From the Road: Mt. Whitney

Here's a quick pic of Mt. Whitney and a little bit of the Alabama Hills. Whitney is the bright rocky peak (or maybe you could just call it a large rock) behind the shadowed mountain, a little left of center. The Alabama Hills are the brown, granitic hills in the middle ground. Lots of movies have been shot at least partly in this area (Wikipedia lists some; IMDB lists many, but the list may includes Lone Pine itself).

North to Alaska - Take Two

The cool, cloudy, rainy weather we've been having the last couple days is making me think about Alaska, so I started looking into this classic Johnny Horton song - then I realized I was planning on placing it in my road song category, and it isn't one! No highways, roads, streets, byways, trucks, trains - just ships, a team of huskies, and a lot of travel. So it's a travel song. Oh, and by the way, the snow-covered mountain in the video is Denali, located more than just a little southeast of Nome. Johnny Horton, North to Alaska Single: 1960 Album: Greatest Hits, 1961 If you haven't seen the movie North to Alaska with John Wayne, it's well worth for the context and because it's an old classic, but the song is better than the movie. Also, be sure to check out the version I wrote, if you haven't already.

The Devil's Miner

Last night, we watched the documentary The Devil's Miner via Netflix online streaming - an excellent movie about two young brothers, 12 and 14 years old, who work in the Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain) silver-tin mines of Potosí, Bolivia. I highly recommend this movie. It documents the poor working conditions at the mines, the poverty of Potosí, and, in particular, the children who work at the mines. The story is told through the eyes of 14-year-old Basilo Vargas, who started working as an underground miner at the age of ten.


Basilo had to go to work after his father died, an event that made him the main provider for his mom, younger sister, and younger brother. Many children in Potosí start working in the mines at young ages; others work at easier jobs - despite child labor laws - in the city. Both brothers go to school when they can; the older brother has plans to leave the mines in six months and go to work in the city - his long range dreams include becoming a teacher and traveling to the major cities of the world. His younger brother wants to become a civil engineer.

The mines are said to have taken 8 million lives since their inception by the Spanish Conquistadors in the mid 16th century. The estimate, as far as I can tell, came from the book Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent, and includes deaths from underground hazards, silicosis, and mercury contamination. Life expectancy for miners working during the Spanish enslavement period was less than a year; life expectancy of miners today is 35 to 40 years. Currently, of the 8,000 miners working in the Cerro Rico mines, about 1,000 are children between the ages of eight and twelve (from BBC's History echoes in the mines of Potosí by Becky Branford).

The movie is also about Tio, a god or devil the miners make offerings to underground and at tunnel entrances to the mines. The Spanish Conquistadors, trying to crush an uprising by the enslaved indigenous workers, constructed devil-like idols, then they told the workers that this fearful "god" would kill them if they didn't work. The Spanish word "dios" became "tios" because the Quechan language has no "d," and "tios" later became "tio," the Spanish word for uncle. You can see one photo of Tio here; other pictures can be seen at the movie website by clicking on "Gallery."

While writing this, I started wondering about the potential for bringing in a large mining company, either to operate underground using large-scale, low-cost methods, the way El Peñon does in Chile, or to discover and mine a larger, lower grade deposit using open-pit methods. Bolivia, which runs a state-owned mining corporation, has historically been unaccomodating to foreign mining investment, although they recently entered into a joint venture with Apogee Minerals Ltd on an underground mine property located less than 200 km from Potosí. Also, it turns out that the people living there, proud that the City of Potosí is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are against any open-pit-type mining because they don't want to see the shape of the land changed. In fact, the UNESCO Courier reported in 2000 that 97% of people living in Potosí "would rather starve than see the silhouette of El Cerro disappear and, with it, the World Heritage title." [UNESCO doesn't report the actual survey that came up with this number or statement.]

Hopefully, no matter what the future holds for Cerro Rico, children won't have to continue to become miners, and miners won't have to work in such primitive and unhealthy conditions.

More Information:
Devil's Miner at IMDb

NYTimes movie review: As Bolivian Miners Die, Boys Are Left to Toil

LATimes movie review of 'The Devil's Miner'

City of Potosí - UNESCO World Heritage Site

Mother Lode

A classic movie to look for is "Search for the Mother Lode: The Last Great Treasure," in which Charleton Heston gets to play two brothers, one of which is a crazed and crazy gold prospector.

At first, the movie is above ground with great scenery from British Columbia - although I think they are supposed to be in Alaska, if I remember right. They talk of placer gold and placer claims, pronouncing it "play - sir" - maybe that's a Canadian pronunciation, but it’s one I’ve never heard in any gold fields! Later, the movie and action ends up underground, where every thing is dark and dangerous, and where Charleton Heston gets to pronounce the most famous lines of the movie in a rasping Irish accent, “Mr. Dupree.... Stay the hell out of me mine, laddie.”

The movie seemed hilarious when watched with a semi-drunken bunch of thermally altered exploration geologists, partly because the geology or words just didn’t seem quite right. I haven’t watched this movie since about 1982, which is the year it was released, and wouldn't mind seeing it again. Unfortunately, the movie is only available on VHS, though I've heard reports that you can buy a Swedish DVD version. If you buy a new VHS version, it's considered a collector's item, and the price is from $45 to $150 plus. The movie has developed what seems to be a kind of cult following, although it was panned by critics (and geologists!) when it first came out.

October Sky Tonight

The movie October Sky, isn't strictly a geology movie, but it does feature a young man, Homer Hickam, who desperately wants not to follow his father into the local coal mines, but who instead wants to go into space: from deep inside the earth to way up into the sky and beyond. Based on a true story.

It's a good movie, IMO, and it's on tonight and tomorrow night on DIRECTV:

October Sky on AMC at 8:00 PM EST, 01/12/2009
October Sky on AMC at 5:30 PM EST, 01/13/2009

Find Detachment in This: Tunguska

Draw your own conclusions by reading the following links. At the time, the "blinding, deafening blast" was not a mystery. The "doom, doom, doom" scenario offered by many websites reminds me of dwarves in the The Mines of Moria per the Lord of the Rings.


Tunguska per Wikipedia.

Do you read Russian? [Cited by Wikipedia, original transcripts from 1908, supposedly.]

Leonid A. Kulik. Came on the scene in 1927.

Yeah, sure. I'm all for science fiction, but GMAB.

What?

Sandia.
Scientific American.
NASA.
Green Gabbro.
Andrew Alden.
Christie at the Cape.

A New Geologist Survivor TV Show

Well, not really.... There is, once again, an email going around to various geological types (this is the second time I've seen it) which refers to Uncyclopedia's take on Geologists. The email circulating now, describes a 'geologist survivor-type' show, supposedly being considered by CBS in 2008 (reality TV?).

They were successful in finding nine geologists, 6 males and three females, between 25 and 50 years of age, and they quickly set up the first challenge; researching an active volcano in the Phillipines. The geologists and camera crew set up camp near the bottom of the volcano. The camera crew filmed the nine geologists bonding. The geologists were supplied with alchohol (a common strategy to loosen up the cast in reality TV), but the camera crew was surprised to notice that even after drinking gallons of the liquid, the geologists did not change their behavior, and continued talking in an obscure jargonized language about 'bombs', 'breccia,' and 'lahars,' none of which made for good reality TV.

Does the above sound at all familiar? I'm reminded of certain Death-Defying Geologists and their lava photos! The reality-TV-type testing goes on, with the geologists just not being able to leave or be voted off the show.

Finally, few of the scientists [geologists] seemed to understand the concept of 'voting off' another member. After consulting a nearby university, the crew finally explained that the geologists were 'competing for a GSA research grant.' This didn't go well either, as the geologists pointed out that they didn't have the time to write a research paper. Finally, they were simply told to get rid of someone on some sort of criteria. After a council, the geologists decided that whoever had the worst aim with a rock hammer would be told to leave.

Congratulations to certain geoblogosherians who have recently completed such research-type papers (and sorry if I've left some of us out!). As you can see above, geologists are simply not well suited to reality TV, since they (we) have their own way of doing things. The second event that is designed to get rid of some geologists takes place in Alaska.

The second event, landing in a bush plane in upper Alaska, was a complete failure. None of the geologists were nervous at the idea, which destroyed the drama the crew was hoping for, and worse yet, no-one in the production crew was willing to accompany the geologists to the site, out of sheer terror. The result was that small cameras were given to two of the geologists to film themselves. When the footage and geologists returned, the editors found tapes filled with footage and commentary about mountains and 'glacial erratics'. Only ten percent of the footage featured humans, and most of that footage was simply the petrologist standing by outcrops for scale.

By the time the production reached Hawaii, most of the camera-crew had quit (because of the steady diet of chili and the dangerous situations), and only five of the geologists were left; not because they had been voted off, but because they had been over-excited by rock formations at various locations and had refused to leave. Moreover, paying for an almost-constant supply of beer and transportation of the geologists' luggage (which mainly consisted of rock samples and unmentionably dilapidated field clothing), had almost exhausted the budget. CBS finally pulled the plug on the project in January of 2008, despite their fear that they might be sued for withdrawing the promise of a prize; however, none of the geologists sued, as they were still under the impression that they needed to publish a research paper to receive the money.

As you can see, geologists are simply not suited for reality shows, living as they (we) do in their (our) own reality. The rest of the article entitled "Geologist" is also interesting (although some parts are more humorous than other parts), and it includes a section about "Geologists in the Movies." Sound familiar? And more:

How to spot a Geologist
To spot a geologist in the wild, look for:

• Hand-lens, compass, pen-knife, handcuffs etc. tied round neck with string. ...
• When helping someone move and you ask "is this box full of rocks?" They answer "yes, be careful."

If you remain unsure, ask the subject to draw an annotated diagram of a trilobite. A true geologist will immediately reach for their waterproof notebook - this is your opportunity for escape.

And so it goes...

UPDATE: This part of the Unclyclopedia article on geologists has apparently now made it into hard print - see Highly Allochthonous for links.

Star Trek TOS: The Devil in the Dark

Accretionary Wedge #7; Geology/Geologists in the Movies
Hosted by Tuff Cookie at Magma Cum Laude.

I enjoy the occasional disaster flick, most of which have geological backgrounds or orientations, even if they don’t have any geologists in them. I wanted to go back a little farther, though, than the fairly recent Dante’s Peak, Armageddon, or Deep Impact (all of which, especially the first two, have geological problems in them but were, nevertheless, enjoyable in my opinion). So I’ve chosen the somewhat geological Star Trek TOS (The Original Series), Season 1, Episode 26: The Devil in the Dark.

The episode is about mining and a mining colony, and it refers to the classic though trite antagonism between geologists and engineers. Devil in the Dark introduces a new, silicon-based life form, a life form somewhat rock-like in appearance and composition, and therefore to be admired, in this geologist's opinion.

The Starship Enterprise goes to the pergium mining colony on planet Janus VI because an unknown monster or creature has been destroying equipment and killing the underground miners. Janus VI, BTW, also contains abundant reserves of uranium, cerium, and platinum, elements which I am somewhat more familiar with. I don’t really know where pergium fits on the Periodic Table of Elements . For more details about the episode, an Excruciatingly Detailed Plot Summary, by Eric W. Weisstein, is available.

The reason I remember this episode so well (besides seeing it numerous times) is that it introduces a non-carbon-based life form, the Horta, which turns out to be sentient and intelligent. The Horta is a silicon-based, rock-like entity made of a material similar to asbestos. It can tunnel through rocks using heat and acid (possibly that’s why an asbestos-like substance was thought by the writers to be necessary), which it somehow generates by consuming rocks as its source of “food.” At the time—the episode first aired on March 9, 1967 when I was 14 years old—I found it “fascinating” to imagine a silicon-based lifeform. Since that time, I have incorrectly remembered the Horta as a silica-based, quartz-like lifeform, rather than an asbestos-like lifeform, perhaps the result of bad memory. The Horta reproduces by laying roundish, silicon-based eggs (possibly made of raw silicon or silica, but looking a lot like brown balloons). It has killed, trying to protect its eggs from a bunch of obnoxious (to it) offworld, Federation miners.

The geology (or mineralogy?) is probably far-fetched—as is space travel with our given physics and engineering limitations, but interesting nonetheless. Mineralogically speaking, I’m not sure what form of “asbestos” would be more likely to be a good base or substance for life. Perhaps some mineralogists could comment on this issue.

In the episode, Spock behaves somewhat like a geologist (after all, he is usually the one with the all-element-reading tricorder). He is therefore (like any real geologist) the first one that can actually relate to this rock-like being. Like a stereo-typical geologist, Spock relates better to rocks than he does to people, and in this episode he relates better to the Horta than he does to most, well – humans (they are so illogical). In fact, he relates so well to the rock entity, that he is able to mind meld with it, an experience similar to what some geologists undertake when out in the field trying to figure out the geology of a particular field area.

As usual, there is tension between the logical Spock and the emotional Doctor McCoy. In addition, there is the stereotypical tension (and even animosity) between the mining engineers or mine managers of Janus VI and the explorationists of the Starship Enterprise. In this case, the explorationists aren’t really geologists, but they serve that purpose as far as the mining v. exploration tension goes. In the photo , Captain Kirk points a phaser at the Horta.

A few good quotes come from the episode, some of which might only be of interesting to other Star Trekkians (Trekkers, not Trekkies, as far as I’m concerned). The first relates directly to the rift between an engineer v. geologist perspective:

Chief Engineer Vanderberg: Look, we didn't call you here so you could collect rocks!

The second brings out Doctor McCoy’s bedside manner while trying to heal wounded rock-like beings:

McCoy: I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer!

And a few other quotes are of interest:

Spock: The odds against both of us being killed are 2,228.7 to 1.

Kirk: 2,228.7 to 1? Those are pretty good odds, Mr. Spock.

Spock: And they are of course accurate.

Kirk: Of course. Well, I hate to use the word, but, logically with those kinds of odds you might as well stay. But please stay out of trouble, Mr. Spock.

Spock: That is always my intention, Captain.

Kirk: Think she'll go for it? [A proposed truce between Horta and miners.]

Spock: It seems logical, Captain. The Horta has a very logical mind. And after close association with humans, I find that curiously refreshing.

Spock: Curious. What Chief Vanderberg said about the Horta is exactly what the Mother Horta said to me. She found humanoid appearance revolting, but she thought she could get used to it.

McCoy: Oh, she did, did she? Now tell me--did she happen to
make any comment about those ears?

Spock: Not specifically. But I did get the distinct impression she found them the most attractive human characteristic of all. I didn't have the heart to tell her that only I have...

Kirk: She really liked those ears?

Spock: Captain, the Horta is a remarkably intelligent and sensitive creature with impeccable taste.

Kirk: Because she approved of you.

Spock: Really, Captain, my modesty...

Kirk: Does not bear close examination, Mr. Spock. I suspect you're becoming more and more human all the time.

Spock: Captain, I see no reason to stand here and be insulted.