Graduate Assistant: Anecdotes from the Exam Hall

‘I hate you so much! You are an evil person! I hate you!’

I was add at the receiving end of this vitriolic declaration from a female student yesterday. It wasn’t because I jilted her or failed her or previously abused her. It was simply because I did not allow her to cheat during an exam. She walked up to me after the exam to make her statement because she, and others in the class, wanted to cheat and to the best of my abilities I tried to stop them. Thankfully her spite resulted in a mere shake of the head and the remark ‘one day you will understand what I am doing.’ Her statement got me wondering on my way home: can it be that the Nigerian University student has lowered his standards so low as to regard cheating as a good to be pursued and the invigilator, insofar as he tries to place obstacles, worthy of hate?

I’ve acquired a reputation in my short eight months as a graduate assistant as an ‘evil hateful invigilator’. Few days back I walked into the exam hall of the 200 level students and could hear the groans from most of the class (‘this man has come again!’). One has to be a true rebel to stand one’s ground to a practice  that has become the norm in examination halls all around the country: cheating.

Being a rebel is not easy though and it is easy to avoid responsibility or just switch off. On Tuesday I invigilated an exam were the regular students and the carry-overs were put in separate classes. Some of these carry-overs were my (former) classmates and expected sympathy from me. To avoid difficulties I asked the leader of the exam to put me with the regular students and let some other invigilator handle the carry-overs. ‘They will respect you! You are a lecturer! Don’t be afraid of them!’ was his stout reply. I admit that I was afraid; afraid of being seen as wicked and evil and proud. Now those  very words have been thrown in my face.

I will still be a rebel. Holding on to the fact that cheating is wrong and below our dignity as humans; that a culture of cheating will kill us individually and as a society and a nation. Individually we know the regret we feel for successes ill won and we know what similar forms of cheating has made our leadership into. There is laudable movement of young rebels who are against the culture of cheating at the ballot box. We must not forget that which goes on in our examination halls.

Jegged!

Nsukka

2nd April, 2011

12 noon: The long anticipated first Saturday of the 2011 election had arrived. The anticipation, palpable in the last few days had reached fever pitch from the bloggers to the social network users to the man on the street. Even though for various reasons (including chronic procrastination) I was not able to register in January, I followed the build up like everyone else, watched the debates as many others did, and argued over the candidates with others. There was a polling center just down the road and people had been waiting eagerly for the election materials to arrive and for voting to begin. Some had be waiting for more than 3 hours. Going through status updates on my Facebook account there was a feeling among people that the election would be free and fair and our votes will count this time.

1 pm: Accreditation had taken place but voting was yet to begin as the materials had not yet arrived. a helicopter flew past. Maybe their bring the materials from Abuja… or it is just another VIP coming to town. Then the rumors started coming. I came across a status saying that the elections had been cancelled, then on Sahara Reporters, then on more status updates and tweets  and  then on Reuters. The fellow who broke the news at the polling booth was literally mobbed with abuses. How can he be playing the ‘April fool’ prank on the 2nd of April. But then the prank turned to fact. Prof. Jega was unable to organize elections properly. Then the rumors as to what happened then began to fly: ‘The materials were to come from Japan, and they came in late because of the earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear wahala. in fact they came in at 9:00am this morning to Abuja and were then flown in by chopper.’ As expected foul play was suspected from the PDP who were not ready to play (and lose) fair and square and sought postponement in order to properly rig it. Other resorted to the usual ‘Nigerian’ apathetic optimism and comic cynicism  with statements like ‘we will get there’ or ‘so this is what we wanted to the Americans to learn from from Nigeria on how to conduct elections?’ (in reference to Jega’s predecessors laughable comment)

4pm: I came across another update on Facebook:

New Word in English Dictionary:

Jega: /v/ je-ga. The act of stupidly wasting the time of a lot of people whilst keeping them under hot sun. E.g the groom Jegged his bride for another girl!, Why are these embassy officials making up Jega without telling us anything?, After Jegging for 3 hours I finally got on a bus.

The elections had been postponed to Monday and Prof. Jega has created one more public holiday in 2011. Exams on campus will be cancelled surely along with other thing that Nigerians had to do on Monday. I believe this setback will not not dampen spirits and people will come out to vote on Monday the 4th. Let hope we don’t get Jegged again.

*As it seems the election have been postponed again to the 9th. We are watching.

Bomb Scare on Campus

© unn.edu.net

There was a long queue of cars at the main gate of the university yesterday morning. Now this isn’t normal as traffic jams are generally short and brief; but there it was stretching from the main gate to the Mobil filling station roundabout (if you’re from Nsukka you will know where  that is). Traffic jams like that usually have a serious cause; the visit of some important personage or major repairs to the road the gate or a broken down scar or… a bomb scare!

Yes, there was a bomb scare on campus, and that meant that men of the anti-bomb squad had to spend the whole day making sure that the passed their gizmos all around your car or body. I was told that students were even frisked before going into the library rather than the usual ‘show me you library card’. Does it have anything to do with tomorrow’s PDP primaries? That is supposed to be at Abuja so an attack will make more sense here. Or is another beginning of the session paranoia by our high protected VC (BTW it goes from annoying to quite amusing to see him surrounded by gun-toting security men all the time).

For most people, especially motorists, yesterday’s events were an annoyance and frankly nobody took it serious. The kind of statements one heard were of the skeptical kind: ‘Why would one want to plant a bomb in UNN?’ ‘So it is a first year student that will be walking around with a bomb in his laptop bag abi?’ ‘Ibos are too money conscious to go into suicide bombing?’

As of writing there hasn’t been reports of a bomb going off. Maybe the anti-bomb fellows did their job. Maybe we are just paranoid. Maybe we are carried away by the intense rivary that is making a party primary the most important issue for 150 million people. People down here are concentrating on getting on with the session and the semester which, it is rumoured, will end before the elections.

Ok there are a lot of things rumoured in this post but what can one do? That’s where almost everone gets information.

 

 

2010 in review—4 747 Hits

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is on fire!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,700 times in 2010. That’s about 4 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 17 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 37 posts. There were 28 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 17mb. That’s about 2 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was August 3rd with 29 views. The most popular post that day was In Memoriam: Obiora Okeke (1985-2010).

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were scienceblogs.com, facebook.com, theaccretionarywedge.wordpress.com, all-geo.org, and en.wordpress.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for failed rift, the failed rift, things a man should not do, olumo rock, and geology of eruwa.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

In Memoriam: Obiora Okeke (1985-2010) August 2010
5 comments

2

Accretionary wedge: Geo-Images wish list May 2010
6 comments

3

50 things a man Should and Should not do August 2010
1 comment

4

Under the rock October 2009
4 comments

5

At UNN: Madness! January 2010
13 comments

A Landslide…Not a Volcanic Eruption

The Imiande-Ukusu Itulygh landslide from a distance

When I was told of the volcanic eruption in Benue state I,like many others did not believe it. The nearest active volcano to was Mount Cameroon and from basic regional geology the most recent volcanic activity in Benue state was  as least in the tertiary period . I got even more surprised to find newspaper reports claiming to confrim an eruption. It took a visit by a team set up by the Geodesy and Geodynamics National Space Research Centre led by led by the agency’s Head of Department for Ground Based Systems Department, Mohammed Shuaibu along with Head of the Geology Department at the University of Jos, Professor Uriah Alexander Lar and Director of Mining and Solid Minerals, Benue State Ministry of Science and Technology, Shiaondo Aaga to confirm that it was a landslide and not a volcanic eruption.

At that point my first reaction was to go to see it despite my skepticism (I have always wanted to and hope to see avolcano live). That desire remained even when I realized it was a landslide, even though it wasn’t as urgent as before.

When I told Dr. Ogbonnaya Igwe about the slide on the 29th of November he was of the opinion that we should go to see it as soon as possible. Dr. Igwe is an expert on landslides and is a member of the International Consortium on Lanslides (ICL). His enthusiasm was therefore understandable. What I did not expect was that ‘soon’ meant our journeying in our departmental bus along with another colleague: Okey Nebedum and 2 students: Ikenna Okwara and Mbakwe Innocent to a place we had only the faintest idea idea of on the 1st of December.

We left Nsukka at 10 am on a trip that took us through the major towns of Benue state Oturkpo, Gboko, and Katsina Ala all the way to Adikpo the location of the Kwande local government headquaters . There the Secretary confirmed that it was a slide and gave us more detailed information about the locality of the slide as well as providing us with a guide.

View Larger Map
 

It took us more than an hour on relatively good road to get to the small town of Jako-Ata where the head chief of the district resides. It was already 5pm by then and he advised us to pass the night at his place, offering us lodging, food (head sized mounds of pounded yam and Tiv style okra soup) and also helped us to organized commercial Okada riders to take us at dawn to the place.

It took two hours by bike to get there. We saw the slides and extensively studied one of them. I will post a preliminary report on the study subsequently. It still baffling how the journalists carried the volcanic eruption story. Did they visit, or did they just get to Jako-Ata hear from the first indigene before making their way back to the comfort of their offices to write a sensational story about an earthquake. After an exhausting 4 hour hike up the slide and back we met a team from the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency NGSA who came  to verify whether it was a landslide or a volcano.it was bad enough that the NGSA was sending a team a full month after the incidence but what was worse was the team collecting our reports and making their way back to Abuja, leaving before we did!

 

Huge Boulders moved by the slide...No wonder they called it a volcano

In further posts I will comment more on this slide.

Graduate Assistant: One Month After

© Jorge Cham (phdcomics.com)

I got appointed into the Department of Geology as a Graduate Assistant just over a month ago (though I received the letter and resumed duty on the 12^th of August the appointment letter is dated 5^th of August. I’ve waited more than a year for this but its final arrival was more like an anti-climax; a kind of ”ok, so now what?” kind of feeling. I was well received at the department and I did not have to wait up to a week (19^th August) before I was standing before the 2^nd year students trying to hide my nervousness as I introduced the course Structural Geology and Map Interpretation to them. I actually thought up some nice ”first ever statement as a lecturer” to say on that Friday morning. But I ended up with an awkward “Hello my name is Ikenna Okonkwo…I’ll be assisting Dr. Mamah in the course GLG.222″. I still take the course and I think I am a bit more comfortable with the course which is my area of specialization.

By the next Tuesday I was assigned by the HOD to help with Micropalaeontonlogy for the 3^rd years. Yes, Micropalaeontonlogy!! Of all the courses in geology this was the one I thought I would never have to  handle. Yes I aced the course as a student but I never was one for biology. I had to brush up (relearn is a better word) on Forams, Ostracods, and Calcareous Nanofossils to be able to deliver lectures to 300 level geology and Botany students (they take the course as an elective) with the semblance of one at home with the topic. I have a feeling that they find the subject matter boring and unnecessary and I have to sometimes emphasize the importance of micropaleontology to the geosciences (stratigraphy, petroleum geology, palaeoclimatology etc) which I also discovered rediscovered in the hours spent preparing the GLG. 342 classes. I don’t know what I’ll be asked to handle in the coming months there might be the Aerogeology and Remote Sensing course for third years or giving a hand in petrology and Optical mineralogy labs. All this also piled upon a M.Sc. in its preliminary stages. The next few months will surely be hectic and exciting.

BTW

As a graduate assistant I also got an office. It was to be choice between New Geology complex and Jimbazz but I consider Jimbazz to be rather dark, noisy and dreary for my liking. At the ‘white house’ – as we call the New Geology complex. I hoped for the library but had to settle for the  dormant computer room to avoid “controversy”. I still haven’t settled there long enough to even get to clean it thoroughly; and I have is a desktop computer and an AC that mimics the environmental conditions of Moscow.

Aunty Dora comes to UNN!

“Hey! Good to see you. It seems the whole of UNN is coming out of PAA. What happened?”

“Aunty Dora is in town.”

“Aunty who? I never knew you had an aunt who could gather this kind of crowd.”

“Very funny. I am talking about Prof. Dora Akunyili, our honorable minister of information.”

“What will bring Dora to UNN?”

“Under which rock have you been hiding all this while? Her coming is a part of the 39th convocation ceremony activities.”

“Oh I forgot! I thought it was supposed to be tomorrow?”

“The convocation is a week-long affair. This lecture was just one of the slated events.”

“Ok, so what did she lecture us on. She was a lecturer here you know.”

“ Rebranding Nigerian Universities.”

“Re-branding? Has she not overused that word already?”

“She called it a ‘topic of her passion’”

“Ah ha!”

“Re-branding Nigerian Universities is but a part of the Re-branding Nigeria project.”

“Her Re-branding Nigeria project.”

“Whatever… She reminisced about how good things were in her days as a student and how bad things now are to the extent that in 1996, as a senior lecturer, she booked 120 masses and three 30-day novenas to get an American visa lottery to send he children overseas. Which she got.”

“Otito diri Christi!“

“In my opinion it was the tale of woes which one hears a lot these days from older lecturers and alumnus of how good things were in the good old days…and how bad they are now.”

“Without explaining how things got so bad on their watch.”

“Abi oh…She also spoke about the ‘Sanctity of Exams being a the root of the Universities value system’.”

“I agree wholeheartedly with that one. Things are so bad now that it is bad not to cheat in some cases. Even in Masters classes.”

“She also spoke about the need to properly set exam questions and for students to stop tempting lecturers…plus stricter measures for lecturers who get tempted. She also talked about the need for a universal Faculty and not lecturers chosen because they are from UNN or from Enugu state…”

“or from Nsukka.”

“Yes, that too.”

“I sure that did not go down well with some of our people…What else did she talk about.”

“Well, the need for greater emphasis on character, research, the need for government funding which Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan is-”

“Lucky Jo also answers Zik?”

“Eziokwu. I was also suprised…President Jonathan is committed to improving the University and- you will like this one – improving the remuneration of lecturers.”

“You don’t mean it. Bartho should hurry and give me this job jare. Let me at least share in the good luck of president goodluck.”

“She of course capped it up with her achievements as minister of information and the successes of the re-branding Nigeria project so far…If you want more go and get the speech and read for your self.”

“No vex. It will surely be on their website…wait…Where are all those people running to?!”

“I think she’s going to pass the road and they want to block her.”

“They are carrying banners. Maybe the have some information they would like to pass on to Goodluck.”

“Let’s go and see.”

“I beg oh. With these MOPOL and soldiers around? I’m too young to get shot and I am allergic to tear gas!”

“Don’t worry, it seems like they are PAN students. They probably just want to greet their Madame.”

“Or ask her to make a donation.”

“Na you know…She has stopped and wound down to greet us.”

“He-he-he Aunty Dora is behaving like a Queen oh.”

“Shut up jo! She is only acknowledging cheers from students of her alma mater.”

“Eh hen? With all the waving and blowing kisses abi? She is only a common minister of information and she is acting like Obama-come-to-town.”

“Are you jealous?”

“Of what? We hallow our leaders too much. That is why they get away with a lot of incompetence!”

“So Dora is incompetent.”

“I did not say that. But let us not praise her too much for doing her job…Wait, they are now running toward Christ church chapel!”

“Ah she came with a chopper! It must have landed on the nearby field”

“Now that I must see.”

“I remember hearing it this morning. She must have come at around that time.”

“He-he-he can you imagine? Both of us Agbayas running to see Aunty Dora enter a chopper…I wish I came with a camera…Who else is coming for the Convocation.”

“They are awarding honorary PhDs to Governor Alhaji (Dr.) Mohammed Danjuma Goge of Gombe state and Godswill Obot Akpabio of Akwa Ibom.”

“These Honourary PhD’s Universities are constantly dishing out. A friend of mine wrote about them once. It seems like one of the advantages of being in high position is a chance to garner honorary PhDs.”

“The MD/CEO of GT Bank also gets one.”

“So more choppers in the coming days.”

“You bet!

She is already inside the chopper putting on her seat belt.”

“So she hired a chopper with our money.”

“Of course now! She is an Honorable Minister of information…for your information. She cannot travel by car all the way from Abuja what with the kidnappers and robbers and bad roads and angry fake drug manufacturers.”

“She would at least get first-hand information on how common Nigerians are suffering these things.”

“Osu imi like you! Why shouldn’t our own minister of information get to be flown to events by chopper. It saves time and she also gets to have a bird’s eye view of the country. You geologists will appreciate that.”

“Just hear yourself talk! She had better not try flying a chopper into Goodluck territory. Those militants there can shoot that thing down into the creeks.”

“The chopper is about to take off.”

“There she goes again with the Royal waves and kisses. The woman is vain oh.”

“But can you see? Here the people adore her…She has fans!”

“I hear she may run for Presidency next year. This might be a campaign trip.”

“She would get my vote if she does.”

“Lucky Joe should not hear about it oh. She would end up like Aunty Ndidi.”

“Na you sabi… The chopper doesn’t seem balanced oh!”

“Maybe the pilot is a learner.”

“There it goes! He just wanted to put on a show.”

“I have to write about this.”

“On that your blog abi?”

“Yes, on my blog. I have already composed the last part of the post:

The chopper hesitated a bit as it moved to one end of the freshly cut lawns beside the Chapel raising golden brown grass. Then it streaked across the field carrying Aunty Dora who was all waves and kisses past the adoring fans on the ground and disappeared into the setting sun.

…or something like that.”

“Humph! So even Geologist have begun to dabble into poetry. When will it end?”

“Osu imi! Let’s go home jare!”

In Memoriam: Obiora Okeke (1985-2010)

With Obiora Okeke (right) in 2007

Obiora Okeke called me last week thursday. I was supposed to arrange reference letters for admission into the university of Salford (UK) from 2 lecturers at the department and I had actually been dragging my foot about. It wasn’t the first time since he had called and really on that thursday I did not have a good excuse to give. Anyway I have the reference letters signed and stamped and ready to be sent but Obiora Okeke is gone. He left uinexpectedly on Wednesday (27th) before I could send it.

I don’t remember the first time we met in those heady and now hazy days of our freshmen year. He was one of those with whom I just naturally parleyed up with without introduction: we were both Lagos boys, he went to Federal Ijaniki and I went to K.C. and we both had a liking for sport more especially football. We were not actually  the tightest pals as such but he was one of those friends whom I would find myself hanging out with at the back of NSLT or in front of 226 before a geol. 111 class or several times in his room at flats (I considered him rather unlucky at the time; and a hard man too). I remember he had plans to go abroad at the time; though it ended up not working out.  With similar surnames we usually sat around one another  along with other usual suspects during exams.

I remember that he was one who never got angry in a noisy way. He was what one would describe as cool but on close observation certainly not melancholic.

It was in 300 level that we really began to be close…Actually that was the time most of us in the class of 2007 generally got close. I remember the Geol 351 trips to Afikpo and Akwanga. We shared seats and his discman on those tightly packed trips. He was among the ‘gang’ who, thinking it was my first time taking alcohol, were bent on my getting drunk on that rainy night at Afikpo (we share a beer and he paid for a bottle of don Simon…The Rascal!); to the consternation of some of my more sober classmates.

The memories of our final year are too many to recount here: finishing exams formula one style, the final days of sleepless night trying to finish up our projects at his house ( despite being distracted by Chitis bread and Everybody Hates Chris).

We haven’t seen in almost to years but we were still in contact from my NYSC in Oyo to his NYSC in Abuja to that reference letter for the M.Sc. in Gas Enginnering at the University of Salford.

They say that when you are young you get to attend the birthday parties of your friends, later it’s their weddings and later in life their funerals. I’m supposed to be at the wedding stage. To attend funeral of a friend now…

Some consoling words from the liturgy of the Holy Mass for the dead

Lord, for your faithful people life is changed, not ended. When the body of our earthly dwelling lies in death we gain an everlasting dwelling place in heaven

(Preface for Christian Death I)

Death is not the end. For me this death came too early, but in reality no death comes to early or too late but precisely on time. Now the grief is too near and too deep to bear. But for him life is changed to LIFE. And now i have a friend on the other side of life. Rest in peace.

50 things a man Should and Should not do

Came across two nice articles from First Things‘ website this weekend on 50 things a man should be able to do and 50 things a man should never do. Some of the points, though  American oriented, are worth a good examination of conscience, and one can add a few more to a list which obviously isn’t exhaustive. Here some that caught my attention:

50 things a man should be able to do:

1. Forgive your parents – They did the best they could . . . or they didn’t. Either way, you’re a man now so it’s time to move on.

2. Ask your parents to forgive you—You know what you did. They do too. [how simple and yet how hard]

6. Comfort a child—If you want to judge the character of a man, observe how he treats a child. He may not have any himself—he may not even like kids—but if he can provide them comfort when they are scared or hurting then he can’t be all bad.

7. Cook one signature dish. [like boiled rice or fried eggs?]

10. Write three coherent, connected, and grammatically correct paragraphs—If it’s really necessary, you should be able to repeat the process well enough to add three more. Unless you have a job that requires extensive writing, that’s probably all you’ll ever need to get by. [for the Nigerian: say three coherent, connected and grammatically correct sentences without slang, pidgin or local language]

11. Navigate your way around an unfamiliar city without getting completely and utterly lost. [without a GPS]

16. Tell a spellbinding (though not necessarily true) story.

20. Tell a joke that is (a) clean, and (b) funny. [basketmouth and co.]

25. Recite the Ten Commandments from memory—If you remember them, it’s easier to follow them; if you follow them you’ll avoid about 90 percent of the self-inflicted damage that will screw up your life [for Catholics add: The Creed, The Rosary].

30. Push-start a car with a manual transmission. [Drive a manual transmission car]

34. Make it through the rest of your life without saying the thirty-seventh dumbest sentence in the English language: “I have to learn for myself.”

35. Endure an insult with grace.

37. Load, shoot, and clean a firearm.

38. Admit being wrong in a situation that will cost you dearly.

39. Physically protect your loved ones and be willing to risk life and limb if necessary to keep them safe.[What do you think your Beards, Muscles and Baritone voice are for?]

40. Lead your family in prayer. [Pray]

41. Cogently explain and defend your most fundamental beliefs, preferably without raising your voice.

42. Hug another man.

43. Take harsh criticism without being defensive.

44. Differentiate between love and lust—and avoid the latter.

45. Recognize wisdom and know how to get it.

46. Help someone who is vomiting (without throwing up yourself).

47. Write a letter of recommendation.

48. Write a love letter. [Write a letter]

49. Avoid the Three A’s That Ruin Your Life: Anger, Adultery, Apathy.

Personal additions that come to mind:

Change a tyre

Change a bad fuse or a dead bulb

Know how to say no

And then 50 things a man should never do:

8. Punch [hit] a woman for any reason other than to prevent her from causing another human being serious bodily harm.

12. Know the complete lyrics to a Lady Gaga song. [I wholeheartedly agree!]

13. Criticize another man’s wife in front of him.

14. Pierce any part of your body. [tattoo any part of your body]

15. Care about fashion. (It’s okay to care about style, but not fashion. There’s a difference.)

16. Be drunk in public [be drunk anywhere].

17. Post drunken pictures—of yourself or anyone else—on Facebook.

18. Spend more than three hours a week playing video games. [this one elicited a good number of comments  justifying why man can play videogames for more than 3 hours a week]

19. Expect praise for doing what you’re supposed to do (e.g., take care of your kids, clean up your own messes, work for a living).

20. Show fear in front of a dog or small child.

21. Sit while a pregnant woman has to stand.[sit while a woman has to stand]

22. Forget where you came from or who helped you to get where you are.

26. Use the bathroom in front of any woman that isn’t a nurse (including your wife).

27. Refer to oneself as a “playa.”[or a stud]

31. Correct someone’s grammar unless (a) you are asked to do so, or (b) getting paid to do so, (c) the person is both under the age of eighteen and your own kid.

32. Be afraid to work hard.

33. Embarrass a father in front of his children.

34. Cry while watching any movie other than Old Yeller, Brian’s Song, or Rudy.

35. Go more than a year without reading a book. [true!]

36. Take cues about sex, marriage, fatherhood, or masculinity from watching popular movies and television shows.

37. Stop and ask for directions when a woman is in the car. [em not actually]

39. Allow a bully to go unchallenged in any situation

43. Wear clothes emblazoned with cartoon characters. [including manga and hip-hop artists]

46. Wear too-short or too-tight shorts.

47. Get upset when women tease them. (Yes, women can say things about men that men can’t say about women. That’s the way it is.)

50. Curse in public.

Accretionary wedge: Geo-Images wish list

It is almost a year since I took part in the Accretionary Wedge geoblogospheric carnival. This it is hosted at Highly Allochotunous Allochthonous and it is on images! In their own words:

It could be a photograph you’ve taken of an outcrop or process in action; a diagram from a classic geologic paper or text-book; a satellite image of an incredible landscape; an optical microscope picture of your favorite mineral; something topical, or an old and inspirational favorite. Whatever strikes your fancy.

I guess this offers a chance to add some Nigerian flavor to things  although my best images are satellite image fall on my must-see-before-I-die list here’s 2 of my favorite for this months wedge.

The Lamurde Anticline

View Larger Map

The Lamurde anticline is one of the most impressive features one can find in the Benue trough where similar structures are rare. This NE-SW plunging (NE) anticline is a result of transpression within the Benue trough during the Santonian to probably Maastrichian age. The fold structures in the Benue trough all follow a similar NE-SW trend, but unlike in the lower benue trough -made up of predominantly shales and in a more humid environment- one does not get to appreciate the folding except after analysis of attitudes at isolated outcrops.

Goosenecks

View Larger Map

The first time I read about incised meanders in areas of rapid uplift or lowered base level the pictured example used was of the Goosenecks of the San Juan river, and I understood clearly what it means for uplift to literally take a meandering river unawares. This is one the places I desire to see one day and I can only settle for satellite images and this wonderful panoramic view.

© Hank Waxman (Panoramio.com)