Weekly GeoJournal

 Science V Religion  In the book of Genesis in the Bible we are taught that God created the earth, we are also taught about the creation period, from separating night and day to the land and the water.  Genesis chapter one talks about how God created the earth for his children and explains in great detail how the earth was created. I love studying others' ideas like the big bang theory, because it helps gives me perspective on how blessed we are to know that God created the Earth for his children. I think that knowing about the Plan of Salvation helps me reconcile the difference between what the Bible says and what science says. My mom used to say that science is how we look for an understanding of how God did what he did, but we need to be careful that we don't use science to disprove that there is a God. I think my mom explained it best when she said that we use science to learn about how God created the Earth. In the Endowment we are also taught more about the Plan of ...

  Metamorphic Rock  Sadly, I do not know of any metamorphic rocks in my collection. However, I see different types of metamorphic rock at work. We sell slate and shale tiles, marble countertops, and others that I know I have seen but cannot think of. Picture 1 - Slate, Picture 2- Shale, Picture 3 - Marble  My husband and I found this rock in our yard I am not sure what kind of rock it is sedimentary or metamorphic but I like how you can see the layers in it. It got me thinking about the reading and how the layers look like they were compressed in such a way we can see them clearly in this rock. The last two are also rocks we found around our year I love how big the crystals are in the one with the red. The white one looks like it might have some kind of ore or lead in it. I think they are metamorphic rocks because you can see how the parent rock has been melted just enough for another mineral to start to form into it. I also think that they are metamorphic because they do...

 Sedimentary rocks Sedimentary rocks are rocks that are created by sediment ( smaller rocks, dirt, and sometimes insects or small animals ) that become cemented together.   This image is of a rock structure in Grantsville Utah, called Lone Rock. I think this is a sedimentary rock because up close, ( which is harder to see in this picture ) you can see the layers and how the exposed layers have been physically weathered. We got rained out on our shooting trip when I took this picture on Saturday. These four pictures are of a rock that I have in my collection that I bought years ago that I think is a sedimentary rock because you can see other rocks under the black layer. I am not sure what it is made of because I bought it several years ago, also it has been shaped into an egg and polished so the layers aren't easy to see. It also looks like it has part of a fossilized insect or bug trapped in it. If anyone knows or has any guesses as to what kind of minerals make up this r...

 Mauna Loa , Hawaii Volcano  This is a volcano that I studied a semester ago, for my Natural Disaster class and then later that spring my older brother went to the island that this volcano was on. I learned a little about this volcano: it is a shield volcano that is horizontal when it erupts. it also spreads lava in waves because it is for the most part flat. It also has been dormant for 38 years until 2022. Although it's flat it can destroy several hundreds of acres of land because of the viscosity of the lava, I think the textbook we used said the lava was soft and had the consistency of a semi-baked cake. Because the lava is mostly basalt-based it is soft and moves like shampoo. Shield volcanos are known for their basalt flows and rivers of lava. It is also the largest shield volcano on the Hawaiian islands. Since this volcano is mostly flat, it doesn't have violent eruptions like a composite volcano would, however, there are still the same warning signs of an eruption such...

 Quartz This is my quartz collection.  I want to explain a little bit about each one because from the picture it is hard to tell what they look like in person.  The dark round ball is Smokey quarts, it is dark brown and black in certain spots. When we moved it got cracked not sure how but it has a conchoidal fracture all the way around it on the inside of it. It has a vitreous luster. The chakra wand has a small quarts ball at the top and a long pointed tower at the bottom. If you look really closely you can see the fractures in the ball at the top of the wand. Where these have been polished they have a vitreous luster and feel smooth to the touch. The smaller of the two towers is a piece of raw quarts that has not been polished. To me, it looks more earthy but it still has some of the vitreous luster of the others. This one was a gift from my husband's aunt so I'm sure how it was cut, because of the way it was cut you cannot see the typical crystalline structure of quart...

Week 1:   A Little bit about Me Cassie Gillespie    This is a picture of my husband of almost 5 years come August. This picture was taken in Idaho, my second home along the Snake River, where the water had receded and left a stone-covered river bed. The second picture is from our boat tour in Africa on Lake Naivasha. We currently live in the Salt Lake Valley, in a small township called Kearns. These two pictures are of our fur children. Our cat Lucy who we adopted almost a year ago. Radar the Pitbull boxer mix and Banjo the Labrador retriever. All of my fur babies are rescues.  A few more things about me: my favorite color is purple, I am a psychology major hoping to go into Child Advocacy, I have a stone collection, and am an avid movie watcher. My husband and I love to travel and see the world. Almost two years ago we went to Africa and we have gone to Florida, where my husband grew up. I am hoping to learn more about the world around me and to learn more about the...