Ocmulgee River Lab

Sorry my blogs are everywhere in any order.

This day of lab, we went to the Ocmulgee Heritage Trail to one of the boat drop off areas. I did not expect to actually get in the river and walk around, but I could not get in because of a chemical burn I had during the time of the lab. Watching the class measure the elevation rate and flow rate of the river. As I sat and watch from a distance, the class end the river lab with noodling and as I guess, no one in the class caught a fish because not one soul was joyous about the noodling part of the lab. The lab was amazing to go to because that a place you can go clear your head when need to. While we were there, we saw a mother and daughter playing in the park, people walking the trail, and a person trying to put his boat in the water. Even though we went for a lab this was a great experience for me because I would have never known this Trail was back there. I had so much fun when we did the lab that a couple of days after I went and sat for a while to clear my head. If you are interested in this trail, here is the hyperlink of the website
 http://www.newtownmacon.com/projects/ocmulgee-heritage-trail/. ENJOY !

Plants around Mercer

During this lab we walked a mile or two around Mercer University. Identifying several different kind of bushes, shrubs, trees,etc. In this blog, I will name and describe three or four of the almost 40 plants that we identified during this lab. Even though by the end of the lab my knees were swollen I really enjoyed the fresh air.

I'm actually in love with the Willow Tree because every weekend I go and sit and sometimes do homework or just think. All the oaks are different in a way but also they are so similar because they are all oaks. But this Willow is different because of it leaves. This oak doesn't have wide leaves, instead, it has slender leaves like a Willow. This tree make me think of the song by Willow Smith I Whip My Hair because when she whip her hair it is wild and can end up looking big like this tree. 

I found the Fringe Flower very interesting because first of all it is pink and that's my favorite color but also it is very beautiful. These are spider-like flower that bloom in the late winter or early spring. The actual name for this flower is the Loropetalum, which is a Chinese flower. This flower has been growing around America for almost 20 years. A flower like this makes a campus stand out. 

The Weeping Willow looks likea tree upside down. LOL. It is so easy to recognize this tree because there isn't a tree like it. I read that the Weeping Willow is biblical because of the bible verse that reads, "By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion, there on the willow-trees we hung up our harps." (Psalm 137)  These trees grow very fast and sprout easily. 

This lab was awesome because this gave me a chance to learn about some of the trees, flowers, shrubs, etc. 

The Mystery of the Megaflood is a unique region known as the Channeled Scablands of the northwest in United States. Scientist try to figure out what and how these tall canons, weird holes in the ground and big rock bulldozers are created. Ice carved through the solid rock and helped build mountains. After twenty thousand years during the last ice age, glaciers moved more Canada to the Scablands. The water made the rocks look like ripples and this happens overnight. Over the course of history, Glacial Lake Missoula filled with water and build up. It collapsed and the glaciers moved in to fill the gaps and once again it collapse. And this continues hundreds maybe even thousands of times. You can see where the water marks along the walls of the canyons.  Kathleen is a paleoecologist/ paceolimnologist said “they were hit by megafloods again and again.

 Here is a Hyperlink to get more information from The Mystery of the Megaflood. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OIxK5m5qi8&feature=player_detailpage .This documentary really gave me the full experience of what a megaflood and the video taught me a lot that I didn’t know. Im so glad we watched it in class because I would have never known about the fascinating things that happen in the world.