Author Archives: Chris Rowan

Friday Focal Mechanisms: South Australian shaking keeps Chris guessing

A Friday focal mechanism…without a focal mechanism! Can the seismic past be the key to the present? Continue reading

Categories: earthquakes, focal mechanisms, tectonics

Drawing sharp boundaries in a fuzzy world

Humans are natural splitters. We have an innate tendency to look at the world and mentally sort everything into different categories, and grades, and entities: this is one thing, that is another; it was this, now it’s that. Our perception … Continue reading

Categories: general science, geology

What do you mean, the Gulf Stream doesn’t keep Europe warmer than North America? How even scientists are afflicted by urban myths

In science, you discover that you’re wrong at least as often as you’re proven right – and the things that you end up being wrong about can be quite surprising. Prior to last week, if asked I would have confidently … Continue reading

Categories: academic life, climate science

A mountain (meta)geologist

As you might have noticed, my blogging has been a little thin on the ground recently, which means I have been remiss in pointing you to some sterling posts from fellow All-geo blogger Simon Wellings, who is writing a whole … Continue reading

Categories: geology, links, structures, tectonics

Scenic Saturday: a pilgrimage back to the grand granitic tors of Dartmoor

The high and rugged scenery of Dartmoor is as wild and untamed a landscape as you’re likely to find in the United Kingdom, and would seem to have more in common with the Scottish Highlands than the prim and proper … Continue reading

Categories: geomorphology, outcrops, Palaeozoic, photos, rocks & minerals