Good building stones get reused. Sometimes the only traces of very old buildings are their stones, built into more modern ones. It’s the same with rocks and mountain belts. Stone that now forms parts of the Himalaya was once part of a now-vanished mountain range. The Himalaya were formed by the collision between the Indian… Continue reading The Himalaya: mountains made from mountains
Category: open access
Seasonal flow of geological learning
‘Big data’ is the idea that the Internet provides organisations with an unprecedented amount of data that deserves new forms of analysis. The more general idea that sophisticated analysis of big data sets is important is quite topical, just ask Nate Silver. Google have always been good at this sort of thing. They make (some)… Continue reading Seasonal flow of geological learning
How old is plate tectonics?
Plate tectonics is the process that underpins much of our understanding of the Earth. It explains manymany aspects of the Earth, from magnetic patterns in oceanic rocks to the distribution of plants and animals. How unusual is it? Well, it doesn’t seen to be happening on other rocky planets in our solar system. Many geologists… Continue reading How old is plate tectonics?
Cycling in the Pennines – 300 million years ago
The north of England is dominated by rocks of Carboniferous age, which give it a distinctive scenery and history, where local coal fuelled the world’s first industrial landscape. The geology is extremely well known, because of the importance of the coal deposits, but also because of the continuing excellence of the British Geological Survey. A recent… Continue reading Cycling in the Pennines – 300 million years ago