[Artemisia] You know you've been in Artemisia when...

[drchelm]

There's a place on the Snake River, not too far from where Coronation 
was at, called Thousand Springs.  It's where the Snake River Aquifer 
discharges out of the basalt-sided cliffs in the canyon of the Snake 
River near Hagerman, west of Twin Falls.  Let me digress briefly on 
this aquifer.  It is the largest basalt-hosted aquifer in the world, 
and also the most prolific.  The bulk of the snowpac that falls on the 
Beaverheads, Tetons, Grand Targhees and Yellowstone melts and gets 
sucked out of the forks of the Snake River and into the aquifer.  
That's a lot of water, folks, and since most of the world's french 
fries are grown using this resource, the aquifer is pretty important, 
not just to folks in Idaho, but to fast-food lovers everywhere.

So what does this have to do with Artemisia?  Well, I'm getting there.  
Patience, bubula, patience...

As you may or may not know, I spend most of my days at work thinking 
deep meaningful thoughts about the rocks that host the Snake River 
Aquifer.  That's a lot of rocks, all of the East Snake River Plain, in 
fact.  You may find it hard to believe that a big boring pile of basalt 
with some water in it captivates my days, but hey, it beats working for 
a living...   ;-)

So what does this have to do with Artemisia?  Well, I'm getting there.  
Patience, bubula, patience...

Now, lately, things have been looking kinda glum around our house.  
There was a death in my family recently, and though it was not a great 
surprise at the end of a long illness, it still managed to throw me for 
a loop, enough so that I was not able to get to Denver last week to 
give a paper on that big boring pile of basalt.  I really wanted to 
give that paper.  It would have been a show stopper.  I have evidence 
that not too long ago, the Big Lost River had an entirely different 
route than the one it has today.  Now, this route I've found cuts south 
across the plain, UNDER the Craters of the Moon, where there is no 
water today, and then southwest to the Snake River.  The place where 
this abandoned river channel meets up  with the Snake River is at 
Thousand Springs, where the modern aquifer cascades out of the cliffs 
and into the river.

So what does this have to do with Artemisia?  Well, I'm getting there.  
Patience, bubula, patience...

If the hypothesized abandoned river channel is real, it has the 
potential of rewriting the geologic history of the East Snake River 
Plain.  I really wanted to give this paper at the meeting in Denver.  I 
won't have another opportunity to present this research until next May. 
  To stay productive until then, I need to churn out my results and get 
them published.  Since last Wednesday, I've taken my presentation 
materials and converted them into 50 pages of a draft journal article.  
I gave my collaborators copies, which most have read.

So what does this have to do with Artemisia?  Well, we're finally 
there.  Here's a quote that everyone noticed from the draft article:

"...there may be channel deposits in the subsurface extending from the 
town of Arco, under the Craters of the Moon, and westward towards the 
discharge area of the Snake River Aquifer at Thousand Eyes."

I'm never going to hear the end of this at work...

ttfn
Therasia von AwesomeTypos