Speed of metamorphism: cooling down

A while ago, I asked Twitter for suggestions of topics for future posts. A great one came from Brian Romans, a Prof at Virginia Tech and a long-standing pillar of the online geoscience community: How fast can rocks undergoing metamorphism be exhumed to the surface? How do we know (how can we measure/estimate)? https://t.co/qcsnxXKqhL — Brian… Continue reading Speed of metamorphism: cooling down

BRITICE-CHRONO: death of an ice sheet

Using many different techniques, dozens of scientists are studying the death of an ice sheet that once covered Britain and Ireland. They want to understand the future fate of modern-day ice. The phrase “ice sheet” doesn’t do justice to our subject: this is not something you shatter when stepping on a frozen puddle. Covering over… Continue reading BRITICE-CHRONO: death of an ice sheet

Ireland: good terrain for terrane training

The word terrane has a very specific geological meaning. Usually short for tectonostratigraphic terrane, they’ve been defined as “fault-bounded crustal blocks that preserved a geological record distinct from that of adjacent terranes” (Jones et al., 1983). The concept was first coined as a way of understanding the rocks of the North America Cordillera. We know now… Continue reading Ireland: good terrain for terrane training