Dr. Heather McFarlin

@volcanoheather.bsky.social

2224 Followers 1148 Following

Mom, Alaska seismology, volcanology, LGBTQ+ rights, abortion advocate, social justice and equity.

Screenshot of Jurassic Park movie poster from 1993. There is the Jurassic Park logo in the lower center. Above that is the island the park is on with various dinosaurs seen in the film walking around. Above that is a t-rex with its mouth open in the middle of the poster, with a banner that says "when dinosaurs ruled the earth" in front of it. On top are the main characters of the movie.
Picture taken by pilot Jacek Maselko. Shows the South Sawyer Glacier, and in the background is the scar in the mountain that the landslide originated from
We received reports this morning from the Endicott Arm area of Southeast Alaska of a local tsunami that rolled through the area just after 5:30 AM. Seismic signals large enough to be seen widely across southern Alaska confirm a significant landslide in the region at about same time. We are working with other agencies and colleagues to understand the full sequence of events, but at this point, all evidence suggests that this set of 1-foot high waves was set in motion by a landslide of several tens of millions of cubic meters of rock striking the water. We are working to confirm the exact location. Learn more about our landslide monitoring efforts here: earthquake.alaska.edu/what-it-takes-…
2 topaz minerals from Utah. The one on the left is about an inch tall. The one on the right is some tiny pink topaz crystals on a matrix.
Another piece of sphalerite with quarts and some chalcopyrite.
Azurite with malachite. About 10 inches long by 3 inches wide by 2.5 inches tall. This is the side with more malachite.
Mystery mineral, greyish-green thin crystals that radiate out from a central point. There appear to be at least 3, maybe 4 of these central points in the specimen, the crystals overlap between the different points. There is also a mystery black mineral at the base-sparkly and small, not-quite-round shaped.
Piece of flourite- the end facing the camera is purple, and allows us to see the square shapes of the fluorite crystals making up the mineral. The purple fades to white as you look toward the far end of the mineral
Big rock in the desert outside of Laughlin, NV, that has petroglyphs drawn on the rock.
Larger pink calcite sample, with an unknown material, presumably from where it was growing in the mine before it was collected. Mounted in a small plastic display case on Styrofoam.
Lots of intersecting quartz crystals that grew out from each other in different directions. Looks kind of like a star burst. Mineral is mounted in a plastic display case on top of Styrofoam.
Folding knife with an ivory handle. I'm holding it above a small gift box that has red tissue paper inside.
Another view of the quartz + barite piece. The 3 quartz crystals intersection at different angles, and there are globs of barite on each one.
3 quartz crystals intersecting at different angles, 2 are white-clear, and one has a greenish-grey coloring at the tip. All have light tan barite globules growing on them. The sample is mounted in a plastic display case on Styrofoam.
Striped house cat staring at the camera, sitting in front of a decorated Christmas tree. Photo is taken from the ground level to get the cat and the tree in the photo.
Small yellowish-green rock with little dots of a sparkly black mineral on it. The rock is sitting in a small plastic display case on top of Styrofoam.
Screenshot from Mindat website ulexite photo gallery. The middle pic looks very similar to m the photos I took and posted above of my sample of ulexite.
Picture of a mineral in a plastic display case on a table. The mineral is whitish gray, and at one end, it is small and circular and radiates out to a bigger circle.
Screenshot from X of Alaska Earthquake Center's post for the weekly update from around the state. This is for the week of Nov 28-Dec 4, 2024. There were ~350 earthquakes detected, 4 were reported as felt, and there were 2 M4.1 on Mov 27 and Dec 1 in the Aleutians.
Rock specimen in a plastic display case. Light brown Rock, with tiny quartz crystals on the front face, with a larger (~1/4 inch) doubly-terminated quartz crystal on the front. There is a tag that says Herkimer "diamond" Johnsonville, NY
Rock with a pink base with white crystals all over it. The rock is mounted to a foam and is sitting in a plastic display case.
Picture from ground level, looking up toward a mushroom with a rounded reddish-orange cap with white spots, with a white stalk. There are dead leaves and a pinecone around the mushroom on the ground. Behind the mushroom are green leaves from bushes and trees.
Rock in a plastic display case. On the left side of the rock is a big white pointy calcite crystal. In the middle is a shiny coppery piece of chalcopyrite. Most of the rock is made of shiny dark grey sphalerite. There are small white calcite crystals all over.
Chacopyrite sample (coppery colored rock about 1 inch long by 1 inch wide) with an oxidized section (turning greenish-blue colored). White calcite crystals grew while it was forming (seen on the left side of the rock in this picture), and some of the calcite crystals are twinned!
Azurite from Tsumeb, SW Africa. Most of the mineral is a deep sparkly blue blob, with 2 elongated, very dark crystals sticking up out of the middle.
Vanadinite sample from Morocco. It has small sparkly red crystals, with a spine of tan crystals running up the middle of the length of the sample.
Small brown mushroom with a blueberry dangling above it. Foreground consists of leaves and moss. Blueberry bush in the background.