Geobulletin alpha

June 6, 1944: The Geology of D-Day 

June 6, 1944 – in planning for D-Day – also geology was considered, as aerial photographs of the shores of Normandy were studied to find suitable landing sites for the invasion. The confluence of larger rivers with the English Channel between the harbors of Le Havre and Cherbourg created sandy shorelines were a landing with

This Week's Geo-Quiz: Other Planets 

Geologists are working in a great time of history: Using spacecraft, we have now taken close-up looks at all of the rocky planets, the rocky satellites, and several major and minor asteroids, and at the moment we have documented thousands of planets circling other stars. In another decade the planetary catalog will support a cadre of graduate students and professors. The conversations that have started between geologists, planetologists and exoplanetographers are already really exciting. How [...]

South Carolina Gets Its Official Fossil 

Last week Governor Haley signed into law an act designating the Columbian Mammoth as the "official State Fossil of South Carolina." This makes it the 39th statehttp://geology.about.com/od/regional_geology/a/statefossillist.htm, by my count, ...Read Full

Some Golden Oldies 

Over the years I've taken part in some memorable rounds of the Accretionary Wedge blog carnival. Here are three from the early days: The sixth Wedge, at the beginning of 2008, was organized around the challenge, "Hmm: Things about our planet that intrigue you." I responded with two entries, one about the Anthropocene concept and the other about the new generation of work on the Grand Canyon....Read Full

This Week's Geo-Quiz: Geologic Maps 

If you think you know your way around, think again. A geologic map will transform the way you see your stomping grounds. The familiar features--roads, cities, buildings and all that--are grayed out while the aboriginal land itself shines forth in colors, patterns and lines. Sprinkling this strange scene are symbols and markings with purely geological significance, things you may never have known existed. I'm saying beware: the geologic maps quiz may leave you all at sea. And I think that even [...]

Changes Ahead for the Blog 

The blog you're reading will end in a few weeks, although the old posts on it will remain. Everything else about the About.com Geology site will still be here: me (the guy that writes everything on it), the forum, the weekly email newsletter, all the rest of the content. There will still be places where I can blab informally about stuff, just not this particular series of Wordpress-powered posts in chronological order with attached comments. I don't have word yet about how RSS feeds will work, [...]

This Week's Geo-Quiz: Micro Geology 

Geology takes in subjects of all sizes from planets to molecules. Many of these have a micro component--that's not to stipulate that they're microscopic, or even minuscule, just, well, hey take the quiz now and you'll see. The quiz is definitely not about minutia, and if you can get through all 12 questions without seeing the INCORRECT! page, yours is a mighty jumbo-sized knowledge base

And Now a Message from... 

Every Monday morning at 1 o'clock, my weekly email newsletter goes out to thousands of subscribers. What's it like, you may wonder, and is it worth subscribing to given all the spam that will surely result? Well, I'm here to tell you today that subscribing doesn't bring you ANY spam, and your address stays thoroughly confidential. To sign up, just use that link next to my picture on the home page. The first click is the important one--we offer you more options afterward, but your subscription [...]

Is This Your Hat? 

I first ran this post in August 2009 and again in July 2011, but I think it's worth a repeat. . . During my 2006 trip through the Sierra Nevada (at Stop 12 of the Subduction Tour, to be precise), I came upon a floppy water-resistant field hat lying on a dusty slope beside the road, looking like it had been there perhaps a few months. For no particular reason I grabbed it and tossed it in the back seat. When I came home I tossed it under a table in my office. Then one day I had a cobwebby job to [...]

This Week's Geo-Quiz: Geology in Space! 

No doubt most you are ready to stop thinking about Earth, this globally warming vale of tears, this stage mobbed with grunting masses and their incessant talk of fears and threats, this scene of fracking frissons and landslide wreckage, volcanic vexation and earthquake angst. Cast your minds skyward, then, and contemplate the clean, cold heights of outer space. Consider your knowledge of Earth above the ground and Earth's planetary siblings. Now pit your knowledge against this Geo-Whiz Quiz [...]

The Tars of Carpinteria (and Elsewhere) 

When I went to Southern California a few years ago, I made a point of driving along the Santa Barbara coast just to visit Carpinteria, where the best asphalt springs in the country are on display at Carpinteria State Beach. I added them to the California Coast Gallery. The locals are probably all blasé about their beach--I didn't hear them, but I imagined them with Valley-girl accents saying "oh the beach is like tewtally PILES of TAR and these like geYOLLAgists are like so exCITed." Yes I [...]

Huge Trove of Science Released to the Public 

The American Geophysical Union is the world's largest publisher of Earth science research--and space science too. As an AGU member of long standing, I've enjoyed subscribing to AGU journals for my own information and pleasure. As a science writer, I've found AGU journals to be an endless quarry of ideas and sources. In both roles, I've often wished that the public could join me in looking at the primary literature. I've pointed out that the so-called open literature is open only to those [...]

This Week's Geo-Quiz: General Geology IV 

The proudest geologist is the generalist, who fancies himself or herself competent in, or at least acquainted with, the full range of geoscientific subjects. For that particular species of pride I offer not just one, but several Geo-Whiz Quizzes offering a dozen increasingly difficult questions on a fairly random range of topics. This one is the fourth and perhaps the hardest of them

Sayings and Proverbs that Touch on Geology 

The Rolling Stones have been in the rock-n-roll business just forever. The band took its name from a classic blues song that in turn referred to an older saying. And what is that saying? You all know it, so repeat after me: "A rolling stone gathers no moss." And what does it mean? Well, all of a sudden we're not repeating each other. I take it to mean, Stay fresh, because I love rocks. But moss is a good thing too, and maybe it's not good to go through life with nothing sticking to you. Be [...]

An Introduction to the Geology of Gold 

Nothing in geology excites the general public like gold. Geologists, too, have devoted a lot of attention to the details of its geochemistry and the many specific kinds of gold occurrences to be found out there among the rocks. So I've prepared a new article with the basics of this irresistible metal....Read Full

Earth Day, the Geological Perspective 

I love Earth Day as much as the next guy, but I have little use for it. To the geologist, every day is Earth Day, and the rest of the crowd seems to be singing from a different hymnal. So let me offer for your delectation three different essays about the occasion:...Read Full

This Week's Geo-Quiz: Plate Tectonics 

Over 200 years ago, we began to glimpse the outlines of the great engine that sculpts and maintains the Earth as we know and love it. It took a century and a half to come up with a paradigm—a body of theory and worldview—that we could sink our teeth into: plate tectonics. Today the general public is familiar with the basics of plates. But this quiz gets into the deep details that only a Geo-Whiz has mastered. Could you be one? Give the quiz a

Do We Need Hadean Eras? 

In geology, the rocks have a way of messing with our pretty schemes. One instance I'm thinking of involves the base of the geologic time scale. The Earth itself is about 4.5 billion years old--but the time scale starts at the base of the Archean Eon with a time unit called the Eoarchean Era, running from 4.0 billion years ago (4 Ga) to 3.6 Ga. Like most of the Precambrian time periods...Read Full

It's Frisco Quake Day 

It was 18 April 1906, 5:12 local time when the rumbling began. (Today that hour would be 6:12, a quarter-hour before sunup.) More than a full minute later, the shaking was still going on, and hundreds, maybe thousands of San Francisco's buildings had fallen, broken or caught fire. With the water supply rendered useless, fire raged over the city for three days and left half its people homeless. And that was only the beginning of the story of the great San Francisco earthquake, 108 years ago [...]

The Code of Hammering 

As field season returns in my part of the world, I'm gearing up for some nice outings. So it's time again to present my code of hammering. There are guidebooks that touch on matters of professional practice, and every rockhound group teaches its members hammer safety. But as an amateur geologist I practice a game between that of the professional and the rockhound. It incorporates a respect for the rock as something with its own aesthetics and right to exist as nature made it. See if you agree. [...]