Mary Horner Lyell: "A Monument of Patience"
You never hear of the other Lyell. Sir Charles, you know quite well: he set the infant science of geology firmly on its feet and inspired Charles Darwin.
Stories by Dana Hunter
Happy Earth Day!
Taking care of the only habitable planet we've got for the foreseeable future seems like an excellent idea. I'm with The Tick: "You can't destroy the Earth!
The Cataclysm: "All of the Trees Seemed to Come Down at Once"
Here's a word you don't often apply to a forest: eroded. We don't expect live trees to be eroded. The slope they're standing on, sure: that can erode.
Chris Rowan Writes About Iran's Earthquakes So I Don't Have To
You know, it's hard being a self-educated science blogger with a day job. Important geology stuff happens, and by the time I've got the research all done and ready, it's old news.
Look, Ma, I'm on NASA!
Thanks to my friend and cantina regular RQ, Rosetta Stones finds itself highlighted on the NASA Earth Observatory website. Yowza! Note this tweet from EO's Rob Simmon: Update to my recent Tolbachik Volcano caption earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards… with info from @dhunterauthor— Rob Simmon (@rsimmon) April 12, 2013 [Update to my recent Tolbachik Volcano caption http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=80861 … with info from @dhunterauthor] I was a bit taken aback, to say the least...
"Time and Space, Space and Time"
Time and Space, Space and Time. Tick: a life form emerges; Tock: a sun explodes; Tick: a galaxy is ripped apart; Tock: a star is formed. Our universe is absolutely amazing.
Men, STEM, and Balance: Gilbert
What do you do when the old model no longer works? Our culture used to take it for granted that women would sacrifice their careers to raise the kids, while men sacrifice their family life to build their career...
Men and Work-Life Balance in STEM Careers
A recent article at Double X Science expressed a fundamental fed-upness with the way the media profiles women in science. The problem is the inordinate focus on things typically considered a woman’s work – “however do they balance all that lady stuff and a career?!” Gosh...
Zonia Baber: "The Public May Be Brought to Understand the Importance of Geography"
Zonia Baber (1862-1955) is one of those people you aspire to be and fear you will never manage to become even half as good as.And I only chose her as our first Pioneering Woman in Geology because of her name...
Pioneering Women in the Geosciences: Introduction
When asked for early geologists, all of us can rattle off names. Some of us may remember Nicolas Steno, the father of stratigraphy. We certainly mention James Hutton (father of deep time) and Charles Lyell (father of modern geology)...
Danger Zone! The New Madrid Seismic Zone
Malachite asked an excellent question I’m actually well-placed to address without further research. Yay! New curiosity: what the heck is that danger zone where Missouri meets Tennessee?...
On The Necessity of Geology
There is an urgent need for talking and teaching geology.Many people don’t know it. They think geology is rocks, but if they’re not rock aficionados, it’s nothing to do with them.
Crowdsourcing Pioneering Women in the Geosciences
Did you know it was a woman who discovered that the earth has a solid inner core? Or that Bascom Crater on Venus was named for the first woman geologist hired by the USGS?
The Cataclysm: "A Horrible Crashing, Crunching, Grinding Sound"
At the risk of sounding flippant, I wish to share a bedrock truth of the Pacific Northwest. Only, it's more like a harsh woody truth. The fact is that, on the seaward side of the great mountain chains, you can't see much geology...
Happy Pi Day!
It's 3-14! Here's some helpful advice for those who'd like to remember pi:Sometimes, only sometimes, I do love math.
Living (and Sometimes Dying) with Karst
The earth opened up and swallowed Jeff Bush last week. Normally, I wouldn't use that phrase: people say it all the time when the earth has done no such thing.
Paricut n: "Save Me From the Dangers in Which I am About to Die"
Dionisio Pulido suddenly found himself having a very bad day.A few moments before, he had been living an ordinary life, clearing brush from his land while his helper plowed and his wife and son watched the sheep graze...
Robot Geologist on Mars Makes History
One small scoop full of powdered rock, one giant step forward for exogeology. Lovers of the good science of rock-breaking will find their breath catching at this image:That's the first, folks...
Par cutin: "Here Is Something New and Strange"
Imagine a pastoral scene, seventy years ago in Mexico. On a sunny February day, a woman and her son watch over their flock of sheep from the shade of oaks; her husband strides across his fields toward a pile of branches that need burning, while his helper completes a furrow...
Interlude: What Vehicles Say About Temperatures Within a Volcanic Blast
In our previous installment regarding the effects of the May 18th, 1980 Mount St. Helens directed blast on vehicles, we learned a valuable lesson. I will call upon commenter Angusum from Boing Boing to sum up: "The main thing we learn from studying vehicles trapped in the path of a volcanic eruption is that you should try very hard not to get trapped in the path of a volcanic eruption." Indeed...
