Structural Geology and Tectonics Elizabeth Miller

Land Art

Wikipedia: Land Art

Land art, Earthworks, or Earth art is an art movement which emerged in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, in which landscape and the work of art are inextricably linked. Sculptures are not placed in the landscape, rather the landscape is the very means of their creation. The works frequently exist in the open, located well away from civilization, left to change and erode under natural conditions. Many of the first works, created in the deserts of Nevada, New Mexico, Utah or Arizona were ephemeral in nature and now only exist as video recordings or photographic documents.

Rock trails across the Death Valley Playa
Racetrack Playa, Death Valley, artist unknown
Whale bones in a desolate village outside of Yanrakynnot in the Bering Strait, Arctic Russia
This spectacular sculpture garden made of the largest bones on earth. About a kilometer long pile of whalebones is mixed with rusted vehicles, machinery and empty fuel barrels.
Quartzite slabs up-ended for display
Up-ended quartzite slabs, Raft River Range, Nick Van Buer, 2007

Waiting

Geologists often spend long times waiting.  Waiting for someone, waiting for the snow or rain to stop, waiting for the truck, waiting for the helicopter.....  We've been inspired by the work of Andy Goldsworthy.

So, when we have time on our hands, we have some fun and re-arrange nature.

Stone and stick ring near river bed
Stone and stick ring, while waiting for storm to end, Chukotka, Arctic Russia, E. Miller
Edge of River bed with rocks lining the edge.
The Russians didn't work while it was snowing & raining and the rivers ran high. To pass the time, I separated the white rocks (granite) from the river to mark the high water line, then watched the river go down the rest of the day. Chukotka-Arctic Russia
Pieced of old buildings are made into sudo-fence while waiting for a helicopter
Fence while waiting for helicopter, Somnitelnaya, Wrangel Island, wood, brick, fuel barrels. E. Miller, 2006.
Empty fuel barrels, beaches of Wrangel Island, Arctic Russia
Empty fuel barrels, beaches of Wrangel Island, Arctic Russia