Geology and life in the English ‘Coal Measures’

The geology of the North of England is where our modern industrial civilisation was born, based on the burning of fossil life. I’ve wanted to write about the fascinating geology I grew up with for a while. I’ve been spurred into action by Accretionary Wedge #46 where Cat asks us to write about “Geology, Life and Civilization”. The… Continue reading Geology and life in the English ‘Coal Measures’

Hot rocks, big rivers and the world’s tallest mountain face

In areas of active mountain-building the middle crust can get hot and weak, like a soft jam/jelly filling in a sandwich.  These squishy rocks are hidden from us by the cold rigid upper crust, so we wouldn’t expect to see them reach the surface, would we? Well, what happens if you overfill a sandwich and… Continue reading Hot rocks, big rivers and the world’s tallest mountain face

UPDATED: Copyright, blogging and scientific papers

Is it legitimate to reproduce diagrams from scientific papers in a blog post? Curious, I asked the question of Twitter. It returned two distinct responses. One response, from a pair of scientists and highly respected and active bloggers was (to simplify and paraphrase) that it was OK since you were discussing Science. Asking permission of… Continue reading UPDATED: Copyright, blogging and scientific papers