geology

Hiking A Batholith

May 8, 2012
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Batholith. I love that word. It is a portmanteau of “depth” (bathos) and “rock” (lithos), literally meaning “deep rock,” but sounds like you’re trying to say “basilisk” after having burned your tongue on hot coffee. On Sunday, Racy of the Racy Mind, VirgoTex (whom you all know by now as she who puts the Town [...]

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The Future Of (Geo)Science Careers – Putting The Pieces Together

April 27, 2012
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In the latest American Association of Petroleum Geologists Explorer, geology professor Sharon Mosher offers some great insight into the future of our profession at a time when fewer students are graduating with geology degrees* while the industry need for geoscientists is at an all-time high. “There’s still a tendency to emphasize field work and travel, [...]

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Charles Richter’s 112th Birthday

April 26, 2012

In honor of this day, I give you two simple and great online tutorials on geophysical principles and refraction seismology. There will be a quiz. Tweet

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A Countertop of Kilkenny Marble

January 26, 2012
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Cari The Geologist And Certified U2 Freak is sure to love this post. Volcanoclast hosts this month’s Accretionary Wedge on countertop geology. Have you seen a great countertop out there?  Sure, everyone says it’s “granite”, but you know better.  Take a picture, post it on your own blog or send it to me and I’ll [...]

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Saturday Geology Picture: Pahoehoe Cross Section

December 17, 2011

Ropy lava in cross section view. With scale, because that’s how I (rock and) roll. Tweet

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Friday Geology Picture: The Oldest Known Rock In The World

December 16, 2011

“I burned the candle at both ends and it often gave a lovely light.” To mark the passing of Christopher Hitchens, today’s rock is the Hadean Acasta gneiss on display in the Smithsonian Museum. Give hell hell, Hitch! Tweet

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Thursday Geology Picture: Cool Geologists Against Cool Geology

December 15, 2011

Basil Tikoff and Steve Marshak, my graduate and undergraduate structural geology thesis advisors respectively, at the famous Van Hise Rock in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Tweet

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Wednesday Geology Picture: Eye-Of-Sauron Basalt In Fire Coral

December 14, 2011

One dreary Wisconsin day right before Christmas, D and I drove down a grey country road towards Manitowoc. We stepped out of the car for a minute and, to our chagrin, the car kept going without us. Suddenly, stop lights appeared out of nowhere and we followed the vehicle as it continued forward through these [...]

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Tuesday Geology Picture: Crystalline Growths On Aa

December 13, 2011

GeoEvelyn has declared this Geology-Picture-A-Day Week and I thought I’d join in. Mostly since I need a couple of things identified. Found this chunk of aa (rubbly basalt) in the roof of a collapsed lava tube right next door to where we stayed on the Big Island of Hawaii. What are the growths/precipitates on the [...]

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A Trip To Kilauea or The Volcanic Smog Gets In Your Eyes

December 6, 2011

In National Geographic’s Finding The Next Earth, an astronomer enters the Gemini Observatory at Mauna Kea and begins to weep tears of joy on seeing a brand new space telescope. There’s no crying in science, but I get it. The stuff we see and achieve is often too damned beautiful not to be overwhelmed with [...]

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