Fort Armstrong. Fort Armstrong was constructed near Cedar Bluff, Alabama by militia members under
Took my physical geography class up to Cane Creek Canyon Nature Preserve and had about the best hike of my entire life thanks to Dr. Jim Lacefield. Jim and wife Faye are the owners of Cane Creek and Jim is the author of the most amazing book on Alabama geology (Lost Worlds in Alabama
Went up to sample on Redstone Arsenal for our Tennessee River flood project and found some fantastic old Red Cedar (Juniperous virginiana). This sample was 0ver 330 years old when it died (note all the sapwood is gone). Who knows how long it has been sitting here perched on these rocks. perhaps centuries. Once we
Went to sample Overcup Oak (Quercus lyrata) on Cat Island in Louisiana with Dr. Margaret Devall. This site is right next to the Mississippi and there is no levee here, so the trees really get impacted by frequent and high-magnitude flooding.
After visiting WSL I traveled to Grenoble France to attend the PAGES-Cross-Community Workshop on past flood variability. This was an amazing meeting of scientists mostly from Europe, but some others studying floods mostly from a historical or paleo perspective. (http://www.pages-igbp.org/ini/wg/peat-carbon/160-initiatives/working-group/floods/1277-floods). I learned a great deal at this meeting and very much enjoyed Grenoble. The food was
Got a chance to visit the world famous (at least among dendrochronologists) WSL (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research) labs in Birmensdorf, (near Zurich) Switzerland. My former MS student Matt Meko is training at the lab on x-ray densitometry techniques.The WSL facility is world class in every respect and the dendroscience they are
Went up to Muscle Shoals/Florence Alabama the other day to look for tree-ring evidence of flooding. I have never been to this area before and was really impressed with how beautiful it is. There are huge limestone cliffs on the south side of the river and gorgeous baldcypress swamps on the north. The photo shows
Geological Society of America (GSA) Annual Meeting 2016. Denver, Colorado, USA September 25-28. http://community.geosociety.org/gsa2016/home Abstracts open April 1, close July 31st. (T59). Paleofloods and Related Fluvial Processes during the Late Quaternary: Reconstructions and Causes. This session aims to bring together scientists with interests in developing and applying a broad array of reconstruction techniques for characterizing