Aren't we a chatty bunch?!

Is every one out pounding on rocks or something? We are getting geared up for our annual Rock & Mineral show in April. Some of you may be doing your spring field experience or Spring break I guess. Anyway hope you're having fun whatever you're up to. Check in when you get a chance anyway! I'll just talk to the rocks in the meantime. Vanye

Hi Vanye,

Well, I haven't seen many rocks lately, except through a seismic lens. Fire up a topic. I'm game.

Actually ....... I am currently in the Ozarks of Northwest Arkansas collecting Mississippian and Pennsylvanian rocks so that I can extract their fossils when I get back to Georgia! Today is rainy so I though I would take the day off and check my email, Library Thing etc. at a coffee shop in Fayetteville, which is a nice respite from talking to my rocks.

While I was in the Ozarks collecting my fossils, I started reading (about 1/2 done) River of Lakes by Bill Belleville. A River of Lakes is not a geology book per sé but it does have a prominent geological perspective. It's a non-fiction account of Belleville's journey down the St. Johns River, Florida's longest. Belleville describes the origin of the river basin as a Pleistocene coastal lagoon behind barrier islands and the origin of the river's water, which has a large component of artesian spring water. In addition to the geology and hydrology, Belleville describes the biology & ecology of the river as well as the politics, history, destruction and restoration of the St. Johns and its wetlands. Belleville travels the river South to North (it's natural direction of flow), not as a scientist, but as a native Floridian and an avid lover of nature. I definitely recommend River of Lakes and I'm looking forward to finishing it, in the comfort of my home rather than the "comfort" of my tent in this spring cold snap we seem to be going through.

4> Naheim - You've captured my interest. I have a bit of a Florida thing going. I recently read The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise by Michael Grunwald, an investigative journalism type history which includes a lot on the Everglades ecosystem and mabye 2 two gratuitous pages on Everglades geology.

dchaikin - Until a couple of years ago, my preconceived notions of Florida were based on a visit to Disney World when I was in Jr. High, i.e. a flat, boring, sprawling, overly-developed wasteland. However, a couple of years ago I had to go to the Florida Keys to collect some sample for a course and fell in love with "natural Florida". For that trip we camped in the Everglades, which I think are absoutely amazing -- a biological Grand Canyon. I found Key West to be not very exciting, but most of the rest of the keys were gorgeous and the Windley Key Fossil Reef State Geological State Park is a neat place to spend an afternoon. Ever since that trip my admiration for Florida is greatly increased and although I don't get to visit very often, there are quite a few good books. Sitting on my book shelf waiting to be read is Liquid Land, another travel log, but this one for the Everglades rather than the St. Johns.

naheim... An edit to my message #5: where I wrote "ecosystem", I mostly meant water (and phosphate) issues. I checked Liquid Land out of my library recently, but didn't get a chance to so much as open it up. I read The Swamp instead, and then my burgeoning TBR pile took over.

Sadly, even though I grew up in South Florida, my impression was much the same as yours, plus I found it very superficial. I found it so unpleasant that I had pretty much abdonned it except for family visits. But, I grew up a sheltered life in the suburbs. I have yet to visit the Everglades! I'm only now learning to like sea food...etc. So, all-in-all I'm pretty clueless. It never bothered me until a friend mentioned taking his daughter back to his childhood stomping grouds. He told me I would want to revisit FL and share it with my children. He was right, now I'm itching make up for my lost time... and of course, now everything there seems magical to me (except the Disney World bit).

Thanks for the suggestions.