How WWI Bombs Shattered Bedrock And Changed Geological History

The war in Europe began as a battle between infantry and cavalry, like in old times, and was believed to be quickly over. However, new weapons, like the machine-gun or heavy artillery, made direct attacks almost impossible as soldiers were killed in their thousands. The war quickly became a war of attrition as both sides dug in in a network of trenches and tunnels separated by the “No Man’s Land.” One hundred years after the end of World War I traces can be still found in the landscape.

Strange New Worlds: The Geology Of Star Trek's Planets

Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before!

 
As with any good science-fiction, our fascination with Star Trek comes from the combination of real science with fantastic possibilities. When you think of science in the show, disciplines like engineering, astronomy, physics and biology probably spring to mind first. However, the show actually features also a lot of geology.

The Most Famous Last Stand In History And How Geology Played A Role In It

The Thermopylae, the hot gates or also gates of fire, is a mountain pass at the foot of Mount Kallidromo in modern Greece where legend tells that King Leonidas and 300 of his Spartan warriors fought millions of Persians, during Xerxes’ invasion of Greece in 480 B.C. They were able to hold the mountain pass for three days, when they were betrayed and finally defeated.

"Greece and Rome: Builders of Our World (The Story of Man)", 1977

Marie Tharp, The Woman Who Discovered The Backbone Of Earth

July 30, 1920, birthday of Marie Tharp, The Woman Who Discovered The Backbone Of Earth. She was among the first women to get a degree and work as professional geologist in the US. Later she worked also on a map of the seafloor that changed geology.

Alternative Model For Formation Of Devils Tower Explains Its Geological Oddities

Devils Tower in Wyoming is surrounded by myths and mysteries. To the Sioux people, this site was sacred and some of their stories tell how this mountain formed: A long time ago a giant bear chased a group of children onto the flat top of the mountain. Out of reach of the animal, the bear started to scratch the rocks with its claws, forming the characteristic joints in the rock. Reportedly, Devils Tower got its name from this legend, as "bear" was erroneously translated as "bad god" - later becoming the "devil".

Today, this 1,267-foot-high pinnacle of phonolite (a silica-poor fine-grained igneous rock) is described in many textbooks as an intrusion of igneous rock that never reached the surface to form a volcano. However, there are a number of issues with this idea.

The New Netflix Movie 'How It Ends' Features Societal Collapse By Geological Apocalypse

The new Netflix action thriller film "How it Ends" imagines how a sudden collapse could happen in the modern U.S., likely triggered by a mysterious geological apocalypse🌋

Why Hydrogeology Plays Such An Important Role In The Thailand Cave Rescue Operations

Rescue operations to free 12 boys together with their soccer coach from the Tham Luang cave in Thailand are underway but could take days to complete. The geology of the region plays a role in both the origin of the cave as why exploring wild cave systems is so dangerous.

The Largest Crystals Ever Discovered Are At Risk Of Decay

The mine of Naica, in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, was opened in 1828 to mine for lead, zinc and silver ore. In 1910, a natural cave in the mine was discovered, which was later named Cueva de las Espadas, the Cave of Swords. The name derives from three-feet large, blade-like gypsum crystals (calcium-sulfate) completely covering the walls of the cave.

However, what the miners discovered almost 90 years later during the construction of a new tunnel was even more astounding. The Cueva de los Cristales, the Cave of the Crystals, hosts the most incredible crystals ever discovered. The mining operations, making the discovery possible, are also threatening this geological treasure.

110 Years After The Tunguska Event We Still Aren't Sure What Caused It

At 7:15 on the morning of June 30, 1908, something happened in the sky above the Stony Tunguska (Podkamennaya Tunguska) river in Siberia. Many thousand people in a radius of 900 miles observed the Tunguska event and more than 700 accounts were collected later. The reports describe a fireball in the sky, larger or similar to the size of the sun, a series of explosions “with a frightful sound”, followed by shaking of the ground as “the earth seemed to get opened wide and everything would fall in the abyss. Terrible strokes were heard from somewhere, which shook the air [].” The indigenous Evenks and Yakuts believed a god or shaman had sent the fireball to destroy the world. Various meteorological stations in Europe recorded both seismic and atmospheric waves. Days later strange phenomena were observed in the sky of Russia and Europe, such as glowing clouds, colorful sunsets and a strange luminescence in the night.

A devastating explosion occurred in a remote swampy area of Siberia in June 1908 that even now continues to spark controversy and theories of widely varying plausibility.

Hawaii's Kilauea Eruption Did Not Rain Gemstones From The Sky

Since the beginning of May 2018, the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii has been erupting. First a cloud of fragmented older lava, volcanic ash and vapor rose from the Pu‘u ‘O‘o crater on the summit, magma then migrated to the flanks, opening a series of fissures from where now lava is pouring out.

Around five weeks into the eruption, some residents of the town of Kalapana reported small, green crystals to be found on the ground, soon speculating that the crystals rained out from the eruption column or the lava fountains of Kilauea.

Olivine sand from the Papakolea Beach on Hawai'i. Source and Credit: Wikipedia-user Tomintx, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Forensic Geology Provides Tantalizing Clues About The Fate Of Skyjacker D.B. Cooper

It was the first “successful” crime of its kind in the U.S. – hijacking an airplane for ransom – and after more than 45 years it is still unsolved. But forensic geology has provided some clues as to what may happened to the hijacker known only as D.B.Cooper. Read more...

How 19th Century Climbing Books Reveal Clues About Climate Change

“For the stone from the top for geologists…” answered mountaineer George Mallory once when asked why he’d climb Mount Everest (he and his friend Sandy Irvine perished there on June 6, 1924). 

Geologists nowadays study how climate change weakens the mountains based on observations made by such pioneering mountaineers. Continue reading...

How Groundhogs Can Change A Landscape

We don’t know how much wood a woodchuck would chuck if he could chuck wood, but we know how much sediment he moves per year…

 

Biogeomorphology, also referred as ecogeomorphology or sometimes as zoogeomorphology, is the study of the links between ecology and geomorphology, or in simple terms between life-forms and landforms. Such interactions range from simple tracks left by an organism in the landscape to the complex cycles of energy and matter transfer (like for the element carbon) between the biosphere and the lithosphere.

The role of animals in the evolution of a landscape is still poorly studied, but one of the most interesting processes modifying a landscape involves digging animals. Read On...

The Origin Of Geological Terms: Feldspar

“What’s in a name?” asked William Shakespeare in his play Romeo and Juliet. It may also be of interest to explore the origin of some common terms used in geology in an upcoming series, like feldspar, the most common mineral on earth´s surface Read On…

Charles Darwin And The Search For Extraterrestrial Life

In August 1881, the journal Science (a short-lived predecessor of the modern journal) published an article based on letters exchanged between two amateur geologists – British Charles R. Darwin and the German Otto Hahn – discussing the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Just some years earlier, Darwin had published On The Origin of Species, arguing that complex life forms evolved very slowly over time from simple ones.

However, Darwin faced a major problem with his theory. At the time, based on erroneous calculations of the cooling rate of earth by physicist Lord Kelvin, the Earth was believed to be just some million years old.

Accordingly, the planet seemed too young to explain the modern complexity and diversity of life. However, if already complex microorganisms existed in space (the existence of which would predate the formation of Earth), and only later they evolved in terrestrial animals, could solve this apparent contradiction. 

Read On...

How Mount Etna Helped Geologists Understand The Birth Of Volcanoes

Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe. The size, location (Italy is worth visiting for a lot of reason) and constant volcanic activity have made Mount Etna an important destination for early traveling geologists Read On..

Of Dragons and Geology

Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (1672-1733) was a Swiss physician, but also quite interested in travels and natural sciences. He published his observations on the culture and natural world of the Alps as “Itinera per Helvetiae alpinas regiones facta annis 1702-1711“.

In the introduction by the editor we read:

“The name of Scheuchzer will be famous …[] The author was in the best conditions to make valid discoveries during his explorations. He worked with incredible determination.., [] no danger, no costs, no difficulty were too large for this great man.“

Despite the work was intended to dispel of myths and superstitions so common in the Alps, Scheuchzer, like many other naturalists of his time, did not see a contradiction in publishing own and exact observation and rumors... Read On

The Geology Of Star Trek: From Extraterrestrial Minerals To Alien Life-Forms

August 19, 1921: Happy Birthday to Eugene Wesley „Gene“ Roddenberry - creator of Star-Trek Universe, where you can find some fascinating geology, from extraterrestrial minerals to silicon life-forms !! Read on...

Ancient Stories Provided An Early Warning About Potential Seattle Earthquakes

Oral tradition played – and still plays – an important role in many societies. The subjects of these stories range from fantastic fairy tales to myths, tales based on real persons, places or historic events. But interestingly enough, these stories may also represent attempts to record and transfer knowledge of past geological catastrophes as a warning from generation to generation. Read On...