Every day history is being made. This is true for geology as well. Out at sea layers of sand or mud are being laid down that will become the geological records of the future. The period of geological time that we are in right now is called the Holocene epoch, which is part of the… Continue reading The Holocene: from the Ice Age to the Age of Rice
The geological history of the earth
To understand the past, we divide history into different pieces, some big, some small. Human history has been divided into Ages, (e.g. Stone Age, Bronze Age) then smaller periods like Dynasties, then by the reigns of single rulers. Geologists deal with much longer periods of time, but they divide the history of the Earth in… Continue reading The geological history of the earth
A refolded fold from Scotland
Standing on the shores of Loch nan Uamh I was feeling distracted. There was a lot to attend to. Behind me was a flat strip of grass, growing on a beach deposit now left high and dry by the crust’s slow straightening of its spine after the weight of a huge ice cap melted away.… Continue reading A refolded fold from Scotland
Volcanoes and mass extinctions – tracking a killer
Look in a bookshop and see how many shelves are taken up with murder mysteries. There’s little that is as compelling as the idea of a dead body on the ground and a search to find the culprit. I’m going to try out the genre here today. I can promise you the deaths of entire… Continue reading Volcanoes and mass extinctions – tracking a killer