Deeper Oakland: The roving stones tour
Plus a welcome vote, disclaimers, gratification and a question where to play
Hello Subscribers,
This has been quite a March! As I mentioned in the last newsletter, I took a short trip to New Hampshire to hang out with a bunch of geologists, and that went well. They have certainly learned a lot about deep New England since I went to college at UNH fifty years ago. What I didn’t mention, because the impulse hadn’t struck me yet, was a short trip through the northern Coast Range with a night in Covelo to enjoy the countryside and return some rocks, including these.
Coming up in April I have two talks and two walks that are all private events; I’ll otherwise take it easy after some surgery. Meanwhile you might consider attending the Northern California Geological Society’s next meeting, the evening of April 24, in Orinda a short walk from the BART station. UC Berkeley’s Nick Swanson-Hysell will be talking about his team’s new data from the Berkeley hills. More about that at the NCGS website, which I maintain.
Long Live the Anthropocene
Earlier this month the officials in charge of the geologic time scale voted down the proposal to adopt the Anthropocene as a new unit of geologic time. That pleased me because I’ve argued against the idea for over twenty years. But the idea of the Anthropocene—that the Earth has entered a new human-driven regime—already belongs to the world.
The concept was named by an Earth scientist, Paul Crutzen, in 1999, but it doesn’t inspire geoscientists quite enough to formally change the actual geologic time scale. And I’m fine with that. We need to keep in mind that the time scale literally rests on rock sequences, and its basic purpose is to help stratigraphers assign rocks their place in deep time.
I think the general sense among geologists is that the Anthropocene, the thing the term points to, is most definitely real, but as a formal construct it’s not useful to stratigraphers. And something feels weird about it that I can’t yet articulate. I remember an offhand remark by a prominent geochronologist during a panel discussion a couple decades ago: “Maybe the geologic time scale ends now.”
Look at This
In my January newsletter I featured a photo of what I think of as the legendary Berkeley Blue Agates, found in the volcanic rocks of the Moraga Formation. Early this month I attended the big annual Castro Valley Gem and Mineral Show, at the Newark Community Center, and there in a display case was two more specimens.
I still don’t expect ever to see one in the wild. Most of the Moraga Formation is off limits to collecting. But you never know.
Disclaimers
I’m not licensed to practice geology in the state of California (or any other), so it’s natural to wonder what my limits are when I talk about geological matters in Oakland.
First of all, I get that licensed practitioners are far more able than me. They will stand at your doorstep in person and answer every question you have, and they will be prepared to testify in court about anything they’re involved with—construction disputes, landslides, groundwater pollution, you name it. Their powers are far more awesome than mine. They earn their money. I take seriously what they tell me.
I disclaim myself when something consequential comes up, and here’s my underlying policy. I present the current scientific understanding that geoprofessionals share among themselves. My authority comes from earning a geology degree plus many decades’ close exposure to the research community, via papers and in person, and I’ve been writing on geology-related topics with almost no complaints for 27 years and counting.
I expect licensed professionals to have no problems with what I say, and if they do have a problem I expect we’ll deal with it promptly, as colleagues. I love to learn from other people.
Book News
I was floored to learn that Deep Oakland is a finalist for the California Book Awards, which has been run by the Commonwealth Club since 1931. There are eight award categories, and I’m there in the Californiana slate along with some excellent titles, one of which I expect will win instead of mine. But being included in the final list at all is an honor greater than I ever dreamt. This photo shows my book next to another finalist in the same category, on display at the Oakland Museum gift shop.
Another gratifying book-related thing happened this week. One highlight of my long writing process was corresponding with Jenny Odell. Coinciding with her, really, because she was working on her latest (Saving Time) at the same time I was putting Deep Oakland together. I greatly appreciate her support before and after my book’s release. This week Jenny published a piece in Emergence magazine, “Reading the Rocks,” in which she quotes me extensively, about her experience tuning in to the landscape and its geology. She likens the process to learning a new language, and just as the world changes when you see it in Spanish, or Tagalog, it changes when you see it with geologist eyes.
She got a lot out of my book. That’s a gracious gift, something an author can’t earn or own, only acknowledge with deep thanks.
Q&A
Jesse, a young father in East Oakland, is a remote-control vehicle enthusiast who wrote to me seeking “some cool places to take my RC car to crawl around on some cool rocks in my area.” I was a bit nonplussed; I’ve discovered dozens of cool spots, big and little, all over town and often thought about what each was best for. If I were a meditater I’d go here, or into mushrooms I’d go there, or wanted a long solo walk or special views or native plants in season or whatever, but I’d never considered what an RC crawler would like. Where do you think Jesse could go, with his baby Brat? Judging from the pictures he sent, it’s quite capable.
He knows how to appeal to me: after taking a geology class at college, he says, “it changed my whole outlook on the world.”
Andrew