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It always seems to me that these paleontologist still use medieval technology. Hammer and chisel. They hit the rock and hope for the best, where the best case i

by dvh 12y ago

It always seems to me that these paleontologist still use medieval technology. Hammer and chisel. They hit the rock and hope for the best, where the best case is that there will be fossil split in half. Imagine if they had some kind of "rock MRI" or something like that. Or perhaps using laser to etch thin layers and then combine them in PC into 3D model. Come on!

jkot 12y ago
I guess money? How to analyze 1000 tons of rocks on reasonable budget?
pp19dd 12y ago
There is no better tool than a geologic hammer. MRI machines weigh tons, as rocks do, so there isn't any practical way to do field sampling. The only portable tool available for field work is a ground penetrating radar, and it requires lots of power. Making even a moderately steep hike to these remote locations with just your survival gear is beyond exhausting, so lugging machines and rocks becomes a huge challenge: impossible. Transporting the equipment mechanically is an incredibly costly endeavor. An image from a GPR looks like this: http://mysite.du.edu/~lconyers/SERDP/figure1_pit_house.jpg http://mysite.du.edu/~lconyers/SERDP/figure1_pit_house.jpg - as you can see, the GPR can go through rock, but, what they're seeing is a pattern difference: signal pattern, that is. The GPR doesn't have an imaging resolution to be able to assemble an accurate point cloud, like you would with photographic imaging to make a 3D model. Instead, it's like watching spray from a water hose encounter an object - you can only really tell the water stream hit something, and its rough shape. I haven't used lasers for imaging in a decade, but they didn't make clean cuts: they burn right through what you're trying to image. I believe it's not a solution for sampling rocks. Though, a hammer can cleave right through a rock and be done with it.
arethuza 12y ago
I can recommend Richard Fortey's books to give a taste of what it's like to be a field geologist: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Fortey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Fortey His book The Hidden Landscape: A Journey into the Geological Past starts with him traveling from London to Wales to find rocks old enough to hold the trilobites he loves.

by dvh 12y ago

jkot 12y ago

I guess money? How to analyze 1000 tons of rocks on reasonable budget?

pp19dd 12y ago

There is no better tool than a geologic hammer. MRI machines weigh tons, as rocks do, so there isn't any practical way to do field sampling. The only portable tool available for field work is a ground penetrating radar, and it requires lots of power. Making even a moderately steep hike to these remote locations with just your survival gear is beyond exhausting, so lugging machines and rocks becomes a huge challenge: impossible. Transporting the equipment mechanically is an incredibly costly endeavor. An image from a GPR looks like this: http://mysite.du.edu/~lconyers/SERDP/figure1_pit_house.jpg http://mysite.du.edu/~lconyers/SERDP/figure1_pit_house.jpg - as you can see, the GPR can go through rock, but, what they're seeing is a pattern difference: signal pattern, that is. The GPR doesn't have an imaging resolution to be able to assemble an accurate point cloud, like you would with photographic imaging to make a 3D model. Instead, it's like watching spray from a water hose encounter an object - you can only really tell the water stream hit something, and its rough shape. I haven't used lasers for imaging in a decade, but they didn't make clean cuts: they burn right through what you're trying to image. I believe it's not a solution for sampling rocks. Though, a hammer can cleave right through a rock and be done with it.

arethuza 12y ago

I can recommend Richard Fortey's books to give a taste of what it's like to be a field geologist: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Fortey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Fortey His book The Hidden Landscape: A Journey into the Geological Past starts with him traveling from London to Wales to find rocks old enough to hold the trilobites he loves.