Author Archives: Metageologist

Hot rocks, big rivers and the world’s tallest mountain face

Posted on 16 May, 2012 by Metageologist

In areas of active mountain-building the middle crust can get hot and weak, like a soft jam/jelly filling in a sandwich.  These squishy rocks are hidden from us by the cold rigid upper crust, so we wouldn’t expect to see … Continue reading →

Categories: mountains, open access, tectonics

Lovely Ladakhi landslides

Posted on 9 May, 2012 by Metageologist

Time for a post with an emphasis on photos. There’s more context here, but let’s get on with admiring the view. That’s me, standing in front of chorten (Tibetan Buddhist religious structure). The rather pretty cliffs are Tethyan sediments, now … Continue reading →

Categories: mountains

Building models about building mountains

Posted on 2 May, 2012 by Metageologist

How do mountains form? It’s just thrusts, right? Compression causes thrust faulting which piles up layers and layers of rock. This causes Barrovian metamorphism and makes mountains. Simple, no? No. Thrusting is important, of course, but as always real rocks are … Continue reading →

Categories: mountains

Geological pilgrimage – Assynt, Scotland

Posted on 25 April, 2012 by Metageologist

In Accretionary Wege #45 Denise Tang asked for “Geological Pilgrimage – the sacred geological place that you must visit at least once in your lifetime “. For me, and dare I say it for any British educated hard-rock geologist the … Continue reading →

Categories: Accretionary Wedge