Drunk on Volcanology - Cinder Viognier

The next Drunk on Geology post is for Cinder Viognier from Cinder Wines. 

Cinder Wines is located in Idaho along the Snake River Plain, and it is a winery that does not shy away from it's geological origins. I was able to visit their tasting room up in Garden City, Idaho and it was fantastic. Unfortunately, the photos I ended up taking of the wines we got from there disappeared. Luckily, we did keep one of the bottles that we got because they were so cool, the Vognier seen above. We got two more wines from there but these (below) are the only pictures I had of those. This is a crop of a much larger picture showing all of the wines we had gotten from that trip. 

The word "cinder" refers to the geological rock known as scoria. Scoria is a basaltic volcanic rock that has a lot of air holes within it and is typically black in color. Think pumice, but black. When volcanoes erupt, they spit up lava. There are many different types of lava depending on the silica content of the lava. The higher the silica content, the thicker the lava. Basaltic lava has a very low silica content and therefore a low viscosity. This low viscosity lava will then be able to flow, like the lava rivers in Hawaii. Sometimes, basaltic volcanoes will erupt by spluttering their lava into the air. As the lava is shot into the air it solidifies and piles up alongside the volcanic vent. Over time these piles of scoria will pile high enough to become a cone, termed a cinder cone. 

Piece of scoria/cinder from the Utah's Ice Springs Volcano. 

Besides just having a low silica content, scoria also has a high iron and magnesium content. Once in contact with the surrounding air and water, this high iron content will sometimes rust, forming a reddish tinge to the rock. If the iron content is high enough, then the rock can turn very red, especially if broken down through erosion. The Cinder Wines tasting room had a lovely panel of scoria (cinder) from the local region (below). This panel mixes the rusted red scoria with the more typical black scoria. 

Scoria display at the Cinder Wines Tasting Room

The patterns depicted within the panel above is also what is artistically recreated on many of the bottles sold at the winery, as seen on the Viognier pictured.

Up close view of the cinder patterns on the bottle.

The geology of the Snake River Plain is complex and Cinder Wines fully embraces it, to the point that the developed a little handout with the geological history of the region. The Snake River Plain initially formed from the passage of the Yellowstone Hotspot over the region. The hotspot essentially melted the crust and produced several eruptions along the way. After the hotspot moved on (or more accurately after this part of the North American plate moved over it, since a hotspot doesn't move), the area of the Snake River Plain cooled off and collapsed down. This created a noticeable, large flat lying valley that lacked the mountains of the neighboring areas. Within this region of the Snake River Plain there also formed a lake within that depression left. This lake, called the ancient Lake Idaho, filled much of the valley shown in the images above. 

Pathway of the Yellowstone Hotspot across Idaho. Image courtesy of the Digital Geology of Idaho. 

Around this time, there was a subduction zone along the west coast of the United States where the Farallon Plate was subducting (going beneath) North America. This caused North America to be squeezed. However, most of the plate eventually went completely below North America. Because the plate was no longer pushing up against North America, the squeezing was reduced and North America expanded, like a compressed sponge being let go. The expansion of North America produced a region called the Basin and Range, which is an area of alternating valleys and mountains. This expansion also produced a thinning of the crust, which allowed for the hot mantle to melt the crustal rocks producing volcanoes. These volcanoes, which frequently consist of cinder cones, can be found all along the western US from Idaho down through Arizona and California. 

Eventually, ancient Lake Idaho drained out through an area known as Hell's Canyon, leaving behind its nutrient rich soils behind. The Snake and Boise Rivers then began to occupy the abandoned valley. However, that is not all. To the south was the historic Lake Bonneville, the predecessor to the Great Salt Lake. This lake was butting up against the glacial moraines (debris piles) to the south of the Snake River Plain. Eventually these moraines broke (at Red Rock Pass), and cataclysmic flooding of Lake Bonneville proceeded to remove most of the water of the lake through the Snake River Canyon. This flooding deepened the Snake River Canyon, eroded much of the material that was in the canyon, but also deposited a ton of sediment within the valley once the flooding had ceased.  

What remained behind was a region with a complex geological history, rich in nutrients from the lakes and flooding events, as well as a well drained soil from the presence of volcanic rocks. A perfect location for a geological based winery.

Drunk on Geomorphology - Rock Slide Organic Red

 

The next Drunk on Geology post is for Rock Slide Organic Red another Glacier National Park themed wine by Ten Spoon Vineyard. They also released the Going To The Sun Pinot Gris posted about before.

Since the name of the wine isn't Glacier National Park exclusive and I had already done a pretty extensive overview of the park, I will go over what the geological name means. 

A "rock slide" is a type of landslide, otherwise known as a mass movement event. Landslides are the downslope transport of rock, regolith (the layer of unconsolidated rocky material covering bedrock), snow, or ice from a higher elevation to a lower elevation through the force of gravity. Landslides can contain many different types of material and move at many different rates, from so slow it's barely perceptible to a very fast chaotic mess. They can also take place, not only on mountains, such as in Glacier National Park, but also under the water, where they are known as turbidites. 

Rock slides, and landslides in general, fit into geomorphology because they have to do with the evolution of the landscape. Landslides often occur in steep landscapes, where the slope is too steep for the material that is sitting upon it. This type of environment is found high up in mountainous regions, were the majority of the sediment transport is by gravity, but it is not limited to there. 

There are many types of landslides based on environment, materials that are moving, and the speed at which they move. The fastest types of landslide is the rock slide or rock fall mentioned on the bottle. A rock fall or rock slide is when a rock falls along a vertical or sub-vertical cliff. It then proceeds down slope by bouncing and flying along ballistic trajectories or by rolling on talus or debris slopes. The talus is the pile of rocks seen at the base of a cliff or a slope, which is the result of a rock fall or slide. 

A close up, diagrammatic view of a rock slide. Image courtesy of Slide Share, original source unknown.

As seen in the diagram above, rock slides are often linked to the orientation of the bedrock. When the layers of the bedrock are in the same orientation as the slope, this promotes failures of the slope. When a failure occurs, the rocks break off of the surface and falls or slides down to the base of the slope. Failures can be triggered by lots of things including earthquakes, construction machinery shaking the ground, heavy rains making the material on top heavier, or over steepening of the slope by construction, among other causes.

Rock slide along the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park. Image courtesy of Libby, MT News.

Since the Going-to-the-Sun Road needed to be carved out of the valley wall in many places, specifically the steeper portions within the Logan Creek Valley. Here, not only do you already have a steep slope, but it was further steepened by construction of the highway, and then add on to that the heavy snow and rain characteristic of the region makes this road extremely prone to landslides of various types. Here is one instance of a rock slide along the Weeping Wall section of the road back in 2006 after a series of thunderstorms drenched the slope and created a slope that was then too steep for the amount of weight associated with it. 

Text on back of bottle:

"Rockslide shows complex berry and cherry flavors with notes of chocolate and coffee. Made from grapes grown in the Missoula and Yakima Valleys, this wine stands up to Glacier's arbiter of good taste, the Great Bear."

Once a slope surface fails and the rocks start to slide, often additional material will then be knocked loose creating a larger landslide than initially started. Think of an avalanche (another type of mass movement event) where the amount of material at the beginning collects more material on its way down creating a massive movement of material.  

Another great geologically themed wine from Two Spoon Vineyards.

Drunk on Paleontology - Tooth and Claw Dry Hopped Lager

 

The next Drunk on Paleontology post is for Tooth & Claw Dry Hopped Lager by Off Color Brewing, brewed and bottled specifically for the Chicago Field Museum.  

When I was last in Chicago in April of 2019, I was touring around the Chicago Field Museum and I found out that they had a specialty label that appears to only be sold AT the Field Museum in honor of SUE the T. rex. According to Off Color Brewing's website:

"All lagers are not built the same. Czech style lagers are a subtype of pilsner style beers. Less bitter than it's German pilsner cousin, this style of pilsner instead features a hop aroma and a richer maltiness and is more delicate on the palate. Tooth & Claw is brewed as a house beer for The Field Museum of Natural History."

As I mentioned, the bottle proudly displays the skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus rex named SUE that is currently housed at Chicago's Field Museum. This is not the only beer to feature SUE, as I just did another post for Pseudo Sue Pale Ale, but this one is the only one to prominently display her skeleton on the bottle.   

SUE (AKA FMNH PR 2081) is a 90% complete T. rex skeleton, which is one of the most complete T. rexes ever found. She was discovered in 1990 by Sue Hendrickson and named after her. Sue Hendrickson worked for the Black Hills Institute of South Dakota, but there was some legal issues that came with the discovery. I go into it a bit more on my other blog, but I don't want to rehash that here. Eventually, the fossil was sold for $8.36 million to the Chicago Field Museum with backing by McDonalds and the Walt Disney Company. 

SUE in her fairly new home within the Griffin Dinosaur Experience at the Chicago Field Museum as of April of 2019. 

SUE was discovered within the Hell Creek Formation and has been dated to being about 67 million years old. This makes her one of the last dinosaurs of the Mesozoic. She is 40.5 feet and 13 feet tall, has been determined to be ~28 years old when she died, and is estimated to have weighed around 9 tons. 

SUE's original skull before it had been "fixed" by paleontologists in the cast of her complete skeleton.

Besides being nearly complete, one of the really cool things about SUE is the entire reconstruction of the skull. When discovered and pieced back together, the skull of SUE was essentially squished (all of which happened after death and burial). The skull itself also weighs over 600 pounds, so a reconstruction was needed in order to just display the skull. Luckily the original skull is also displayed nearby in the current exhibit as well.

SUE in her fairly new home within the Griffin Dinosaur Experience at the Chicago Field Museum as of April of 2019. 

After years of legal issues and paleontological prep work, SUE was finally mounted in its original location, within the main Stanley Field Hall at the Chicago Field Museum in the year 2000. It was then moved to the new location pictured here in late 2018. 

Secret Ingredient: Discovery

This has to be one of the coolest bottle designs that I have ever come across and I am thankful I was able to pick it up. I have also made to sure save at least one of the bottles with the carrier pack.

Drunk on Paleontology - Pseudo Sue Pale Ale

The next Drunk on Paleontology is for Pseudo Sue Pale Ale by Toppling Goliath Brewing Company. 

My case of Pseudo Sue was sent to me by some Chicago based friends who knew that I am big into the geology and paleontology of beers and figured this would be perfect for me. 

SUE (AKA FMNH PR 2081) is the Chicago Field Museum's Tyrannosaurus rex. 

SUE the T. rex in her former home in the Stanley Field Hall in the Chicago Field Museum back in August of 2016. 

There is a lot that can be said about SUE, but in short she was a 90% complete T. rex skeleton, which is one of the most complete T. rexes ever found. The Black Hills Institute of South Dakota was the organization that found her but there was some legal issues that came with the discovery. I go into it a bit more on my other blog, but I don't want to rehash that here. Eventually, the fossil was sold for $8.36 million to the Chicago Field Museum with backing by McDonalds and the Walt Disney Company. 

.

There are a few T. rex focused alcohols out there, and even two that are specifically about SUE, so for this post I am going to focus on the recreation of SUE on the package. Here SUE is pictured in bright greens and purples, however this same design has been used other times by the brewery with different color combinations. That brings up the question, of what is the correct color of a T. rex?

Text from the box:

"This single-hop pale ale showcases the Citra hop for a well-balanced beer that is delicate in body with a mild bitterness in the finish. She roars with ferocious aromas of grapefruit, citrus, mango and evergreen. Pseudo Sue’s unique taste is clean and bright with just enough bite!"

It has long been thought by paleontologists that we were never going to know what colors dinosaurs were. So they could, in theory, be any color possible. However, that is starting to change. Modern science has noted that many theropod dinosaurs likely had at least some feathers on them, unlike this depiction here, which is more akin to the original Jurassic Park's depiction of the Tyrant Lizard King. 

So did T. rex have feathers? There is some controversy to this as well. There have been numerous finds of T. rex with skin impressions, which would indicate that at least some of the animal was not covered with feathers. But that doesn't mean all of the animal was uncovered, or even that baby T. rexes were featherless (of which recent studies indicate that baby tyrannosaurs were indeed feathered). So, even if the baby T. rex was feathered it doesn't mean that an adult was feathered. Or even that the adult was partially covered. It's impossible to tell unless scientists either find enough skin impressions to that there was definitely no feathers, or they find feathers associated with the skeleton. Until then, it is likely that a T. rex probably had at least some feathers in adulthood. 

Depiction of a feathered baby T. rex. Image courtesy of Live Science, the AMNH, and D. Finnin. 

Putting the question of whether the T. rex was feathered or not aside, can scientists actually determine the color of dinosaurs (the extinct kind and the modern bird kind). And the answer to that is actually yes, at least up to a point. There are some colors in birds and other animals that are considered structural colors, meaning that the structure of the molecules within the body feature, such as a feather, affects its color. Therefore, it is possible to determine the color of the fossil feature (i.e. feathers) by looking at the structure of the melanosomes (color-bearing organelles) within the fossils. These organelles, which can be preserved in exceptional fossils, can then tell scientists what the colors of the feathers were (such as here, here, and here). While this doesn't represent all the possible colors that could be depicted, it does represent a wide array of the possible colors. 

Skin color, on the other hand is a bit harder, however it is not unprecedented that scientists have determined some fossils skin colors. Again, these are generally in exceptionally well preserved fossils. Within these they have found carotenoid-based structural coloration of a 10 million year old snake and as stacked perforated laminae in moths. 

Within dinosaurs, current knowledge is fairly rare of coloration outside of the feathers. However, recent research has determine some animal colors based on melanin within exceptionally preserved scales of dinosaurs such as Psittacosaurus (black and amber/brown) and Borealopelta (reddish brown). 

However, when we look as the fossil scale colors based on the melanin, the colors that show up are yellow, brown, and red. This is likely not the only colors that are possible, however these are the structural colors for melanin. There are other methods of producing colors that are not preserved in the fossil record as well. 

We know that based on the modern day assemblage of birds, that they represent a wide array of colors. However, those colors are created by their plumage, not their skin tones. It is unknown if a T. rex could produce colors like this without a coat of feathers. But if it is determined that the T. rex does have some variety of feathers on it, it could potentially have a more vivid color scheme. So for now, the colors of the T. rex will remain a mystery.

Drunk on Geomorphology - The Logo

 My next logo is:

Drunk on Geomorphology

Geomorphology is the study of the physical features of the Earth, such as mountains and rivers, and their relation to geology and geological processes. That's why I wanted to show a mountain range with some glacial U-shaped valleys and a river system coming out them. The river system starts as a meandering river and quickly evolves into a meandering river. Within the meandering river valley we have a wine bottle pouring into a wine glass, a rock hammer, and a half full liquor bottle. At the end of the river is a delta in the shape of a lime, pouring into a lake. 

Drunk on Glaciology - Going to the Sun Pinot Gris

The next up on the Drunk on Geology series is Going to the Sun Pinot Gris by the Ten Spoon Vineyard from Missoula, MT. 

The name "Going to the Sun" could refer to two different but related things, both within Glacier National Park. The main road that crosses the central portion of the park is called Going-to-the-Sun Road, in honor of the mountain that is near the peak of the road at Logan Pass, which is Going-to-the-Sun Mountain. Both of which are glacially influenced features. According to the website:

This label honors the mountain goats leaping the peaks of Glacier Park, often seen at Logan Pass, top of the breathtaking Going To The Sun road.

I had previously done a Geology of the National Parks Through Pictures of Glacier National Park, but I will limit what I talk about here to just the road and the mountain related to the name of the wine. 

Looking closely at the bottle, it is obvious that the artist was intending for the road to look like it is going up to the mountain peak, however, the road pictured doesn't actually exist. Going-to-the-Sun Road generally stays towards the valleys, providing the easiest method from getting from the western part of the part to the eastern part, crossing the central mountains at Logan Pass. And actually, that's not the Going-to-the-Sun Mountain. I'm pretty sure that's Mount Oberlin, which is visible from the Going-to-the-Sun road on the western part of the part going up towards Logan Pass.

There is a shot of Mount Oberlin, from the Going-to-the-Sun Road, which does seem to match the mountain on the bottle pretty well. You can see the remnants of the glaciers up among the peaks, however as far as I am aware these are not active glaciers but snowfields. A snowfield remains during the entire year, while a glacier is a snowfield that slowly compacts into ice and eventually flows down the side of the mountain. As a glacier melts away, this process happens in reverse, where the glacier eventually turns into a snowfield. We can compare that to the Going-to-the-Sun Mountain below which is a very different mountain.

Going-to-the-Sun Mountain is the peak located on the left side of the Reynolds Creek valley here, sticking out in the picture. This picture was taken near Logan Pass facing towards the eastern part of the Going-to-the-Sun Road as it continues through the valley.

If we look at the Going-to-the-Sun Road as it traverses across the park from west to east, it travels first along the McDonald Creek valley. The McDonald Creek Valley is seen here directly in the center of the photo. The Going-to-the-Sun Road travels through that valley to the Logan Creek Valley. Both of these valleys are what are called U-shaped valleys, or glacial valleys. When a valley is eroded by a river or a stream it is constantly eroded by the water at the lowest part of the valley where the water is cutting into the ground. This forms a "V" shaped valley. However, when a glacier then comes into the valley, the ice of the glacier often fills the valley. This means that the glacier will then erode in all directions carving out a smoother walled valley in the shape of a "U". From here, high up on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, you can see a textbook example of the U-shaped valley through which we traveled through. 

After traversing up Logan Creek Valley, the road crosses the mountains at Logan Pass then continues down the other side through another U-shaped glacial valley, Reynolds Creek Valley, pictured above with Going-to-the-Sun Mountain located along side it. 

Text from the back of the bottle:

"Rich taste follows scents of rose petals and lime in this lively, sure-footed Pinto Gris, made in Montana from grapes grown at the Strand Vineyard, Naches Heights, WA. Take GOING TO THE SUN and follow the goats for a cliff-side picnic with crusty bread and of course, goat cheese." 

As you get near the peak of the Going-to-the-Sun Road, you can actually find quite a bit of the mountain goats for which the bottle pays tribute to. Here is one hanging out in the middle of the road in front of the upper part of Oberlin Falls, aka Bird Woman Falls, which is part of the upper reaches of Logan Creek. The rocks here, and really the majority of the rocks within the upper parts of all of these mountains near Logan Pass, is the Siyeh Limestone, a 1.1 billion year old (Proterozoic) limestone rich with early fossils such as stromatolites (algal mounds from a tidal environment). 

The falls pictured above and the mountain goat are perfect for this wine because they are both along the Going-to-the-Sun road, near the peak at Logan Pass. The waterfalls also start at Mount Oberlin, which is the mountain featured prominently on the front of the bottle. 

Drunk on Glaciology - Park Distillery Vodka Espresso

The next up on the Drunk on Geology series is the Vodka Espresso by the Park Distillery from Banff, Canada.  

Although not geological in name, the image on the bottle, which is the same image on many of the bottles at the distillery, is that of Mount Rundle, a prominent geological landmark within Banff National Park. I had previously done a Geology of the National Parks Through Pictures review of Banff National Park on my other page but I didn't get into Mount Rundle much there so that I could cover it here. 

Here is a close up of the image on the front of the bottle. The mountain is extremely easy to see from the town of Banff, as shown in the picture below. The mountain itself is not glacial in origin, however I have included it in my Drunk on Glaciology portion because of the heavy impact glaciers had on the mountain landscape itself as well as the surrounding region such as the glacially formed U-shaped valleys carved out of the thrust fault valleys described below.

Here is a view of Mount Rundle taken from the Banff Upper Hot Springs facing west. The hot springs actually use water that percolates into the soil from Mount Rundle in the distance. The water initially seeps into the ground in Mount Rundle's high western slopes, then works its way down into the ground through the sedimentary rock layers were it is slowly heated, pressurized, and enriched with local dissolved minerals (including sulphates, calcium, bicarbonate, magnesium, and sodium). After hundreds of years it then rises up towards the surface along the Sulphur Mountain Thrust Fault until it reaches the surface at one of the several outlets, including this one at the Upper Hot Springs. 

Location of Mount Rundle and Cascade Mountain in relation to the neighboring thrust faults and the town of Banff. Image modified from Travel Tales of Life. 

Mount Rundle is located on the south of the town of Banff, mirroring the equally impressive Cascade Mountain on the northern side of Banff. Both mountains are flanked by the Rundle Thrust Fault to the east and the Sulphur Mountain Thrust Fault to the west. 

Diagram of the formation of Mount Rundle along the thrust fault. Image is shown flipped where the fault should be dipping towards the west (left). Image courtesy of Travel Tales of Life.

The rocks of Mount Rundle were pushed upwards along the thrust from west towards the east, folding along their edge as they went. This thrust produced the westward sloping beds that are so well known along Mount Rundle. These mountains were thrusted up and over the neighboring rocks during the creation of the Canadian Rockies approximately 72 million years ago. 

 

Geology of Mount Rundle highlighted. Image courtesy of the Geological Survey of Canada.
Mr - Mississippian Rundle Limestone; Mb = Mississippi Banff shales; Dp = Devonian Palliser limestone cliffs

Mount Rundle is primarily made up of three geological formations. The Palliser limestone (aka Palliser Formation) is a Late Devonian (~360 million years old) that was deposited along a warm, coastal shelf environment, very similar to the Bahama Banks today. Then above that along the more eroded slopes is the Banff Shale. The Banff Shale (aka Banff Formation) is also a Late Devonian age deposit that was deposited in a sediment rich marine environment. And the top of the mountain is capped with the resistant Rundle limestone. The Rundle Limestone (aka the Rundle Group) is a Mississippian age (~340 million year old) limestone deposited in a marine environment.

Text from the side of the bottle:

"From 100% locally-farmed Alberta grain. Double distilled in our hand-built Kothe copper column still. Steeped with organic espresso beans from the Banff Roasting Company. Just like a rich cup of coffee brewed over an early morning campfire. But with vodka. So even better. 

Vista - Mount Rundle"

References

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Geological-map-of-Banff-showing-the-locations-of-thrust-faults-Borgeau-Sulphur_fig3_301749044

https://traveltalesoflife.com/iconic-alberta-mountains-rundle-thrust-fault/

http://parkscanadahistory.com/geology/misc-report-1-1960.pdf

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276829868_Orogenic_pulses_in_the_Alberta_Rocky_Mountains_Radiometric_dating_of_major_faults_and_comparison_with_the_regional_tectono-stratigraphic_record