Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Nowadays the natural don’t have space between the buildings, almost no one on the big cities have enough space to make your own garden. Adding to it, other problems in our actual society - as obesity, poor nutrition, declining levels of physical and psychological health, urban planning - were the reasons of starting the ideas of makes a Community Gardens in the urban space.
Community Gardens are spaces that the whole community can works on and build a place where you can find healthy food, fresh air, beauty and peace. But these urban landscapes are used not just as a source of fresh food, but also to build an entire environment of fraternity between the neighborhood/city residents. Studies show these kinds of relation with the nature helps in social issues, creating a sense of community and collectivity, in addition to improving the neighborhood and have positivity effects on the security.
Other positive thing about it is that when you cultivate your own vegetables you can control the amount of pesticides and agrochemicals that is used, turning your feeding much healthier. 

This modern way of planning a city, in which everyone thinks about the others, not just about themselves, is already found in many countries. You can do it yourself in your neighborhood, just following the few steps shown here: Steps to Create a Community Garden or Expand Urban Agriculture. And if you want to learn more about it just take a look here and here.

 

source: www.visualizenashua.com

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

The classification of the soils has the objective to organize knowledge about soils; understand relationships among different soils and establish groups or classes for practical purposes. They are classified according to your productivity, humidity, texture, color. The 12 Orders is shown below:


The soils are not just classified in Orders, but also in Suborders, Great Groups, Subgroups, Family and Series, as the animals or plants taxonomy are made. The more you go though the classifications more you specified the soil is.


Sunday, November 10, 2013



Genus: Tabebuia ssp.
Common name: Ipê, Pau-d'Arco, Ipeúva.
Location: Considered the Brazil’s symbol. 
Tabebuia ssp is also found at the whole Central and South America.
Flower: triads; sets of inflorescence.
Leaf:oblong.
Fruit: up to 30 cm, cylindrical.


Hiperlink:Tabebuia ssp.




Specie: Bixa orellana
Common Name: Urucuzeiro, Urucueiro; Achiote or Annatto.
Location: tropical region of South America.
Flower: pink flowers with many stamens.
Leaf: large of light green.
Fruit: capsules with soft spines
Hyperlink: Bixa Orellana



Genus: Passiflora
Common name: Maracujazeiro or Passion Vines
Location: tropical and subtropical region of South America.
Flower: hermaphrodite stigmas located above the anthers.
Leaf: lobed and green with tendrils.
Fruit: have varied color (purple yellow, green, red). 
The fruit’s pulp, is colored from yellow to orange and involves numerous seeds.




Genus:  Caesalpinia 
Common name: Brazilwood, Pau-Brasil, Pau de Pernambuco, 
Pernambuco Tree and Ibirapitanga
Location: Brazilian Rainforest.
Flower: four yellow petals and one small red petal; very fragrant.
Leaf: bipinnate; composed of a medium bright green.
Fruit: pods covered with long sharp thorns.


*If you want to know more about the Brazilian trees click here.



Wednesday, October 30, 2013

One of our field trips was to Ocmulgee River, that is a tributary of the Altamaha River, located in State of Georgia. Our objective was to measure the elevation of the bottom of the river, as well as its flow rate.
The Figure 1 was generated using the Google Earth software, where we can observe the trajectory done during the transect and the vertical elevation from on boarder to another.

Figure 1.

.Additional information about Ocmulgee River:


Saturday, September 28, 2013

NOVA: Mystery of the Megaflood

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/megaflood/scab-07.htmlIn 1923, the geologist J Harlen Bretz began theorizing about how the landscape in Montana, Washington, Oregon and Idaho was shaped, and found a radical answer. He propose that a catastrophic water flood formed the coulees around the Pacific Northwest. Bretz used the existence of some structures - as dry waterfalls, potholes, huge coulees - as evidence to explain his theory, but he couldn't find how the explain the massive amount of water.
At his time, the scientists believe that the geologic features was made by time action. He just had some acknowledgement when Joseph Tomas Pardee find evidences for a huge glacial ice dam, that may could held a monstrous lake. This finding helps Bertz to explain the flood's source of water. 
The movie NOVA: Mystery of the Megaflood, recreate what might happened when the dam itself melted, releasing millions of gallons of water and dragging anything on it's way. Evidences also shows that more then one megaflood probably happens to sculpt the amazing landscape that we know at present day.  

Image 1: Glacial Lake Missoula's ice dam
Source: www.pbs.org
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Image 2: Purcell Lobe of the Cordilleran ice sheet
Source: www.pbs.org
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Friday, September 20, 2013

This first work is about Serra do Rio do Rastro, this postcard is located in the south of Brazil, in a state called Santa Catarina (image 1). Its vegetation is characterized by preserved Atlantica forest, which contains a huge biodiversity.
Besides the amazing view, Serra do Rio do Rastro is classified as one geological sites in Brazil, called White Column, and it's was part of an old supercontinent Gondwana.

Image 1: location of Serra do Rio do Rastro

Image 2: level curves

The image 2 shows the level curves of 5 different heights, that cross the mountain and the SC-360 road that comes down the Serra do Rio do Rastro.

Additional videos:



Thursday, September 19, 2013

My Favorite Place

Image1: Luz's Beach - Imbituba

Image2: Luz's Beach -  Imbituba in relation to the state of Santa Catarina

Imagem3: Luz's Beach - Imbituba in relation to Brazil