To understand the past, we divide history into different pieces, some big, some small. Human history has been divided into Ages, (e.g. Stone Age, Bronze Age) then smaller periods like Dynasties, then by the reigns of single rulers. Geologists deal with much longer periods of time, but they divide the history of the Earth in… Continue reading The geological history of the earth
A refolded fold from Scotland
Standing on the shores of Loch nan Uamh I was feeling distracted. There was a lot to attend to. Behind me was a flat strip of grass, growing on a beach deposit now left high and dry by the crust’s slow straightening of its spine after the weight of a huge ice cap melted away.… Continue reading A refolded fold from Scotland
Volcanoes and mass extinctions – tracking a killer
Look in a bookshop and see how many shelves are taken up with murder mysteries. There’s little that is as compelling as the idea of a dead body on the ground and a search to find the culprit. I’m going to try out the genre here today. I can promise you the deaths of entire… Continue reading Volcanoes and mass extinctions – tracking a killer
Ultrafast eclogitisation through overpressure
My blogging torpor has been ended by a super-interesting new paper that links together many of my favourite topics. It includes eclogites, metamorphic petrology, ultra-fast metamorphism, determining timescales via diffusion profiles, tectonic overpressure and even the Grampian-Taconic orogeny and opens up new avenues of research. What more could I ask for from a scientific paper? The Rocks… Continue reading Ultrafast eclogitisation through overpressure