Dr. John C. Crowell

I e-mailed my father, Dr. John Crowell, a renowned geologist, to ask how these formations were created.Here is his explanation verbatim: "Sea stacks, in Okinawa, Oregon, or at many other places on Earth, are almost always due to a combination of sea-level changes over an interval of time along a coast with bedrock that is fairly resistant to wave erosion, but can still be eroded away.
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John is the first to arrive at the falls but I am not far behind taking photos of him and Takaki as they leap and scramble onto large boulders beneath the falls.
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John and I wonder where the marine iguanas are?This particular terrain looks remarkably like parts of the Galapagos Islands.

Art wants to drive to Aha on our return route.Aha is a remote village on the Northern Pacific side of Okinawa.He has read that there are still homes with thatched roofs in this village.Takaki returns via the Pacific side of the island and John and I fall asleep in the back seat of the car.
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We spend an hour wandering the house and the grounds and then drink complimentary tea in the gift shop while John feeds the Koi fish in the pond outside.The Koi fish literally beach themselves in desperate attempts to get at the pellets he throws.
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Island fever is settling in on John and me.
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John and I spend the day warm and cozy in our tiny apartment and I carve waxes while John does homework.

It is now Tuesday and another grey and wet day unfolds.John is completely bored and homesick.John is an athletic, gregarious 14 year old and has been relatively content to be with just his parents up until this point; but after one month in Okinawa he is missing his friends intently.

Art's has his morning kanji lesson with Narumi and leaves in the afternoon with Byron to go to the Visitors Bureau to promote Okinawa.com.I work on a new dragon ear cuff wax design, but the day hangs heavily on John and to his credit he pulls a chair up beside me and works on his own wax project.He designs a Salamander Ring asking me endless questions to the point of my distraction; but he is making the ring for me and he wants to every detail to be perfect.John has done wax projects before but today he is more focused than ever before.

Art has been disciplined in going to Karate class every Tuesday and Thursday night since we arrived on Okinawa but John has been resisting.Last Thursday we insisted that John go with Art and tonight we tell John again that he has no choice in the matter.
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Of course I always wake before John since at 14 he would happily sleep until mid afternoon.I work on the computer adding a few items to my http://www.martymagic.com web page enjoying the quiet of the morning.When Art wakes, in keeping with our Sunday morning tradition we bicycle to Starbucks but we are pressed for time.
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John and I arrive early and get seats front and center.There is tiered seating along both sides of the hall as well.
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John picks his Papa out before I do and I focus my camera in on Art and take photo after photo of the dojo's brief but proficient demonstration.Art performs well and John is surprised by this and admittedly proud of his father.
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Art wanders off to the book section but John stays with me.We peruse the baby clothes section with Molly in mind, but the price tags deter me.I buy several cards in the stationary sections and John plays an arcade game or two.

We reconnect with Art and walk outside and down Kokusai Street.
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John works diligently on several writing assignments and I work on completing my third original dragon pendant; this one wrapping around an fiery orange 8.75 carat Mexican Fire Opal.
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John and I want to climb to the shrine still further up the hillside, but Art is feeling queasy from lunch and turns back.Our meeting plans are not clear, but at this moment I think we all assume we will connect again within the next 15 to 20 minutes.

John is the proverbial explorer and there are many overgrown pathways to choose from.He encourages me to climb still further and we come upon several small and magical Utaki.The burnt remains of incense is wet upon the stones.John continues to climb and explore small natural caves weathered deep into the limestone veiled in the root and vine structure of the Aka trees.Our ultimate goal is the Shrine, but the pathway isn't clear and we are about to turn back when I spot a glint of red through the foliage.We follow the slippery overgrown pathway and come upon the shrine.The wooden shrine is reconstructed but the steep stone stairway, wall and archway are ancient examples of Ryukyu Kingdom stonework.I climb the stairway to sit at the very top step of the shrine.I breath in the magic off the forest cascading below and beyond and gaze over the hazy city of Naha beyond.We haven't encountered another soul for over an hour and I am ready to turn back but John discovers yet another overgrown stone stairway behind the shrine.He prods me onward and upward until we top the hill and emerge with a view of the other side of Naha.Dusk is settling in and I have tried to call Art's cell phone, but it just buzzes busy.I am feeling anxious to reconnect and I tell John that we must hurry back down to the center of the park.Art is no where to be found so John and I wait near the playground area for another 20 minutes.Eventually my cell phone rings.Art is calling from a pay phone up at the entrance to the park.The battery on his cell phone died and he has all but organized a search party to find us.He has been imagining all sorts of mishaps that might have befallen us, from habu (a poisonous snake) to just plain getting lost.

I e-mailed my father, Dr. John Crowell, a renowned geologist, to ask how these formations were created.Here is his explanation verbatim: "Sea stacks, in Okinawa, Oregon, or at many other places on Earth, are almost always due to a combination of sea-level changes over an interval of time along a coast with bedrock that is fairly resistant to wave erosion, but can still be eroded away.
...
John is the first to arrive at the falls but I am not far behind taking photos of him and Takaki as they leap and scramble onto large boulders beneath the falls.
...
John and I wonder where the marine iguanas are?This particular terrain looks remarkably like parts of the Galapagos Islands.

Art wants to drive to Aha on our return route.Aha is a remote village on the Northern Pacific side of Okinawa.He has read that there are still homes with thatched roofs in this village.Takaki returns via the Pacific side of the island and John and I fall asleep in the back seat of the car.

John C. Crowell : A Geologist's GeologistHe forecasted wave conditions for the Normandy Invasion and led a convoy section across the Burma Road during World War II.Today he studies and teaches California's geology.he be helped us understand causes of glaciation, the roles of strike-slip faults, and details of Earth's past climate.The life of John C. Crowell, professor emeritus at the University of California at Santa Barbara, has been full of scientific achievements and contributions taking many forms.

John C. Crowell: A Geologist's Geologist Supplying wave forecasts for the Normandy invasion and guiding field trips in the southwestern United States as a University of California at Los Angles (UCLA) professor are just two of John C. Crowell's adventures as a geologist.He inadvertently found a passion for geology when he filled an assigned seat in geology class as a favor to a friend who was more interested in his girlfriend than his geology class.Crowell's discovery drove him to seek a master's degree at UCLA; however, he eventually postponed his degree to pursue a job as a field geologist at Shell Oil Company.After he was drafted for World War II, he completed a meteorology program in the U.S. Army Air Corps.He eventually studied wave forecasting at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography with Prof. Harald Sverdrup and Walter Monk.Their forecasts of how storms affected waves in the English Channel helped determine the landing date for the Normandy Invasion.A feature story in the June 1999 Geotimes details Crowell's participation in the war and the rest of his geological career.

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John C. Crowell: A Geologist's Geologist Supplying wave forecasts for the Normandy invasion and guiding field trips in the southwestern United States as a University of California at Los Angles (UCLA) professor are just two of John C. Crowell's adventures as a geologist.He inadvertently found a passion for geology when he filled an assigned seat in geology class as a favor to a friend who was more interested in his girlfriend than his geology class.Crowell's discovery drove him to seek a master's degree at UCLA; however, he eventually postponed his degree to pursue a job as a field geologist at Shell Oil Company.After he was drafted for World War II, he completed a meteorology program in the U.S. Army Air Corps.

In our second feature , Dorothy Stout , a professor at Cypress College and currently program director for the Division of Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation , reviews the work of John C. Crowell , a geologist who was directly involved with some of this century's most profound events.
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After the war , Crowell found himself involved in the scientific battles of plate tectonics.Through his focus on the sedimentation and tectonics of California , he made major contributions to the understanding of global systems.With a career that touched on so much , he truly.is a geologist's geologist..Our regular columns are also lively and informative.