November 16, 2012

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Geology Will Rock You !

By David Bressan

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

The music-video "Mutual Core" (2011) by Björk, starring hot tectonic forces and sensual strata, is by far not the only examples of how geology and paleontology could inspire musicians and songwriters. There is something for everybody, from rap to classic music, from hard rock to blues, from the Archean to the Anthropocene - all the "Deep Time" you want.

The German music group "The Ocean" released in 2007 a hard rock album entitled "Precambrian", the four single CDs are named after the four erathems of the Precambrian (Hadean/Archaean/Meso- and Neoproterozoic) and the single songs after the single periods (Tonian, Cryogenian,…).

The Precambrian fossils of the Canadian Burgess Shale are one of the most important examples of early macroscopic life forms and based on the popular book "Wonderful Life" (1989) by paleontologist Stephen J. Gould, Rand Steiger composed in 1994 music for a large orchestra, entitled appropriately "The Burgess Shale" and featuring fossils like Pikaia and Hallucigenia.

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My name is David Bressan and I'm a freelance geologist working mainly in the Austroalpine crystalline rocks and the South Alpine Palaeozoic and Mesozoic cover-sediments in the Eastern Alps. I graduated with a project on Rock Glaciers dynamics and hydrology, this phase left a special interest for quaternary deposits and modern glacial environments. During my research on glaciers, studying old maps, photography and reports on the former extent of these features, I became interested in history, especially the development of geomorphologic and geological concepts by naturalists and geologists. Living in one of the key area for the history of geology, I combine field trips with the historic research done in these regions, accompanied by historic maps and depictions. I discuss broadly also general geological concepts, especially in glaciology, seismology, volcanology, palaeontology and the relationship of society and geology.

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