Chuck Sutherland

Ruth Dyal and the excellent folks at the Upper Cumberland Tourism Association have put together a wine and chocolate tasting for this weekend; February 10, 11th & 12th, 2017. I happen to love both wine and sweets, so this seems like a great way to get out, explore, and enjoy local delicacies. Below you'll find an interactive Google map, links to an interactive ArcMap Online map, and a static map. Feel free to use or share any of these links to help us get the word out! Event Web Page Event Facebook Page ArcMap Online Interactive Map Google Map Interactive Map

I wanted to make a map of my hometown of Sparta, Tennessee using the newly available lidar from the State of Tennessee. Compared with previous maps, like the USGS 1:24,000 topographic map, the new lidar data is approximately 700 times more accurate. You'll see what I mean below. After I produced it there were just too many odd little things that were worth explaining. The first half of odd things are natural processes on the Earth that produce a specific form, or in more scientific terms, the features are of a geomorphic nature. The remainder of forms I want to share with you are human formed, or anthropogenic.  First, let's look at the map. Your web browser likely won't let you see it in full hi-res glory (the image is 4'x3' at 300 DPI, it's big at 77 megabytes), so here is a hard link to the hi-res image . Below is the stuff I thought was interesting. Feel free to follow along if you've downloaded the hi-res map. Monteagle Limestone Boulder Field ...

This begins as a standard stream delineation process beginning with a Digital Elevation Model (DEM). I'll work it step by step and show you what I've got so you can work alongside me. I'll be using a DEM from my part of the world, near Sparta, Tennessee. You are free to use a DEM from wherever you like. Generally, the same process applies. I'm using the new lidar derrived 2.5' DEMs and I'm looking at a segment of the Calfkiller River for this example. I have docked the toolbar menu and expanded Spatial Analyst > Hydrology. We'll be using a bunch of commands from there. I also have raster calculator added to my menu buttons on top, that will get some use as well. All the tools we use will be on their default settings unless otherwise stated. I follow the general naming conventions provided by the tools. You may find it useful to duplicate my naming strategy until you get a feel for it. One final note about this technique is that so far I have only u...

The Boils is a large karst spring in Jackson County, Tennessee. It is unusual for two reasons. The first is that it is quite large, and the second is that it comes out of the ground under pressure. The Boils are no secret to the folks of Jackson County, though. It's unusual waters have been a curiosity for generations inviting speculation on its source. Oddly, this feature went unnoticed by scientists until the summer of 2015, when my friend Ryan Gardner undertook describing the system that feeds The Boils as his senior thesis for his Earth Science Degree from Tennessee Tech University. Ryan assembled a team of karst specialists from the region that included Steve Anderson, Dr. Evan Hart, and myself. Ben Herrmann, while not a karst specialist, assisted with data collection and logistics (like getting me down a river of class three rapids). My goal within the project was to provide video and photo documentation up front, and on the back end provide data analysis and maps. I w...

For the purpose of this blog post, secret is somewhat subjective. All the below places have been visited and documented well before my time. For one reason or another, they all remain less than well known. In the near future, I suspect that this may change. My publication of photos here is not an invitation to trespass either. Get permission before you go onto private property. In the meantime, here are some places that perhaps you didn't know about... Black Mountain Black Mountain is a state natural area managed by TDEC. It is a classic "rock town" formed of Rockcastle conglomerate, a sandstone with quartzite pebbles of up to 1cm in size locally. The overlooks are south to south-east facing and are a great place to catch a sunrise in the Winter. If you're lucky, fog will be sitting in the coves below like milk in a bowl. Little Cove is immediately south, and Grassy Cove is south-west. Both are sinkholes, and there is more about Grassy Cove below. Google Map ...