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Friday, December 31, 2010

So I was out getting sunburnt and scraped by thorns

The title pretty much sums up what I've been doing in the last couple of days.

Geologists call it 'fieldwork', layman may prefer to call it 'lurking in the middle of nowhere'. As for me... well, I'd say it's just another day of work.

For the last 4 days, I've been conducting a geological fieldwork to prepare my final year project's presentation. I've since went back and forth to several roadcuts in a rural area, about 40 Km plus from my house.

After regressing back into my old habit of staying in the room all day and taking it easy, it took me some time to adjust into spending half of the day examining geological features (i.e. rocks) in the fields, engaging in meticulous measuring and recording of data that would require a certain dedication (they can get pretty tedious and boring - and it's me that's talking here, heh).


I certainly learned one valuable lesson out of this fieldwork: that I'm more of a theorist than a practical worker. What does this exactly mean? Simply put, it means that I'm more book-smart than street smart (or perhaps the term 'field smart' is more appropriate here, heh). Hopefully I'll be able to overcome this with the passage of time, coupled with more trip to the fields.

Anyway, it was a good fieldwork: not too excellent - I can bet that the data are nowhere near sufficient, and I'd have to make multiple return trips - but it's not too bad either. Any fieldwork is a good fieldwork, I'd say...

Here, have some pics of my day in the field:



Something to look at other than plain ol rocks...


This is one rather big hillcut

The thorns at this outcrop are pretty unforgivable, I tell you

Nice folds

And this, my friend, is what they call a kink fold

Alright, now that's it's all settled, it's time to return to my backlog. I'll try write one last post before New Year's day (coming up in a few hours). Look forward to it!

4 comments:

  1. Beautiful photos! Congrat and Happy New Year.

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  2. Lovely photographs. Those folds look cool. Do they form naturally like that?

    >As for me... well, I'd say it's just another day of work.

    Anotha day, anotha dollar. R-Right? ;_;

    >Simply put, it means that I'm more book-smart than street smart (or perhaps the term 'field smart' is more appropriate here, heh)

    I lol'd harder than I should have at your witty wordplay. I can see where you're coming from, though. Some people are only into theoretical aspects of things rather than practical. I'm sure with more experience you'll only grow more 'field-smart'.

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  3. >kink fold

    Terrain porn is the next big thing

    Being out in the field sounds fun, but I'd get cold and hungry quickly...

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  4. @Anon: Thanks

    @Chiyo's dad: Yup, those are naturally formed. Kinda amazing what geological processes can do to rocks.

    I actually thought of that one on the spot haha, glad you found it amazing. Yeah, I hope I'll get better at it as time passes too.

    @A Hermit: Geologists are known for some rather bad puns and jokes - there are other equally cringeworthy jokes too.

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