TS Must-read series, the wrap up In 2020, we started the Must Read activity by asking the TS community a simple question: which papers do you think every tectonics and structural geology student should read? that led to more than a thousand nominations and lively debate. A short list of 48 Must Read papers was …[Read More]
Whether you are a student, educator, or industry professional, you have likely encountered the myriad conventions used for recording geological orientations. For students, this landscape can be perplexing; for professionals, it may lead to the sinking feeling that a crucial undergraduate lecture was missed. Indeed, converting strike and dip measurements between different systems, such as …[Read More]
To kick off the New Year, we have invited a guest author, Takafumi Maruishi, a researcher in the Research Division for Volcanic Disasters / Center for Volcano Research Promotion, National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience, Japan. He explains the scaling law of lava dome growth and its physical insight. Effusive eruptions—when magma …[Read More]
“There is no geology here – just dirt!” or “It’s only a large sandbox.” are two common narratives told about the geology of the Berlin region. But is that true? Is there really nothing interesting to find and see for a geologist in the German capital? Let’s start digging! The hard rock One narrative is …[Read More]
The Aboriginals Australians had and hopefully will continue to have an important oral tradition, especially related to impacts, tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanoes. This time, I would like to set our new narrative in southeast Australia, where the Booandik people tell a story suggesting how their ancestors witnessed and interpreted volcanic activity in the Mount Gambier …[Read More]
The end of the year is around the corner. For many of us, it will be a time of celebration, gathering, party, and GIFTS! And if you think spoiling a geologist is hard, then I’ve got your back. In this post I gather diverse gift ideas, the classics of course and some really unique treasures …[Read More]
Geological timescales Unless you regularly work in “deep” time or are very interested in Earth’s very ancient history you might not be too familiar with Earth’s geological timescale. What I am referring to is this: From the very beginning of Earth’s formation ~4.5 billion years ago to today each period is defined and …[Read More]
In this blog post, I have interviewed Dr. Isabel Ashman, who is part of the GeoSafe consortium at the University of Liverpool, looking into safe and long-term containment of radioactive waste in geological formations. Dr. Ashman, along with other project partners at the University of Liverpool, aim to better understand how small to large-scale (sub-mm …[Read More]
Faults and fractures can sometimes be confusing, especially for students taking their first geology courses. When they go hiking in the mountains and see a crack in the rock, they often wonder — is this a fracture or a fault? Even scientists sometimes mix the two terms, so it’s good to understand the difference. Since …[Read More]
What does a seismogenic fault look like? We can sometimes observe surface earthquake faults, which propagate ruptures from the hypocenter to the ground surface. In 2016, intense seismicity was observed during the Kumamoto earthquake sequence in Japan. This sequence consisted of many shallow earthquakes, including a strong foreshock and the subsequent mainshock with numerous aftershocks. …[Read More]