Weeks 5-7 New Zealand Plus

Whirlwind of a tour of New Zealand in bullet points:

*Wonderful pre conference (ICG) field trip from Wellington to Kaikoura and then on to Christchurch: observing uplifted coastal platforms, fault scarps, landslides and discussing sediment cascades through the fluvial network from the thousands of mass wasting events associated with the 2016 Kaikoura EQ. 

*great talks at the International Conference on Geomorphology. It was refreshing to experience a non-north American centric conference. So much learning about glacial, peri/para glacial, aeolian, pluvial and other geomorphic study sites around the world. Day 2 was obviously a highlight for me with all day in back to back tectonic geomorphology sessions and presenting my work extending Parker and Veronica’s Ksn of Utah study. I also found myself stuck in a number of planetary geomorphology sessions. fascinating! 

*visited the Earthquake City museum in Christchurch and also toured the red zone neighborhoods by bicycle which were ruined by liquefaction and ground subsidence in the 2011 EQ, very haunting. 

*Visited Queenstown and rented a second bike (Giant Revolt Advanced). Had a nice initial ride, was having an epic ride on day 2. After 30 miles and three hours in a bee flew into my helmet and stung me. Fourth sting in the past five years and I had a systemic reaction with hives everywhere. Fortunately, I was able to bike far enough to find a road where I could flag someone down and get taken to the emergency department. While I never had breathing issues, it was about 3-4 days before I was fully recovered from the systemic reaction (and that’s with epi, two doses of prednisone, and antihistamines). 

*flight back to the US was cancelled on the first attempt. 30 minutes before boarding they sent us back through customs and three lines and hours later I found myself in another hotel for the night. Took a long walk along a coastal marsh (with an epi pen). Flight the next day was fine, about 1.5 hours shorter than the other direction due to favorable winds. For those who don’t know, flying over the equator is bumpy in the afternoon with the higher troposphere boundary and daily convection ongoing! 

*Taxes completed.

*poised to submit my second sabbatical paper tomorrow, extending David Munsey’s 2023 AGU project on ground subsidence in Southern Utah. 

*will resubmit the TLF paper after revisions this coming week.

*Looks like Parkfield 2.0 Workshop will take place in June.

*will attend a series of talks by sedimentary geology faculty candidates this coming week (probably just teaching demos for me). 


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