Science page update / desert varnish on meteorites

Tuesday, March 2, 2010 7:23 AM

Greg wrote:

“I’m wondering if the formation of desert varnish
can vary depending on different biological and
environmental factors. Perhaps in one area a
similar thickness may take a shorter period of
time. 100,000 years is a long time, but I guess
not that long in geological time. This is interesting
in that some meteorites may have been sitting
on earth for a very long time.”

Below are some interesting pages about desert varnish:

Rock Varnish (desert varnish): An Internet Primer for
Rock Art Research by Ronald I. Dorn , Professor of
Geography Arizona State University

http://alliance.la.asu.edu/dorn/VarnishPages/VarnishPrimerIntro.html

Chapter 8 in Geochemical Sediments and Landscapes
http://alliance.la.asu.edu/dorn/VarnishPages/GeochemicalSediments/GeochemicalSediments.html

http://alliance.la.asu.edu/dorn/DornCh08.pdf

Note: the above URL to Chap. 8, has numerous links to
PDF file of papers about rock varnish.

Desert Varnish
http://alliance.la.asu.edu/dorn/DesertVarnishDornFormat.pdf

Varnish Micro-Lamination (VML) Dating

http://www.vmldating.com/

PDF files of various publication about rock varnish can
be downloaded from “Selected Publications on
Methodology and Application of VML Dating” at:

http://www.vmldating.com/selectedpapers.html

Yours,

Paul H.

RE: Desert Varnish formation

Paul bristolia at yahoo.com
Wed Mar 15 17:09:53 EST 2006

Kevin Forbes wrote:

“Desert Varnish formation
http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ploct97.htm”

A couple of related references are:

Quade, Jay, 2001: Desert pavements and associated
rock varnish in the Mojave Desert: How old can they
be?. Geology. vol. 29, no. 9, pp. 855–858.

and

Broecker, W. S., and Liu. T., 2001: Rock Varnish:
Recorder of Desert Wetness?. GSA Today. vol. 11,
no. 8, pp. 4–10.
doi: 10.1130/1052-5173(2001)011<0004:rvrodw>2.0.CO;2

The PDF version of Broecker and Liu (2001) can
be downloaded from:

http://www.gsajournals.org/pdfserv/10.1130%2F1052-5173(2001)011%3C0004:RVRODW%3E2.0.CO%3B2

http://www.gsajournals.org/gsaonline/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1130%2F1052-5173(2001)011%3C0004:RVRODW%3E2.0.CO%3B2

Reassembly of the above URLs might be needed. If you do not paste
the full URLs into your browser, a message incorrectly stating that
you will need to buy the GSA Today article will appear.

Best Regards,

Paul

RE: Desert Varnish formation

Paul bristolia at yahoo.com
Tue Mar 14 10:34:13 EST 2006

Kevin Forbes wrote:

“Desert Varnish formation
http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ploct97.htm”

A couple of related references are:

Quade, Jay, 2001: Desert pavements and associated
rock varnish in the Mojave Desert: How old can they
be?. Geology. vol. 29, no. 9, pp. 855–858.

and

Broecker, W. S., and Liu. T., 2001: Rock Varnish:
Recorder of Desert Wetness?. GSA Today. vol. 11,
no. 8, pp. 4–10.
doi: 10.1130/1052-5173(2001)011<0004:rvrodw>2.0.CO;2

The PDF version of Broecker and Liu (2001) can
be downloaded from:

http://www.gsajournals.org/pdfserv/10.1130%2F1052-5173(2001)011%3C0004:RVRODW%3E2.0.CO%3B2

http://www.gsajournals.org/gsaonline/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1130%2F1052-5173(2001)011%3C0004:RVRODW%3E2.0.CO%3B2

Reassembly of the above URLs might be needed.

Best Regards,

Paul