Category Archives: 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

Friday focal mechanisms

Posted on July 2, 2010 by Chris Rowan

A brief summary of the week’s large earthquakes and their tectonic context.
Continue reading →

Categories: earthquakes, geology, tectonics

How do we know Gabon’s ‘multicellular’ fossils are 2.1 billion years old?

Posted on July 2, 2010 by Chris Rowan

The fossil record prior to 550 million years ago is so patchy that every discovery is going to cause some fanfare. That is certainly case with these odd looking things, which have been proclaimed in Nature as the oldest mulitcellular … Continue reading →

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