tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8693614218792476252.post4640079686614631239..comments2024-03-09T08:06:26.066-08:00Comments on Looking For Detachment: Like caterpillars, crawling or marching...Silver Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03131032620978696727noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8693614218792476252.post-24304797651750575512010-12-30T15:54:23.783-08:002010-12-30T15:54:23.783-08:00The quote was finally tracked down by @microecos, ...The quote was finally tracked down by @microecos, though I'm sure my relentless tweeting had something to do with that. Many of these mistakes could have (fairly) easily been corrected before libraries went digital - I think researchers were often more particular at that time. The quote somehow, though, got distorted - and it was distorted early on - and then at some point, everyone assumed it was one of those things that "everyone knows" so doesn't really need to be cited anymore. If Dutton had just said that in a Monograph or Professional Paper, instead of a huge report to Congress - I think that's how it got lost.Silver Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03131032620978696727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8693614218792476252.post-77857260753802875472010-12-30T15:28:11.080-08:002010-12-30T15:28:11.080-08:00Wow! Great example of playing telephone with quote...Wow! Great example of playing telephone with quotes, and no one knows where the real one was from. I'm impressed you were able to track down the source (and I'm reminded of how much online search engines and material have changed this kind of research and fact checking!).Cianhttp://www.cbdawson.com/blognoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8693614218792476252.post-61233100522921270912010-12-29T11:09:40.186-08:002010-12-29T11:09:40.186-08:00Glad you enjoyed it, Suvrat - it was fun to write!...Glad you enjoyed it, Suvrat - it was fun to write!Silver Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03131032620978696727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8693614218792476252.post-7450566233571259762010-12-28T23:46:04.901-08:002010-12-28T23:46:04.901-08:00this made terrific reading.. thanks!this made terrific reading.. thanks!Suvrat Kherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18281172632784780810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8693614218792476252.post-78837515577101021112010-12-27T16:14:31.669-08:002010-12-27T16:14:31.669-08:00Thanks, Howard. That's a great point you have ...Thanks, Howard. That's a great point you have about the way maps used to make mountains look like caterpillars. I hadn't thought of that, but maybe Fiero had, when he said "fuzzy."Silver Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03131032620978696727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8693614218792476252.post-89135830517180053392010-12-27T15:41:33.835-08:002010-12-27T15:41:33.835-08:00Great work, and fun to read!
No doubt the compari...Great work, and fun to read!<br /><br />No doubt the comparison of mountain ranges to "marching caterpillars" would have been enhanced (in Dutton's time) by the former practice of drawing mountain ranges on maps with radiating pen strokes, rather than contour lines, giving them a real resemblance to fuzzy caterpillars, for example here (zoom to the "original" size): http://www.flickr.com/photos/manitobamaps/2186577944/<br /><br />--HowardAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8693614218792476252.post-24962450395718631292010-12-27T15:25:42.368-08:002010-12-27T15:25:42.368-08:00Of course, if DeCourten - or anyone else - would h...Of course, if DeCourten - or anyone else - would have cited Dutton properly, I wouldn't have ended up posting this! :)Silver Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03131032620978696727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8693614218792476252.post-89445807225513396662010-12-27T15:17:23.172-08:002010-12-27T15:17:23.172-08:00Thanks, Nina!
Nina, Frank DeCourten made the mist...Thanks, Nina!<br /><br />Nina, Frank DeCourten made the mistake that everyone has made over the years - not to find Dutton's original quotation, "crawling northward." He also made the second common mistake, in thinking that Dutton was referring just to the Basin and Range, when in fact he was referring to the entire West. Dutton and other geologists may not have known about the internal drainage of the Great Basin - I don't know when that was discovered.<br /><br />The Great Basin is a very tiny thing compared to the Basin and Range, and they are very different things (maybe another blog post?). The Basin and Range runs from Mexico, into Arizona and part of New Mexico, into part of southern California, into Nevada and Utah, and then into Oregon and Idaho. There is also some Basin and Range in Washington. I suspect a bit of Basin and Range type country is opening in northern B.C. or southern Yukon near Kluane Lake.<br /><br />The Great Basin is a hydrographic province, mostly but not entirely in Nevada and Utah, where drainage is internal and not to the sea. It only overlaps with a small portion of the Basin and Range, which is a tectonic or geologic province.<br /><br />Yes, those are two good books! :)Silver Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03131032620978696727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8693614218792476252.post-72682423790165862010-12-27T14:21:09.860-08:002010-12-27T14:21:09.860-08:00Wonderful post on pretty much my favorite topic - ...Wonderful post on pretty much my favorite topic - Basin and Range Province and the Great Basin within.<br />In "The Broken Land - Adventures in Great Basin Geology" (2003), (in my opinion one of the greatest books ever written!), Frank L DeCourten wrote (pg. 10) about the poetic geologist Clarence Dutton describing the province as "an army of Caterpillars crawling toward Mexico" (or coming "north out of Mexico" depending on who "quotes" Dutton!). McCourten wanted to make the distinction (which we now know but perhaps they did not back in Dutton's time?) that the caterpillars were heading south (extending into)to Mexico - that the B&R province extends far beyond the area of internal drainage of the Great Basin.<br />McCourten takes the theme further in chapter 8 "The Army of Caterpillars and the Conflagration" and a section (page 180) he calls "Extensional Faulting - the Caterpillars Hatch."<br /><br />If I were allowed to keep only one book (geology or otherwise) in my lifetime, THIS excellent book would be it. Second would be "Annals of the Former World" by John McPhee.<br />Thanks for a great post!Nina Fhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08965179274125274725noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8693614218792476252.post-78882466667124719332010-12-27T13:29:26.087-08:002010-12-27T13:29:26.087-08:00Awesome! Excellent detective work! Now we can gig...Awesome! Excellent detective work! Now we can giggle every time we see someone misquote Dutton with seeming authority. It's no wonder the image caught on and evolved: first time I read it and then looked at an image of the Basin and Range, the two meshed perfectly. It's one of those descriptions that powerfully evokes the reality.Dana Hunterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00890312745525306991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8693614218792476252.post-43086248387931128222010-12-27T12:08:05.491-08:002010-12-27T12:08:05.491-08:00Dang, you got the research down. Does seem to go a...Dang, you got the research down. Does seem to go around the CO plateau. Maybe I should read more Dutton.Gaelynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05784162697113288888noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8693614218792476252.post-8927376191787571832010-12-27T09:35:29.000-08:002010-12-27T09:35:29.000-08:00Thanks, Ron! I'm indebted to you and @microeco...Thanks, Ron! I'm indebted to you and @microecos, and I know others were Googling, also. I hadn't tried the Google Book Search method until you posted the results of your searches.Silver Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03131032620978696727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8693614218792476252.post-50846402352421861042010-12-27T08:44:04.774-08:002010-12-27T08:44:04.774-08:00A-ha! So the columns are dividing around the Colo...A-ha! So the columns are dividing around the Colorado Plateau, with the main body of the army marching northwest through Nevada and western Utah while the other smaller column follows the Rio Grande Rift northward through Colorado.<br /><br />Spectacular research and perseverance, Silver Fox! We are truly in your debt for tracking this one down. Great work!Ron Schotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10020094512548523216noreply@blogger.com