Category Archives: geology

An avalanche at the museum

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Chris Rowan

At the Chicago Museum of Science & Technology, make your own debris flows with the hypnotic Avalanche Disk. Continue reading →

Categories: geohazards, geology, geophysics, public science, science education

The 12 geological days of Christmas: a reprise

Posted on December 25, 2010 by Chris Rowan

Merry Christmas, everyone! I’m having a rather strange Christmas this year – most of my unwrapping this year has been of the flat-pack furniture variety, as my new flat in Chicago slowly starts to look a little less minimalist. Whilst … Continue reading →

Categories: geology

The flat of the land

Posted on December 2, 2010 by Chris Rowan

Just as there are many ways that a landscape can end up being pointy, there are several ways that it can end up being flat. Continue reading →

Categories: geology, geomorphology

All quiet on the Alpine Fault?

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Chris Rowan

The Alpine fault has not ruptured since European settlement in the 1840s. Paleoseismology tells us that this is the longest it has gone in a millenium without generating a magnitude 8+ earthquake. Continue reading →

Categories: earthquakes, geohazards, geology, geomorphology, tectonics

The fault that made a mountain range

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Chris Rowan

How the Teton Range and the Teton Fault are essentially the same thing. Continue reading →

Categories: geology, geomorphology, outcrops, photos, structures

Castle geology

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Anne Jefferson

Being a giant geo-nerd, I tend to pepper my travels with a lot of geologically or hydrologically interesting places. A recent trip brought me to the UK and included a meetup with my coblogger in Edinburgh. Being an American tourist, … Continue reading →

Categories: by Anne, geology

Snowball Earth no problem for sponges

Posted on August 18, 2010 by Chris Rowan

Evidence from numerous sources seems to be converging to suggest that sponges – the first animals – emerged much earlier than the beginning of the Cambrian, and apparently sailed through severe climatic events in the Cryogenian without much trouble at all. Continue reading →

Categories: fossils, geology, paper reviews, past worlds, Proterozoic

Glacial deposits new and old in the Scottish isles

Posted on August 5, 2010 by Chris Rowan

Islay – one of the birthplaces of the Snowball Earth. And good whisky. Continue reading →

Categories: deep time, geology, outcrops, past worlds, photos, Proterozoic, rocks & minerals

Standing up for serpentinite

Posted on July 15, 2010 by Chris Rowan

The presence of serpentinite is like a big red flag telling geologists “interesting tectonic stuff here!”. But in California, that might not be the only red flag that you will be seeing in the future, if the state government have their way. Continue reading →

Categories: antiscience, geology, public science, rocks & minerals, science education