Shale Gas Faux Danger

Shale Gas Faux Danger

One of our popular topics last year was earthquakes.  That makes sense, with the earthquake in Japan.  It's not like there was some greater instance of earthquakes but if you are a Doomsday…
Extinction: The Permian Period Was Gradual Doom

Extinction: The Permian Period Was Gradual Doom

The deadliest mass extinction that we know of, 252 million years ago at the end of the Permian period,  took a long time to kill most of Earth's life, and it killed in stages. It wasn't superior…
The Rapid Timescales Of Caldera Volcanism

The Rapid Timescales Of Caldera Volcanism

A new study in Nature shows that Santorini may have reactivated roughly a century before the Minoan "super-eruption", a lot quicker than had previously been thought.  How is it possible to time…
Argon-Argon: Improving The World's Slowest Clock

Argon-Argon: Improving The World's Slowest Clock

Welcome to the world's slowest clock. The 'argon-argon clock' works by measuring the ratio of the amount of radioactive potassium in a sample of rock to the amount of its decay product, argon. As…
A Geologist's Experience (Accretionary Wedge 41)

A Geologist's Experience (Accretionary Wedge 41)

For the 41st Accretionary Wedge Ron Schott asked for "the most memorable or significant geological event that you've directly experienced."  I had to think long and hard about this, because I…
Sunday Photo: Aberystwyth Castle

Sunday Photo: Aberystwyth Castle

There isn't really much geologically significant about this photo, other than that the castle is Made of stone.  However, I wanted to finish this week of photos instigated by Evelyn in Wales,…