Lab 4/26/11

This week's lab we went to the Riverside Cemetery in Macon, Ga in order to collect field data of people who died from 1918-1920 who were buried there. This was done in order to produce a life table and get an idea of the impact the Spanish Flu Endemic had on the local population.

The Spanish Flu was a national pandemic of Influenza that devastated the worlds population at the end of the First World War. The pandemic lasted from March 1918 to June 1920. The origin of the flu is unknown but it spread across the world even to the arctic and remote islands of the pacific. The reason it is called the Spanish Flu is because Spain was the only country that didn't suppress news coverage of the outbreak. This outbreak was so devastating because unlike other Influenza outbreaks that targeted young and old victims, this virus primarily attacked young, healthy adults. 1/3 of the worlds population was infected by the flu, and an estimated 50 million, 3% of the worlds population at the time; died. Tissue studies conducted on preserved infected tissues replicated the the virus for study. Researchers discovered that the virus killed by a Cytokine Storm: the overreaction of the bodies immune system. This explains the death of younger victims because their strong immune systems ravaged the body.

Today we went to the Hitichi Experimental Forrest & I loved a tree for Earth Day

Oculmogee National Monument

Today for lab we visited the Ocmulgee National Monument outside of Macon, Georgia. The site traces the over ten milenia of Southeastern Native American culture. The site includes massive earthworks that were constructed by The Mississippian Tribe over 1,000 years ago. This site is located on the Macon Plateau which is a geographic fall line where the hills of the Georgia Piedmont meet with the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The site is located on the banks of the Ocmulmogee river and consists of low lying wetlands and hills. These land's soil were rich for farming, which the local tribes used to drive their economy and trade with Europeans. The site contains a lot of wildlife including tortoises, snakes, and lots of birds who all thrive in the lush wetlands.

 

Lab 3/31/11

The assignment was to go around Campus and locate 5 species of:

Trees:

 

 

Plants:

 

 

Rocks:

 

 

Animals:

 

 

Soil Erosion:

 

 



Burgess Shale

 

The Burgess Shale is located in the Canadian Rockies.  Location where researches discovered a number of perfectly preserved Cambrian Fossils. Scientists believe these organisms were buried in an avalanche that produced an airtight pocket that prevented decay of their soft tissues. The area was once a massive reef within the Pacific Ocean. Over the ages the fossils were pushed to the surface by Tectonic Movement.The reason the site is so important is because the Cambrian fossils found here challenge Darwin's theory of evolution. Located within the rocks were fossil evidence of all the basic body plans of animals exist today. No evidence of ancestors evolving into these species exists within the pre-Cambrian fossil record. This suggests that these organisms appeared instantly. Scientists are calling this event the "Cambrian Explosion" or the Cambrian Big Bang. 

Tsunami



The term Tsunami comes from the combination of the Japanese words tsu-"harbor" and nami-"wave."
A Tsunami is a series of large violent waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of water following a large tetonic event such as an earthquake, like the one that Japan; or a volcanic eruption. They usually occur in the worlds oceans, but they have been known to also occur in large lakes. Tsunami's were first documented by the Greek historian Thucydides when he referred to it as "submarine earthquakes."


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ENB Lab #3 Assignment 2/22/11

http://soils.cals.uidaho.edu/soilorders/orders.htm
- 12 soil orders

• Cecil Soil: Predominant soil type in Georgia Piedmont

Soil type can be determined by examing the Munsell Soil Chart. The Chart reveals the soil's value, chromo, and Hue.


GA Soil Map


Soil Texture Diagram