Top Geology Blogs
Share the Top Geology Blogs on
Earth Learning Idea
Extension ideas for 'Clay balls and the structure of the Earth'
Have you tried our latest activity 'From clay balls to the structure of the Earth'? We have now published Extension details (19MB) about this Earthlearningidea. Class discussion is likely to conclude that, firstly, the main evidence for the structure of the Earth, including the depths of the boundaries and...
How can physics be used to probe the Earth's structure?
The latest ELI+ activity is 'From clay balls to the structure of the Earth; a discussion of how physics can be used to probe Earth's structure.'This activity consolidates understanding of many physical processes and characteristics including, density, inertia, magnetism, electromagnetism, sound (ultrasound and seismic) and radiation (X-rays and ionising) The...
'Landslide through the window'
On 15th February 2010, a huge landslide occurred in Maierato, Calabria, Italy. It seems that the landslide was triggered by heavy rainfall in the region. Two hundred people were evacuated and it caused power failures.Have you tried Earthlearningidea 'Landslide through the window - what would you see, what would you...
Try our latest Earthlearningidea- 'Changing coastlines; investigating how coastal erosion, transportation and deposition can change the shape of coastlines'.Coastlines, with their cliffs, beaches, headlands and bays, are constantly changing shape. It is important to understand the processes because if you prevent erosion in one place this may lead to reduced...
Why do some lavas flow easily and others do not?
Have you tried 'See how they run; an investigation into why some lavas flow further and more quickly than others' The fluid in the three containers has been heated to different temperatures. The results of which containers best describe the eruptions in the two photos? What are the factors affecting...
Our new Earthlearningidea is 'Innocent until proven guilty; using forensic geoscience to solve the crime' This activity can be included in any lesson where problem-solving skills are required. It is adaptable to local conditions - local samples of soil, sand or rocks can be used. Also local suspects e.g....
Clastic Detritus
Sea-Floor Sunday #61: Kolumbo submarine crater
This week’s Sea-Floor Sunday image is of a submarine volcanic complex in the Aegean Sea. This image and much, much more about the geology of this area can be found on this page of the NOAA Ocean Explorer website. I like this image because it combines bathymetric contours, color, and shaded...
Friday Field Foto #104: Waimea Canyon, Hawai’i
I recently took a trip (a significantly delayed honeymoon, actually) to Hawai’i, which was the first time for me — wow, what an incredible place. I snapped tons of photos of the beautiful landscapes and geologic features, which you all will be seeing in future installments of the Friday Field...
Papers I’m Reading — February 2010
I’m still in post-vacation catch-up mode so blogging is pretty light right now. I hope to get back to it relatively soon. In the meantime, here is this month’s installment in the papers I’m reading series: Barnard, P.L. and Warrick, J.A., in press, Dramatic beach and nearshore morphological changes due to extreme flooding at...
Sea-Floor Sunday #60: Hawaiian Archipelago
This installment of Sea-Floor Sunday highlights a place I’ve never been. But, that’s about to change — my wife and I are headed to Hawai’i next week for an actual vacation. I can’t even remember when I’ve had one of those! The images below are from this beautiful bathymetric map...
Friday Field Foto #103: Diplocraterion trace fossil in Cretaceous strata in Utah
This week’s Friday Field Foto is a trace fossil called Diplocraterion from some Upper Cretaceous strata in Utah. Unfortunately, this photo is from my collection from several years ago (ca. 2002) when I wasn’t as diligent as I am now regarding keeping track of exactly where, both geographically and geologically,...
I received an e-mail from a reader asking my opinion about a rock they found and, as in previous occasions (e.g., here and here), I figured it would make a good Geopuzzle. I also recommend checking out Andrew Alden’s resources for identifying rocks over at About.com. This one was found near...
goodSchist
Tsunami Reporting Hall of Shame
The massive M 8.8 earthquake in Chile resulted in a tragic loss of life which, as of 2010-03-01, numbered more than 700. We won’t know the full extent of the damage inflicted on Chile or the interesting geological information we can gather from this even for a while yet. What...
I tend to pack some of my articles with terms the average person may not be familiar with. What is an isotope? I give a quick and dirty explanation in this geology and science basics article....
Episode 14 is the Geobloggers in the Pub: San Francisco edition. We talk in a slightly intoxicated way about what makes a geologist, human exploration of the planets, the importance of primary research and more....
Earthquake Preparedness and a Reply to a Comment Online
From the Stuff.co.nz article “Wellington still prone to quakes” comes this little gem of stupidity: Bart Hanson (09:08 pm Sep 18 2009) This article epitomizes my disgust for experts who cannot tell us when the next huge natural disaster will hit and merely being in a particular place at that moment will decide...
Hello everyone. Although I haven’t posted here in a while, I’m still actively working on the site and this brand spanking new theme is proof. Have a look around. If you feel like it, tell me of anything you spot that looks wrong either in the comments, or just by tweeting it...
The geology links I found interesting today and posted to my Tumblr feed. Including clarifying the relationships between science for a chemistry student, the deep time spiral image from the USGS and more....
cryology and co.
An active superimpose a relict rock glacier in the Tofane mountain group (South-East Dolomites 46°32``0`N 12°3``0E):Fig.1...
The principle behind the system of the "Cold War" is simple: you have to possess a weapon stronger then your adversary.So it's no wonder when governments all over the world are secretly constructing weapons with alien technology - or at least that is what the conspiracy fanatics all over the...
"On the Distribution of Erratic Boulders..." by C. Darwin
The papers submitted by C. Darwin to the Geological Society are available online Darwin´s Papers:C. Darwin 'On the Transportal of Erratic Boulders from a lower to a higher level'Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society...
The Dolomite Mountains - The stony heart of earth
The german edition of the "National Geographic" magazine got an interesting cover story in the march issue: "The Dolomite Mountains - The stony heart of the earth."Fig.1. Cover of National Geographic DeutschlandFig.2. The peaks of Cisles...
Landslide of Leisach (Austria)
A landslide near the village of Leisach (East-Tyrol, Austria;46°48`36`` N / 12°45`02`` E), occured in the night between the 19. and 20. february, has dammed up the river Drau and buried the street and trainrails between Italy and Austria. The landslide is 100m wide and 10m...
Fig.1. The Maierato-landslide today. LINK and LINK2...
geosciblog
Why Modern Liberals Ain't...A World Where Tolerance Only Goes One Way
Not two ways as most open-minded people understand, i.e., in their world, tolerance is not a two-way street.According to this CNSNEWS article:"Chai Feldblum, the Georgetown University law professor nominated by President Obama to serve on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, has written that society should “not tolerate” any “private beliefs,”...
My grandson Ben is one year old today. I wish I could hold him, but he is in NJ. So it goes.The photo is from when he was almost 10 months. He started walking at 11 months.I had a couple of wonderful Grandpa moments when we were there for Christmas....
5th Blogoversary...or is it Blogiversary...
whatever.I almost forgot to "celebrate". Heh.Been busy working online and messing with Facebook. It is almost mid-term time, so got to attend to the college stuff, too.Will try to celebrate with a fine glass of ale tomorrow night, as my sinuses are bugging me from the weather changes....
Tuesday Videos - Setting the Foundation for Tyranny
Here is a link to a video (sent by a commentor) of a World Federalist Association talk by the late Walter Cronkite with a follow-up by Hillary Clinton. This was done in 1999.There is no way that a world government could work without sliding into tyranny.Can you imagine the...
The Faux Intelligence of the Elites
I missed this American Thinker post a few days ago. Apparently the Washington Post made another failed attempt to impress us commoners with Barack Obama's vast intellect. [Actually, I am partially kidding. Skimming a portion of the WP article suggests that they do offer some doubts as to Barack Obama's...
Why Modern Liberals Ain't...Failing to Protect the Underdog
I am infuriated. If you haven't seen the video on ABC News, a teenaged girl was attacked by another in a Seattle bus tunnel. Three private security guards stood around, watching and doing nothing more than perhaps saying "Stop that". It looked like one of the security...
Geotripper
Does Anyone Really Care About Rocks and Minerals?
Let's see...geology and earth science programs are imperiled at a number of colleges and high schools around the country. Teachers are being laid off. Federal and state geologic surveys are having their budgets deeply slashed, and some are proposed for elimination. These kinds of programs are critical to the health...
A Denizen of the Underworld in the Land of the Living
I was leading my students today on a geology field trip through California's Mother Lode. We were in the southern reaches of the 1848 Gold Rush country between the towns of Mariposa and Jamestown, with stops at some of the (near) ghost towns, the California State Mineral Exhibit with...
A Friday Cat Blog...and "2012" again
It's a Friday! I've been grading midterms and lab reports non-stop for two weeks. I am geologized out for an evening. I'm heading up into the Mother Lode tomorrow with my students for an exploration of the gold rush mines and ghost towns, but tonight, it's a Friday Cat Blog....
The Other California: I've Seen These Mountains Somewhere Before: The Big Ripoff!
This is an ongoing exploration of the "Other California"; the wonderful geological places in our state that are rarely found on a postcard. After some geological distractions (like giant earthquakes in Chile and tsunamis in Hawaii), we are back on the road looking at some peaks that look strangely familiar....
I look at my posts for the last week and I see that I have been on quite a rampage of "munching Cheetos in the basement" blogging, complaining about treatment of geologic topics in the media. It was set off when I experienced the full brunt the appalling coverage of...
Is Climate Change a Scientific Controversy?
Retreat of Athabasca Glacier in the Canadian Rockies, 1919-2005 (photos from different angles, but most of the foreground of the recent picture was covered by ice in 1919)In my previous post, I made some comments on a report that I hadn't read on dinosaur extinctions, and had some questions instead...
About.com Geology
Next week I'll be giving a talk to the general public—at least, that subset of the general public that is deeply into their local watershed. After 13 years of writing here on About.com, I have some idea of what interests the public; also an idea of what the public needs...
Another highlight of the rock show last weekend was a big tray full of aquamarine crystals, from which I chose this specimen the size and shape of a fat pencil for just a dollar a gram. It reminded me of being a kid at the coin store, where there was...
One intriguing table at the rock show last weekend was full of boxed rock collections, like the ones that so many of us had as kids. These were good ones: decent-sized specimens, sturdy cases, explanatory material, inexpensive, geologically sound. They fit all of my criteria for starter rock collections, but...
Yesterday was the last day of the big local gem and mineral show. I'm not a big mineral collector, but there are some things I buy and lots of things I'm always tempted by, like bricks of raw jade. But I got two nice little things, one shown here—because who...
Geologic Maps of All 50 States: The Upgrade
Ten years ago, in 2000, I compiled geologic maps of all 50 states in straightforward, easy to understand images. It was the first and is still the only such compilation on the whole web. Now I've upgraded this collection using larger images and a brief introduction to the geology of...
Does Wikipedia Deserve Credit?
Wikipedia, the crowd-sourced encyclopedia, is both bad and good: On the bad side, teachers don't let their students rely on Wikipedia as an authority. It isn't written for a consistent audience, reflecting its anonymous authors' idea of what they want to say rather than what you need to know. On...
Oakland Geology
Mountain View Cemetery is a celebration of stone even if you ignore the knockers scattered about the grounds. Granite and marble are the two traditional rock types used—or I should say, stone types because commercial granite and commercial marble aren’t always what the geologist would call them. Marble and granite combine...
Sometimes I go out of town. Today I visited the annual show of the Mineral and Gem Society of Castro Valley, held down in Newark this year. For me, coming from the geological side of things, it’s dazzling kind of place. The hall was full of families, because there’s something for...
Wacke is pronounced “wacky.” It’s a name for coarse sandstone that contains a lot of junk: clay, rock fragments and minerals other than quartz. This is a closeup of wacke from the Oakland Conglomerate from Shepherd Canyon (more about that below). The geologist looks at this and envisions a young mountain...
Up along Skyline Boulevard between Snake and Shepherd Canyon Roads is a long section of crumbling roadcut. The rock there is mapped as brown mudstone that has been questionably assigned to the Sobrante Formation. OK, enough of that. What struck me about it is how weak it is. This exposure...
I visited the Montclair Railroad Trail yesterday, while the sun was shining, and found it a delightful transect of some important Oakland bedrock, including this. The Redwood Canyon Formation is part of the Great Valley sequence, a thick sequence of sedimentary rocks laid down between 150 and maybe 60 million years...
Middle Harbor Park is graced with large boulders. They look pretty and are interesting to study at close hand, but they’re actually at work barring entrance to vehicles. None of them come from Oakland, as far as I can tell. The rock in the foreground is a lovely example of cobble...
The Lost Geologist
A German language blog which I should have added to my blog feed long ago is Geonauten. The visually very appealing blog focuses on volcanoes but also deals with other issues of geology. It is managed by a team of four geology enthusiasts who have a background in engineering and...
As you may notice I am trying to implement a few, small re-constructions of the blog layout. I always wanted to add a few stand alone pages. As it seems - now I can....
Today I saw the 3rd episode of Stargate Univers on German TV. I was looking forward to it, especially because of the geologist's character. The problem was to find a substance to filter CO2 from the air. They travel to a desert planet to search for limestone (CaCO3) to act...
I'm back online. It was possible to make a complete back-up of my harddrive before formating and reinstalling Windows. Mental note: never leave a USB-Stick or MP3-Player in the ports when switching-off or re-starting your computer. It might drive your operating system into suicide....
Dear readers, followers and friends. Due to a severe and complete crash of my computer I will be without internet access for the next days (I hope) or weeks (I am afraid of). It is now in the hands of professionals who, I hope, will at least safe my thesis...
Tools and Tricks: Dictionary of Applied Geology
Thanks to my friend Kathrin I discovered a lengthy and 4-language dictionary of applied geology published online in the free access journal Freiberg Online Geosciences. In the 2001 edition a dictionary in German, English, Spanish and French is presented that has been compiled by Freiberg hydrogeologists. Consindering that I used...
Magma Cum Laude
A Guatemalan Lago Como: Lago de Atitlán and its volcanoes
Aldous Huxley described Lake Atitlán as "Como with the additional embellishment of several immense volcanoes. It really is too much of a good thing." I completely disagree on the "too much" part, because Atitlan is stunning (and, in my opinion, the addition of volcanoes gives it a leg up on...
Close to home: The 2010 Ed Roy Award
Some great news from Geospectrum - the latest Ed Roy Award winner is Jason Pittman, the lead science resource teacher at Hollin Meadows Elementary School in Alexandria, VA. This has me completely excited, because Hollin Meadows was the first elementary school I attended, and it's literally steps from home. It's...
Watch your step: Field work on lava domes
I suppose I've left you all hanging long enough, so now it's time to show off the first batch of photos from Guatemala. The trip started out in Guatemala City, where we loaded up our rental car and drove to Quetzaltenango (known as Xela or Xelaju to most people). From...
I know there's been a general feeling of disgust in the geoblogosphere about the coverage of the recent Chilean earthquake and its associated tsunami. Fortunately, a few news channels have managed to get hold of geologists and actually listen to them properly. And hey, if it happens to have been...
Just a quick note to let you all know that I'm finally back from Guatemala with samples in hand and only a bit of surface damage. (Much better than last time.) It was a really successful trip, minus the bits where we had to deal with driving around Guatemala, and I'm...
Essential reading for volcanologists
One of the things I've found out since starting serious research in volcanology is that a lot - and I mean a lot - of the best texts are either out of print, expensive, or both. Fortunately there are enough people in the department that we have a fairly good...
The Geology News Blog
Daily Geology Photos – March 14
A summary of photos posted on flickr today, tagged with “geology.” Displayed below are 94 geology-related photos were added to flickr today. ...
Geology Links for March 13th, 2010
Links from del.icio.us, tagged with geology on March 13th, 2010: waterfallLG.jpg (JPEG Image, 1000×721 pixels) BBC – KS3 Bitesize: Science – Rocks Books | "Stories in Stone": a geological tour of America’s buildings | Seattle Times Newspaper Discovery Channel :: Earthquake: Make a Quake Volcano – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Magma – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Tunguska...
Geology Links for March 13th, 2010
Links from del.icio.us, tagged with geology for March 13th, 2010: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~braile/edumod/waves/WaveDemo.htm Ice Formations Diurnal Freeze-Thaw Cycles Vacation to Mars: Antarctica’s Dry Valleys USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) American Association of Petroleum Geologists Poster of the Offshore Maule, Chile Earthquake of 27 February 2010 – Magnitude 8.8 Geology of National Parks Geology Labs On-Line National Science Foundation (NSF) Interactive Geology Project...
Daily Geology Photos – March 13
A summary of photos posted on flickr today, tagged with “geology.” Displayed below are 38 geology-related photos were added to flickr today. ...
Geology Links for March 12th, 2010
Links from del.icio.us, tagged with geology for March 12th, 2010: Discovery Channel :: Earthquake: Make a Quake Exploratorium: Faultline, Seismic Science at the Epicenter Earthquakes for Kids FEMA For Kids: Disaster Connection – Kids to Kids U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Program Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy – Division of Geology and Mineral Resources Yellowstone...
Daily Geology Photos – March 12
A summary of photos posted on flickr today, tagged with “geology.” Displayed below are 100 geology-related photos were added to flickr today. ...