Category Archives: geology

Simulating radioactive decay

Posted on January 26, 2018 by Chris Rowan

3.8 billion years! 4 billion years! 4.4 billion years! 4.57 billion years! When discussing the age of the Earth in introductory geology, I think it is important for students to know at least the basic principles of where these ages … Continue reading →

Categories: deep time, geology, science education, teaching

All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again: an introduction to How the Earth Works

Posted on January 16, 2018 by Chris Rowan

For a couple of years now, I’ve been telling a story at the beginning of the introductory geology course I teach, called How the Earth Works. I like to think it gives a flavour of the kinds of stories you can tell about the Earth, if you know how to look: stories of how the world slowly remakes itself over hundreds of millions of years, of how the very high was once the very low, and will be again. This is that story. Continue reading →

Categories: academic life, basics, deep time, geology, geomorphology, ice and glaciers, outcrops, past worlds, rocks & minerals, science education, tectonics

Visualising Earth Structure, redux

Posted on January 20, 2017 by Chris Rowan

Last semester, when teaching my intro class about the composition and structure of the Earth and how we know, I went a bit overboard in producing a snazzy Earth cross-section: I’m still pretty proud of this, but one of its … Continue reading →

Categories: basics, geology, teaching

An unremarkable year – seismically, anyway.

Posted on January 1, 2017 by Chris Rowan

Political pundits seem fond of geological metaphors such as ‘earthquake’, ‘seismic shift’, ‘tectonic shift’ and ‘tsunami’ – and they’ve certainly had plenty of reasons to use such metaphors in the past 12 months, as both my birth country and my … Continue reading →

Categories: earthquakes, geology, tectonics

A cross-section through the Earth

Posted on September 2, 2016 by Chris Rowan

One of the first things I do in my introductory geology class is talk about the structure of the Earth. Knowing the names, composition and physical properties of the different layers is an important foundation for the rest of the … Continue reading →

Categories: basics, geology, geophysics, planets, teaching