geosciences
cpikas | May 1, 2010Anne Jefferson from Highly Allochthonous pointed me to a new essay from Geoscientist Online, the member magazine of the Geological Society (UK). That essay points both to the survey of women geobloggers (previously mentioned here) and a survey done by Lutz Geissler, Robert Huber, and Callan Bentley. (probably haven't mentioned before).
In the Geoscientist essay by Michael Welland, he discusses his own slowness in taking up blogging, but also his enjoyment of the geoblogosphere and the community he finds there. He learns of new things he wouldn't come across in his other readings and he…
greengabbro | May 21, 2009Following on Short Geologist's list of things you do and don't need at a field hotel, and fresh from the field (where by "field" I mean "three days of driving around the mountains looking for stuff", and by "fresh" I mean I'm still at the airport), I thought I'd do a list of amenities that I want in a field vehicle.
I was on a fairly simple reconnaissance mission, which involved driving around with a map and a clipboard and taking notes. Obviously, jobs requiring more equipment (and less driving/working while your foot's on the brake) have slightly different requirements, mostly involving…
greengabbro | April 1, 2009Update, April 2: I hope you all had a wonderful April Fools Day, unmarred by water shortages, supervolcanoes, and threats to your world view. This was a fake, but I should have a real job announcement to make soon - and it won't involve any quack apologetics.
After months of searching in a desperate economy, I am incredibly relieved to have been offered a permanent position. Not just relieved, but tremendously excited - I've managed to find an incredibly exciting, challenging, and meaningful job. As of today, I am the newest adjunct fellow at the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and…
sb admin | March 25, 2009The question of whether or not I am a geologist is not just an amusing exercise in academic politics. In Washington, as in most U.S. states, geology is a regulated profession; guidelines for who can and cannot call themselves a geologist in a professional context are laid out in the administrative code and enforced by the Geologist Licensing Board.
I am not a geologist, nor will I become one any time soon. To comply with Washington law, I would need to complete coursework in the core subjects of geology (as specified in WAC 308-15-040: structural geology, mineralogy, petrology and sedimentary…
greengabbro | March 25, 2009The question of whether or not I am a geologist is not just an amusing exercise in academic politics. In Washington, as in most U.S. states, geology is a regulated profession; guidelines for who can and cannot call themselves a geologist in a professional context are laid out in the administrative code and enforced by the Geologist Licensing Board.
I am not a geologist, nor will I become one any time soon. To comply with Washington law, I would need to complete coursework in the core subjects of geology (as specified in WAC 308-15-040: structural geology, mineralogy, petrology and sedimentary…
greengabbro | March 24, 2009Or, less generally, am I a geologist?
I have a B.S. in geophysics and an M.S. in earth and planetary science with a funky geophysics/geohydrology emphasis. I took some intro physical geology and earth history as a sophomore, but I have never taken formal courses in mineralogy, petrology, structural geology, sedimentology, or stratigraphy. However, I've picked up the basics of these fields from older kids on the street corner and make use of them in my work.
Please assume while you are answering the poll that my work involves using my knowledge of the Earth's history, processes, and…
sb admin | March 19, 2009On Monday, airline passengers were the first to observe the eruption of the just-barely-above-the-water volcano that forms the islands of Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha'apai, in Tonga. Three days later, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake occurred on the Tonga trench.
Was the timing of these two events just coincidence?
Yes.
Why do I think the events were unrelated? Well:
Earthquakes happen all the time. Thankfully for Tongan residents, I am using a geological definition of "time" here, but still: A major earthquake on a major plate boundary does not require any special explanation.
The earthquake was a…
greengabbro | March 2, 2009Once again it is time to acknowledge that I will never read all of the papers I've flagged in my RSS reader... but I can at least go through the abstracts. While my summaries here may be slightly in error due to the fact that I haven't actually read the papers in question, here is what I'm skimming:
Clay might trigger earthquakes - Many clay minerals break down, when heated, to produce H2O + different clay minerals. If this water is produced inside a clay-lined fault zone, and not allowed to leave, it might weaken the fault enough to produce an earthquake (cf. the beer can experiment).…
greengabbro | January 22, 2009 Since today is National Pie Day, I thought I would list a few of my favorite cookbooks. In particular, the ones that have taught me to bake pie. The ones with science.
My staple meringue pie recipe comes from The New Best Recipe. The Meyer lemon meringue pie I made from this recipe for Thanksgiving several years ago is what kicked off my love affair with meringue pies, and with meringue in general. But before I can tell you about this cookbook, I need to tell you about seismology.
Seismologists set up simple computational models of the Earth in order to understand why seismograms look the…
greengabbro | December 31, 2008Geotripper always comes up with the best memes [Oh, wait, looks like Brian at Clastic Detritus might have priority on this one - sorry Brian!] He's made some psychic predictions for 2009. But I think his crystal ball must have some inclusions that are scattering away his mind-energy vibrational tones, because this is what I saw in the melted cheese on my pizza last night:
Episodic tremor and slip on the Cascadia subduction zone occurring early this spring will trigger the long-dreaded subduction zone megathrust event. The magnitude ~9 earthquake, and ensuing tsunami, devastate the coastal…
greengabbro | December 16, 2008Baked Alaska is a highly technical dessert. Its success requires a firm and pliable meringue, a moist and springy sponge cake, deft assembly work, and the time-dependent heat equation. The final product is tasty enough, but it is usually meant primarily as a delivery vehicle for boasts about one's l33t dessert skillz - the delicious flavor is just along for the ride.
Baked Alaska is also the first thing I thought of when my old friend and Alaska resident Janessa asked for a red bean dessert as her prize for contributing to the Donors Choose fundraiser gimmickfest. I am so very free of…
greengabbro | October 27, 2008 The Where on Google Earth? competition has been going on for almost two years now, wandering the geoblogosphere from winner to winner. During that time, we've covered all 7 continents and a whole buncha islands, but we've revealed one great big bias. We're landlubbers.
I've managed to find one again - for the first time since I moved to ScienceBlogs! - and I think it's time to start correcting this historical inequity.
For new players, here's the game: Open up Google Earth and try to find the patch of Earth pictured here. Be the first to post its coordinates, and describe the geology as…
greengabbro | October 21, 2008Someone stole 500 truckloads of sand from a beach on the north shore of Jamaica. Police are using "forensic tests" on other beaches on the island to identify the thief; I'm guessing this involves a geologist looking at sand in a microscope.
This page has better images of magnified sand grains than I was able to find on Flickr, and it's a nice overview of some of the things you can learn about a beach by examining the sand... but I wanted to do my own quiz anyway. Can you match the beaches to the sand?
The beaches:
Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
Hollywood Beach, Florida
Oneuli Beach, Hawaii…
greengabbro | October 20, 2008My coffee grinder sometimes pauses in its labors, and makes a high-pitched whining noise that is nigh unbearable to the uncaffeinated ear. The noise happens because even though there are plenty of beans in the hopper, they've managed to arrange themselves in such a way that they don't fall down. A good jostle of the grinder will set things right.
This problem is not new. Random loose particles frequently produce such quasi-stable, gravity-defying arrangements. Back in the day when I was working on well drilling projects, we worried about it happening in the gravel that surrounds the well…
greengabbro | October 9, 2008As papers come through my RSS reader, I flag anything that looks interesting, with the vague intention of getting back to it later.
Ha, ha. Very few of the articles I flag actually make it through my periodic purging of the to-read list. Since Berkeley has finally figured out that I'm no longer a student and they should stop providing me with library access to journals, the barrier between "hm, looks interesting" and "I'm actually going to read this" has gotten even higher.
Below the fold: 5 papers that haven't quite made the hurdle.
Dating kimberlites in Kansas - Kimberlite pipes are famous…
greengabbro | September 19, 2008Shiver me timbers, I almost forgot!
What five minerals would a pirate want to know?
pyrite
arrrsenopyrite
arrragonite
cinnabarrrr
feldsparrrr
greengabbro | September 19, 2008While I was away, the rest of the geoblogosphere spent some time creating a list of 50 minerals to see before you die, and then ticking off which ones they've done; Dave Schumaker put together a neat tag cloud to display the results.
Intimidated by the length of this list, Callan, Kim, EffJot, Geology Happens, and Silver Fox have come up with shorter, more focused lists of the 5 minerals they would introduce to earth science n00bs. They are mostly focused on minerals that are "important" in the sense that they play significant roles in geological processes.
As a geophysicist and mostly-…
greengabbro | September 14, 2008Sometimes Google Books throws up some interesting results:
The knowledge of Geology seems to be requisite in all states and pursuits of life. The artisan and the mechanic, are benefited by the mineral products of the earth; without Iron alone, (the rusty king of all metals,) man could not exist in a civilized state, for, from the weighty hammer and the delicate needle comes most of the power, that man possesses in the mechanical arts. The agriculturalist is assisted by a knowledge of the rocks, which compose the base of the material of the soil which he is cultivating - practical men have…
greengabbro | August 21, 2008I was struck by the similarity of these two images. Which one does your dentist want you to eat?
I won't speculate about anyone's dentist's motivations, but the top image comes from The Science of Ice Cream, and the bottom from the USGS. I'm not sure what conditions the ice cream was stored under, but the USGS image is from a limestone that had been stored next to a piping hot intrusion of monzonite, and partially baked into marble.
Frozen desserts left in the freezer too long will undergo a similar process. The edges of each ice crystal are constantly exchanging water with the sugar…
greengabbro | August 20, 2008It was hot out last weekend. Some of you might scoff at what I consider "hot", but the glorious thing about Seattle is that the entire city seems willing to join me in whining and wilting whenever the temperature breaks 80 (that's 25 of your Earth units). Naturally, I spent a lot of time thinking about ice cream.
Ice cream is an igneous rock. You begin with a liquid slurry containing a hodgepodge of chemicals, and by bringing it below its freezing point, you create something solid - or at least solid-ish. Good ice cream or sorbet needs a little give, a bit of liquid remaining between ice…