Category Archives: geology

Oxygenation of Earth’s atmosphere may not have required a trigger event after all

Posted on December 14, 2019 by Chris Rowan

In Earth history, there have been 3 abrupt jumps in atmospheric oxygen. A evolutionary or tectonic trigger is usually invoked, but a new study just published in Science suggests all you need is gradual oxidation of earth’s surface plus feedbacks … Continue reading →

Categories: Archean, climate science, deep time, geochemistry, geology, Palaeozoic, past worlds, Proterozoic, society

How long was the last magnetic reversal – and why might subducting slabs have had a say in what it looked like?

Posted on August 14, 2019 by Chris Rowan

A new paper on the chronology of the last magnetic reversal concludes it took 20,000 yrs, and there were two distinct excursions – where the field becomes weak and disorganized, but it recovers without reversing polarity – before the main event about … Continue reading →

Categories: geology, palaeomagic, paper reviews, rocks & minerals

Whet your Appetite with these 45+ Books on Water

Posted on March 3, 2019 by Anne Jefferson

For some reason, I have a lot of books about water on my shelves. But my collection, seems like a drop in the ocean (forgive me) compared to all of the great books on water that are out there. I … Continue reading →

Categories: geology

Earthquake prediction is a fool’s errand

Posted on May 13, 2018 by Chris Rowan

If you want to make earthquake scientists jumpy, all you need to do is ask, "can you predict the next earthquake?" In fact, any variation on the theme of ‘earthquake’ and ‘prediction’ will do – unless it is one which … Continue reading →

Categories: deep time, earthquakes, geohazards, geology, ranting, society