Geobulletin alpha

Virtual field trip to Siccar Point, Scotland 

Time for another virtual field trip on the Geologist’s Grand Tour of the United Kingdom: the most famous outcrop in the world. Today, we visit Siccar Point, Scotland. You’ve probably already seen photos of this place – they usually look something like this: To those who aren’t familiar, here’s what going on: There are two sets of strata here – and the contact between them is an ancient erosional surface.

The Thrill of Predictability 

There are those who argue that predictability is the greatest gift of progress, the biggest merit of civilization. Our ability to explain nature through science makes the world and the universe predictable and understandable. That enables us to have a more informed and productive relationship with our natural environment and its

Observing bubbles from underwater gas seeps (video) 

Natural oil and gas seeps exist on the ocean floor all over the world. Although humans have known about and exploited these natural resources for thousands of years, scientists know little about how oil and gas droplets disperse in deep water and how they affect underwater

Orlando. Words from my friend Monk San. 

By Steve Gough.Monk San is a friend of mine who was born in Sri Lanka and became a Buddhist monk there as a teen; his mother is still there and picks tea for a few dollars a day.  Here he is with my wife, Kate, who brought him to Carbondale to visit her Buddhist group.  Two people I admire very much.He's a Buddhist monk who's broken from his tradition by leaving his monastery and traveling.  He's in a lot of trouble for that.English is not his first language.  I was moved by [...]

How to Wrap Your Head Around Dead Sea Rehabilitation 

The Dead Sea has been receding at an average rate of 1 meter per year. How can this important historic, cultural and environmental landmark be rehabilitated in one of the world’s driest regions while improving water access for Israel, Palestine and

The Dragons are Calling 

The 12th longest river in the world has summoned us here. It is born in China, and after flowing through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia, the Mekong River arrives in Vietnam and merges with the South China Sea. When it joins, it does not come alone but is escorted by all sorts of human-induced

Subglacial Lake Discovered In Antarctica 

Scientists from around the world have been working to research conditions in Antarctica for years, but still much remains unknown about the planet’s fifth-largest continent. Just in January, a team[...] The post Subglacial Lake Discovered In Antarctica appeared first on Lake

Gotthard tunnel, world's longest, opens in Switzerland 

The Swiss and many other European dignitaries celebrated the opening of the World's longest and deepest tunnel last week, the Gotthard Base Tunnel, after 17 years of construction. The tunnel beneath the Swiss Alps is 57-kilometers long (35-miles long) reaching a depth of 2,300 meters (7,545 feet, almost 1.5 miles). The tunnel will create a high-speed rail link between northern and southern Europe. Trains will travel the tunnel, which runs between the towns of Erstfeld in the north and Bodio in [...]

Brian Greene and the Galilean Cannon 

You might guess that I’m a bit geeky, but I long ago made peace with myself over being a nerd, and I am a big believer that the only thing new in the world is the history or science you do not know. I honestly have no idea what Game of Thrones is about (other than my wife’s insistence that “You won’t like it, trust me”), and if it’s not

Welcome to School of Rock 2016! 

Welcome to School of Rock 2016! We blew in from several corners of the world after layovers (and rapid tours of London), delays and even a missing suitcase, ready for the week ahead on the DV Joides Resolution.  read

BEHOLD: The GAME OF THRONES BRITTLE STAR! & new ophiuroids from New Caledonia! 

As many of you picked up on last week, I've been busy working on starfish at Museum Victoria in Melbourne working with my colleague Dr. Tim O'Hara, one of the world's leading authorities on ophiuroids! aka the brittle stars and basket stars! He's had a BUNCH of big research news drop lately (here's the link to last week) While talking to Dr. O'Hara he informed me of of some neat, NEW

How to create mountain ranges in QGIS? 

Last time we had the task to create mountain ranges polygons for the whole world. I prepared a small tutorial referred to that. Maybe you can find something interesting for you. It will show you a model on how to select defined regions, slicing raster, smoothing and also exporting desired features. Enjoy! Location and data The first step is to find a location. It’s always useful to check wikipedia in order to do this, but also there is a very interesting website: [...]

Airliner Chronicles: Stuck on a Plane with a Proselytizer... 

And really, I felt sorry for the poor guy who was stuck sitting with me on the plane flight from St. Louis to LAX. Oh, I wasn't trying to convert the poor guy into some religion. No, he got the full-court press from me about the importance of understanding what was going on 35,000 feet below us on the ground. He was being proselytized into the world of geology. People who fly a lot

Imaggeo on Mondays: Half dome at sunset 

Yosemite’s Half Dome stands, majestic, over a granite dominated terrain in the Yosemite Valley area;  one of the most beautiful landscapes in northern America, and arguably, the world – it is also an Earth scientist’ playground. Stamped into the west slope of the Sierra Nevada range, the Yosemite Valley is a collection of lush forests, deep valleys, meandering rivers and streams, all punctuated by huge domes and cliffs of ancient volcanic origin. Come and explore this part of the [...]

Educator How-To: Cross-curricular Education Gets Cheesy 

As educators, we all want students to understand the world holistically, but we still tend to teach each subject independent from all other subjects. Food is an effective way to capture the attention of students and provide a useful tool … Continue reading

Taking Flight (Remotely) over East Africa 

"Despite an early love affair with technology encouraged by my computer scientist, Silicon Valley-based parents, even I had a hard time envisioning a world in which I would spend a summer flying fixed wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over pastoral East

Learning from El Niño as La Niña Odds Rise 

Although El Niño is weakening, its ramifications continue to be felt around the world. Drought and resulting food insecurity is one of the major implications for southeast Asia, eastern and southern Africa, Central America and the Caribbean. Sixty million are in need of emergency relief today, according to the United

Consensus, Cooperation, and Conversation 

This is one of my periodic mea culpas for a lack of posts. In this case, I have an excuse and I think it's a worthy one. I'm one of a group of people editing a new book on collection storage, due for publication late this year. Or early next year. It's a 650 page monster with 35 chapters and 60 authors and while I've never given birth, I suspect producing this thing will give me some sense of what that's like. When it comes out, buy it. We managed to assemble a fantastic group of authors [...]

A little bit of Mexico earthquake activity 

The poor Mexicans are trying to fend off earthquake panic.  They've had a few little earthquakes and people naturally associate 'momentum' with this, especially after the recent events. I love this area, as it has some of the cleanest subduction zones in the world.  This is one of the 'ripest' areas for M9's, but they are every 500 years, with an uncertainty of 500 years.  So I

KwaZulu-Natal Holiday: Howick Falls 

Over the next two or three weeks I’ll be sharing some pictures from my recent week-long holiday in March to the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. A week is not nearly enough time to fully explore this beautiful part of the world. However, my husband and I managed to see a fair amount! We took a flight from Cape Town (our home city) to Durban and then we drove through to