{"id":66489,"date":"2019-03-05T11:41:40","date_gmt":"2019-03-05T19:41:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sou.edu\/academics\/?p=66489"},"modified":"2019-05-22T10:41:56","modified_gmt":"2019-05-22T17:41:56","slug":"tom-shaw-compass-conundrums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sou.edu\/academics\/tom-shaw-compass-conundrums\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Shaw Blogs: Compass Conundrums"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-4ykj694-2974df3fcab1b56db33697aefeab2a4d\">\n.avia-section.av-4ykj694-2974df3fcab1b56db33697aefeab2a4d{\nbackground-color:#f3f3f3;\nbackground-image:unset;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div id='av_section_1'  class='avia-section av-4ykj694-2974df3fcab1b56db33697aefeab2a4d main_color avia-section-default avia-no-border-styling  avia-builder-el-0  el_before_av_submenu  avia-builder-el-first  avia-bg-style-scroll container_wrap fullsize'  ><div class='container av-section-cont-open' ><main  role=\"main\" 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fetchpriority=\"high\" itemprop=\"thumbnailUrl\"  > <\/picture><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-av_heading-f34c78f8df9f97ef4fd1a775f5bfdd09\">\n#top .av-special-heading.av-av_heading-f34c78f8df9f97ef4fd1a775f5bfdd09{\npadding-bottom:0;\nfont-size:28px;\n}\nbody .av-special-heading.av-av_heading-f34c78f8df9f97ef4fd1a775f5bfdd09 .av-special-heading-tag .heading-char{\nfont-size:25px;\n}\n#top #wrap_all .av-special-heading.av-av_heading-f34c78f8df9f97ef4fd1a775f5bfdd09 .av-special-heading-tag{\nfont-size:28px;\n}\n.av-special-heading.av-av_heading-f34c78f8df9f97ef4fd1a775f5bfdd09 .av-subheading{\nfont-size:15px;\n}\n\n@media only screen and (min-width: 480px) and (max-width: 767px){ \n#top #wrap_all .av-special-heading.av-av_heading-f34c78f8df9f97ef4fd1a775f5bfdd09 .av-special-heading-tag{\nfont-size:0.8em;\n}\n}\n\n@media only screen and (max-width: 479px){ \n#top #wrap_all .av-special-heading.av-av_heading-f34c78f8df9f97ef4fd1a775f5bfdd09 .av-special-heading-tag{\nfont-size:0.8em;\n}\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='av-special-heading av-av_heading-f34c78f8df9f97ef4fd1a775f5bfdd09 av-special-heading-h1 blockquote modern-quote  avia-builder-el-7  el_after_av_image  el_before_av_textblock  av-inherit-size'><h1 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Tom Shaw Blogs: Compass Conundrums<\/h1><div class=\"special-heading-border\"><div class=\"special-heading-inner-border\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-js26a39q-5c290684e8e5c467f4ee2664af52d552 '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock'  itemprop=\"text\" ><p><em>This post will dig deeper into compass use by weaving geology, physics, planetary science and outdoor navigation all into one as well as sharing my experiences as a graduate student in the MOAEL program at SOU. This is the second of 3 blog entries on this topic.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>As you may remember in my last post, I was in a precarious situation. I was standing on Grizzly Peak, taking the final field test for my Navigation Class and my compass needle was not pointing North. Grrr, Why was Big Red (The red end of your compass needle) not behaving? The troublemaker, in this case, was Grizzly Peak itself. Grizzly Peak is the remnant of an old volcano, and where you find volcanoes, you almost certainly will find basalt. Basalt is the <a href=\"https:\/\/geology.com\/rocks\/basalt.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">most common igneous rock out there<\/a>, and it contains iron. That iron is gonna mess with your compass. Iron is among a <a href=\"https:\/\/van.physics.illinois.edu\/qa\/listing.php?id=362\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">group of metals<\/a> that can be magnetized when placed in a magnetic field, and The Earth\u2019s magnetic field just so happens to be strong enough to do the trick. The magnetization happens when <a href=\"https:\/\/study.com\/academy\/lesson\/basaltic-lava-definition-characteristics.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Basaltic Lava <\/a>is flowing out of the Earth\u2019s crust and the iron is in liquid form. The liquid iron can more easily <a href=\"https:\/\/pubs.usgs.gov\/bul\/1083e\/report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">become magnetized by the Earth\u2019s Magnetic Field<\/a>. This means nearly all basaltic rock on <i>Earth<\/i> is magnetic! So now you are beginning to see Big Red\u2019s problem. When you place your compass near volcanic rock there is a good chance it will direct Big Red to point in some direction other than <i>today\u2019s<\/i> location for Magnetic North.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Notice I said <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">today\u2019s<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Magnetic North. This is where it starts to get truly interesting. The Earth\u2019s magnetic field is ALWAYS changing location. Where Magnetic North is today is NOT where it will be a year from now. Check these two links to see how the location of the Magnetic North Pole has been changing over the years. <a href=\"https:\/\/planet-earth-2017.com\/wandering-poles\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Link 1<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/science.howstuffworks.com\/environmental\/earth\/geophysics\/question782.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Link 2<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>As basaltic lava solidifies into basaltic rock the rock retains a magnetic field that points in the direction of the Earth\u2019s magnetic field at that moment. This means if you put your compass next to a chunk of basaltic rock that hasn\u2019t moved since it solidified your compass will point in the direction of the Earth\u2019s magnetic field from when the rock first formed. In the case of Grizzly Peak, it is pointing in the direction of Magnetic North from 23 million years ago. This is exactly how scientists know where the Earth\u2019s Magnetic North Pole was at different times in the past. This, however, is not very useful in helping me pass my Wilderness Navigation practical, however. Make sure to keep your compass off those basaltic rocks!<\/p>\n<p>Check out this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/news\/world\/968476\/Hawaii-Volcano-latest-Mount-Kilauea-magnetic-field-compasses\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">article<\/a> that talks about how the magnetic fields stored in the lava beds on a Hawaiian Volcano have shown that the Earth\u2019s Magnetic poles sometimes completely flip direction. That\u2019s right, on this Hawaiian volcano, Big Red will actually point South. As a matter of fact, these polar flips happen ever 200,000 to 300,000 years and we are <a href=\"https:\/\/news.nationalgeographic.com\/2018\/01\/earth-magnetic-field-flip-north-south-poles-science\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">overdue for the next one to happen<\/a> If the poles flip in our lifetime be ready for compass use to take on a whole new direction.<\/p>\n<p>And just for fun, you know what else will knock Big Red off of the Earth\u2019s current magnetic field? Meteorites! In my next and last post on Compass, use look forward to reading about some interplanetary considerations when using your compass. You may remember I wrote earlier in this post, \u201cThis means nearly all basaltic rock on Earth is magnetic!\u201d, notice the word Earth is italicized. You\u2019ll learn why in the next post!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/academics\/outdoor-adventure-leadership\/\">Learn more about the Outdoor Adventure Leadership Program here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><br \/>\n<div  class='av-social-sharing-box av-n7tq3s-3aca2e4a4e82eb815642b276fb6d9696 av-social-sharing-box-default  avia-builder-el-9  el_after_av_textblock  avia-builder-el-last  av-social-sharing-box-fullwidth'><div class=\"av-share-box\"><h5 class='av-share-link-description av-no-toc '>Share this entry<\/h5><ul class=\"av-share-box-list noLightbox\"><li class='av-share-link av-social-link-facebook' ><a target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Share on Facebook\" href="https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/sou.edu\/academics\/tom-shaw-compass-conundrums\/&#038;t=Tom%20Shaw%20Blogs%3A%20Compass%20Conundrums" aria-hidden='false' data-av_icon='\ue8f3' data-av_iconfont='entypo-fontello' title='' data-avia-related-tooltip='Share on Facebook'><span class='avia_hidden_link_text'>Share on Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class='av-share-link av-social-link-twitter' ><a target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Share on X\" href="https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?text=Tom%20Shaw%20Blogs%3A%20Compass%20Conundrums&#038;url=https:\/\/sou.edu\/academics\/?p=66489" aria-hidden='false' data-av_icon='\ue932' data-av_iconfont='entypo-fontello' title='' data-avia-related-tooltip='Share on X'><span class='avia_hidden_link_text'>Share on X<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class='av-share-link av-social-link-linkedin' ><a target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Share on LinkedIn\" href="https:\/\/linkedin.com\/shareArticle?mini=true&#038;title=Tom%20Shaw%20Blogs%3A%20Compass%20Conundrums&#038;url=https:\/\/sou.edu\/academics\/tom-shaw-compass-conundrums\/" aria-hidden='false' data-av_icon='\ue8fc' data-av_iconfont='entypo-fontello' title='' data-avia-related-tooltip='Share on LinkedIn'><span class='avia_hidden_link_text'>Share on LinkedIn<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class='av-share-link av-social-link-mail' ><a  aria-label=\"Share by Mail\" href="mailto:?subject=Tom%20Shaw%20Blogs%3A%20Compass%20Conundrums&#038;body=https:\/\/sou.edu\/academics\/tom-shaw-compass-conundrums\/" aria-hidden='false' data-av_icon='\ue805' data-av_iconfont='entypo-fontello' title='' data-avia-related-tooltip='Share by Mail'><span class='avia_hidden_link_text'>Share by Mail<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/p><\/div>\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-vhigko-dfc5a8d3e59de71a71b8ec6268d2f646\">\n.flex_column.av-vhigko-dfc5a8d3e59de71a71b8ec6268d2f646{\nborder-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;\npadding:0px 0px 0px 0px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='flex_column av-vhigko-dfc5a8d3e59de71a71b8ec6268d2f646 av_one_fifth  avia-builder-el-10  el_after_av_three_fifth  avia-builder-el-last  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding  '     ><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was standing on Grizzly Peak, taking the final field test for my Navigation Class and my compass needle was not pointing North. Why was Big Red (The red end of your compass needle) not behaving? The troublemaker, in this case, was Grizzly Peak itself.<\/p>\n<div class=\"avia-button-wrap avia-button-left\"><a class=\"avia-button avia-color-dark avia-size-large avia-position-left \" href=\"\/academics\/tom-shaw-compass-conundrums\/\" aria-label=\"Read More about Tom Shaw Blogs Compass Conundrums\">READ MORE<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":66490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[271],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-outdoor-adventure-leadership","post_format-post-format-aside"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v26.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Tom Shaw Blogs: Compass Conundrums - SOU Academic Programs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I was standing on Grizzly Peak, taking the final field test for my Navigation Class and my compass needle was not pointing North.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sou.edu\/academics\/tom-shaw-compass-conundrums\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tom Shaw Blogs: Compass Conundrums\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I was standing on Grizzly Peak, taking the final field test for my Navigation Class and my compass needle was not pointing North.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sou.edu\/academics\/tom-shaw-compass-conundrums\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SOU Academic Programs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SOUAshland\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-03-05T19:41:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-05-22T17:41:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sou.edu\/academics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2019\/03\/Compass-Blog-on-Facebook.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sean Glassford\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"I was standing on Grizzly Peak, taking the final field test for my Navigation Class and my compass needle was not pointing North.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sou.edu\/academics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2019\/03\/Compass-Blog-on-Twitter.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@souashland\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@souashland\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sean Glassford\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":[\"Article\",\"BlogPosting\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sou.edu\/academics\/tom-shaw-compass-conundrums\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sou.edu\/academics\/tom-shaw-compass-conundrums\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sean Glassford\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sou.edu\/academics\/#\/schema\/person\/d63857b3b310cf49180208a32b86d2bc\"},\"headline\":\"Tom Shaw Blogs: Compass Conundrums\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-05T19:41:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-22T17:41:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sou.edu\/academics\/tom-shaw-compass-conundrums\/\"},\"wordCount\":1156,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sou.edu\/academics\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sou.edu\/academics\/tom-shaw-compass-conundrums\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sou.edu\/academics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2019\/03\/Compass-Blog-Featured-SOU.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Outdoor Adventure Leadership\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sou.edu\/academics\/tom-shaw-compass-conundrums\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sou.edu\/academics\/tom-shaw-compass-conundrums\/\",\"name\":\"Tom Shaw Blogs: Compass Conundrums - 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