User:Mluna11/sandbox

Evaluating Articles

Evaluating Articles: Week 1

This is my first-pass evaluation for the following article about the Holocene.

• Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
  • Approximately 99% of what was presented on the page was relevant to the article topic, however (although mostly related), I was distracted by the link at the top of the page about the Holocene (song).
• Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
  • The article seemed neutral with a slight emphasis on the importance that this epoch represents a time of human evolution and development. As for the geological standpoint, the article seemed to focus on the past events leading up to the Holocene and did not mention any significant events that occurred during this epoch (ie: major volcanic eruptions and earthquakes)
• Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
  • The view point that is overrepresented was the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene and the view point that is underrepresented are the current events occurring during the Holocene.
• Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?
  • The citations work and navigate to the appropriate citation in the reference section. The source does support the claim in the article.
•  Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted? 
  • Each fact is not represented with a source as many sections have a "citation needed" link adjacent to the statement. Most of the sources are reliable, such as the peer reviewed articles published by Nature, however, some articles are less reliable than this reputable source. For example, citation 22, is a reference to a news article, which may hold some bias in the controversial topic of the the beginning of the Cenozoic.
• Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
  • Some information that I personally would like added to this page is the specific evolution of the human from our predecessors.
•  Check out the Talk page of the article. What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
• How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
• How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?

Intro To Editing Articles: Week 2

• Review page 6 of your Editing Wikipedia guidebook.
• Find an article from the list of "Available Articles" on the Articles tab on this course page. When you find the one you want to work on, click Select to assign it to yourself.
  • Geology of New England
• In your sandbox, write a few sentences about what you plan to contribute to the selected article.
  • In the selected article, I will contribute by adding information about the glacial history of New England. Also, I will include more specific additional information to the three Appalachian-forming orogenic events (Taconic, Acadian, Alleghenian).
    • Think back to when you did an article critique. What can you add? Post some of your ideas to the article's talk page.
    • Compile a list of relevant, reliable books, journal articles, or other sources. Post that bibliography to the talk page of the article you'll be working on, and in your sandbox. Make sure to check in on the Talk page to see if anyone has advice on your bibliography. Suggested References
  • Foster, D. R., Motzkin, G., and Slater, B., 1998, Land-use history as long-term broad-scale disturbance: regional forest dynamics in central New England: Ecosystems, v. 1, no. 1, p. 96-119.
  • Davis, M. B., Spear, R. W., and Shane, L. C., 1980, Holocene climate of New England: Quaternary Research, v. 14, no. 2, p. 240-250.
  • Hopper, E., Fischer, K. M., Wagner, L. S., and Hawman, R. B., 2017, Reconstructing the end of the Appalachian orogeny: Geology, v. 45, no. 1, p. 15-18.
  • Howell, D. G., 2013, Tectonics of suspect terranes: mountain building and continental growth, Springer Science & Business Media.

Northern Appalachians (3rd pass draft)

The bedrock geology of New England was heavily influenced by various tectonic events that have occurred since the Paleozoic Era including the accretion of land masses that formed various continental terranes to the Mesozoic rifting of the Hartford Basin.

The White Mountains make up part of the Appalachian Mountains which were connected to the British Isles and Scandinavia in Europe 542 million years ago. The separation happened during the Iapetus Ocean opening that expanded over 190 million years . The White Mountains (New Hampshire) are a significant component in the geology of New England. This mountain range consists of the Presidential Range, the Franconia Range, as well as the rolling hills of eastern Vermont and northern New Hampshire. The Presidential Range is home to Mount Washington, which has the highest peak in the northeastern United States with an altitude of 6288 feet. Much of what we see today in this region is a result of the carving of alpine glaciers, such as the amphitheater-shaped Cirque at the summits and the northwest trending U-shaped valley .

The summit of the mountains in the Presidential Range consists of The Littleton Formation and was deposited in the Early Devonian, approximately 409 million years ago with a Gander and/or Avalon Terrane source. . The lower part of this formation is found proximal to the Bronson Hill Island Arc and consists of basaltic and rhyolitic volcanic rocks along with low grade metamorphic shale while the upper part of this formation consists of the youngest rocks of the Presidential Range. The Littleton Formation can also be found at the Bald Mountain-Saddleback Wind Range. This area was once under water so it is mostly made up of marine strata from the Silurian, Devonian and Early Devonian ages .During the Early to Middle Ordovician (474-455 Ma) Taconic orogeny occurred, which resulted from closure of the Humber seaway and accretion of the Dashwoods microcontinent to Laurentia. This then led to the accretion of oceanic terraines including the Bay of Islands in Newfoundland and Thetford Mines Ophiolites in Quebec. During this time, the Popelogan-Victoria Arc was also accreted to Laurentia and Late-Ordovician-Early Silurian Mélange, blueschists, and deepwater deposits were also present, indicating that subduction continued during this time. Finally, closure of the Tetagouche-Exploits back-arc in the Early Silurian (430 Ma) accreted the bulk of Ganderia to Laurentia. This event is known as the Salinic Orogeny and was responsible for most of the bedrock that is found in New Brunswick, Newfoundland, and Maine .

Other than the Littleton Formation, the Presidential Range includes the Rangeley sequence which consists of Silurian and Devonian Turbidite sequences, Early Silurian Rangeley Formation, the Middle to Late Silurian Perry Mountain, Smalls Falls, and Madrid Formations. This area has experienced extensive deformation which is expressed as pre-metamorphic faults, various folds, thrust faults, and doming. Evidence for igneous activity include the early-Devonian (408 Ma) diorites, early to mid-Devonian (390-400 Ma) granites, and the Carboniferous (360-350 Ma) granites .