About Geology

Now With Double the Limestones

2010-02-09T01:01:59Z

With the addition of this Wyoming dolomite and seven other photos, I have just doubled the size and scope of the Limestone Gallery. I make these galleries, each photo with notes and information, because you can't learn about a rock from just one picture no matter how good it is. So come to the gallery and take it in. Put your new knowledge to use the next time you're out among the rocks.
_{Archean dolomite closeup — Geology Guide photo}

Now With Double the Limestones originally appeared on About.com Geology on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 01:01:59.

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Retrofitting: Seize the Day

2010-02-08T17:04:16Z

After the Haiti earthquake, many engineers and disaster planners are finding that their concerns have a momentarily high profile. One of those concerns is better construction. This has been highlighted by the obvious: Haiti's buildings collapsed because they weren't designed or built with earthquakes in mind. The rest of us can do better.

California is a leader in retrofitting at all levels. After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, new state laws pushed hospitals to rebuild and strengthen their buildings. I have one right down the street from me building a whole new facility with a 2013 deadline. The cost is considerable, but the benefit is incalculable: a hospital designed to remain fully functional after the worst realistically foreseeable earthquake. Imagine such a thing today in Port-au-Prince.

The city of Berkeley, California, has had a very successful program of awarding loans to city homeowners to strengthen their existing buildings—retrofitting them. And in San Francisco, the mayor told a meeting of earthquake engineering specialists last week, "There is no doubt that we are going to require mandatory retrofitting." The linked story, from the San Francisco Chronicle, quotes a business owner worrying that the measure could force businesses to close for weeks, even months, while the work is done. But wouldn't it be better to plan for that closure now rather than go bankrupt or even die in a disaster?

Government support can be a great help in securing stronger buildings before a big earthquake can test them, but if you live in a susceptible area, you should consider financing a retrofit yourself.

Background:
Earthquake engineering
Earthquakes and schools
Preparedness
About earthquakes
Seismic liquefaction

Retrofitting: Seize the Day originally appeared on About.com Geology on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 17:04:16.

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Get the Dirt Ready for Baseball

2010-02-06T00:53:19Z

They're playing serious beisbol in Venezuela already, but in the U.S. it's still a couple weeks before the bats start swinging. Groundskeepers at all levels, though, are probably getting their equipment and supplies ready to prepare the all-important "infield skin" for the upcoming spring training and regular seasons. (They're probably visiting the Baseball Field Maintenance Blog, too.) And the umpire's office is making sure there's enough rubbing mud on hand. Baseball is truly where geology meets sport.
_{Baseball rubbing mud — Geology Guide photo}

Get the Dirt Ready for Baseball originally appeared on About.com Geology on Saturday, February 6th, 2010 at 00:53:19.

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Books: Sand by Michael Welland

2010-02-04T00:49:12Z

Sand: The Never-Ending Story is not a big book, but it's huge in scope despite the seeming simplicity of its title. Sand goes into geology, of course—sand is the iconic sediment at the heart of the rock cycle, eponym of sandstone, builder of beaches and the stuff of dunes. But sand behaves in ways that interest physicists, manufacturers, artists and children too. And sand gives writers a copious supply of metaphor. Michael Welland's book covers all that territory and more, but it's also a big sandbox of wonderful trivia. Here's a longer review.

Welland and I will be doing an interview of some kind soon, as part of his virtual book tour marking the release of Sand in paperback.
UPDATE: And our conversation is under way in the Geology Forum.
_{University of California Press}

Books: Sand by Michael Welland originally appeared on About.com Geology on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 00:49:12.

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Truly Ancient Forests, Truly Endangered

2010-02-03T00:42:32Z

For many years I've wished I could visit the remarkable fossil localities of the Canadian Arctic. On Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg islands, for instance, are found truly ancient forests, going back 45 million years, that are very lightly fossilized or even pristine. Tree trunks from the Eocene can be chainsawed from the ground and burned in a campfire. (Whether people should do that to a scientific treasure is another question.)

Anne Jefferson is a researcher who has been there and gotten the Ph.D. to prove it, and on 31 January she published a post on her Highly Allochthonous blog devoted to the coal beds of Stenkul Fiord. (Stenkul means "coal beds" in Danish, and I have to surmise that the fjord was named by the explorer Roald Amundsen.) She has pictures to show and stories to tell, but she also notes that someone is interested in grubbing up that fossil-bearing coal just to burn it for electricity. This is one of the reasons I favor us getting out of the carbon-burning habit as soon as possible.

Truly Ancient Forests, Truly Endangered originally appeared on About.com Geology on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 00:42:32.

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Dark Stars Crashing

2010-02-02T13:37:16Z

Last week the Hubble telescope looked at an odd-looking streak discovered by a sky survey that was hunting Earth-threatening asteroids. This is what it found: a cloud of rocky debris that appears to be from a very recent high-speed collision of two small asteroids. The bright dot in this image is the largest fragment left, a 140-meter nucleus that has migrated ahead of most of the cloud. The streak is fine dust being swept away by the pressure of sunlight, just like a comet's tail. But if you go to the Hubble site and look at the full-size image, you'll see several dim lobes of material pushing ahead of the cloud along with that nucleus.

Most of the asteroid belt consists of broken pieces, many of them thought to come from ancient miniature planets that had cores and mantles and even crust. A few of these protoplanets—the asteroids Ceres, Pallas and Vesta—are thought to be still intact.

Background:
Asteroid geology
Pieces of other planets on Earth
What is a planet?
Cosmic impacts
_{Comet-like Asteroid P/2010 A2 — NASA/ESA/D. Jewitt (UCLA)}

Dark Stars Crashing originally appeared on About.com Geology on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 13:37:16.

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Quake Awareness Month Is Every Month

2010-02-01T16:56:11Z

Missouri is starting to celebrate Earthquake Awareness Month today. This is good, because outside the big tectonic disruptions along the west coast, Missouri is the most earthquake-prone part of the USA.

Earthquake Awareness Month is not like other special months; it's different in different places. California, Hawaii and Oregon do it in April, which probably stems from the great earthquake of 1906, which came on the warm spring morning of April 18th. Idaho did it last year in October, probably because the Borah Peak earthquake was on 28 October 1983. Montana does it in October, too, but that's commemorating the Helena quakes of October 1935. Jamaica and the state of Kentucky do it in January. This year, pay extra attention when your region observes Earthquake Month.

About earthquakes
Earthquake prediction
Earthquake preparedness
Current earthquakes

Quake Awareness Month Is Every Month originally appeared on About.com Geology on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 16:56:11.

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Travertine Picture Gallery

2010-01-29T21:04:09Z

Travertine is not just a stone used to line elegant bathrooms; it's a geological curiosity—a renewable rock resource. You'll also find it in many different settings, telling a different story in each one. So come visit this new gallery of annotated pictures and get into travertine in more depth. You'll also find some nice destinations to visit.
_{Travertine in a monument — Geology Guide photo}

Travertine Picture Gallery originally appeared on About.com Geology on Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 21:04:09.

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Show Us Your Rocks

2010-01-28T18:56:46Z

Recently at About.com, we added a feature that lets you submit photos, along with the stories that go with them. People here are using them for things like pictures from the Phoenix Zoo or cross-stitch projects. Naturally, I want to use them so you can show off your favorite rocks. Photos can be up to 5 MB, but if you ask me 1 MB or roughly 1000 pixels is more than enough. Plus, and here's the challenge, you have to know the rock type. So when you're ready, you can submit a picture to one of these places:

See My Igneous Rock
See My Sedimentary Rock
See My Metamorphic Rock

If you need help, may I recommend How to Look at a Rock and the Quick Rock Identification Tables.
_{Metamorphic whatizzit — Geology Guide photo}

Show Us Your Rocks originally appeared on About.com Geology on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 18:56:46.

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Gabriela Farfan's Next Big Moment

2010-01-27T20:00:50Z

About a year ago I lauded young geologist Gabriela Farfan for being a winner in the Intel Science Talent Search. She has since gone on to study at Stanford University. But tonight will be a very special thrill, as she sits in the public gallery with Michelle Obama as President Obama delivers his first State of the Union Address tonight. I take it that he wants to promote science—well, Gabriela is a good symbol. Congratulations again, Gabriela.

See our email interview last year.

Gabriela Farfan's Next Big Moment originally appeared on About.com Geology on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 20:00:50.

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