Sandstone Arches

Sandstone Arch or also known as Natural Arch is a natural rock formation where a rock arch forms, with an opening underneath. Most natural arches from as a narrow bridge, walled by cliffs, become narrower from erosion, with a softer rock stratum under the cliff-forming stratum gradually eroding out until the rock shelters thus formed meet underneath the ridge, thus forming the arch. Natural arches commonly form where cliffs are subject to erosion from the sea, rivers or weathering; the processes "find" weakness in rocks and work on them, making them larger until they break down.

Reference

Community gardens

"The Mission of the American Community Gardening Association is to build community gardening and greening across the United States and Canada"

A community garden is a single piece of land gardened collectively by a group of people. There are several gardens located in different areas around the city of Macon. These community gardens mainly grow different vegetables, such as: pumpkins, beans, carrots, cabbages and etc. These gardens are grown with the love and help of the community volunteers. 

Georgia is known for its abundance of clay, therefore the community gardens do not use soil found in the Macon city area, and instead have soil shipped in from nearby farms.

Community gardens provide fresh produce and plants as well as satisfying labor, neighborhood improvement, sense of community and connection to the environment. They are publicly functioning in terms of ownership, access, and management.

For more information on community gardens

My rocks

Graphing Elevation Changes Across Distance

I began by creating and measuring out a 12 mile long line through the city of Macon. The measured out path is seen in red in the image above. I recorded the elevation for every 2 miles of the path to see how the elevation is affected in change of the distance. The recorded information is seen in a graph below.

A scatterplot was created to see how the elevation changed over the distance. As seen below, the elevation in Macon fluctuated throughout the whole 12 miles of the path and was highly inconsistent.

Hydrothermal Deep Sea Vents

Scientists first discovered hydrothermal vents in 1977 while exploring an oceanic ridge near the Galapagos Islands. These vents occur in geologically active regions of the ocean floor. Within these regions, seawater seeps down deep into the Earth's crust through cracks in the ocean floor. This water is then heated by magma below the surface. As the water is heated to a boil, it expands and rises back to the surface. On it's way back up through the cracks through which it fell, the hot water dissolves minerals and other chemicals from the rock. When it reaches the ocean floor, the water is dark. Some of the minerals precipitate out of the seawater and harden on the rim of the vent. Over time, the rim of the vent is built up into a tall, chimney-like structure. 
The temperature of the water coming out of these vents exceeds 360º. 

The discovery that forms of life actually live and thrive around these vents, totally cut off from the world of sunlight. These biological communities depend upon chemical processes that result from the interaction of seawater and hot magma associated with underwater volcanoes. 
The organisms that habituated in these areas were getting their food directly from the vents themselves. This process is known as chemosynthesis. Smaller animals feed on the bacteria, and these smaller animals provide food for the larger animals. It is an entire ecosystem totally separate from the world of light. A large number of strange and wondrous creatures have been found at these vent sites. Giant tube worms eight feet tall dominate the landscape. Tiny bacteria living inside make food for the worms. Small shrimps and crabs feed on the tube worms. Clams cover the ocean floor. These waters are so fertile that shrimps have been known to literally number in the millions near these vents.

Large Crab and Clams near a deep sea Hydrothermal Vent

Giant Tubeworms 

Hermit crab anemone







More Information on Deep Seas Hydrothermal Vents



YouTube Video

Mineral Identifications

Quartz (silica)

Quartz is one of the most well-known minerals on earth. It occurs in basically all mineral environments, and is the important constituent of many rocks. Quartz is also the most varied of all minerals, occurring in all different forms, habits, and colors. There are more variety names given to Quartz than any other mineral. Although the Feldspars as a group are more prevalent than Quartz, as an individual mineral Quartz is the most common mineral.

To learn more about Quartz

Iron Ore

Iron (Fe) is one of the most abundant rock-forming elements, constituting about 5% of the Earth's crust. It is the fourth most abundant element after oxygen, silicon and aluminium, and after aluminium, the most abundant and widely distributed metal. Iron is indispensable to modern civilisation and people have been skilled in its use for more than 3,000 years. However, its use only became widespread in the 14th century, when smelting furnaces (the forerunner of blast furnaces) began to replace forges.

Iron ores are rocks from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. These rocks are usually found in the form of hematite (Fe₂O₃) or magnetite (Fe₃O₄). About 98% of world iron ore production is used to make iron in the form of steel. Iron ore provides the foundation for one of Australia’s major export industries.

To learn more about Iron Ore